LCMS Principles
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod takes God's Word very seriously. While not Literalists or Fundamentalists, our church body holds to a close reading of the Bible. That shapes the way that the LCMS views many contemporary issues:
Note: neither The LCMS nor 91自拍 is a political institution; neither endorses political candidates nor parties. Lutherans belong to a variety of political parties, or none at all. The list below is not meant to endorse any particular political candidate or agenda.
- God's creation: the book of Genesis tells a quite different story of the origins of the universe than Darwinian evolutionary theory. Taking God's Word seriously, we look very critically at evolution as a way to understand origins. This is an example of where faith and reason seem to clash. At the same time, an emphasis on creation gives us a strong base to encourage good and proper stewardship of our world as well as a basis to understand the equality of all people.
- The family and sexuality: God's creation includes plans for families and the Scriptures address both sexuality and families. Sexuality is a gift from God that is meant to be fully shared by a woman and a man in marriage. Families are the building blocks of societies. Because of sin, many families in our world are broken and dysfunctional.
- Gender issues: God uniquely created humans, taking the time to fashion both male and female. We believe that while males and females share an equality in Christ, one must also recognize their differences and their sometimes complementary natures (see, for example, procreation). And because Scripture very clearly states that the office of the Holy Ministry is limited to males, the LCMS ordains only men into that position.
- Life issues: Scripture tells us that life itself is a gift from God and, as such, it is not truly ours. Missouri-Synod Lutherans have generally been pro-life and against euthanasia.