kdm1984
WELS
- Oct 8, 2016
- 309
- 366
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
I was originally raised in a WELS church, bu my parents left in 1993, and then started doing mostly random and inconsistent "home church" where they got led away by their own whims and notions, including an unhealthy obsession with trying to figure out the year and month of the End Times. My mom in particular got very Pentecostal-ish during this time, obsessed with watching TBN, thinking Benny Hinn did real miracles, etc., and my dad let her get into these things without discernment. This sort of thing lasted a long time, bore very little fruit, and led me to being an agnostic in my late teens and early twenties. I wasn't taught any deeper theology, very little about Biblical morality (inappropriate content, fornication, etc.)...my family was loving, but was (and still is) extremely weak theologically, and should have never left organized church (my mom passed away last year; dad is still around, but I no longer consult him on theological issues, and he admits to not thinking about them very much anyway).
I eventually came back to the faith in 2005 when God convicted me I was leading a sinful life that would lead to hell if I didn't turn from it. Still, it was a long road until I came back to the Lutherans, LCMS in particular in 2018 (confirmed just over a year ago). There were several years spent in Calvary Chapel, a half a year spent with Independent Fundamental Baptists, many years spent online getting influenced by Vision Forum Calvinists...none of these had the balance and stability I remember from Confessional Lutheranism. CC was too emotive and too unstructured in their understanding and application of Scripture, IFB was overly obsessed with getting large numbers of converts that never materialized due to their faulty 'salesmanship' soteriology and poor discipleship, and the Calvinists were too arrogant, self-congratulatory, and self-righteous, always pointing back at themselves and how much more moral and scholarly they thought they were compared to every other type of Christian.
I've been in an LCMS church for over a year now, and it's been wonderful. There is a good balance of both the mind and the outward working of the Christian life.
I eventually came back to the faith in 2005 when God convicted me I was leading a sinful life that would lead to hell if I didn't turn from it. Still, it was a long road until I came back to the Lutherans, LCMS in particular in 2018 (confirmed just over a year ago). There were several years spent in Calvary Chapel, a half a year spent with Independent Fundamental Baptists, many years spent online getting influenced by Vision Forum Calvinists...none of these had the balance and stability I remember from Confessional Lutheranism. CC was too emotive and too unstructured in their understanding and application of Scripture, IFB was overly obsessed with getting large numbers of converts that never materialized due to their faulty 'salesmanship' soteriology and poor discipleship, and the Calvinists were too arrogant, self-congratulatory, and self-righteous, always pointing back at themselves and how much more moral and scholarly they thought they were compared to every other type of Christian.
I've been in an LCMS church for over a year now, and it's been wonderful. There is a good balance of both the mind and the outward working of the Christian life.
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