Ok, I mean this in all seriousness and I hope to get a lot of responses to this. To all my readers, lay and clergy, why are you Lutheran? More specifically, why are you Missouri Synod Lutheran? This is something I have often wondered about when I hear about extremes within our synod, both liberal and conservative. So, if you are reading this and are Missouri Synod Lutheran, please tell me why you are. Be as specific as possible!
10 comments:
I'm Lutheran because I believe our Confessions and doctrine to be the clearest, truest interpretation of scripture. That Christ is the focus and reason, for the Bible and our faith. All other views of the scripture by other confessions are obscurrred to varying degrees. They may still have Christ and the Cross, but it will not be as clear as our Confessions. Why specifically Missouri though, I'll be honest, for me it is the synod in my area that is closest to the traditional Confessions. If another such as WELS or ELS were near, I might find myself swimming the Mississipi to join. Missouri though has a great history, one born from religious refugees who gave up possesions and homes to maintain a fidelity with beliefs and worship. A greater faith than mine by my own admission. Because of this example of the past I am inclined to not desert Missouri, rather stay and help (admittedly little) keep her path straight.
I started out Lutheran because I was brought up Lutheran, specifically Missouri Synod. Hoewever, the older that I have become and learned more and more about the Confessions of the Lutheran church the more I can say that I am still Lutheran because I believe that we have the best view on things. I constantly am grateful that I know my forgiveness dose not depend on some sort of works. I will stay in the Missouri Synod until, or if it ever happens that our synod becomes unfaithful to the Confessions which are our guide to reading the scriputres. I have always been happy to say that I belong to an LCMS congregation and do not forsee that changing anytime soon.
It is difficult to add much to the previous comments. I was not raised a Lutheran. My parents spent my teen years looking for a church that taught what the Bible teaches, and after a long search they stumbled on the Lutheran Confessions. I eventually married a woman who was a LCMS member. As adults, we considered other denominations, but none could convince us the Confessions were wrong because they so fundamentally look to Scripture as their source.
The LCMS has its problems right now, but the WELS and ELS have their own, if sometimes different, problems. I've been around long enough to know that no organization operated by sinful men will be without problems. So, I won't leave the LCMS unless the problems actually take them away from the Confessions. I think we are farther away from that point that a lot of peaple seem to.
Because I trust my Faithful Pastor to lead our congregation in accordance with the confessions.
Thank you for your comments. The church is blessed and the Gospel adorned by such informed laity. I was hoping to get some more responses from pastors, especially some of those pastors who are living on the fringes of both extremes.
I'm a Lutheran because of her Confessions. I was a reformed baptist until I was persuaded by Scripture of the real presence. I joined a LCMS church because it was the closest church to where I live and really the only Lutheran denomination that I had any dealings. I am about 50/50 on leaving.
Steven G.:
Don't leave too hastily. Unless you know of a church that is being run by non-sinners, you will find political problems everywhere. But, you can help solve our current problems by staying put.
Steven,
If I may ask: Where have you thought about going if you leave? And, are the political problems we are experiencing as a synod really enough to tear you away from the doctrines of the church? Also, you were not specific about the reasons you feel the need to leave, could you be more specific?
Good question, thoughtful answers, Golden Aardvark Aaward — who could ask for anything more?
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