At the 67th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod on Tuesday, the theologically conservative denomination adopted Resolution 5-09A, titled “To Confess the Biblical Six-Day Creation.”
“We confess that the duration of those natural days is proclaimed in God’s Word: ‘there was evening and there was morning, the first day,’” resolved the resolution.
The resolution also declared that the creation of Adam as the first human being was a “historical event” and rejected the claims of the theory of evolution.
Denominations are doomed anyways. Non-denoms went from 1 in 12 Americans to 1 in 6 from 2000 to 2016. These sorts of things, single groups of people making theological declarations for everyone to follow that have no historical connection to the 1st century Christian community (the only group that had any validity in making theological declarations) will hopefully soon be recognized by all Christians as an anachronism.
This gives a great opportunity to see how all the councils may have come into being! Not about truth - but about politics. Thanks for sharing Christie.
I wonder though, are there Christians that aren’t Bible-believing? I mean, I’ve never heard anyone identify themselves as a “non-Bible-believing Christian.” We all believe the Bible, but aren’t always unified in the way we believe portions of it should be interpreted and understood (and it all has to be interpreted one way or another). I think probably @ManiacalVesalius is right, that the tighter denominational “boundary marking” gets, the less relevant denominations will become.
Dear Laura,
I do not know that I would go as far to say that I am a nonbeliever of the Bible, but I do believe the prophets’ warnings that it is highly edited. For this reason, for me, it needs third-party verification from other sources of inspired texts and within itself.
Please remember, as a Christian universalist, I would have been put to death after the Fifth Ecumenical Council. At least today LCMS doesn’t have the military behind it!
Best Wishes, Shawn
Many of us would have been put to death at various points in history for our modern views, even by other Christians. Even the Puritans who settled New England came from a “Christian nation.” So yes, I am also grateful for the separation of church and state.
Are you saying that you’ve been failing to attend to the doctrinal bulletins of my east-Prussian Anabaptist non-drinkers Lohmeyer order of the right hand (NOT to be confused with the recently apostate left-handers who left our order)? I’ll pray for you - and all the other heathen around here too.
I’m afraid you are the one in error, my Universal Conference of Flat-Earth Affirming Primative Methodist One Cup Synod is the proper one pal, join in or get lost, baptism is only valid if done by believer’s baptism in a running river east of the Jordan while reciting our entire KJV Bible in pure Greek, failure will result in anathema.
I don’t see what the problem is. Since the LCMS has made this declaration and since God is allegedly all powerful, I’m sure He could go back in time and redo His work to their satisfaction.
Maybe in some respects, but in this instance what they are insisting on is not the Bible itself, but a cartoon caricature of it with a thick layer of science fiction slathered on top of it.
The improper use in the phrase is not Bible-believing; it is Christians. A majority of people in the 21st century who call themselves Christians have never been born again. They use the term in place of the word religious.
I think it is true that for some people Christian is a cultural identification, not a statement about personal beliefs. Same with other words like Evangelical or Catholic or Jewish. But we can’t know what is in a person’s heart when they use an identification, so I think it is best to take a claim at face value and engage in conversation until you know where a person is coming from.
Of course we can know: by their obedience to
Christ’s word, their growth in the things of God and their fruit. This notion that a Christian can live anyway they want and we should not judge is causing the moral dilemma and cultural decline in America today. If you are a Christian, read the Bible and do exactly what the instructions say.
I was more referring to the tendency of some people in online discussion forums (such as this one, for example ) to believe that they can diagnose a person’s true status with God by some well-placed litmus test questions.
In reality, there are a lot of ways to read the Bible and a lot of people doing exactly the opposite things because they are trying to follow its teaching. Spiritual fruit isn’t always visible in a few interchanges mediated by a computer. And, isn’t it confusing that some atheists manage to be quite kind, gentle, patient, and self-controlled? So at the end of the day, if someone claims to follow Christ, I will try my best to believe them.
) to believe that they can diagnose a person’s true status with God by some well-placed litmus test questions.