Before you answer the question, this post is not a place for attacks, so if you want to bash Lutheranism or Protestantism, there are plenty of places on the Internet where you can do that. This is not one of them.

Okay, on to the main question: So this is a question about salvation specifically in Lutheranism, but it can also apply to some extent to Reformed Christianity. Most, if not all, Protestant denominations believe that salvation is attained by faith alone. However, Lutheranism also affirms that baptism and the Eucharist are means of grace by which God bestows His saving grace upon us believers.

So my question is, are these “means of grace” outward signs and not pure faith? While I know that in extreme cases one can be saved without these means of grace after sincere repentance, a famous example would be the thief on the cross (Luke 23:33－43), Paul also mentioned that baptism saves (1 Peter 3:21, Romans 6:3－4, Titus 3:5, 1 Corinthians 12:13).

While I believe that this is not necessarily a contradiction (and most likely not), I still want to know what Lutherans mean when they say "means of grace" and how they differ from "works" that are outside of faith.

P.S．I know a little bit about EvanBaptist theology, which says that baptism and the Lord’s Supper do not save because it is not "salvation by faith alone", and also CathOrothodox theology, which says that we are saved by faith＋works. So how do Lutherans see it?

I have not attended church for 22 years. I was 16 when I stopped going to an Assembly of God church where I grew up. The last 2 months I was attending mass at my local Parrish. I had thought about converting to the Catholic Church. I was told because of things that happened in my past that my current marriage was not holy in the eyes of the Lord. I was abused in my first marriage. I struggle with addiction and suicide because it and I got divorced. I have since remarried and have children. I am planning on attending my first Lutheran service this Sunday. I wanted to find a church that held tradition and the Bible close together. I am nervous and don't know what to expect. I have been praying and aslked for the Holy Spirit to guide me to a new church family. I wanted to know is there a Lutheran or protestant set of rosary or prayer beads that I can use daily. I did like praying the rosary daily because of the connection I felt with the Lord. Does anyone know of anything? Thank you for your help!

How do lutherans explain the miracles of fatima, and guadalupe, which are both supported with strong evidence of them actually occurring. Also how do you disprove other Mariam apparitions, or eucharistic miracles in the catholic church. Also what about padre pio and his miraculous wounds. I’m just wondering because these are highly convincing for one to join catholicism. I understand the biblical arguments against it but these miracles seem to go against what i thought.

Hi folks,

I'm interested in reading some Luther. I'm especially interested in reading any of his reflections on his time at the Wartburg Castle. Does anyone know where he discusses his time there? Thanks!

I know this is my second post today but I’m worried that I don’t have the Holy Spirit with me and that I committed the unforgivable sin or a mortal sin with my addiction which I’ve been trying to stop

I’ve been dealing with sin and my addiction to lust And the p word. I try to resist and stop it but there’s a part of me that o hate to say it but likes doing this. I know it’s wornf and yet I still do it no matter how hard I try not to. I fell like I’m not good enough that I’m doomed that my faith isn’t good enough I also fell like I do t have my conshinse and the holy spirit Which has me worried that I’m not good enough that I’m not saved that I ruind my faith and everything

hi everyone! we finally got a viable candidate for the call we have been making at our church. we have been looking for 2 years and this is the first time we made it to the interview stage with someone.

please share key points we can bring up with our candidate or possible questions we could pose for them.

we have some questions already lines out but being that this is our first interview i would hate to miss asking something important.

thanks in advance

peace be with you!

goodafternoon brothers and sisters. today, I would like to invite you all to the discord server that I've made to allow the love of Christ to be transmitted across the globe. but I need help to get it across the globe. I would like to enlist all of you to help spread the kingdom of heaven across the internet. brothers and sister. the world needs you. there are many people on the internet who are dealing with the perverse plight of nihilism. Help save those people who need the help the most by helping us preach the word across the internet to those in need. 

Tap the link to be transported to the discord server. 

https://discord.gg/tYyKRFub

So being an Ex-catholic now converting to Protestantism I find Lutheranism is pretty close to the western Roman Catholic rites /liturgies here I there(no offence) especially the thing about holy Mass in the Lutheran churches as Martin Luther himself also believes in real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.So in the Roman church the priests generally bless all the religious items for example the crucifixes and holy icons before they're declared to be "holy" and "dedicated to God".So here I'd like to ask if this blessing is also common in the Lutheran churches since I've seen beautiful crucifixes in your churches and beautiful liturgical clothes that really resemble the catholic ones,do they have to be blessed and treated with great veneration when we look upon them later?Thank you .

hi! i’m Christian (born and raised Catholic) and i struggle to find a Church that feels right to me. i’m really into Lutheranism and Orthodoxy, however Lutheranism feels more correct to me. can you tell me what makes the Lutheran Church right theologically? because biblical and theological accuracy are very important to me. and are there any Polish or just European lutherans here? God bless you all 🩷✝️

(Answers from Americans would be preferred specifically from the LCMS and ELCA)

Ive been on this sub before and the last time I was on here I was asking whether I should draw closer to lutherans or anglicans since I wanted to convert from the Baptist church. I was rather sure at that point that I was going to remain a protestant. The Papacy, purgatory and a lot of other catholic doctrines seemed wild and the Orthodox seemed way too in line with the mystic part of Christianity but not the logical part. But ive been doing some digging into catholicism recently and im scared. I read the catechism, watched the apologetics and looked at the subreddit and I recently asked on the catholic subreddit what they thought of Protestants. Now I wonder. How do I answer these new questions that have appeared to me

How do lutherans deal with the Catholic claim that them and other protestants are schismatic heretics

Apostolic succession?

