The Paducah sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1898-1906, 1902-11-18
IN EXPLANATION.
Editor Of The Paducah Sun;

to have its troubles" brought before
the public through the medium OF the
press. Nor is 1t ever to the credit Of
any Christian congregation, when
strife and dissensions have arisen in
its minds, to make this known to the
general public by means Of secular
newspaper.
In one Of the columns Of your paper |
dated November 10. we read an article
concerning trouble" in the German
Lutheran church on South Fourth |
street. Since this article contains sew |
eral erroneous statements we, the
members Of the Ev. Lutheran church,
are constrained to correct these errors. !
AND besides this since the public has
been made aware of the fact that there
is trouble. few words concerning it
may not be amiss.
1. It is not true that "a petition
was gotten mp asking our pastor to re-
sign" A certain church officer wrote
out . statement, accusing the pastor
of unfsithfulness during the last
month. This paper was circulated
among certain members without the
pastors knowledge and was signed
by 2s persons, men, women and
young ladies and then it was sent to
the president Of the Synod asking him
TO remove the pastor. The pastor new
or saw the petition before it was sent
to the president of the synod, nor was
he ever asked by the congregation or a
part of the congregation to resign.
2. We protest against the state
ment that our pastor is "striot" and
that "he wants to get the members
under his thumb" Our pastor has
never demanded Of his flock more
than Gods Word demands Of them.
Whatever changes were made were
authorized by majority vote of the
voting members. Our pastor, As well
as any true Lutheran pastor is the last
to attempt at ruling" the flock and
trying to get the members under
thumb" II our pastor is too strict"
for some Of the members il is be-
cause the Word Of God is too strict
for them.
3. The president of the Synod, Rev.
]. J. Bernthsl, was not sent Il" smooth
over" matters, but to investigate
them and the result Of his investiga.
tion was verdict Of guilty with res
pect to those that had circulated that
petition" and those that approved
OF this, declaring this to be slandering
our pastor and . sin against the
Eighth commandment. At the close
of the meeting Rev. J. ]. Bernthsl
, had the voting membes to take vote
on this matter with the result that
nine voting members approved of tho
circulation of said petition, thereby
nohO'lonihk SIN NO AuAhhSA eSeAOA
YVES taken in this meeting.
4. The statement that "some of
those who signed the petition appeared
to regret it" is rejected by us; for we
do not tolerate this to have those men,
bors, who stated that they regretted
what they had done, put down as hyp-
ocrites.
8. In our last congregational meet
ing being the fourth meeting concern
ing this church trouble" six voting
members, refusing to acknowledge
their wrong were not suspended, but
communicated by the congregation
until they repent.
6. AS to the sentence, "he would
not even permit the ladies to give en-
tertsinments and suppers to make
money for the church" we wish TO
state that our Lutheran church, its
ministers and the lsity, disapprove of
any money making device for the ben
eft o. a Christian church, this being
contrary to the Word of God, Rom.
10, 5 and 1 Cor. IS, 2, etc.
7. The pastor did not say that" those
who were discussing the trouble were
enemies of the church" This is a
conclusion the reporter arrived at him
self, and the statement itse'f is rara-
doxical, too. He should have said that
those who have caused the trouble
ere opposed to the pastor and to some
principles of the Lutheran church
Having made these statements we
consider this incident closed, so far
as we are concerned. We deeply re-