To Condemn Transgender Ideology in All Forms and Protect Children

WHEREAS, Scripture declares, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27); and

WHEREAS, Our Lord and Savior proclaims, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female” (Matt. 19:4); and

WHEREAS, God “formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7); and

WHEREAS, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone,” and made from one of man’s ribs “a helper fit for him,” which he joyfully called “woman” (Gen 2:18, 20–23); and

WHEREAS, God gave the gift of marriage for one man and one woman, whereby “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24); and

WHEREAS, David declared to God,“you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:13–14); and

WHEREAS, We confess in the meaning of the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them”; and

WHEREAS, God “created man and woman differently (as is evident) not for indecency but to be true to each other, to be fruitful, to beget children, and to nurture and bring them up to the glory of God” (Large Catechism I 207 [Kolb & Wengert]); and

WHEREAS, The apostle Paul’s words, “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), pertain not to the order of creation but of redemption; and

WHEREAS,Transgender ideology draws upon the ancient Gnostic heresy that asserts the true self must liberate itself from the body; promotes the false existentialist and feminist tenet that existence precedes essence; and perverts the word “gender” from a grammatical concept to an innate, self-disclosed feeling about one’s sex or to a performance of roles as defined by society; and

WHEREAS, Children are especially susceptible to the deceit of transgender ideology, whereby they are psychologically, emotionally, and physically abused; and

WHEREAS, Governing authorities “have been instituted by God” (Rom. 13:1) to “punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1 Pet. 2:14); and

WHEREAS, The Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed to all those who are suffering or deceived by false identity, that they might be healed and know an eternal identity in Christian baptism(Gal. 3:27– 29); therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) condemn transgender ideology in all forms, including but not limited to the use of false and fanciful pronouns, the lie of “sex assignment” at birth, cross-dressing, the implementing of communal, mixed-sex facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms, the prescribing and use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and other drugs for gender “affirmation”, and gender “reassignment” or “affirmation” surgeries; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod in convention call upon all Synod officials, district presidents, pastors, and congregation members to petition federal, state, and local governing authorities to ban all aforementioned forms of transgender ideology that impact children;

and be it finally

Resolved, That all LCMS pastors and congregations continue to proclaim boldly the goodness of God, our Creator and Redeemer, and direct all who have sinned or have been deceived to the forgiveness and abundant life in Jesus Christ (Col. 1:14; John 10:10).