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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 543

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

CHURCH AND CULTURE
their greatest victory in the passage of no-fault divorce laws
(beginning in California), soon to be followed by the legalization of
abortion and the public acceptance and legal establishment of the
sodomite/lesbian movement. In 2015 the Supreme Court of the
United States ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that states must license
and recognize same-sex “marriages.”
The passage of no-fault divorce laws effectively taught and
reinforced the false belief that marriage is not a permanent
institution belonging to the origins and nature of man, but rather that
it is a social construct, once based on the imposition of power within
religious and civil communities, but now based on the desires,
happiness, and personal autonomy of individuals. This radical
change in the conceptualization of marriage was aided by readily
available birth control—the severing of sexual intercourse from the
conception of children. This false belief about marriage has finally
reached maturity in the societal and legal imposition of same-sex
“marriages” upon the nation, with even more extensive perversions
of marriage looming on the horizon.
Churches in the United States and abroad have often capitulated to
this assault upon the marriage estate and mirrored what has taken
place in the civil estate by accepting no-fault divorce without the
discipline of the church. By poisoning the fountainhead of the
marriage estate, this acceptance of no-fault divorce has led churches
to adopt the presuppositions of feminism and the sexual revolution
(including “ordaining” women); to accept and promote the ideals of
the population control movement; to declare sodomy and
lesbianism to be licit; and even to “ordain” and “marry” public
violators of the marriage estate, including partners in same-sex
unions.
The consequences of this systematic dismantling of the marriage
estate from within both the civil estate and the ecclesiastical estate
include the following: a great increase in divorce; the resulting
dissolution of families; a great increase in the use of cohabitation
without marriage; the rise of the age at which young adults first
marry; a great decrease in the birthrate; the feminization of poverty;
a great increase in the numbers of mothers of young children in the
workforce (often by necessity) and in the number of hours they must
work; the increase in women taking custody of children at the
expense of the separated or ex-husband; the marginalization and
withdrawal of men within the marriage estate; and finally the
complete breakdown of society’s understanding of marriage.
The time has come for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
(LCMS) to reassess and renew its public voice concerning the
marriage estate, so that our beautiful, pure doctrine may be more
clearly taught and more consistently carried out in the practices of
its congregations and pastors. We must begin by repenting of our
corporate reluctance to resist unscriptural divorce and by renewing
our commitment to praise and defend the integrity of marriage. This
is also a marvelous opportunity for our beloved Synod to make a
bold and clear confession of the marriage estate before the world,
ultimately so that many may be won over to the saving truth of
God’s Word.
Therefore be it
Resolved, That we repent of our sins of omission and
commission against God and one another with regard to the
marriage estate, both in our personal lives and in the collective
failures of our congregations and our Synod, looking to Christ alone
for forgiveness and restoration, and faithfully receiving that very

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forgiveness and restoration in the pure preaching of God’s Word
and reception of the Holy Sacraments; and be it further
Resolved, That the LCMS, its members, congregations, schools,
universities, and seminaries, teach and confess the Bible’s doctrine
and practice of marriage with renewed effort, in the conviction that
“what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matt 19:6)
and that “in the New Testament those who are married are forbidden
to get divorced” (LC I 306); and be it further
Resolved, That our pastors, seminary faculties, and district
presidents teach God’s full counsel concerning the marriage estate
and lead the congregations of the Synod toward a more faithful
discipline for the Christian life, namely, a positive discipleship that
rejoices in and encourages the sanctity, integrity, and fruitfulness of
the marriage estate; and a discipline that finally denies communion
to those who divorce contrary to God’s Word and refuse full
reconciliation (Matt. 5:31–32; 1 Cor. 7:10–16), along with all those
who publicly and persistently speak or act contrary to the marriage
estate as God has instituted it; and be it further
Resolved, That as our pastors especially labor to teach the
marriage estate and lead congregations to incorporate this sound
discipline among the members in their care, that they do so with
great patience with their members and with each other, knowing that
it will take years or even decades for our Synod to recover what has
been lost to us since societal beliefs about marriage began to change
significantly in the middle of the last century; and be it further
Resolved, That our pastors, supported zealously and lovingly by
our congregations, bring true repentance, forgiveness, healing,
reconciliation, restoration, and hope to the many people who suffer
from the effects of sin upon their marriages, families and homes,
and personal lives through the faithful use of God’s Law and
Gospel; and be it further
Resolved, That our pastors and congregations also recognize that
many of the errors and sins against marriage and the marriage estate
committed in the past (including divorce, adultery, fornication,
homosexual acts or lifestyle, etc.) are beyond familial reconciliation
or restitution in this life and cannot be remedied except by genuine
repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Christ; and be it further
Resolved, That seminary faculties and the Council of Presidents
reevaluate and implement guidelines for seminary admissions and
seminary students, and for district presidents in their oversight of
pastors, which are drawn from Scriptures and the Lutheran
Confessions concerning the marriage estate, especially addressing
the gravity of divorce, fornication, and other sexual sins, and the
high standards to which pastors are held by the Lord of the church
(1 Tim. 3:1–13, Titus 1:5–9); and be it further
Resolved, That the Concordia University System and the Council
of Presidents reevaluate and implement similar guidelines and
practice for all other church work students and for rostered and nonrostered church workers; and be it further
Resolved, That the Synod, its theological and seminary faculties,
pastors, and other teachers of the church articulate and teach the
distinction between the ecclesiastical estate and the civil estate
especially in matters of marriage and divorce, and that the church
uphold the divine mandates regarding the marriage estate even
when they are unsupported or even opposed by the laws, judgments,
and opinions of the civil estate; and be it finally

2019 Convention Workbook