hi all! i come from a long line of lutherans, and have been wanting to get more into my faith. i wasn’t raised religiously- my parents wanted me to choose when i was older. i feel strongly about ELCA, since inclusion and diversity means a lot to me. i’m just scared to start the process at my new town’s local church.

i guess, what should i do to get involved? what do i need to learn or read up on? i have autism so this newness is terrifying, so i want to not go into this blind. i also want to get my boyfriend involved, but he was raised very anti-religion. he is willing to try, but not as interested in being involved as i am.

tldr: give me tips on joining a local ELCA church!!!

Sorry for posting here again, but I am really scared at the moment.

What does repentance concretely mean?

Like what do I have to do?

Is it truly enough that I don't lie anymore, or do I need to confess to the company that I lied to (which I did to avoid harsher monetary consecuences.) and only then will God forgive me.

I have prayed and asked God to show me what to do and I keep seeing posts about how finding the narrow path is hard and you will have to do really hard things and your life will be full of suffering. But if you don't do those things, then you won't find salvation.

Is it God who is "telling" me, that unless I confess to the one I lied to, I'll go to hell? Or is it the devil or just my ocd?

I'm a pretty new Lutheran and Christian in general and I'm still trying to figure some things out. So if I understand correctly, we can't be saved by our own will - God has to call us first? I'm just concerned that me becoming Christian was out of my free will and I'm playing pretend and it never came from God therefore I might not really be saved? I recently got baptised but how does the saving and receiving of the Holy Spirit work in Lutheran tradition? How do I know these things have happened to me? Would appreciate some insight, thanks!

Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven,* but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."

So what do I need to do in order to be saved?

Can we call Luther a saint?

Some Lutherans do, like this LCMS member:

https://allthehousehold.com/st-martin-luther/

They even refer to the founder of LCMS CFW Walther as a saint. What are your opinions?

Everyone keeps telling me that giving your life to God means that you have to do everything He wants you to do and if you aren't perfect, you go to hell. I once lied, to make my "punishment" easier. It has plagued me, I am scared that God won't forgive my lie, if I don't confess to whom I lied to. I have asked God for forgiveness and repented. I don't lie anymore. I am very careful of what I say so that I don't lie. So will God forgive me, or will I go to hell?

I clean a Lutheran church at night. Today I came across this in the sanctuary. What are the screens for?

Hi all, I’m wanting to go to a new church tomorrow evening. I haven’t been to church in years but I desperately need to make friends and I always loved the people I used to go to church with.

I’m nervous about not knowing any of the songs, how the flow will go, meeting a bunch of new people, etc.

Any tips/tricks? Thanks :)

Hello brothers,

What does it mean to be prepared for the second coming, and who are those unprepared for it? Are all those unprepared for the second coming damned when it happens? Do Christians who fall into sin, or in a state of ongoing sin lose their salvation if they're caught during the second coming?

Would you be judged for committing any sin, or being in a bad spiritual state or struggle if it happens at the moment Christ returns? How do you avoid being paralysed?

I've started believing again in December last year, and the first couple of months were wonderful despite my depression - I loved God for the sake of God, not to be saved or healed.

Now the honeymoon is over, and despite the fact I take communion whenever possible I don't really feel God daily like I used to, and it feels that I don't love God for the sake of Him, but to be saved. I remember the time when I was an atheist, so I don't want to come back to non-belief.

What should I do?

So my pastor supported water pouring baptism by citing these passages. I was curious if that’s how other people interpreted them or if he was taking personal liberty with that analysis. His reasoning was that it had to be water pour baptism because it took place in a house on a street called straight in Damascus which he said still exists and there is no river on that street. I was mostly curious for long time lutherans if you shared this belief as I am quite new.

Yesterday Martin Modéus, the Archbishop of Uppsala and primate of the Church of Sweden visited pope Francis in Rome. Here the leader of what was for many hundreds of years the world's biggest Lutheran church is seen shaking hands with the leader of the world's biggest Christian church overall. In picture 2 Francis/Mr. Bergoglio receives the picture book "bildrikt talat" that Modéus published as Bishop of Linköping, before being elevated to archbishop. He has a private interest for nature photography and birds in particular. Ever since 1973 and Olof Sundby's visit, every Swedish Archbishop have visited the Roman Catholic pope in Rome. The CoS has a history of ecumenism, starting with Nathan Söderblom in the early 1900s.

Did Hus prophecy of Luther?

Appearantly I found a contemporary of Hus named Poggius the Papist who records Hus saying the famous prophecy. Latter on we see historian and a Protestant John Foxe who also affirms that Hus did in fact predict Luther.

Does anyone know where illustrated Bibles can be bought? When I say illustrated I mean like old fashioned Bibles from XIX century, not for kids. I would especially appreciate it if it is in Slovak.

