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.

Doug Wilson's Letter from Moscow

Hauling In a Ten-Pound Fish on a Five-Pound Line

Posted on Monday, February 10, 2014  

By Douglas Wilson 

Blog and Mablog 

I am currently working my way through a fascinating book about Reformation-era music called Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism, written by Joseph Herl. It is a tightly-packed scholarly tome, but would be a great read for any pastor interested in musical reformation — as every pastor ought to be.

Church music can be divided into two broad categories. The first would be the music of trained musicians and choirs, at which the Lutherans excelled. They produced some of the greatest music that the human race has produced as of this point, and so we have to begin every discussion of this subject with that “where credit is due” acknowledgement.

But the other category is that of bringing congregations along. In this, the music of most churches in the Lutheran areas was atrocious. There were exceptions of grace — like Strassburg under Bucer, borderline not Lutheran, where the singing was good across the board. There were other exceptions in Lutheran areas, but in many places, the congregations sang very little, or anemically, or not at all. One of the reasons the Reformed areas did better in bringing congregations along is that their music was (deliberately) not as complicated.

Just a couple of examples should make the point. Services could be upwards of three hours long, with the middle hour occupied with the sermon.