Just wondering if so-called "angel numbers" are a new age deception or not. They seem to me to be used like tarot cards or horoscopes, with vague descriptions, etc. Is this a misuse of something based in truth, or just a fabrication?

Thanks in advance

Hey y'all. So, i'm a non-denominational Christian, i'm considering joining Lutheranism and i noticed that i actually agree with most of its basic principles, why should I and why shouldn't I join Lutheranism? How can I keep contact with fellow Lutherans since there are no Lutheran churches near me?

Hey r/Lutheranism,

I dont know if this is the correct subreddit to post but I just turned to Christ around (April to June) last year, when I was doing my language studies overseas.Since coming back to my home country I confessed to my parents about it 2 months ago. My parents tried their hardest, guilty-tripping and sometimes gas-lighting me to make me convert back to my old faith (a indian scripture called Thirukkural, practcing religion-neutrality and very much karma, reincarnation and rebirth based). These questions have therfore been asked from my parents on my convincing to Christianity

1. How is the soul/consciousness created in Christianity?
2. Why is it that eventhough we are God's creations, why are we still imperfect? Does God not have control of His own creations?
3. Why are the sins that Adam has done still haunting us eventhough it is said that all punishments of sins rightfully ours past, present and future are forgiven on the cross?
4. Where is God's kingdom?
5. Why is God so cruel to make those who are saved wait until Judgement Day?
6. Why is it that we Protestants have removed certain books from the Old Testament?
7. Why does God has a duality, judging good and bad? Isn't God supposed to be neutral to everyone?
8. How does we sinning or going against His Law affect God? Shouldn't he be the constant?

Small church in northern New Jersey is in the call process. We have gone through the District and are also searching on our own. We have a faithful congregation eagerly awaiting our next shepherd to guide us as we continue to serve. Let us know if you want more information. Moving forward with Christ as our leader. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

Hi all, I’m basically looking for input from others that have had a similar experience — you know for certain you are Lutheran but struggle with identifying as WELS/LCMS/ELCA and finding a church home.

Background: I was raised ELCA. As an adult, the ELCA churches I attended (different state, as I moved away) felt more like town hall meetings than church services to me — rainbow flags everywhere, the sermons were about whatever political issue, so on and so forth. Personally, I prefer closed communion too.

I started going to a WELS church and it actually reminds me much more of the ELCA church I grew up in, which I suppose maybe was not typical. The people are absolutely lovely. I am going through classes with WELS but struggle with some of the views that typically separated the WELS and ELCA — creationism (I lean towards theistic evolution), communal prayer (I want to pray with other Christians), life beginning at conception, and their seemingly intense focus on hell (I’m not sold that so many souls will spend eternity burning). I have no issue with the closed communion or male pastors though, which seem to be the typical complaints about WELS.

I guess I am just looking for advice on what to do in a situation like this, as having a solid church community that I can one day raise children in is critical to me. Thank you 🙏

In a lot of interdenominational discussions online, the common "gotcha" that Catholics and Eastern Orthodox people use against Protestants seems to be: "So you're saying that the church was wrong for 1500 years until some European guy came along to fix it?"

How do we as a tradition that came out of the Reformation (I'd even argue that we're THE Protestant church, since it was Luther that started the whole thing) respond to that? What rebuttals or explanations do we have?

Thank you and God bless.

Non-Christian here, trying to understand some things because well… I am considering becoming a Christian, but I have a lot of doubts, all of which I plan to squash with the help of Christians.

The first thing I did was dive into the “branches”, asking myself, “why branches?” Coming across Lutheranism as I guess - the largest and perhaps first branch that split from the Catholic Church. That’s where I came across a Lutheran belief that “you cannot be saved by good deeds and faith, but by faith alone.”

That appears to be a pretty hard line drawn in the sand… which leads me to wonder, how can Lutherans believe in hell, if the only thing saving them is faith alone - and not actions?

Further confusion, can one have faith that Jesus is one with God, and be horrendous to others - committing heinous and vile crimes and acts against humanity, but be saved because of their faith alone? Is that really what Martin Luther meant? Please assist! Thank you!

I am jealous of the global unity of the Roman Catholic church. I’m in Germany at the moment and the Lutheranism here isn’t the Lutheranism expressed in America. However, I imagine that the Catholicism here is the same Catholicism in America and in Africa and in Asia, etc. Even in America Lutheranism is no where near a unified expression of Christianity. I know there is diversity within Roman Catholicism, but that’s just it - it’s within the Roman Catholic church.

While I’d sooner be Eastern Orthodox than Roman Catholic in theology, being a part of something so…universal sounds very nice.

Anyone else ever feel this way? And any suggestions on what to do about it?