Why did luther remove the apocrypha if it was common place to use it for a thousand years at that point?

what power do Lutheran pastors have if not that passed down from the apostles? Christ left us a church after all not a bible.

Church Tradition?

One true church?

Confession?

absolution?

Thank you dearly.

I'm having a tough time deciding between the ESV Lutheran Study Bible from Concordia and the ESV Study Bible from Crossway. Was thinking I could supplement the Crossway Bible with Lutheran books on the side, but does it make more sense to just get the Lutheran study Bible? Thank you!

Hello everyone! I am currently a very cynical atheist rather than a Christian. And I am very tired of it, because I need God. Most churches seem to me to be very dogmatic and conservative, so I remembered liberal Protestantism and am considering liberal Lutheranism (forgive me if the word "liberal" seems inappropriate to you), that is, for Americans this is a familiar phenomenon from the ELCA, as I understand it. And for Europeans from the mainstream Lutheran state churches. I like Lutheranism, but I have a number of troubling questions: 1) Do my ideas coincide with reality that members of the Lutheran World Federation (not the Missouri Synod) have a good attitude towards secular Christianity, perhaps even non-theistic trends in Christian thought and liberal (progressive) theology? 2) Can I be confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in my country and receive communion in other Protestant and non-Protestant churches? For example, can I occasionally attend services and receive communion in the Church of England. 3) Can my theological views partially disagree with the position of the Evangelical Lutheran Church on certain issues, including faith, morals, etc.? How does Lutheranism relate to pluralism of opinions that go beyond traditional Lutheranism? I want to clarify the context of my questions at the end. I want to find a denomination that is maximally secularized, liberal (not politically, but theologically), pluralistic and inclusive, which will give me the opportunity to communicate with Christ without the barriers that the churches I attended built. Thank you all, forgive me for the inaccuracies, English is not my native language.

First some backstory about my faith..

I was born into the Catholic Church and raised by a very Catholic father. On the other hand, my mom was a Lutheran. We mainly attended a Lutheran church as that is where most of our local family went. When we moved away at a young age, we switched to going to Catholic mass every Sunday and remained that way until I graduated college. Ever since I was little, I have always gravitated towards the Lutheran or non-denominational churches. This is both from my beliefs in scripture and the sermons tend to connect with me more and I learn so much more than in the Catholic church. I feel as though my spiritual life is being much better fulfilled in the Lutheran church.

After deciding to explore away from the Catholic Church a little bit, I have really dove into the scriptures to determine what I truly believe. I have heavily debated the differences between the two denominations without having much of a personal influence or emotional interjection. I truly just wanted to understand my faith more.

After going through this process, I have ultimately come to the conclusion that there is no one right answer. This feels wrong to say, but there are things I believe the Catholic Church has right, things that the Lutheran church has right and things that I think are more up to interpretation through the Bible that nobody 100% knows.

I don’t really want to discuss the differences, or why one is wrong or right in this post. I’m mostly looking for guidance on how I can develop a better relationship with Christ, because ultimately I believe that has a much greater importance over what church is the right place to attend.

I currently feel like I am “cheating” on each of the churches when I attend the other and it doesn’t feel right. I really don’t know what to believe and I am worried about deciding on the wrong direction. I will continue to pray for guidance, but do you guys have any recommendations on how to proceed or has anyone gone through this process before?

A simple question, I'm now reading the Apostolic Fathers and Saint Ignatius of Antioch talks about being judged by our works, it came to mind how this relates to being saved by grace.

There are other verses from what I saw (Matthew 12:37 | Revelation 20:12 | 2 Corinthians 5:10-11 | Ecclesiastes 12:14)

It's an honest question, I wanted to understand the relationship between these things, are we saved by grace through works, or do works only testify to faith? And if they only testify to faith, why will we be judged by them?

Thank you in advance and forgive my stupidity

Wonderful play btw but it was during intermission and me and my best friend are in line to use the bathroom and she goes hey I have some questions I'm kinda confused and I say to her wait a minute your mom didn't make you go to church every Sunday? She looked and me and said no and I laughed to myself and I had to explain to her what I knew and remember (it's been a long time since Ive been to church) IDK why but in my head I just assumed everyone went to church regardless of what you are Luther or Catholic it just made me laugh I just wanted to see the play cause of how great people talk about it great play I remember it to anyone we saw it on a smaller stage and it was just as good! Also child me is very mad at my mother for making me go meanwhile my friend got to stay home Sundays 🤣🤣❤️❤️

Let's compare how our practice of Lutheranism looks like in different parts of the world. :)

Ideally, it would be nice if you can post the Divine Service of your own church, but if your church doesn't film the services, then share something that would represent your particular region of the world.

