Nails, Colours, and Masts

Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Affirms Creation in Six Days

by Lita Cosner
Creation.com


Often, news coming out of various denominations can be grim. It seems every month there is a new announcement about a traditionally conservative group accepting gay marriage or other liberal ideologies. However, recently there was very good news coming from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). The Christian Post reports, “At the 67th Regular Convention of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod on Tuesday [23 July 2019], the theologically conservative denomination adopted Resolution 5-09A, titled ‘To Confess the Biblical Six-Day Creation.’”1

The official LCMS newspaper comments, “Few, if any, Christians dispute God’s creating act. Many Christians, however, struggle with the age of the earth.” This makes the resolution taking a stand on this issue all the more important, as many people have questions about the age of the earth.  It makes little difference to have a strong stand on creation as a denomination if the ‘average person in the pew’ is never informed about it.

Another important part of this resolution is that it “instructs pastors to focus on teaching the parishioners they serve, especially youth, about these issues. It asks pastors to equip their people to give a respectful Christian witness about the biblical teaching regarding creation and the intersection of faith and science.” This is crucial, because it makes little difference to have a strong stand on creation as a denomination if the ‘average person in the pew’ is never informed about it. We appreciated the youth emphasis here. The need aptly demonstrated by CMI’s FALLOUT! survey of college campuses of once-Christian youth.

The creation litmus test

How a church treats creation is indicative of its other views.
You can tell from the LCMS’s view of creation what they think about gay marriage, abortion, and other controversial social issues. That’s because in today’s culture, taking a stand on creation in six days is indicative of a view of biblical authority that is not overly concerned with how the wider culture views us. And most denominations allow for gap theory, day-age theory, or other creation compromises.

On the other hand, experience has unfortunately shown that a willingness to compromise on Genesis for intellectual credibility shows that it’s ultimately only a matter of time until one compromises on other issues. And this has disastrous consequences for people’s faith It’s not uncommon for deconversion stories to feature the epiphany that science has discredited the Bible. Often, evolutionism is a crucial step toward atheism.

By taking a stand on creation and ensuring people are educated about it, the LCMS is ‘inoculating’ their people against faith-destroying skepticism.