The reply of
@MarkRohfrietsch is using some rhetoric ... or at least that's how I take it. I am from the LCMS, and this issue does come up from time to time. My impression is that it's said by people who don't like our firm stance on theology. Theology is not negotiable; we don't subscribe to the American mantra of "You do you" and "Live your truth". With that said, the LCMS I know will give the shirt off its back for those who are hurting, and welcomes everyone to join us.
The trite yet true phrase is that God loves you too much to leave you where you are.
If they went to an actual service or Sunday school with the intention of arguing and telling them they're wrong, yes, that would be rude and very ineffective. But sharing what we believe with people who happen to attend other denominations is perfectly fine in other situations.
Absolutely. I feel the same way about doctrine as the LCMS and I have had throughout my life close connections with your church, because many of the Gassmanns were members, being German Americans of Prussian and Saxon descent, and some of the Swedish American members on my paternal grandmother’s side joined the LCMS in recent years because of changes in some former Augustana Synod parishes of the ELCA in recent years. They stuck it out through the “Green Book” phase, but the new hymnal and the new theology that started to really appear in 2006, the same year as your denomination produced the excellent Lutheran Service Book, caused increasing dismay, and while some of the Johnsons and Larsons are still in the ELCA, others have joined the LCMS, the NALC and WELS.
In fact, I love the LCMS so much, and agree with its essential doctrines to such a degree, that I have considered joining it several times in recent years; I want to see if my current missions pan out because given my background in the UCC and the seminary I attended, I would not be surprised if all things being equal, the LCMS refused me colloquy, and indeed, strictly speaking, given my resume, they should, because I spent most of my ministerial career working as a junior pastor in a denomination that is opposed to the good things LCMS stands for, and which supports those things the LCMS rightly opposes (albeit in the hope, as yet unrealized that the confessional movement in the UCC, which is a thing, but most have given up - it was much more of a thing in the 2000s, could make a difference and restore the doctrinal orthodoxy which the LCMS solidly has, to some of the oldest parishes in North America, although at the time I was also a 5-point Calvinist and since then I have moved on, influenced by Wesley, Luther and Melancthon, and also less well known figures including Archbishop Laud, Edward Pusey, Gregory Palamas, Athanasius of Alexandria, Soren Kierkegaard, Kallistos Ware, and, ironically, John Calvin himself).
And, insofar as the LCMS might not grant me colloquy based on my CV, I support them - this doctrinal firmness is why the LCMS is a pillar of stability and Lutheran Orthodoxy, and has inspired the Mission Province to attempt a reform of the Church of Sweden, and similar conservative movements in Norway and Finland and elsewhere in Europe.
What I don’t understand is why the ELCA, whose precursors, the LCA and ALC, were so close to the LCMS, at one time, became less standoffish if you will.
Because I think if the LCMS is standoffish, then we all should strive to be as standoffish as the LCMS.
