The issue is not telling people I'm Lutheran. It's explaining that I'm not a pro-female clergy, homosexual hugging, fine with anyone taking communion "Lutheran".
@ Aibrean: I had a debate with someone very close to me on why me seeing homosexuality being a sin is not me hating them. I don't hate homosexuals, I have had homosexual friends that were very kind loving people. I have homosexuals where I work that are "good" people...
... but there's a difference from seeing that, and viewing it as going against God's will, and those that persecute homosexuals, beat them up, want to do bodily harm and are very mean to them.
I will go out on a limb to say I understand this part of what you are saying.
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@ Jonmolby
I grew up in Assemblies of God/Pentecostal/non-denominational and would go to a baptist church with someone that use to be my best friend. Mainly though charasmatic was what I was raised with and what I thought was truth.
I left my faith 7 years ago now, and upon returning to it while in Afghanistan, I simply went back to my old habits. People had questions and I answered on what I remembered while reading the bible pretty in depth. I would have discussions with a fellow friend that I met that was raised the same way and believed the same things on premillennialism, the pre-tribulation/mid-tribulation rapture all while I still continued to read... and that brought me to a hault.
I would bring up to my friend how the bible actually didn't support pre-tribulation nor mid-tribulation rapture... and then the rapture itself caught my attention... and then it created a dominoe effect of me questioning how I was raised to believe. It led me to dig further and further until I destroyed all of my original views didn't know what to believe except that Christ was God incarnate and he rose from the dead for our sins.
Well a random chaplain was assigned to rotate to our small little base. He was a lutheran. The speaker announced that it was a non-denominational service, when I found it to be "catholic" like, though I found it poetic and beautiful I was appalled because it was so structured and had so much traditions.
This made me question why Lutherans were considered protestants. Well, this led me to the study of dogmatics. I was horrified at how some churches were built, what their theology was, others I simply scratched my head at how some like 7th Day Adventists could think they are the one true church. The outcome was that I'm to either be Catholic or Lutheran. Catholic because they are so in harmony across the world... because they claimed to have not changed from the beginning, and many other things. I hesistated because of how much power the Pope has, and that many positions in the end simply aren't biblical, so looking back at Lutheranism, the only thing I questioned was were if we truely were heretics for creating such a rift... I soon came to the conlusion that no this was not the case.
As for how I deal with family, well they are very accepting. My mother is just happy I'm back in church, she would prefer if I spoke in tongues and shouted Amen during service, but she truely is happy for me. My wife has been awesome since we married with Christ out of our life and suddenly I went religious... and now it's just kind of explaining to my friends why I worship and do things the way I do them now as opposed to them.
I wasn't being literal
