> The LCMS holds to a YEC position, but the church I attended did not really
> discuss such issues, so I didn't come in close contact with the Scientific
> Creationists until my first year of graduate school.
I grew up in the Missouri Synod &, while I have some significant
disagreements with its positions (including its rejection of
human evolution), I have considerable respect for its contributions &
don't want to see it take any unnecessary hits. It is not really
correct to ascribe an official YEC position to Missouri. Its official
"A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles" from the early
70s rejects as false teaching, _inter alia_, "the notion that man did
not come into being through the direct creative action of God, but
through a process of evolution from lower forms of life ..." and "the
notion that Adam and Eve were not real historical persons ...". This
statement does not, however, deal explicitly with the age of the earth.
In a private conversation which I had in 1974 with Dr. Jacob Preuss, at
that time LCMS president and the main force behind synod adoption of
this statement, he told me that he had no problem with the idea that the
earth was millions of years old. Human evolution. however, could not be
accepted.
Of course there have been & are many LCMS members who hold a YEC
position. (On the other hand, there are those who think that not only
an "old earth" but human evolution are theologically acceptable, but who
keep a low profile on such matters.) But - while I am open to
correction, not claiming to keep up to date on everything or even most
things that happen in Missouri now, - that isn't an official stance.
SHALOM,
George Murphy