Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2019 · 67th Convention, Tampa › Page 326

LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 326

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

326

IV. THE CHILD AS A GIFT OF GOD

Considerable time was spent at this meeting reviewing this report,
which was well received and prompted vigorous, substantive discussion. All members agreed that the paper succeeded in helpfully
addressing both “foundational matters” and certain specific issues
pertaining directly to the task force’s work, and that broader dissemination, study and discussion of the paper should be encouraged. At the same time, members were not asked or expected to
endorse every point or conclusion expressed by Dr. Meilaender
in his paper; this was clearly understood by members of the task
force. Ultimately, the task force agreed to commend this report to
the Synod in some way by means of an overture to the 2019 Synod
convention to be drafted by staff and reviewed at the next meeting.
Also at the May meeting, the task force heard presentations (as
requested) on the following topics:
•

Concerns and challenges regarding medical consent
forms (Dr. Grime)

•

Concerns and challenges involving various aspects and
methods of contraception (Dr. Harrison)

•

Developments and challenges in the area of genomics
(Dr. Pitkus)

•

Questions and challenges in the area of in vitro fertilization (IVF) (Rev. Dr. Voss)

Lively and productive discussion accompanied each of these
presentations.
Toward the end of the meeting, task force members compiled
a list of specific issues to discuss at the next meeting, especially
relative to the question raised by Res. 3-04 regarding the possible need for “the production of appropriate LCMS responses to
these issues (reports, study documents, essays, other media and the
like) with the CTCR and/or other appropriate LCMS entities.” It
resolved to spend time at its third and final meeting (September
2018) considering possible overtures to the 2019 Synod convention that would make specific recommendations in this regard. Also
at the end of this (May) meeting, Dr. Meilaender agreed to take
into account comments and questions raised in the discussion of his
paper, “The Child as a Gift of God,” and to consider making some
modest revisions to his paper in light of certain of these comments
and suggestions.
September 28, 2018: The task force heard brief reports from
seminary representatives on the task force about the attention given
to procreative questions and issues at their respective institutions.
The task force returned to the list of issues compiled at the May
2018 meeting, and discussed the matter of bringing recommendations to the Synod regarding certain of these issues by way of overtures to the 2019 Synod convention. As a result of this discussion,
specific recommendations to the Synod were incorporated into an
overture prepared by the task force. Following review and discussion of the modest revisions of Dr. Meilaender’s paper “The Child
as a Gift of God,” the task force included its commendation of the
paper to the Synod for reflection, study and discussion as the first
recommendation of the overture.
Included below are materials approved by the task force as part
of its report to the 2019 Synod convention (i.e., Dr. Meilaender’s
paper “The Child as a Gift of God” and an overture titled “To Give
Guidance and Encourage Action on Beginning-of-Life Issues” containing specific recommendations to the Synod).
Joel D. Lehenbauer, Chairman
2019 Convention Workbook

R60 B

IV. The Child as a Gift of God
In the last half-century or so we have experienced what might
well be called a revolution in reproduction. We are likely to describe it as a technological revolution, and it surely is that. But it is
also—and perhaps more importantly—a revolution in our way of
thinking about the relation between parents and children. Which
came first—a changed way of thinking or technological development—is not easy to say. But, however exactly we tell the story, a
commitment to the use of technologies of assisted reproduction is
increasingly well established in our society and in many other societies throughout the world. Moreover, the goodness of such technologies is often taken for granted—and even commended—by
many Christians. Might it be that sometimes our views are formed
less by the structure of Christian belief than by our feelings and
emotions? Or more by a desire for genetic connection than by the
grace of Baptism that creates and sustains the church? This document is an invitation to reflection upon reproductive technologies in
light of our belief that children are a gift of God.

The technologies of assisted reproduction
Artificial insemination has, of course, been used for a long
time in animal breeding, and its use among human beings is more
than a century old. The more far-reaching technological breakthrough came, however, with the procedure of in vitro fertilization (IVF), in which both sperm and ova are externalized and then
joined in the laboratory, where fertilization takes place. The resulting embryo (or, more likely, embryos) can then be transferred to
a woman’s uterus in the hope of achieving a pregnancy. The first
child known to have been produced by means of IVF—called at
that time the first “test-tube baby”—was born in 1978. Now, however, approximately four decades later, it is estimated that about
400,000 children are born worldwide each year by means of IVF.
IVF was first developed in order to assist married couples
struggling with infertility. When people think of that as its purpose,
they may easily see IVF as good and praiseworthy. For, whatever
one’s reservations about the use of technology for reproductive purposes, sympathy for infertile couples is quite natural. This may be
true especially for many Christians. Accustomed as we are to thinking of children (in the psalmist’s terms) as a “heritage of the Lord,”
and sympathetic to the natural desire to have what we often call
“a child of one’s own,” we may be reluctant to raise questions or
concerns about the use of IVF. Surely, however, the technology has
now developed (and will continue to develop) in such far-reaching
ways that to think of it simply as help for infertile couples is to miss
what is significant about the reproductive revolution. In fact, in the
minds of many people it has no connection to the institution of marriage—that is, to the desire of a husband and wife to see their marriage express itself in a child who incarnates their one-flesh union.
Rather, it is about individual desire to experience a certain kind of
fulfillment. We need, therefore, to ask ourselves 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).
IVF can and often does involve much more than simply taking
sperm from a man and an ovum from his wife, uniting them in the
laboratory, and then transferring the resulting embryo to the wife’s
uterus. IVF can also be a way to produce children free of certain de-