Monday, August 3, 2015
Harrison defends freedoms before House committee
On Thursday, February 16, 2012, LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C.
Harrison was one of several witnesses to provide testimony during the
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's hearing, "Lines
Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration
Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?"
Watch a video and read a full transcript of President Harrison's testimony on the LCMS website here. You also can read the written testimony, submitted before the hearing, which will become a part of the Congressional Record.
The LCMS views the recent birth control mandate from the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services as one that infringes on our religious
rights. Harrison told the committee members: "While we are opposed in
principle, not to all forms of birth control, but only abortion-causing
drugs, we stand with our friends in the Catholic Church and all others,
Christians and non-Christians, under the free exercise and conscience
provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Religious people determine what
violates their consciences, not the federal government."
"To paraphrase Martin Luther, the heart and conscience has room only for
God, not for God and the federal government," Harrison said. "The bed
is too narrow, the blanket is too short. We must obey God rather than
men, and we will."
Categories: announcements,
Monday, August 3, 2015
Harrison releases letter on landmark Supreme Court ruling
By Adriane Heins
In a landmark 5-4 ruling June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
same-sex couples have a right to marry in any state in America, even in
states where same-sex marriage currently is not recognized.
“Today was a tragedy in the history of Western and world
civilization,” LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison said soon
after the ruling. “Five justices cannot rewrite all of history, much
less can they redefine what God has defined.”
LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison
Speaking to the future, he said, “We will continue to be faithful to
the institution of marriage as conceived by our founders. If those who
wrote the Fourteenth Amendment could have known that it would be misused
for this purpose, they would be absolutely shocked and horrified. Truth
does not change. God’s Word does not change.”
As for the LCMS, Harrison noted, “We will continue to be faithful to
God’s institution of marriage and natural law, and we will also be
compassionate to people who are damaged by this misdirection.”
Harrison also released a letter to the church
today, noting that “We respect the divinely given dignity of all
people, no matter their sexual preference. We recognize that, under the
exacting and demanding laws of God, we are indeed sinners in thought,
word and deed, just as are all (Rom. 3:9ff.). We confess that the ‘blood
of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all our sins’ (1 John
1:7).”
In his letter, Harrison also encouraged LCMS Lutherans to “continue
to reach out to those who continue to be harmed by the ethic of radical
sexual freedom, detached from God’s blessing of marriage.”
Categories: announcements,