LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 169

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Theology and Church Relations
Resolved, That pastors be encouraged in such circumstances to go
to their district president or circuit visitor, and that those Synod officials be encouraged to either hear that confession themselves, keeping
in mind their ordination vow never to reveal sins confessed to them,
or, if they are uncomfortable hearing that confession themselves, that
they will provide for the penitent pastor the name and contact information for another pastor who is able and willing to hear that confession
and offer absolution; and be it further
Resolved, That the convention make clear that no one is being
forced to confess sins, or even to privately confess, but that this resolution makes provision only for those pastors who have a desire to
make use of private confession but who are unsure where they can
go to make such a confession to another pastor and hear the word of
absolution; and be it finally
Resolved, That the Synod in convention give thanks to God for
all the means He has given to His church whereby the forgiveness of
sins in Jesus Christ is received.
Wyoming District Pastors’ Conference
4-14

To Assign CTCR Clarification of Terms Related
to Afterlife
Whereas, The Old Testament people spoke of going to Sheol/
Hades upon their death; and
Whereas, Revelation 20 distinguishes Hades from the final lake
of fire that we would refer to as “hell”; and
Whereas, Little is understood by our laity about Christ’s descent
into “hell,” and the ancient Church taught that Jesus was sent to Sheol
to liberate the Old Testament redeemed; and
Whereas, The Latin version of the Apostles’ Creed describes
Jesus’ descent as a descent to the “lowest places” and the term “hell”
is used both for “Sheol” and “Gehenna,” causing confusion; and
Whereas, Most modern Bible translations increase the confusion
about Sheol by translating the term as either “hell” or “the grave,”
even though there is another Hebrew word for grave; and
Whereas, Many of our people are also unfamiliar with the Bible’s
teaching on the new earth and confuse heaven with the new earth; and
Whereas, Many of our hymns add to this confusion by using biblical descriptions of the new earth to describe heaven; and
Whereas, These topics have only received brief attention by the
CTCR in a position paper, A Statement on Death, Resurrection and
Immortality (1969), and within the document The End Times (1989),
but neither study is exhaustive, and the first is not well-known or easily accessible; and
Whereas, Such a study would be timely considering recent books
and articles in our society that deny the existence of eternal punishment; therefore be it
Resolved, That the CTCR be assigned to produce a document clarifying our understanding of the relationships between Sheol/Hades
and Gehenna, what word should be translated as “hell,” as well as
the relationship between heaven and the new earth; and be it further
Resolved, That the CTCR also address whether Jesus’ descent is
best described as a descent into hell or as a descent into Sheol.
The Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer
Evansville, Indiana

169

4-15

To Encourage Prompt CTCR Response to Request
for Study on Cremation
Whereas, In response to the need for theological and pastoral guidance regarding the practice of cremation, the 2010 LCMS
convention tasked the CTCR, “in consultation with a group of congregational pastors and seminary faculties, to prepare a study on the
practice of cremation and especially of its implications for our public witness” (Ov. 3-32, as approved in Omnibus Resolution A); and
Whereas, The need for such a study on cremation remains great
in light of the significant number of Christians who continue to elect
cremation over burial for themselves and their loved ones in spite of,
or being unaware of, the implications cremation has regarding their
public witness to their faith in the resurrection of those who die in
faith; and
Whereas, The CTCR of one of our partner churches, Lutheran
Church—Canada, has deemed the situation of cremation among its
members to be serious enough to issue a theological and pastoral
study of cremation; and
Whereas, The CTCR was given no specific deadline by which
to complete this important task; therefore be it
Resolved, That the English District of the LCMS memorialize
the 2013 LCMS convention to ask the commission to complete its
study on the practice of cremation on or before December 31, 2015.
English District
4-16

To Request CTCR Study of Proper Role of Men
in Church and Home
Whereas, God has created man and woman equal—this flows
from the Trinity—the Trinity has three persons who are equal. There
is also an order in the Trinity. The Father has begotten the Son, Jesus
Christ. This does not mean that the Son is less than the Father. Both
Adam and Eve were created in the image of God: “Then God said,
‘Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens
and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping
thing that creeps on the earth’” (Gen.1:26); and
Whereas, Before the fall into sin, Adam and Eve were made by
the Trinity. Since the fall, man has been trying to figure out the proper
roles of man and woman. In Genesis 2–3, God talks with Adam and
Eve about their relating to each other. In Holy Scripture, Genesis 3:16
states, “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over
you.” How is the word “desire” to be understood, and what is she
going to desire? “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin,
and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). The
desire is rule over the man, because in the structure of Genesis 3:16
desire and rule are connected. This is seen in Genesis 3:17, “And to
Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you ‘You shall not
eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat
of it all the days of your life’”; and
Whereas, In the Old Testament the role of men was to be protective and take care of the people entrusted to them. Men did not fulfill
their role properly, as in Isaiah 10:1–2, “Woe to those who decree
iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to
turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of

2013 Convention Workbook