Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
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Reim: challenges Harms’ limitation of the exercise of the<br />
office of the keys.<br />
Tweit: How do you know a man is a Christian? Must you<br />
not judge him by his doctrine and confession?<br />
Harms: What I do not know of a man is whether he is a<br />
personal adherent <strong>to</strong> false doctrine. Therefore, I follow the<br />
Scripture: “Him that is weak in faith receive.” Romans<br />
15:30.<br />
Voss: This passage refers <strong>to</strong> a man who is in fellowship but<br />
weak in faith. Him I should receive…<br />
Gullerud: You apparently consider prayer fellowship<br />
broader than church fellowship. The ALC teaches thus. But<br />
we must consider prayer fellowship as one of the various<br />
expressions of fellowship. 327<br />
The minutes of the IRC are filled with such exchanges. Sadly, the LCMS and<br />
Slovak representatives were either unwilling <strong>to</strong> apply the clear meaning of Scripture <strong>to</strong><br />
the specific situations at hand or plead some constitutional by-law as an exception <strong>to</strong> the<br />
rule. For instance, when the Fehner case was discussed in detail at the November 1952<br />
meeting of the IRC, Dr. Harms not only insinuates that Matthew 5:23, 24 was misapplied<br />
when Naumann protested <strong>to</strong> the Minnesota District of the LCMS, but he questions<br />
whether or not the <strong>Wisconsin</strong> Synod even had the right <strong>to</strong> protest the voting membership<br />
of Our Savior’s in Manka<strong>to</strong>. 328<br />
Another aspect of WELS and ELS solidarity is their shared his<strong>to</strong>rical perspective<br />
of the ALC-LCMS union negotiations. The purposeful lack of a his<strong>to</strong>rical perspective of<br />
had led the Norwegian Synod in<strong>to</strong> the Madison Settlement and had almost led the<br />
<strong>Wisconsin</strong> in<strong>to</strong> fellowship with Ohio and Iowa. Learning from their experiences, the<br />
327 Minutes of the IRC, February 25-26, 1954, ELS Presidential Files: 1950s. Evangelical <strong>Lutheran</strong> Synod<br />
Archives, Manka<strong>to</strong>, MN. 4.<br />
328 Minutes of the IRC, November 1952, 9.<br />
177