LCMS President Gerald B. Kieschnick has been emphasizing the Synod’s strong support for natural marriage in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 
Particular emphasis is being given to states with marriage amendments on the ballot — Arizona, California, and Florida. Kieschnick said Oct. 20 that he is working with district presidents and pro-family groups in those states to make the Synod’s views known and to encourage Christians to vote.
“The importance of educating Lutherans and other Christians on marriage issues was highlighted once again just a week ago when the Connecticut Supreme Court struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban,” Kieschnick said. The state court’s Oct. 10 decision legalized same-sex marriage in Connecticut.
Kieschnick took note of a resolution adopted by the 2004 Missouri Synod convention that affirmed, “on the basis of Scripture, marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman.” It urged members of LCMS congregations “to give a public witness from Scripture against the social acceptance and legal recognition of homosexual ‘marriage.'”
“In the present context, we and other Christians cannot be silent, since such silence could be viewed as acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle,” Kieschnick said in a statement released following the court decision.
“We recognize that it is necessary to respond to this behavior with the same love and concern with which we address all other sins committed by human beings, including those inside and those outside the church,” he continued. “We do so without apology, yet with deep humility and respect, calling for repentance and offering forgiveness in the Good News of Jesus Christ when and where such repentance occurs.”
Kieschnick noted that the Connecticut Supreme Court compared the rights of blacks and whites to marry with the rights 
“A darker time in history prevented the races from coming together in marriage. To compare that reality from our nation’s past to homosexual marriage today defies comprehension,” Kieschnick said.
“Interracial marriage brings men and women together in a union that does not defy the laws of nature, while same-sex marriage goes against the biological, anatomical, physiological, and reproductive facts of life,” he added.
Kieschnick told Reporter, “The Connecticut decision contravenes not only the Judeo-Christian values that have defined the morality of this nation, but also highlights the downward spiral of moral values that is becoming so prevalent in our culture.
“As president of the LCMS, I call upon the congregations and leaders of our beloved Synod, based upon our deeply held principles, to take steps to reverse this trend, specifically at this time by doing all we can to help protect marriage as a divinely created relationship between one man and one woman,” he said.
Posted Oct. 23, 2008
