‘Conscience’ Bible study
Pastor Bryan Wulfmueller’s “Collision of Conscience: A Bible Study” (on Page 2 of the October Reporter’s “Religious Freedom” insert) is most helpful.
He writes that, in view of Genesis 1:27-28, we can “surmise that family planning is left to the wisdom and reason of husband and wife.”
Yes, one approach is to surmise. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines “surmise” as “a thought or idea based on scanty evidence” and offers “conjecture” as a synonym.
Another approach is to consult the centuries of Christian theology and practice that address the subjects of marriage, children and contraception — including the works of Martin Luther and Missouri Synod theologians into the late 20th century.
In addition, Pastor Wulfmueller rightly mourns “a culture that relies heavily on contraception to promote sexual immorality and to reduce sexual intimacy to recreation and worshiping pleasure.”
We also may mourn the influence of secular society’s mentality of “family planning.” It is this mentality that has, at least in part, given us the current “collision of conscience.”
By the way, this collision was completely predictable.
Rev. M.L.F. Freiberg Sr.
Ogilvie, Minn.
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Posted Oct. 18, 2012
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