LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 214

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11. CHURCH AND CULTURE

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discussion, in particular, to study this concern:
“whether our understanding of the meaning of the
presence of children is being formed by the basic
Christian belief that a child is God’s gift to those
who are married, or whether our attitudes and
actions increasingly reflect a belief that what
counts is satisfying the desire to have a child of
one’s own (and, perhaps even, a particular sort of
child)”;
to urge filling as soon as fiscally possible the
vacant position of LCMS Director of Life and
Health Ministry since leadership in this office is
crucial for moving forward on these critical and
time-sensitive issues;
to urge the CTCR, as it seeks to complete its
assignment from the Synod to update its 1981
report on Human Sexuality (2016 Res. 14-03A,
Proceedings, 242–3), to give new or renewed
attention to the virtue of chastity in relation to
specific issues such as 1) the vocation of singleness;
2) the nature and significance of Christian
marriage; 3) a theology of procreation (including
issues relating to contraception); 4) the reality and
burden of infertility;
to ask the CTCR to review and revisit its various
documents on beginning of life issues (e.g.,
Abortion in Perspective [1984]; Christians and
Procreative Choices: How Do God’s Chosen
Choose? [1996]; What Child is This? Marriage,
Family, and Human Cloning, [2002]; Christian
Faith and Human Beginnings: Christian Care and
Pre-Implantation Human Life [2005]) to
determine whether and/or where updates to these
documents are needed, particularly regarding IVF,
and recent developments in genetic testing, and
how such potential updates might best and most
effectively be communicated to the Synod;
to request LCMS Life and Health Ministries, in
collaboration with supportive entities (e.g., LFL,
the Concordia University Wisconsin Center for
Bioethics), to continue to sponsor and coordinate
conferences and other education on issues such as
IVF, embryo adoption, methods of contraception,
genomics and other new technologies, surrogacy,
and medical consent, for the purpose of enhancing
the church’s understanding of and response to
these issues;
to encourage our seminaries and colleges to give
increased attention and priority to beginning-oflife issues through coursework, continuing
education, and other means;
to request the Office of National Mission (ONM) to
prepare educational resources on beginning-of-

214 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION

life issues for LCMS campus ministries and youth
ministries;
• to encourage districts, circuits, congregations and
schools to address these issues as they are able;
• to request the ONM to identify resources and
individuals for consultation on beginning-of-life
issues;
and be it further
Resolved, That Synod post the paper “The Child as a Gift
of God” to its website, perhaps on the CTCR pages, for ease
of access and study.
Action: Adopted (2)
Discussion by the assembly having been exhausted, the resolution
was adopted [Yes: 914; No: 22].

To Encourage Faithfulness
regarding Marriage
RESOLUTION 11-02A
Overtures 11-07–10 (CW, 541–45)

WHEREAS, By confessing the truth of marriage, we
confess God as the one who created us male and female
(Gen. 1:27); and
WHEREAS, Christ Himself affirmed the truth of marriage,
saying, “Have you not read that he who created them from
the beginning made them male and female, and said,
‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and
hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? ...
What therefore God has joined together, let not man
separate’” (Matt. 19:4–6 ESV); and
WHEREAS, God established marriage for the procreation
of children who are to be brought up in the fear and
instruction of the Lord so that they may offer Him their
praise (Rite of Holy Matrimony, Lutheran Service Book, 275;
Gen. 1:28; Psalm 127; Deut. 6:4–9; Eph. 6:4); and
WHEREAS, Our confession of true marriage is tied to our
confession of Christ and his bride the church (Eph. 5:22–
33); and
WHEREAS, God forbids adultery; sexual relations outside
of marriage; and divorce, except for marital unfaithfulness
or malicious abandonment (Ex. 20:14; 1 Cor. 7:10–11, 15;
Mark 10:6–12; Matt. 5:27–28; 1 Thess. 4:3–5; 1 Cor. 6:9–10);
and
WHEREAS, The Scriptures also clearly teach that
homosexual acts are intrinsically sinful and violate both
revealed and natural law (Rom. 1:18–32); and
WHEREAS, Cultural attacks on marriage have resulted in
such problems as high rates of divorce, the dissolution of
families, and widespread sexual relations outside of
marriage; and
Resolutions