To Affirm Young Earth as Biblical Doctrine

WHEREAS, The Scripture of the Old and New Testaments, which is the in errant Word of God, is the only rule and norm of faith and life (Psalm 119:105; John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter1:21; Formula of Concord Solid Declaration Binding Summary 3); and

WHEREAS, Christ’s words presuppose the inspiration and veracity of the five books of Moses (Matt. 17:3; 19:4–5; Mark 12:26; Luke 16:31; 24:44; John 5:46); and

WHEREAS, Darwinian evolution presupposes death before and apart from sin which contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture that death came as a result of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21); and

WHEREAS, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) at the 2019 convention adopted Resolution 5-09A that stated, “God created the world in six natural days” which affirms that the earth was created merely a few days before Adam; and

WHEREAS, Jesus says that “from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’” (Mark 10:6); and

WHEREAS, While Israelite genealogies may not necessarily provide complete information from generation to generation, the chrono-genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11, which show the Messianic line of descent from Adam to Noah, and then to Abraham, do show a clear and complete line of descent which does not allow for any gaps; and

WHEREAS, In Genesis 5 and 11 the inspired, in errant Word also gives us the number of years that elapsed between the events listed there in; and

WHEREAS, Evolutionists would like you to believe that the Bible doesn’t give enough information about the age of the earth so one really cannot base his conclusions about the age of the earth on Scripture, but should look to science to answer such questions; and

WHEREAS, If Scripture gets it wrong on earthly things, how can we trust it on spiritual things? As Jesus told Nicodemus, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things” (John 3:12); and

WHEREAS, While evolutionary theories exclude God from the creation and require billions of years, these theories are emphatically refuted by a universe and earth that are less than ten thousand years old; therefore be it

Resolved, That the LCMS in convention reaffirm that Genesis 5 and11 accurately show the complete Messianic line of descent from Adam to Noah, and then to Abraham, giving us the time between the events listed; and be it further

Resolved, That adding the years given establishes the age of the earth as less than ten thousand years old rather than in terms of millions or billions of years.