What is a Lutheran view of the Crusades. Luther was aganist them at first, but as Turks invaded Eastern Europe, he became more supportive of Christians taking up arms and the cross to fight of the infidels.

Same applies to the Reconquista.

Note: regardless of the Lutheran theological approach, Crusades in fact had a positive impact on the Western society and it stopped the Muslim conquest of Europe which would only bring persecution to Christians. During the Islamic Gold Age (700-900) came the Christian Dark Age (800-1000) at Europe's expense. It was a natural response, a self-defense.

Hello! I'm from the Church of Denmark (liberal leaning but I'm close to a good amount of theologically conservative people).

I've very recently been hit with a wave of anxiety, which I don't normally experience. I've felt lots of "what-if" obsessions that I don't usually feel.

My obsessions, bypassing my better judgement, have second guessed (and sometimes stopped me from doing) these things:

• playing hymns on the piano (motives, intrusive thoughts)
• drawing (second commandment, even though I know that not even strict Reformed churches ban all art)
• eating pork (something about Isaiah 66:17 from Hebrew Roots commentors on the internet whom I don't trust)
• eating rice (the Danish health authorities warned about improperly washed rice several months ago, even though it was washed)
• having dessert or any non-essential snack food (gluttony, even though gluttony is someting else, and that fruit and honey was consumed in the Old Testament)
• drinking coffee or soda (i don't know if there could be a reason, maybe gluttony)
• drinking any amount of alcohol (maybe gluttony, even though gluttony is something else, and that both Old and New Testament do not prohibit alcohol)
• drinking water from a plastic bottle (unhealthy microplastics, even though I know my water bottle contains no phthalates)
• having too many shirts in my wardrobe (hoarding and Luke 3:11)
• having a suit in my wardrobe (modesty, see above)
• listening to any kind of secular music (not God-centered enough, even though I know all music doesn't have to be explicitly religious in order to honor God)
• playing secular songs on the piano (see above)
• making jokes (Ephesians 5)

It's all just kind of difficult right now. I think it's obviously different from the context of Romans 14:23, which was about Jewish Christians with deeply held convictions about pagan sacrificial meat. I try to remind myself of in-context Biblical truth and listen to my elders, so I think I'm living from faith and doing things by faith rather than from my feelings. On some level I know that these feelings aren't from my actual conscience, but they're clouding it and it can feel paralyzing.

It's been getting better recently due to help from my pastor but I just want to hear your thoughts on Romans 14:23 and if it at all relates to my issue. Prayers are appreciated.

In researching the historic diaconate, it appears that Lutherans in Europe were key in the 20th century’s revival of interest in the restoration of the permanent diaconate as a distinct order within the church (even before Vatican II).

My question is: if Lutherans kicked off this restoration and had expressions of deacons in both Scandinavia and Germany, why hasn’t that translated very well to American Lutheranism (and why does the Romans Catholic church seem to have gotten the flow of it)?

I know deacons exist here and there, but it’s quite messy with deaconesses, congregational deacons, ordained deacons of a synod, etc.

Do Lutherans think she is an "ordinary woman", a "Saint"? What is the Lutheran view of Mary like?

PS: I'm Brazilian, so don't notice the bad English.

I worry about salvation of people who don't believe that during Communion, His blood and body is truly present, or that infant baptisms aren't valid and that baptism itself is merely a symbol.

It's not trusting His words about the bread and wine being literally His body and not believing in one baptism (regardless if being baptized was a person's conscious decision or not) that could be considered a blasphemy. Would salvic faith cover these sins or not?

i saw someone else post where someone commented "don't forget you're still Catholic."

i was curious, if someone were to ask "are you catholic?" would you reply yes or do you feel a need to specify that you are Lutheran?

i tried to do some research on this as i am fairly a new Lutheran and couldnt find much addressing it online but i saw that the sentiment was pretty well received on the aforementioned post but it left me confused.

are Lutherans both Catholic and Protestant simultaneously? i felt like this was a contradiction but perhaps i just have a misunderstanding of definition. Do Catholics also consider Lutherans one of them?

I’ve posted several times here about my hesitation with becoming Lutheran. There used to be two reasons. One was valid holy orders. I have been convinced by some articles and by Scripture that Lutherans are valid, so now we’re down to one.

Invocation/advocation of the saints. I’m convinced this is a valid practice and one I sincerely don’t believe I need to stop. However, this conflicts with the Book of Concord.

How would I fit in with Lutherans if i were to engage in this practice privately and disagree with the BoC on this one point?

Hello!