I pick the Divine Service from past Sunday in Kaarli Kirik (named after the Swedish King Karl XI), representing the Lutheran Church of Estonia. You might notice that the Divine Service is called the Mass here.

Since it might be hard to navigate a service in foreign language, even if it the order should follow mostly familiar pattern, I will write out the exact minutes of things happening.

02:00: Entrance procession, followed by some introductory words

07:10: First song of the day

10:55: Confession of sins, Kyrie and Absolution

12:15 - 16:00: Gloria + prayer (both sung)

16:20 - 20:30: Readings from 2 Kings 4, Psalm 105 and Romans 12

23:00: Holy Gospel (Wedding of Cana)... notice how they cross themselves: forehead, lips and heart

26:40: Second song of the day

28:30 - 42:30 (14 minutes long): Sermon

43:00: Apostle's Creed

45:00: Third song of the day

46:50: Prayers of the Faithful

51:30: Prayers for the departed members: notice the Marian icon, occasionally people pray rosaries in front of it (not during the service ofc)

53:30: Cool bass voice singing

56:15: Fourth song of the day

1:00:45: Pre-communion rites with cool melodies

1:02:21: Sanctus

1:03:15 - 1:10:30: Consecration of the elements (versus populum with kneeling, head bowing and bells), sharing of peace, Agnus Dei, "Lord I am not worthy, but just say a word and my soul shall be healed"

1:18:30: Post-communion chant, followed by a song

1:31:45: Closing chant (a Taize song)

I really like Lutheranism and the focus on faith alone and still believing that Christ is present in the Eucharist, I have been non denominational my whole life and was never baptized but I really want to be a better Christian but it’s so hard to know which church to go to since there are so many denominations. I want to try out a Lutheran since it’s what makes most since to me other than Catholicism, and just have some questions

1. Why did you choose/stay Lutheranism? As opposed to other Protestant denominations or Catholicism & orthodoxy.
2. What Bible version do most Lutherans use? That’s another thing I’m having trouble with.
3. How do Lutherans practice holiness?

Hello from southern Italy.A very Catholic place where unfortunately I could never find inner peace.I don’t despise by any means Catholicism but my personal disagreements with its doctrines tend to be quite radical.

After many years spent believing that Christianity was all about crying statues and bothering about the Pope,I have been wandering through the barren lands of atheism,despair and materialism.

I thought that my distance from God was so far I could never be forgiven.Because it’s not faith alone,but works and not dying in a state of mortal sin that saves us.That was engrained in my mind.

But then I finally found Lutheranism.I started reading the Bible,the Book of Concord,the Small Cathechism and man,does it hit home!

By the end of January I will start attending some online meetings organized by a small LCMS mission that operates here.God bless them.

Also,we have a Lutheran church here,but the nearest parish is kinda far and I can’t go there more than once a month unfortunately.

I was an atheist, then an agnostic… I was baptized in the Orthodox Church. Everything in my church repelled me from faith. I thought that the church is money, gold, hypocrisy and patriarchy. I do not see God in it. But when I attended a service in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. When I heard the priest, when I felt the people around me… I felt God. And now I want to change the church denomination and become a Lutheran.

Please give me advice. Where should I start?

This probably a very long shot, but my friend's son has autism and there's nothing in the world he enjoys more than collecting VBS materials. He learns all the songs, characters, and lessons and even puts them on for friends and family. He is searching for the Discovery Canyon VBS kit from Augsburg Fortress Publishing from 2009. If anyone has this kit at their church collecting dust, it would be amazing to gift it to him. His mom has already contacted the publisher but they've moved 3 times in recent years and don't have it. Any leads are appreciated!

I've been trying to figure out what it is but I've been getting different answers from people in real life and on the internet.

It’s strange to me that one of the biggest problems I see protestants having with the Catholic Church is that they venerate saints yet I also noticed that lutherans still have saints but if you don’t venerate them why then what role do they play?

Do I need to believe that God will absolutely condemn people who have never heard of the gospel, despite them having the natural law written in their hearts? Can't I believe he's gonna judge them by their consciousness?

I'm trying to sort my faith out, the Catholic Church is making me physically sick, so I want to leave, I'll try to take a break from any churches right now. But I have a bit of interest in the Lutheran Church. I've heard about predestination, and Calvinism hurt me, very much, but with Lutheranism, I heard that God gives grace for everyone to accept, but we are able to reject it, right? Also, is it mandatory that I go to church every sunday? I don't wanna become obsessed and sick again. Are there any food or relationship restrictions? In the terms of can a Christian (of any denomination) and a non Christian getting married, clothes restrictions? Can I still have rosaries? Immaculate conception?