- Jun 9, 2016
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I was feeling incomplete without a sense of belonging and church liturgy ever since I came back to Christ after abandoning him for the lusts of my heart. When I came back, I had to address all the issues I had before I left, like my desire for liturgy and the belief in the Real Presence, for example.
In my quest for the proper church, I nearly took it too far. I started looking into Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism as their format of service was suitably high. I started buying into 'intercession of the Saints' and similar doctrines, but that is as much as I could 'swallow' at the time. I believe it was floating in my throat waiting to be expelled, though.
In my wild goose chase for everything that is regal and formal, I would share everything with my Mom and she would always tell me to look into the Scripture. I did, and the only thing I found that agreed with the EO and the RCC was the Real Presence in the Eucharist, a view I find to be a literal interpretation of Scripture, although if He reveals it to be metaphorical when I'm in Heaven, I will accept that, for that is His interpretation if it is so.
Within mere hours of Mom telling me to look into the Scripture, all the errors of the Catholic Church came to light, starting with the Holy Spirit pulling me away from anything having to do with Marian devotion. I felt ridiculously (like, severely) opposed to that doctrine. I asked a few Catholics about the matter and they said it took them awhile, but it was not what I felt. I felt revulsion. I pulled away within minutes and tossed everything I believed in, including the 'intercession of the Saints belief,' and even repented of my malpractice, since I did ask for God to tell the saints to pray. For that, I am deeply sorry, to all true Christians, and most of all, to the LORD who is a Jealous GOD.
I removed my favorited tab, which was a Papal 'apostolic' exhortation. I prayed and asked God to truly take me home. You want to know where home was? Where I started in the first place, before I went on my wild goose chase. I went in a circle and am back to the drawing board. And when I thought about it, I deeply resonated with Martin Luther.
He was a hero of the faith. God, through Luther, planted the seed of Biblical Christianity all over again. God's work through Luther has ended up in Christians believing on Scripture alone versus having the Pope decide everything, which is completely nonsense from a Biblical standpoint. Only Jesus Christ is our 'Supreme Pontiff.' He is the head of the Church.
Starting with his 95 Theses, he protested the Catholic Church's heresy. He challenged the authority itself. He saw the truth in light of Scripture and the verdict was that the RCC was clearly in the wrong in this matter.
He went on to defy, through Scripture, the entire institution of man. What he did not defy? Christ alone. Christ is the crux of the Faith.
It was not Mary. (I find Mary 'devotion' to be nauseating.) It was not the Saints. (Although we should look to them as examples of the Christian walk and honor them as such.) It was not tradition alone. It was not indulgences. It was not works. It is Jesus Christ. It is faith.
Being without Biblical basis is very scary. It feels like having pizza and having even clearly fatal substances available as topping. In the case, the Pizza Bible would clearly tell us what is supposed to go on the pizza and what is not. Get that?
I owe it to my mother for telling me to check the Scriptures, for God delivered me through them, indeed. And through discernment in the Scriptures, I find Lutheranism to be what I ought to believe, in regards to doctrines. Through Christ, I have found truth.
Feel free to comment and converse with me. I would appreciate friendly talk.
In my quest for the proper church, I nearly took it too far. I started looking into Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism as their format of service was suitably high. I started buying into 'intercession of the Saints' and similar doctrines, but that is as much as I could 'swallow' at the time. I believe it was floating in my throat waiting to be expelled, though.
In my wild goose chase for everything that is regal and formal, I would share everything with my Mom and she would always tell me to look into the Scripture. I did, and the only thing I found that agreed with the EO and the RCC was the Real Presence in the Eucharist, a view I find to be a literal interpretation of Scripture, although if He reveals it to be metaphorical when I'm in Heaven, I will accept that, for that is His interpretation if it is so.
