If you read this column by our synodical president from Lutheran Witness, it is pretty hard to avoid the impression that our synod has two types of doctrines. On one type of doctrine, deviation will not be permitted -- here is a list of these sorts of doctrines:

• That there is only one true God, who has revealed Himself in Holy Scripture as the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  
• That this God created the world and everything in it, including the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve, in six days.
  
• That since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, all people are born with original sin and are altogether incapable of pleasing God by their own merits.
  
• That God promised a Savior to Adam and Eve and, through them, to all people.
  
• That this Savior is Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, through whom alone we receive forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation.
  
• That Christians are called to proclaim to a lost and dying world the Good News that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.
  
• That the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice.
  
• That the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church are a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God.

He also adds "the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, and His bodily resurrection" (positively) and "the ordination of homosexual pastors who are living in 'committed relationships'" (negatively) as issues that are not even in contention in our synod.

All the more interesting then is the list of issues in which, despite the synod already having a position, he apparently thinks disagreement with this position is legitimate:

"Our national Synod also sees its share of discussions and even disagreements about matters of faith and life. It is our privilege, duty, and responsibility as a synod prayerfully and carefully to discern what God’s Word says about such matters as

• close(d) Communion,
  
• non-traditional worship,
• the service of women in the church,
• the role and authority of the pastoral office,
• and the priesthood of all believers."

(I added the bullets, but otherwise it's a direct quote).

An interesting list, which contains a particularly interesting conjunction. The LCMS is probably the only non-Pentecostal, non-Holiness church body in which 6-day creationism is required, but women's ordination seems to be at least discussable. This is certainly a major difference between the LCMS and all the other liturgical churches. We'll have to see if the former counteracts the latter in the operation of Krauth's law.