I'm an Anglican, but for several years now I've come to realise that confessionally speaking, I'm really an Orthodox Lutheran. Sadly however here in Britain Lutheranism (especially confessional Lutheranism) is next-to-nonexistent. I just wanted to very open-endedly ask if anyone has any thoughts, advice, pointers, recommendations etc. on how to manage such a situation. Anybody here theologically Lutheran but in another denomination or a country with no Lutheran presence? Would be keen to hear.

I'd also be interested to hear if anybody thinks that a kind of Anglo-Lutheranism (Anglican by patrimony and liturgical tradition but Lutheran in theology) is something that could hypothetically work one day? I know that many Anglo-Catholics in the ACNA are very close to Lutheranism theologically, but sadly Anglo-Catholicism here in Britain is incredibly Romish and hostile to the Reformation.

Peace be with you all.

​

I'm making this post just to share my gratitude for you all here, for being my spiritual guide in the past year. As some of you might know, I come from the Protestant Christian Batak Church (HKBP), the largest Lutheran church in Indonesia, but I didn't understand much of Lutheran theology, or HKBP's own theology back then. Through this community, I grew to learn more about Lutheran and HKBP theology, bought and read the Book of Concord and HKBP's Confession of Faith, and learned a lot about my church. From then on, I started journeying churches to churches to see the rich liturgical traditions of Christianity present in my city, Jakarta. Me and my friends also made an initiative to make a more characteristically Lutheran service for our parish's Youth Christmas service. We also started an Instagram account talking mainly about the architecture and history of church buildings and congregations in Indonesia.

I am now strengthened in my faith and in my spirit to serve, and now I am about to embark on a journey as the Youth (Naposobulung) Vice-Leader in my local parish. Today, I suddenly had a coincidental encounter with the Praeses (District President) of HKBP's Jakarta District, and had a very interesting chat with him, and he sent me the HKBP Almanac, a book that serves as HKBP members' spiritual guidance throughout the year.

I am really grateful to have found all of you here, for without you I don't think I can get to this point. I really feel how God spoke to me through all of you, and for that I am grateful. Hope you can all pray for me and my church so that our ministry bears good fruit for the Kingdom of God on Earth. Thank you! God bless you all.

I had a similar experience as one person how made another similar question.

When I was a beginner in faith I had no spiritual guidance and helper, and I started to be more religious at the age of 13 and had some questionable religious experiences.

One night I was dreaming and (because I thought about it that day) dreamed about Moses taking Jew out of Egypt. The I asked God in my dream "God, is this all true?" And then my dream stoped and I saw some light that was going into a circle and a strange noise. I asked "God, is it You?" And few moments later I woke up and for next few days I was 100% that was from God. But then I started to doubt it.

Because attge time I also had rather demonic experiences, like me shaking together with my bed at 3 AM, or dream paralysis etc.

So till this day I still cannot quite determine the origin of the experience.

My question would be, is it from God and what is a Lutheran approach to such issues or experiences?

I want to buy them a gift because I want to celebrate that choosing God and accepting Jesus as our savior everyday is an awesome thing. To celebrate their time spent in Catechism class and commitment in building a relationship with God.

Confessional Lutherans, do you consider NALC members to be Confessional? They claim to be one, and on Wikipediait says "moderate-conservative/confessional".

My situation is complicated with Lutheranism, but I went to the LCMS church in OTR this morning (understanding that there is an ELCA church three blocks away as well). Pastor John (Suguitan) is about ready to return home after a second attempt (and hopefully, a successful attempt) of bone marrow transplants, but he will be on quarantine starting out. Pastor John Mueller, who is a retired pastor and member of Prince of Peace, is holding down the fort for him.

This mostly applies to those living in the Americas but you don't have to be an American to answer. When Lutherans immigrated to the United States from various countries their church and previous ethnicity were often tied together and most Lutheran parishes were divided along ethnic lines. So back in the day in an American city you'd have a German parish, a Norwegian parish, a Swedish parish and so on. In some congregations even into the late 20th century there were typically two services, one in English and one in the original native language of the congregation. This is nearly identical to how Eastern Orthodoxy is in America today. So with that said, what's your family's Lutheran heritage? (If you choose other please specify in the comments)

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I was raised Lutheran, both baptized and confirmed in a Lutheran church. Going through Catechism was a great experience and something I've wanted my kids to have. I just can't over the number of negative experiences I had at the Lutheran church and school I attended. I also have bad experiences with Lutherans again later as an adult. Not just one, but serveral.

One thing I've noticed is the overwhelming sense of judgement they put on other people while also not doing a great job of setting a good Christian example.

Sure, not all Lutherans are bad, but the experiences have been enough to really make me second guess the religion altogether. It's just sad because non-denominational Christianity just doesn't feel right either.

Anyone else have a similar experience to this?

What is the definition of sola fide in the Augsburg confession?