LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 228

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12. SCHOOLS, FAMILY, YOUNG ADULTS, AND YOUTH
they might live together in marriage, be fruitful,
bear children, and nourish and train them to
honor God.

training and promotion; etc.), contrary to their parents’
beliefs and intentions for their children.
• Children in some government-sponsored schools are
being permitted, encouraged, or otherwise coerced into
adopting unwanted or evil social practices, contrary to
the will and authority of parents.

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, A Reader’s
Edition of the Book of Concord, 382);

• Children are increasingly indoctrinated in anti-Christian
history and science contrary to the traditional norms of
rigorous historical and scientific investigation, and
contrary to the will and authority of their parents.
• Children in some 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, It is increasingly clear that educational
authorities behave in ways which lead children to question the
authority and competence of their parents and to reject other
authority figures including grandparents and religious leaders
in their life; and
WHEREAS, In the Fourth Commandment, “You shall honor
your father and your mother that it may be well with you and
you may live long upon the earth” (Large Catechism [LC] I
[Fourth Commandment] 104, 371), God established marriage
and provides moral and legal authority to husband and wife
regarding their children; and
WHEREAS, We confess in the Large Catechism that “all who
are called masters stand in the place of parents and must get
their power and authority to govern from them …” (LC I [Fourth
Commandment] 142 [Kolb & Wengert], 406); and
WHEREAS, In the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not
commit adultery,” God defends the institution of marriage and
provides moral and legal protection to the lifelong integrity and
well-being of marriage, thereby also protecting children born
to marriage; and
WHEREAS, We affirm and confess these truths in Large
Catechism I (Sixth Commandment) 206–8:
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
228 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION

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 and
instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). In accordance with the truth
that Christian doctrine and faith encompasses the whole
person (body and soul), 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
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 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 fathers and mothers 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 fathers and mothers toward their children as divinely
commanded and given (Titus 2:1–8), and therefore not
severable except in the case of the abdication of their office; and
be it further
Resolved, That we reject every assertion and practice of civil
government—federal, state, and local—that assumes or
Resolutions