Version History
Current published version
Today's Business, Issue 1. pp. 64-65. Original floor committee resolution.
No later published versions have been added.
Official Resolution Source Text
Resolution: 1-10
Canonical number: 1-10
Committee: National Witness
Source: Today's Business, Issue 1
Printed pages: pp. 64-65
PDF pages: 64-65
Version: original, current-published-proposal
Source reference: Issue 1, pp. 64-65
Line numbers follow Today's Business, Issue 1, with numbering reset on each printed page, so delegates can compare this page with the official PDF.
Page 64
- To Confront Increased Idolatry of Our Culture with Clear Confession of Love of Christ
- and Lutheran Resources in Christian Apologetics
- RESOLUTION 1-10
- Report R1 (CW, 1–5); Overtures 1-12, 22 (CW, 283–84, 289)
- WHEREAS, The Ten Commandments begin with, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3; Deut. 5:7); and
- WHEREAS, The sinful nature leads people to the deceptions of self-sufficiency and relativism as described in Judges
- 21:25: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes”; and thus, people become like the idols they trust (Psalm 115:8);
- and
- WHEREAS, The Church is commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ to conduct both evangelism and apologetics, to give
- an answer or defense, and to contend for the faith (1 Peter 3:15; Jude 3); and
- WHEREAS, Christian apologetics properly employed by the Church serves the saving Gospel, especially when it is
- used to demonstrate the futility of worldviews contrary to the Gospel and the importance of rejecting false faiths on the
- one hand, and when it supports the historical and empirical status, objective truth, and urgency of the Gospel itself on the
- other; and
- WHEREAS, Constitution Article III 6 states that the Synod shall “aid congregations by providing a variety of resources
- and opportunities for … defending their confessional unity in the true faith”; and
- WHEREAS, It is evident that the current cultural tsunami of idols includes not only false religions (such as Islam,
- Buddhism, Hinduism, animism, Paganism, etc.) and atheistic philosophies, but also blatant expressions of Satanism,
- demonic witchcraft, and hedonism; furthermore, there are a host of idols that have permeated our culture, including the
- use of technology, the magnification of artificial intelligence, the worldly priority of career and success, the promotion of
Page 65
- addictive states, the wholesale affirmation of separating what is created from the Creator, and the idol of power, especially
- when it confuses the two kingdoms; and
- WHEREAS, The Church must serve and love the other two estates of the family and the state through God’s protection
- from and empowerment “against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:11) and “against the rulers, against the authorities,
- against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph.
- 6:12), while forming solid theological minds grounded in the evangelical, catholic, and reforming tradition of the Augsburg
- Confession in Synod congregations and schools; therefore be it
- Resolved, That the Office of National Mission (ONM) survey the details of the forms of idolatry common in the
- American landscape and identify and promote resources and expertise already available for use within our fellowship; and
- be it further
- Resolved, That the ONM work with Concordia Publishing House, our seminaries and universities, Lutheran Hour
- Ministries, and our recognized service organizations to develop resources in Christian apologetics, as appropriate to their
- purviews, for alerting the Church to cultural idols confronting Christians in this century so that congregations, schools,
- and individuals in the Synod may use these resources to witness to Christ and defend the faith; and be it further
- Resolved, That the seminaries and universities of the Synod take up the issue of apologetics whenever possible; and
- be it finally
- Resolved, That the Synod in convention urge all pastors, commissioned ministers, and congregations of the Synod to
- pray for the Church as she is confronted by the cultural idols of our day, that she discern what these idols are, and how the
- Word of Christ supplies all we need to be alerted to, protected from, and equipped for facing our cultural idols.
- The Chief Financial Officer and LCMS Accounting and Financial Services staff, in consultation with the Finance
- Committee, anticipate that the development of resources and study may require incremental costs to corporate Synod
- that are difficult to estimate at this time (estimate required by Bylaw 3.1.7 [g]).
