wfn.org | [LCMSNews] CTCR commends Kieschnick

["LCMS e-News" <LCMSENEWS@lcms.org>]

	 <http://www.lcms.org>
e-News
	LCMS News

	PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL MESSAGE! This message comes
from a "Send Only" Mailbox that does not recognize replies.

	October 1, 2003 ............... LCMSNews -- No. 114

	CTCR commends Kieschnick
	on homosexuality concerns

	The Synods Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR)
has commended LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick for addressing issues
related to homosexuality and the church at the Churchwide Assembly of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

	Kieschnick in early August issued a statement expressing concern
over the confirmation by the Episcopal Church, USA, of its first openly
gay bishop. Later in the month, he addressed the issue again in
greetings to this years ELCA assembly.

	In a resolution adopted at its Sept. 15-17 meeting in St. Louis,
the CTCR commended Kieschnick. The commission added that it supports him
in his resolve to continue to address this issue, and as he appeals to
the ELCA to resist the trend toward acceptance and approval of
homosexual behavior as the ELCA studies the matter.

	The ELCA has a full communion relationship with the Episcopal
Church. It also is conducting a major study of issues of human
sexuality, including homosexuality.

	Whats more, the 2005 ELCA assembly will be asked to decide
whether or not people in committed homosexual relationships may be
ordained into the ministry and whether or not the ELCA should have an
official policy on blessing same-sex unions.

	I pray that your study and deliberation of this matter will be
made in the light of the Biblical understanding of human sexuality and
the qualifications for the pastoral office, Kieschnick told the ELCA
assembly.

	The CTCR also asked the Synods praesidium  the president and
five vice presidents  to consider these recent developments in its
evaluation of pastoral working relationships between the ELCA and the
LCMS. That evaluation was requested by the 2001 LCMS convention.

	Also at its September meeting, the CTCR responded to a request
from the Commission on Worship for an opinion on four possible Bible
translations for use in a new LCMS hymnal now in preparation.

	The CTCR said the English Standard Version (ESV), the New
American Standard Version (NASV) and the New King James Version (NKJV)
are preferable to the New International Version on theological and
linguistic grounds. It added that, on text-critical grounds, the ESV
and NASB are preferable to the NKJV.

	The CTCR said it leaves readability questions to the
Commission on Worship. It also noted that as a matter of principle, the
CTCR declines to give official endorsement to any English translation of
the Bible.

	Dr. Paul Grime, executive director of the Commission on Worship,
said that his commission will decide at its meeting in late October
which Bible translation to use in the new hymnal.

	In other business, the CTCR responded to a dissent from an
LCMS pastor who took issue with use of a citation from the Treatise on
the Power and Primacy of the Pope, one of the Lutheran Confessions, in
an LCMS doctrinal statement on ordination.

	The pastor wrote that he does not believe that the Brief
Statement is correct when it uses paragraph 70 of the Treatise to affirm
that ordination ... is not a divine but a commendable ecclesiastical
ordinance.

	His reference is to the Brief Statement of the Doctrinal
Position of the Missouri Synod, adopted by the Synod in 1932.

	The commission acknowledged that the quote from the Treatise may
not be precisely to the point. But in its four-page response, the CTCR
concludes that the pastors dissent has not provided evidence to
persuade the commission that what the Brief Statement says about
ordination is in error or is in need of revision.

	*********************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996 1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996 1230.

	*********************************

	  This Edition of "LCMS News" e-News is provided by:

	Board for Communication Services, Division of News and
Information
Contact Editor
<http://www.lcms.org/enews/contact_editor.asp?title=LCMS%20News&editorid
=6>

		To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this Newsletter and
many others, please visit LCMS e-News <http://www.lcms.org/enews> .
		Share this Newsletter
<http://www.lcms.org/enews/forward.asp?m=1136>	with a friend.

MessageId=1136
  _____

Design ) Copyright 2003 The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod.
<http://www.lcms.org>
No reproduction without consent. All rights reserved.