LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 432

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432

SCHOOLS, FAMILY, YOUNG ADULTS, AND YOUTH

Children are being indoctrinated in anti-Christian,
unscientific, and revisionist history and science (e.g., macroevolution theory, CRT, and gender theory, etc.), contrary to
the traditional norms of rigorous scientific theory, history,
and justice, and against the will of their parents.
• Children in government-sponsored schools are being
subjected to the deconstruction of divinely mandated and
given institutions (marriage and family; the Christian
Church; government with its natural powers and limitations;
natural and revealed law and justice; etc.) by the assumption
of an anti-Christian worldview, by the corruption of sound
and truthful language, and by the conspicuous absence of
sound teaching in these matters, contrary to Scripture and the
authority of parents regarding their children’s education.
WHEREAS, In the Fourth Commandment, God established
marriage and provides moral and legal authority to husband and
wife regarding their children: “Honor your father and your mother,
that it may go well with you and that you may live long on the
earth”; and
WHEREAS, In the Sixth Commandment, God defends the
institution of marriage and provides moral and legal protection to
the lifelong integrity and wellbeing of marriage, thereby also
protecting children born to marriage: “You shall not commit
adultery”; and
WHEREAS, We affirm and confess these truths in Large
Catechism I (Sixth Commandment) 206–208:
First, understand and mark well how gloriously God honors and
praises this estate [marriage]. For by His commandment He both
approves and guards it. He has approved it above in the Fourth
Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.” But here
He has (as we said) hedged it about and protected it. Therefore,
He also wishes us to honor it and to maintain and govern it as a
divine and blessed estate because, in the first place, He has
instituted it before all others. He created man and woman
separately [differently], as is clear. This was not for lewdness,
but so that they might live together in marriage, be fruitful, bear
children, and nourish and train them to honor God.
Therefore, God has also most richly blessed this estate above all
others. In addition, He has bestowed on it and wrapped up in it
everything in the world, so that this estate might be well and
richly provided for. Married life, therefore, is no joke or
presumption. It is an excellent thing and a matter of divine
seriousness. For marriage has the highest importance to God so
that people are raised up who may serve the world and promote
the knowledge of God, godly living, and all virtues, to fight
against wickedness and the devil; (Concordia: The Lutheran
Confessions, Reader’s Edition, 408)
and,
WHEREAS, God has given the direct and full authority for the
education of children to their parents, with the command to fathers
to bring up their own children “in the education (paideia) and
instruction (nouthesia) of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). In accordance with
the truth that Christian doctrine and faith encompasses the whole
person (soul and body), this scripture teaches that God has invested
parents with His authority and command to educate their own
children, including their spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical
care and training; and
•

2023 Convention Workbook

WHEREAS, Accordingly, fathers and mothers are to give and see
to the education of their children in Christian doctrine and holy
living. They are to be their teachers in all matters of marriage and
marital intimacy. They are to provide all care and support of their
children’s bodies, including such matters as food, clothing, health,
etiquette, exercise, grooming, and the like. They are to educate their
children for service in their own marriage, family, and workplace;
in their church; and in their neighborhood or civil community. They
may designate some other persons to assist them and act in their
stead in all these matters (in loco parentis) without relinquishing
this divine authority (cf. LC I [Fourth Commandment] 141); and
WHEREAS, The Holy Spirit teaches Christians in 1 Timothy 5:8
that “… if anyone does not provide for (pronoei) his own people
and especially those of his own household, he has denied the faith
and is worse than an unbeliever.” Here God authorizes and obligates
the members of a household (family) to make provision for the care
of its own members; therefore be it
Resolved, That we confess that father and mother are not mere
caregivers to their children. Rather, God has appointed them to feed,
clothe, house, educate, give medical care, and above all, provide the
spiritual service to their children’s body and soul, mind and spirit;
and be it further
Resolved, That we affirm and defend the rights and duties of
father and mother toward their children as divinely commanded and
given, and therefore not severable except in the case of the full
abdication of their office (i.e., abandonment or violent abuse of the
child’s body and mind; or in the positive, placement for adoption by
others); and be it further
Resolved, That we reject every assertion and practice of civil
government—federal, state, and local—that assumes or implies
right or authority over children as children, that is, as though
children were wards of government. Any child-related services
provided to a child by the government, such as education, health
care, food, clothing, and housing, are provided only under the
permission and authority of the child’s father and mother. Rejected
here are all assertions of governmental authority or privilege in the
education of children, the medical care of children, the physical care
and provision of children (e.g., free lunch programs), the doctrinal
and spiritual discipline and training of children, the sexual or gender
identity of children, the moral education and training of children,
and the like; and be it further
Resolved, That we likewise recognize that no church or religious
gathering has rights or authority over children except what is
granted by Christian baptism and membership in that church. It is
the divine duty of the church to teach, encourage, strengthen, and
assist father and mother in doing their divinely appointed duties
toward their children; and be it further
Resolved, That we confess and teach that father and mother are
obligated by God to bring their children to the Church for Baptism
and the divine services of the church. They are to teach their
children God’s Word in their home, lead them in prayer, and teach
and discipline them in Christian piety and virtue, in accordance with
Holy Scriptures; and be it finally
Resolved, That we teach and maintain the discipline that a man
and woman are to marry each other before sexual intimacy and the
conceiving of children, and that they are to remain married and
faithful to each other till death parts them, in accordance with God’s
holy will. Single, divorced, and remarried parents are, by God’s
grace, to live godly lives in open repentance and forgiveness,