Within mere hours of Mom telling me to look into the Scripture, all the errors of the Catholic Church came to light, starting with the Holy Spirit pulling me away from anything having to do with Marian devotion. I felt ridiculously (like, severely) opposed to that doctrine. I asked a few Catholics about the matter and they said it took them awhile, but it was not what I felt. I felt revulsion. I pulled away within minutes and tossed everything I believed in, including the 'intercession of the Saints belief,' and even repented of my malpractice, since I did ask for God to tell the saints to pray. For that, I am deeply sorry, to all true Christians, and most of all, to the LORD who is a Jealous GOD.
I removed my favorited tab, which was a Papal 'apostolic' exhortation. I prayed and asked God to truly take me home. You want to know where home was? Where I started in the first place, before I went on my wild goose chase. I went in a circle and am back to the drawing board. And when I thought about it, I deeply resonated with Martin Luther.
He was a hero of the faith. God, through Luther, planted the seed of Biblical Christianity all over again. God's work through Luther has ended up in Christians believing on Scripture alone versus having the Pope decide everything, which is completely nonsense from a Biblical standpoint. Only Jesus Christ is our 'Supreme Pontiff.' He is the head of the Church.
Starting with his 95 Theses, he protested the Catholic Church's heresy. He challenged the authority itself. He saw the truth in light of Scripture and the verdict was that the RCC was clearly in the wrong in this matter.
He went on to defy, through Scripture, the entire institution of man. What he did not defy? Christ alone. Christ is the crux of the Faith.
It was not Mary. (I find Mary 'devotion' to be nauseating.) It was not the Saints. (Although we should look to them as examples of the Christian walk and honor them as such.) It was not tradition alone. It was not indulgences. It was not works. It is Jesus Christ. It is faith.
Being without Biblical basis is very scary. It feels like having pizza and having even clearly fatal substances available as topping. In the case, the Pizza Bible would clearly tell us what is supposed to go on the pizza and what is not. Get that?
I owe it to my mother for telling me to check the Scriptures, for God delivered me through them, indeed. And through discernment in the Scriptures, I find Lutheranism to be what I ought to believe, in regards to doctrines. Through Christ, I have found truth.
- I honor Mary and the Saints for the example that they have shown to us through the Scripture and through the lives they lived out, but I do not venerate them, nor do I ask them to pray for me, for I ought to pray only to God through Jesus Christ.
- The Bible is the final authority to any matters of doctrine. To interpret the Bible through 'Holy Tradition' is shaky at best and completely false at worst. We are to interpret everything through the Scriptures to see if they are true.
- Salvation is by faith alone, in which such faith creates the will in us to do good works for the sake of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Faith without works is dead, but works alone do not amount to saving faith.
- Just as Christ came to serve us, we are to serve Him with the best of ourselves, as worship towards Him and as thanks for His grace bestowed upon us freely.
- I reject Calvinism, for it is poisoned with the deadly error of Gnosticism. The Gnostics believed that we were saved by nature, and if you look at Calvinism, the differences are watershed at best and nonexistent at worst. Calvinism is logical to a fault.
- While Lutheranism is free (at least mostly, nothing is perfect) from such influences. No double predestination, no limited atonement (in the Calvinist definition), and a higher dependence on what the Bible says over the logical consistency of systematic theology. (Which nearly always fails.)
- Christ's Church is not a denomination, but a spiritual union of all believers in Him. Therefore schism is impossible, for Christ's Church is absolute through all denominations and sects.
- The Catholics accuse Protestants with having split up into many, many denominations, which is true, but the Body of Christ has not, which they do not understand.
- I reject that any form of mysticism should be in His Church. Mysticism is subjective experience while Jesus Christ is objective. He is the only final Truth. And such final Truth has offered us His Holy Scriptures, so that we may nurse on the Word and become more like Him.
- As Lutherans believe, I believe that Christ is indeed present in the Eucharist. We are to commune of Him in Church to feed on His goodness.
Feel free to comment and converse with me. I would appreciate friendly talk.
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