# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2023_S426
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

426

SCHOOLS, FAMILY, YOUNG ADULTS, AND YOUTH

WHEREAS, Christian schools and home schools in general would
benefit greatly from having more biblically faithful Christian
textbook/curricula options; and
WHEREAS, The natural sciences, especially biology and earth
sciences, are prone to the grievous errors of Darwinism and Deep
Time which directly undermine the integrity of the Scriptures, and
the Gospel itself by putting death before the fall; and
WHEREAS, The Discovery Works science textbooks available
from Concordia Publishing House (CPH) (the only day school
curricula available from CPH besides religion curriculum and some
lesson plans) are outdated (c. 1999) and rather limited (Grades 1–
6); and
WHEREAS, It was resolved (Resolution 5-09A) in the 2019 Synod
convention “that pastors and other church workers be encouraged
to confess, witness to, and uphold in their teaching the Synod’s
publicly stated positions as set forth in A Brief Statement of the
Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod, Article 5 (adopted 1932):
We teach that God has created heaven and earth, and that in the
manner and in the space of time recorded in the Holy Scriptures,
especially Gen. 1 and 2, namely, by His almighty creative word,
and in six days. We reject every doctrine which denies or limits
the work of creation as taught in Scripture. In our days it is
denied or limited by those who assert, ostensibly in deference to
science, that the world came into existence through a process of
evolution; that is, that it has, in immense periods of time,
developed more or less of itself. Since no man was present when
it pleased God to create the world, we must look for a reliable
account of creation to God’s own record, found in God’s own
book, the Bible. We accept God’s own record with full
confidence and confess with Luther’s Catechism: “I believe that
God has made me and all creatures.”
which certainly should include the written word as presented to
students by their teachers via textbooks/curricula; and
WHEREAS, The need is urgent, for surveys show that 60% of
young adults raised as Christian are rejecting the faith (Ham, K.,
Beemer B., Hillard, T. [2009]. Already Gone: Why your kids will
quit church and what you can do to stop it. Master Books), their
doubts arising in middle school and high school when Darwinism
and its many related false “-isms” are preached by the secular
textbooks but either no counter arguments for biblical truth are
available or those presented are inadequate; and
WHEREAS, The LCMS has a university system and two
seminaries housing expertise across all subject areas, including
early
childhood
education,
for
producing
excellent
textbooks/curricula for grades K–12 as well as providing
theologically sound editorial oversight to ensure content is
biblically faithful in its Christian apologetic (defending Genesis 1–
11 as it defines marriage between one man and one woman, and
human nature as fallen, infected with original sin from Adam, but
tells of the seed of the woman, the second Adam, Who would crush
Satan’s head, and as it describes earth’s early history with creation
ex nihilo in six natural days less than 10,000 years ago and the
global flood in Noah’s day); and
WHEREAS, The LCMS has its own publishing house; therefore
be it
Resolved, That the Denver Southeast Circuit of the Rocky
Mountain District of the LCMS memorialize the Synod in
convention to direct and coordinate the systematic preparation and

2023 Convention Workbook

production of biblically faithful textbooks/curricula across all
sciences, prioritizing biological and earth sciences, for grades K–
12; and be it further
Resolved, That work on this curriculum begin by 2024.
Circuit 14 (Denver Southeast)
Rocky Mountain District
Ov. 12-03

To Develop Biblically Faithful
Textbooks/Curricula for Our Day Schools,
High Schools, and Home Schools
WHEREAS, Education in all subject areas is first and foremost
about what is taught, namely that which is good, true, and beautiful;
and
WHEREAS, Secular education in all subject areas is increasingly
subject to forces from anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-family, pro-death,
amoral, anti-truth, and even anti-beauty perspectives; and
WHEREAS, The Holy Scriptures provide the norm and framework
for knowledge in all subject areas, all being interwoven in
significant ways with right theology, ethics, history, and human
nature as revealed by God therein; and
WHEREAS, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) has
the second largest system of parochial schools in America, but too
often they are using secular textbooks/curricula, or publications
from non-Lutheran traditions; and
WHEREAS, Many Lutheran parents who home school their
children find good, biblically faithful textbooks/curricula options to
be sorely lacking; and
WHEREAS, Christian schools and home schools in general would
benefit greatly from having more biblically faithful Christian
textbook/curricula options; and
WHEREAS, The natural sciences, especially biology and earth
sciences, are prone to the grievous errors of Darwinism and other
widely accepted secular theories which directly undermine the
integrity of the Scriptures, and the Gospel itself, by putting Death
before the Fall; and
WHEREAS, The Discovery Works science textbooks available
from Concordia Publishing House (CPH) (the only day school
curricula available from CPH besides Religion Curriculum and
some lesson plans) are outdated (c. 1999) and rather limited (Grades
1–6); and
WHEREAS, The need is urgent, since surveys show that sixty
percent of young adults raised as Christians are rejecting the faith
(Ham, K., Beemer B., Hillard, T. Already Gone: Why your kids will
quit church and what you can do to stop it. [Master Books, 2009]),
their doubts arising in middle school and high school when
Darwinism and its many related false “-isms” are taught by the
secular textbooks but either no counter arguments for biblical truth
are available or those presented are inadequate; and
WHEREAS, The LCMS has a university system and two
seminaries comprising expertise across all subject areas, including
early
childhood
education,
for
producing
excellent
textbooks/curricula for grades K–12 as well as providing
theologically sound editorial oversight to ensure content is
biblically faithful in its Christian apologetic; and
WHEREAS, The LCMS has its own publishing house; therefore
be it