LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 160

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160 RESOLUTIONS — COMMITTEE 7

thought to the planning of regular worthwhile meetings
for their entire Sunday school staff, in line with such
suggestions as are found in the “Leaders Leader” of the
magazine Interaction and in a new series of seven guides
for church school workers available now for use in
training programs.

Action: This resolution was referred to the Synod’s
President.

To Revise Paragraph 8.115 a of Synodical
“Handbook” to Include Elementary Schools
and Secondary Schools

RESOLUTION 7-16

Overture 7-15 (CW, pp. 307, 308)

Wuereas, In adopting Resolution 7-01 the Synod has
affirmed its concern for the establishment of Lutheran
secondary schools; therefore be it

Resolved, That the words “elementary and secon-
dary” be inserted before the word “schools” in line 3
of Handbook paragraph 8.115 a.

Action: This resolution was referred to the Synod’s
President.

To Encourage Concentration on Chief Parts
of Christian Doctrine

RESOLUTION 7-17

Overture 7-16 (CW, p. 308)

Wuereas, The concern of Overture 7-16 deals with
questions of methodology; therefore be it

Resolved, That we recommend that Overture 7-16
be referred to the Board of Parish Education for further
study.

Action: This resolution was referred to the Synod’s
President.

To Adopt Statement on Sex Morality
and the Christian

RESOLUTION 7-18

Report 7-19 M (TB, pp. 307—309)

Wuereas, Churchmen, educators, social scientists,
and statesmen are rightfully alarmed over the wide-
spread decline in sexual morality in our times and are
looking to the church for direction and guidance; and

Whereas, The church, the chief teacher of morals
and the guide for the spiritual nurture of its people, is
called by God to speak relevantly to the special needs
of our times; and

Wuereas, The statement prepared at the direction
of the Board of Parish Education and its Family Life
Committee reflects the teaching of the Holy Scriptures
over against the so-called “new morality” and ap-
proaches the problem from the viewpoint of the Gospel
to heal and to renew; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod adopt the following re-
vised statement on sex morality and the Christian:

Sex Morality and the Christian

(A statement prepared for submission to the Synod
at the direction of the Board of Parish Education and
its Family Life Committee)

The New Morality

Christian people are concerned over the breakdown
of standards of sexual morality in our country. Such
things as the widespread experimentation with sex by
adolescents outside of marriage and the increasing
amount of pornographic literature are cause for alarm.
The American people have increasingly been exposed
to and confused by what has been called “the new
morality.” Young people and adults are being told that
the moral principles of the past are outdated and that
modern man must evolve moral codes more suited to
an “enlightened” age.

Because “new morality” makes personal self-satis-
faction the criterion for acceptable human behavior
and teaches: “What is moral is what you feel good
after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after,”
it maintains that “being in love” justifies premarital or
extramarital sex relations and that “nothing is really
wrong so long as nobody gets hurt.” It argues that
modern technology has removed the old fears of infec-
tion and conception — despite the alarming increase in
venereal disease and the number of children born out
of wedlock. Maintaining that morals are man-made
and therefore a relative matter, the new morality says
modern man is free to act as he chooses without the
restraint of a divinely given moral ethic. Applied to
sex, it says that persons, married or unmarried, can
live happily in an amoral paradise if they will only
shed their puritanical inhibitions.

Serious and consistent deviation from the divinely
given moral law (even when the moral law is not
consciously known) carries with it harmful psycho-
logical and spiritual consequences — the scars of guilt,
the exploitation of other persons, and the plight of un-
wanted children.

Immoral sexual attitudes are not peculiar to our
times. St. Paul made frequent references to sexual im-
morality 1,900 years ago. And centuries before that,
the Old Testament writers recorded the sensual sins
of their day.

Christians see in this modern movement of sexual
permissiveness the abandonment of religious morals
for personal morals, disregard for Biblical theology,
and an individualism which lacks social concern for
others and personal respect for oneself.

Man in his pride has always misused God’s gifts to
gratify his own desires. This is man’s sin— that he
uses the gifts of the Creator without the praise and
service of God, and as a result man is alienated from
God and from his fellowman. Every breach of morality
—pride, greed, prejudice, lust— comes because man
chooses to do his own will instead of the will of God.

The Christian View of Life and Sex
God created man in His own image and gave him

a dignity and place accorded no other creature. God
created man male and female; hence our human body,