Lutheran views of life after death

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Robdan

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Hello all this is my first post ! My name is Rob and I've been a member of the ELCA for around 3 years. I was raised Freewill Baptist so this has all been a big change for me and alot of questions are still unanswered. I am hoping to find some kind folks here to help me out in that department. Here goes:

Does anyone know what the ELCA or Luthern churches in general teach about life after death, resurrection after death, the 2nd comming of Christ, etc. My wife was asking me about it and all I could say was "I'm not sure!" If anyone could help I'd sure appreciate it.
 

Willy

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There are a variety of teachings in our church. You will hear a strong emphasis on resurrection, since that is the primary image in the Bible. As the church evolved and got further and further away from its Jewish roots (and thus embraced Greek thought) the emphasis became more on the "immortality of the soul--the notion that the soul leaves the body and lives on. For the most, this is not particularly Biblical. The Bible is much earthier. It speaks of bodies being raised and a new creation (a new heaven and earth) happening. I personally thinking that resurrection and immortality of the soul should not be literalized. They are means for suggesting that both life and death are God's. As Robinson says in the book with the same title, "In the end, God!" Our belief is that in the end God has the final word. And it is a word of life--an earthy word of life. (This is where I feel the resurrection motif is the most helpful.) In the end God will bring to completion what he has begun. This empahasis on the earthy character of the future helps us focus on what our task is here on earth. It is not simply about "saving souls." It is about living into the completed future that is promised. That gives us some very concrete tasks.
 
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RayJGentry

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Willy, are you basically saying that all life after death concepts are metaphorical, and that there is no life after death? Just the completion of God's cycle? If so, that's off base from what the ELCA believes. While you can have your own opinion about resurrection and life eternal, the OP asked what the ELCA believes.

Here's from the ELCA website:

ELCA Lutherans confess the New Testament proclamation of "the resurrection of the dead (The Nicene Creed), or "the resurrection of the body (The Apostles Creed). To understand this proclamation, we turn not only to Jesus’ promise of new life after death, but also to St. Paul who speaks of the resurrection as our being given a spiritual body, not after the image of the first man (Adam) but after the image of the man from heaven - Jesus, the Christ (John 11:25, 14:19). Paul tells the congregation at Corinth that "Resurrection will involve a transformed body, as different as the grown plant is from the seed - a body imperishable, not perishable; powerful, not weak, spiritual (pneumatkios), not physical (psychikos), in the image of heavenly origin, not from the dust of the earth" (1 Corinthians 15:35-44). For St. Paul, and for ELCA Lutherans, death in this body is real, but so is resurrection. It is a transformation to new life, (e.g., "...we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. ... For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed" (I Corinthians 15:51b-52).
Most certainly, in common parlance and in our knowledge that a corpse decays, soul has come to be identified as that which lives on after death, even as in the child’s prayer "... I pray the Lord my soul to take." Yet, in faith we know that this resurrected self is the totality of the person. The whole person is given a new form or manifestation by God, who again breathes into us the breath of life - this time of a life which will never end. When that happens we will be enjoying the life lived now by the risen Jesus and by all the departed whom God has also raised.
 
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Willy

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All religious language is metaphorical. But that doesn't mean that the reality described by the metaphor isn't real. Yes, I believe that death is not the final word. The metaphors we use (resurrection, immortality) help give shape to our trust in that truth. All I'm saying is that resurrection is the most faithful image. And that is what the ELCA site is saying, too.
 
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RayJGentry

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So, how exactly is that metaphorical? Either there is a bodily/spiritual resurrection, or it just means something else. I'm just wondering what it's a metaphor about exactly. There is a resurrection of a part of us that exists on this earth that will exist with God for eternity. It's either metaphor or the way it is.
 
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CaffineAddict

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I just want to restate what Wille already has stated. The idea of there being a speration between the body and the soul, the spiritual and the physical, is a western construction based off of our shared greek, philosophical heritage. Paul gives the example of Jesus as a first fruit of the resurction that will come, a resurection that is bodily just as Jesus' resurection was bodily.
 
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rockytrails

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Lutherans of every synod believe in scriptures to the point where we are so different from protestants and catholics because we hold our reason captive to scripture rather than use our reason in Judgement over scripture .
so their fore

we believe when one who trust's Jesus merits alone for free and full forgivness of sin dies his or her soul goes immediatly to be with Jesus in heaven and when Jesus returns on the last day of history judgement day those who have died in Christ will receive new and glorified bodies.

those who did not believe Jesus will have suitable bodies for eternity in hell


Lets be honest who but a lutheran could believe in the scriptual teaching of baptismal regeneration or the scriptual teaching
of the real presence of Jesus body and blood in with and under the elements with out a mingling of trhe elements of bread and wine and the true Body and blood of Jesus.given for the forgivness of sin that same body and blood shed two thousand years ago on a cross .
No one but a lutheran would put his reason aside and believe such holy scriptures
 
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Antiochian

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The church here really doesn't "know" anything about those things. It's not apocalyptic at all and it just teaches the usual heaven and hell. Some priests are universalistic (I know since one wrote a book like that), and some may be annihilationistic.

Also, what "branches" do the Scandinavian churches belong to anyway, if they do at all? I didn't even know there was a division like this.
 
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rockytrails

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when a person dies his soul goes to heaven or hell
depending on whether God see trust alone in Jesus merits or not
for their salvation.

the body returns to dust Until Judgement day.


this is what the bible teaches and what was taught at Luther seminary Decorah Iowa
and at st Olaf college religion classes by some very bible believing
Lutheran professors their to.


One should remember the ELCA is one of the newest synods in Lutheranism and still struggling to see it self as truly lutheran
or some other church . But thank God their are many IN THAT SYNOD of the old ELC Synod truly Lutheran because they
believe the scriptures even when its not popular to do so.
 
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DailyBlessings

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One should remember the ELCA is one of the newest synods in Lutheranism and still struggling to see it self as truly lutheran
or some other church .
Er... I don't think the ELCA has a denominational identity crisis. But I also don't think one should value one's denomination over that which is right. I am a Christian, first and foremost, not a Lutheran. And in the eyes of the world and the body politic, that is part of what makes me Lutheran.
 
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jcj3803

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I received this from directly from ELCA awhile ago:

No one knows what happens to the soul between bodily death and resurrection. The ELCA does not speculate about that. Yes, we see the soul as different from the mind, but certainly it contributes to a person's personality.



Miriam L. Woolbert, ELCA Department for Communication


>>> wanhelp@elca.org 1/25/05 4:53:23 PM >>>
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Question:

I'm not sure I understand from your FAQ what the ELCA position is on the existence of the soul. Specifically, does ELCA see the soul as
something separate from the mind / personality? What happens to the soul
between bodily death and the resurrection? Thank you.
 
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