Given my posts against the heterodox LCMS (and these shall continue for the time being), one might wonder why I would remain associated with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. To explain the reasons for this (and to perhaps, to a certain extent, slow the decline of the LCMS), I present a testimony of a not insignificant leader in the (old) Missouri Synod:
You may say: “I want to remain in the heterodox church in order to accomplish good in it, namely, to prevent it from losing the truth altogether.” If you happen to be in a heterodox church, then first of all, bear witness to the truth clearly and definitely. If they listen to you, good. Under certain circumstances, you can wait a little, to see whether the truth is accepted. But as soon as it is clear that they will not accept the truth, you must separate yourself from that group which holds to the error. If you, nevertheless, remain in it, then you are no longer reinforcing the truth, but rather, the error. It is blindness if you suppose that you are still a witness bearer for the truth, when you continue in fellowship with openly known errorists. It is an absolute contradiction to be both a witness-bearer for the truth, and an associate of false teachers. As Luther says: You “cannot remain in the same stall with others who propagate false doctrine or are attached to it or always speak good words to the devil and his crowd.” (XVI I, 1477.)
Franz Pieper, “The Distinction Between Orthodox & Heterodox Churches”
Now, there remains one thing for me to establish: that The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has not yet hardened itself in its errors, refusing to accept the truth. I shall do this regarding some errors I have pointed out in this blog.
Regarding contraception
Here, as I have previously shown, the LC—MS since the twentieth century has directly contradicted many clear passages of Scripture regarding children. However, as is clear from the words “in the absence of Scriptural prohibition,” the LC—MS as such does not see its opposition to Scripture, and Lutherans since then have not dared to explicitly condemn contraception per se — which would contradict LC—MS practice; therefore, Synod at this time cannot be said to have hardened itself in its error regarding contraception.
The original and true possessors of all Christian rights and privileges
In the first month of this year, I directly opposed (among other things) the position of the LCMS, which has been official since before 2016, that public false doctrine should not be opposed by the common Christians. Now, this will undoubtedly be the most difficult to establish the LCMS as not being hardened in, for Pres. Matthew Harrison in a public statement confirmed this doctrine explicitly contained in his Teufelskatechismus in the following words: “There is nothing in the content of the volume promoting … any theological position at odds with biblical and confessional Lutheranism.” However, this only establishes that the LC—MS is a heterodox church body, not that it is one which has hardened itself in its error. This is however the error Synod is most likely to harden itself in. It is for this reason that I will make a point of reporting on the 68th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
Altlutheraner 