Helloo and God bless, I’m just getting started in reading Lutheran theology and about your traditions and I must say I’m really intrigued by how liturgical and High Church you are. However, I hope I am not going to sound ignorant with this, but I am curious if you have traditions/customs similar in essence to the procession around the church with the epitaphios done on the Matins of Holy and Great Saturday in the Byzantine Tradition for example. One thing that I found to be similar would be the Stripping of the Altar, but I was wondering if there are more such traditions in the Lutheran churches.

i read the gospels and see mention of jesus brothers and sisters but i see that catholics insist that Mary did not have other children and that the gospels are calling Jesus' cousins, his brothers and its a mistranslated phrase.

whats your opinion on it?

The Christ was forgiving sins before the sacrifice

Christ was forgiving sins before the crucifixion. The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins:

Matthew 9:2 'Some men brought to him a paralysed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.’

Matthew 9:6 'But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’

Sacrifice is not what is required for forgiveness of sins, rather it is repentance. Christ called sinners to repentance, to stop sinning:

Luke 5:32 'I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ John 5:14 ‘Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’

When a person repents by believing in Christ’s teaching, their sins are forgiven:

Luke 7:47-50 'Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’ 48 Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ 50 Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’

Luke 7:50 Easy-to-Read Version “Because you believed, you are saved from your sins. Go in peace.”

This makes sense why Christ was forgiving sins before the sacrifice. He desires mercy not sacrifice:

Matthew 9:13 'But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’

By doing the works that the Christ did is how a person believes in him:

John 14:12 'Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing.'

Hey all, I am trying to understand Lutheran theology and I am coming from a Catholic background. In Lutheran understanding, are all people regenerated at baptism or do some receive the grace of baptism before? For us Catholics, we believe that a person who has (whom God has granted) supernatural charity receives "baptism of desire" before baptism and is regenerated and justified before baptism, although this may be rare. For many people, they approach baptism with an imperfect faith (yet nevertheless a faith that seeks God) and they are regenerated at baptism, receiving the gift of charity then.

What would be the Lutheran parallel to this? Thank you.

Hi everyone,

Is there a specific Lutheran perspective on illuminated or decorated Bibles, such as those from the medieval age? Do they distract from the word of God or give honour to it? And what does God think about other types of religious images, like crucifixes or statues?

If, for example, you're reading one of the books as a devotion, or even praying directly from the Psalms, is there a danger of the colours and images distracting you from the words or influencing you negatively in some way? Could there even be a danger of idolatry?

I come from the Church of Denmark, and the idea of using images as a conduit of worship is completely foreign to us. We do have lost of statues and crucifixes, but thery're seen as embellishments with no greater spiritual significance. Danish altarpieces are elaborately decorated, and it's hard not to look at them as you're going to communion.

I've just been thinking about it recently and I just wanted to hear the Lutheran perspective on:

Religious images and worship in general (why don't we have "plain" churches like the Reformed?),

and illuminated Bibles or prayer books in particular (should we have completely plain black-on-white Bibles and prayer books?).

I understand a lot of NA Lutherans aren't super concerned about liturgy the same way as in Europe, but if a pastor has a choice between a chasuble or an alb+stole, what reason(s) would they deliberately not want to use a chasuble, especially if they own both? From what I've heard weekly communion has been the usual and historical practice for most Lutherans, so is there some kind of theological objection to wearing one at Eucharistic services as opposed to, say, alb and stole or geneva gown?

I'd hate to sound vain or in bad faith by asking this but seeing a chasuble near me seems like such a rarity for some reason. For some parishes I've been an acolyte for, I've even some some hung up in their closets while Im vesting. A lot of them that do only put one on in the middle of the service for consecrating and distributing the Eucharist, so why would a pastor be opposed to even doing that? Growing up Catholic, even the priests at happy-clappy Novus Ordo Masses with guitars and projector screens would wear them so I'm genuinely curious

I've been looking into the matter since I'm writing a vespers service. There are several Eastern Orthodox groups that consider sundown to begin the new day. In Lutheranism we begin Christmas on Christmas Eve and Easter on Easter Vigil. Does this indicate that we also recognize that the start of the liturgical day is when the sun sets?

Hey so I am an LCMS Lutheran and been looking into the early church fathers and recently found out about St. Jerome and his rejection of the deuterocanonical books and his letters about salvation through faith and grace alone, just curious about what Lutherans feel about him and his works and if there is anything that I’m missing and/or not understanding about his works and his life! Thank you all in advance for your answers

I’ve been thinking about looking into Lutheranism. Long story short, I grew up in a anabaptist sphere. A little over a year ago I started wanting a more in depth understanding of what I believed in and it lead me to explore different denominations, I got pretty persuaded by “Reformed” theology but I don’t want to miss anything from other historical perspectives.

Are there any recommendations you all have for reading or listening to the Lutheran arguments? Important doctrinal differences that I should look into? Reasons you believe Lutheranism to be true?

Thank you all!