To Condemn Heresy of Transgenderism as Violation of Commandments and Creed

WHEREAS, God’s Word teaches that He created mankind either male or female according to the body. To wit: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Gen. 1:26– 28) (see also Gen. 5:2; Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6; Rev. 12:5; 13); and

WHEREAS, God’s Word teaches that He created mankind either man or woman and these correspond with maleor female in Genesis 1:27, Genesis 5:2, Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6, Revelation 12:5 and

13. To wit: “The man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman,because she was taken out of Man’” (Gen 2:23); and

WHEREAS, God’s Word teaches that the distinction and difference between male and female is echoed in every creature in whom is the breath of life. To wit: “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.” (Gen. 6:19); also “Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male [husband] and his mate [wife], and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male [husband] and his mate [wife], and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth … of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah … They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life” (Gen. 7:2– 3, 8–9, 15); and

WHEREAS, God’s Word teaches that the Son has assumed a male body in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. To wit: “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4–5); and

WHEREAS, God’s Word teaches that He has sanctified both male and female by Baptism into His Son. To wit: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28); and

WHEREAS, God’s Word teaches that the bodies of both men and women shall be raised on the last day to live eternally in that same body and soul that He created for them. To wit: “after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:26–27); and, “if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom. 6:5); therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod in convention condemn transgenderism as a violation of the Commandments, most especially as a rebellious lie lacking fear, love, and trust in God who creates us male and female, man and woman; which lies to our neighbor about the nature of male and female, manhood and womanhood;and murders by encouraging the harm of the body;and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod in convention condemn transgenderism as a denial of the Creed, most especially a denial that the maleness or female ness of every human body is a good gift of the Creator; a false confession that by our own thoughts, words, pharmaceuticals and surgeries we can or should save ourselves from the body that God gave; and failure to confess that the baptized bodies of both men and women become the temple of the Holy Spirit to be raised whole and un defiled on the Last Day; and be it finally

Resolved, That the Synod in convention exhort all members of the church to regularly pray that all who have accepted the false doctrine of transgenderism would be converted to the truth or restrained from perpetuating this damaging lie, and to this end, task the LCMS Worship ministry “Let Us Pray” project to regularly include petitions for all who are harmed in body and soul by the same.