Ministers, elders, and all with responsibility for teaching the whole counsel of God need to think about how to teach their people a sound anthropology. It is not surprising that a world whose gospel is that of personal happiness has shaped the minds of a rising generation of Christians to see aspects of the sexual revolution as acceptable.

Recent Pew Research findings on the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod make for somber reading for all confessional Christians. Many like myself may not be Lutheran, but we look to the LCMS as a stronghold of traditional Protestant orthodoxy and number LCMS Christians among our friends. Indeed, one the few amusing memories from my time in academic administration was being at one of the Association of Theological School’s accreditation meetings where the LCMS representatives led morning prayers using all-male pronouns. Their indifference to the vocal protests of the faculty from the more radical schools present was a joy to behold.

Yet the Pew Research indicates that times might well be set to change. It reports that 54% of members think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Fifty percent say homosexuality should be accepted. While that represents a drop of 6% from 2014, the earlier survey was conducted by telephone, while the most recent was online. It is quite possible that difference is therefore not significant, given the caution that typically operates in less anonymous forms of polling. Fifty percent now favor same-sex marriage. Perhaps counterbalancing my caveat above, that is up 5% from 2014.

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