Why Lutheran?

It's been over a decade now since I last tried to leave Lutheranism Yes, I tried.

I was baptized at the age of 4 and remained Lutheran but stopped going to church once I was out of high school because we ended up hating how the church we went to only begged for money...something we really did not have much of. It was so uncomfortable! (ELCA after the merger).

I married a Catholic and attended services with him on occasion because I still wanted a liturgy, but I craved the Lord's Supper (did not partake at the RC church). So, I returned to my church twice and hated it even more. WHAT HAD IT BECOME??? So me oriented and very contemporary trying to be of this world and like the other evangelical churches. It was not recognizable.

So, I began to investigate other denominations. In order to understand where God wanted me to be, I knew I had to read the Bible again from cover to cover. I did it in a relatively short amount of time. My journey of course ended up right where I started...as a Lutheran.

I could never be anything else. Why? Because I fully believe that what the Lutherans believe and especially what the Confessions state is a true exposition of what the Bible states.

I started going to the church I now attend because a friend of mine from high school went there. My pastor loaned me the book the Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel and wow, I just got it! No other denomination properly distinguishes between Law and Gospel. It's too muddied and always switches back to navel gazing.

So here I am. I enjoy coming to CF and posting but 2 of my favorite forums besides TCL are the Christian Advice and For New Christian forums. When I see people pointing to themselves, I try my best to point back to Christ. I don't know if I'm doing a good enough job, but at least I attempt to plant some seeds

The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther, which I don't see recommended all that often when someone asks about good books for Lutherans to read.

I was baptized as an infant in the Roman Catholic Church, raised mormon.

I am Lutheran because I realized that salvation does not depend on completing my checklist of good deeds. Because my Faith does not rest on how tingly I feel inside. Because the Lutheran Church does not hide its confessions of faith or what it believes from anyone. Because the Christian Church did not cease after the apostles died and start again in the 1800s.

I am Lutheran because about 2000 years ago God became flesh and paid for our sins in full, making us righteous in God's sight and the Lutheran Church proclaims that message the clearest in all of Christianity.

I'm Lutheran because we have the best polka

Reformation Polka - YouTube

Because scripture most clearly supports the Lutheran position. Specifically in regards to the sacraments. Lutherans are the only sola scriptura, sola fide, sola grati, church body that takes Jesus at his direct word when he says "this is my body" and "this is my blood."

Roman Catholics and E. Orthodox take him at his word but throw in their own traditions.

I used to be Roman Catholic, but I'm all better now.

I am Confessional Lutheran because, first and foremost, this is where God led me.
Secondly, it is the closest to the Church the Apostle's built that exists on earth today. This is evidenced by how closely it adhere's to the Apostolic teachings handed down in Scripture.

I am Lutheran because I was raised Lutheran. Taking Christian Doctrine both in high school and at college has confirmed what I was raised to believe.

mdseverin said:

I'm curious, why did you chose to follow the Lutheran denomination?

For me, my mom was Lutheran and my dad was Catholic. I was raised Lutheran but would go to Catholic mass with my dad during the summer and sometimes for Christmas Eve. When I was going through confirmation I tried to take an honest look at other denominations. I affirmed my Lutheran preference for a few reasons.

1) I like the liturgy form of worship.
2) I do not believe in purgatory, prayers to saints, or the infallibility of the Pope.
3) I believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist
4) We are saved by grace, through faith.

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My reasons are similar....


I was actually pretty happy as a Catholic, but there were things I just did not accept (as dogmas anyway): Transubstantiation, Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity of Mary, Assumption of Mary, Purgatory, etc. It's not that I so much disagreed with these as I did not accept them as presented with the mandated "docility." None of them were "deal breakers" but they would keep me from joining since I would thus be lying. The "deal breakers" for me - the things that caused me to leave - were the RCC concept of the church (itself) and it's denial of accountability (the dogma of the INFALLIBILITY of the Papacy is a part of that).


In Lutheranism, I found all I loved and treasured about Catholicism (including a strong pro-life stance) without needing to lie and without the prideful and divisive and problematic RCC dogmas of the church and the denial of accountability and responsibility.

But as I became active, I learned - powerfully - that Lutheranism isn't just "Catholic lite." There is an embrace of humility and community. There is a very different spirit revealed in the Theology of the Cross. As I came to understand and appreciate that, I moved from "I'm comfortable here as Catholic without the problems" to a firm embrace of Lutheranism - and then moved toward joining.


We all have our journeys


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mdseverin said:

Besides the ELCA, are there any Lutheran churches that don't preach young earth creationism? I have the LCMS Lutheran Study Bible and it does.

