William E. Dannemeyer
834 Grandview
Fullerton, CA 92832
Tel:
714-871-4318 Fax: 714-871-4221
January
13, 2005
Pastor Tim Muller
Mr. Gene Blum
Messiah Lutheran Church
6625 Dale
Street
Buena Park, CA 90621
Dear Pastor Tim and Gene:
Greetings
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Enclosed
with this letter are two documents that I hope you will read, review, and
consider:
1. Important Biblical Doctrinal Issues
2. Summary of the 2004 LCMS Convention
There
are a number of doctrines professed, preached and taught in the LCMS that are
not consistent with the truth contained in the Bible. The thoughts contained in
the enclosed documents are among the more important of these doctrines.
If
the people of the LCMS, clergy, commissioned ministers and laity would attempt
to get a District or a Synodical Convention even to discuss these doctrinal
concerns, based on my personal experience at numerous District and Synodical
conventions over the last twelve years, most of the District Presidents and the
current LCMS President would make sure that such an effort was buried in
committee never to see the light of day on a convention floor for an honest
discussion.
Because
of the express disavowal by most of our District Presidents and the current
Synodical President of the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:8, namely that we are
equal in the Kingdom of God, lay people are so discriminated against in the
structure of committees at the Synodical and many District conventions that, in
my opinion, it is a total waste of time and money for any lay person to attend
a Synodical convention and many of the District conventions.
For
the foregoing reasons, I request that you accept my resignation from membership
in Messiah Lutheran Church.
I
want to make very clear that the concern over certain Biblical Doctrines is the
primary reason for this request. My reference to the discrimination against the
lay people of our church is generally to draw attention to the current reality
in the LCMS that the probability of an LCMS convention even engaging in a
discussion of these issues is so small as to be non-existent.
In
addition to what took place at the 2004 LCMS convention, let me give you
another specific example that took place at the 1992 Pittsburgh LCMS
convention. Sometime prior to 1992, the student council of Valparaiso University issued a
charter to a homosexual student organization called GALA, an organization whose
charter clearly documented support and affirmation for the homosexual
lifestyle. Under the rules of the University, the President, Allan F. Harre,
could disavow the chartering which he declined to do.
A
number of the LCMS congregations in Indiana adopted
overtures expressing disapproval of what President Harre had done and requested
the 1992 LCMS convention at Pittsburgh to take
action requiring President Harre to reverse his decision.
I,
along with many others, spoke to a committee at the convention suggesting,
among other things, that the Christian church has a message of hope and truth
to those in the homosexual lifestyle. Reparative therapy is available to rescue
people from such conduct.
However,
nothing came out of the 1992 Pittsburgh convention
requiring Dr. Harre to reverse his decision. It is a sad day for all of us who
profess, preach and teach that God's Word in the Bible defines the norm for
human sexuality, that the LCMS could not clearly make this statement. When
compromises on important issues such as these are made in the morals, doctrines
and principles of the LCMS, it is inevitable that even greater compromises are
to come.
Please
disabuse yourself of any suggestion that my faith in God and Jesus, who are one
and the same, has diminished in any way because of what I have expressed in
this letter. I truly believe and profess that the Bible, the Old and the New
Testament, is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Tragically for all of us,
translators over the centuries have translated words from the Hebrew and Greek
into English so as to respect tradition and certain doctrinal concepts, rather
than Biblical truth.
Your friend in Christ,
William E.
Dannemeyer