* I probably should have started a different thread

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Like the ELCA, I'm pretty sure the LCMC and the NALC have no position. There may be a few other small ones as well.

The ELCA does not as a whole preach anything, but it allows nearly everything.

My ELCA church taught young earth creation as part of the sunday school curriculum. However I bible studyed with a different church's bible study (due to the bible studies at my church never being at a time that I could make) and that ELCA church taught theistic evolution.

mdseverin said:

Besides the ELCA, are there any Lutheran churches that don't preach young earth creationism? I have the LCMS Lutheran Study Bible and it does.

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It does? Typically the LCMS doesn't take a position on issues like this, so I'm a bit surprised to hear that.

When I start talking about creation, people get the impression I accept evolution. So, I'll start by stating that I don't accept it. At the same time, I don't think churches should support YEC. That is a potentially flawed human conclusion that doesn't really serve much of a purpose. Rather, let's just stick to the position we know to be true - the Bible is inerrant and that includes the creation account given in Genesis.

mdseverin said:

Besides the ELCA, are there any Lutheran churches that don't preach young earth creationism? I have the LCMS Lutheran Study Bible and it does.

* I probably should have started a different thread

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The LCMS Study Bible is not the declaration of doctrine in the LCMS. It may reflect the opinions of the consultants and writers of the notes (listed on pages vii and viii of my tome). I can find nothing that says that the opinions therein expressed are the doctrines of the LCMS.

That said, I DO think that MOST of the clergy of the LCMS probably do personally affirm the young earth position, and I think there have been some Convention resolutions reflecting that opinion, as well. IMO, it's often good to recall that opinions (even by a majority of members) is not the same as doctrine or official teachings of that denomination.




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mdseverin said:

Ok. In the Genesis notes I remember reading that we should interpret the seven days as an actual 24 hour day because elsewhere in the bible it is clear that a day is 24 hours.

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... the (popular) opinion of those listed on pages vii-viii of the tome. It doesn't mean it's the dogma of the LCMS.




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Resha Caner said:

It does? Typically the LCMS doesn't take a position on issues like this, so I'm a bit surprised to hear that.

When I start talking about creation, people get the impression I accept evolution. So, I'll start by stating that I don't accept it. At the same time, I don't think churches should support YEC. That is a potentially flawed human conclusion that doesn't really serve much of a purpose. Rather, let's just stick to the position we know to be true - the Bible is inerrant and that includes the creation account given in Genesis.

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The LCMS does indeed support YEC because Scripture teaches YEC.

mdseverin said:

I found this on the LCMS. It talks more about their position on intelligent design than it does creation (young earth/old earth/gap/theistic evolution).

http://lcms.org/Document.fdoc?src=lcm&id=1103

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From the LCMS website:

Of Creation
(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, N.D.)
[Adopted 1932]

5. We teach that God has created heaven and earth, and that in the manner and in the space of time recorded in the Holy Scriptures, especially Gen. 1 and 2, namely, by His almighty creative word, and in six days. We reject every doctrine which denies or limits the work of creation as taught in Scripture. In our days it is denied or limited by those who assert, ostensibly in deference to science, that the world came into existence through a process of evolution; that is, that it has, in immense periods of time, developed more or less of itself. Since no man was present when it pleased God to create the world, we must look for a reliable account of creation to God's own record, found in God's own book, the Bible. We accept God's own record with full confidence and confess with Luther's Catechism: "I believe that God has made me and all creatures."

Also this...

Was the universe created in six literal 24-hour periods?

Q: A person, because of his study of science, does not believe that the universe was created in six literal 24-hour periods. Does this fact, by itself, render this person ineligible for membership in the LCMS?

A: A person's private views regarding this question do not automatically disqualify a person from becoming a member of the congregation. It is possible, of course, that someone holding to a given theory about the "six days" of the creation accounts also holds to views about the Bible that would be troublesome and perhaps in some cases detrimental to saving faith.
But judgments in this regard belong in the realm of individual pastoral care, and are not a matter of hard and fast rules so that someone's personal opinions in this area would become in effect a kind of litmus test for membership.
It has generally been taught in our church that unless there is a compelling reason, on the basis of the biblical texts themselves, to understand the six days of the Genesis accounts as anything other than normal 24-hour days, we are to believe that God created the world in six 24-hour days (see Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation, Question 97 [CPH, 1986, p. 106]).
Official members of the LCMS (congregations, pastors, rostered church workers), of course, pledge to honor and uphold the official position of the Synod on doctrinal issues, including its official position on creation.