Ok be serious you guys because im curious.
There has to be a downside of every church whether a pet peeve or an unsung dogma that becomes a stumbling block for others whom may not get it possibly OSAS or predestination, the Pope being an anti-Christ? (Rare)... Or the struggle of faith perpetuating the will of Gods good works in the believer instead of works alone through faith for justification? Something as to annoy you. Some con as in every church
There must be something you dont agree with to some level... ?
1. In the Lutheran Confessions, there are some terrible things about the RCC papacy. My concern over these statements kept me from being Confirmed and officially joining a parish belonging to a Lutheran denomination for over a year. I do NOT believe that the office of the papacy or any (or all) "popes" are - in any sense - the antichrist. What I DO believe is that the Pope is a spokesman for that singular denomination and that the RCC is (at best) confused on the issue of Justification, and where there are things that seem to diminish Christ as the Savior, that is (by definition) anti-Christ. Frankly, I would not make a big deal of that (there are LOTS of cases of Christians diminishing Christ). I had conversations with my Lutheran pastor who conveyed to me these statements in the Confessions must be seen in their historical context, and that in seminary he was NOT taught that the pope or papacy was THE anti-Christ but only that the RCC in protesting the Lutheran position was indeed diminishing the Gospel .... when the RCC's "pope" parrots the RCC's entangled mess, he is voicing this. He conveyed to me his own deep respect for the RCC and his own belief that generally Catholics fully believe the true Gospel. He assured me that is the typical LCMS to me (in spite of an official paper as late as 1932). Eventually, I could live with this. BUT I strongly believe Lutheranism should just delete all that stuff from our Confessions.... not simply say "We hold to that... but not really."
2. The issue of "fellowship" has been very difficult, especially in the USA. This is an issue of PRAXIS and not doctrine, and I don't let PRAXIS determine my membership. There is a "tension" here, as I freely admit, and we should avoid either extreme. Where to "draw the line" is UNAVOIDABLY a subjective and arbitray thing. The LCMS has had many "fights" over this... and it continues to this day. On a practical, parish issue this probably impacts Holy Communion more than anything (but it is a bigger issue than that). LCMS congregations have a broad range of practices here.... and the LCMS itself has been very inconsistent.... and there tends to be a geographical aspect to this (parishes on the two coasts tend to be more broad, those in the midwest more narrow and strict)... but IMO, I'm a "broad" Lutheran (and in that sense, perhaps more in line with the ELCA than the LCMS). My LCMS parish welcomes to the Sacrament all Baptized believers who confess Christ as the Savior, repent of their sins and hold that Christ forgives and empowers, are committed to walking in the Lord, and who accept Real Presence (we also hold to First Communion and so don't commune those under 10 who have not completed that.... a position I tend to hold is too narrow, frankly I'd welcome babies). This means we welcome all Lutherans, Orthodox and Catholics ... and often others; it's not open communion but it's not the "close communion" you'd find in many LCMS churches in the midwest. There ARE LCMS churches who would strongly disagree with our praxis here, but I'd like it to be even broader (I'm a broad Lutheran, lol) This is the issue that divides the LCMS from WELS, with the Wisconsin Synod being more narrow in fellowship. In fact, we split over that very issue. In the 1950's the LCMS often had Boy Scout troops in their parishes, and they pray, and sometimes there would be troop members NOT officially members of the parish. WELS felt this violated "fellowship" praying with non-Lutherans, whereas the LCMS saw no problem with that. It actually caused a split so that the two Lutheran denominations have nothing to do with each other anymore. How silly.
3. Lutherans, like almost all European groups, has tended to be way too ethnic and way too little evangelistic. The LCMS (with roots in Germany) continue to use German until 1917, in spite of German no longer being the typical spoken language of LCMS members (only WW 1 changed that) and very few Americans. We're FAR better than the ELCA in this regard - with many more non-Germans and Scandinavians, many more African Americans than the ELCA or WELS - but it's still terrible. And we tend to look to Baptism and retention of children as our "growth" rather than the Great Commission. This is changing.... but our "culture" is to look to our own, LOTS of homogenious thinking. This is the same in Catholicism, Anglicanism and even more in Orthodoxy. A strong sense of reaching out to the lost - seen better in some other denominations, especially American formed ones - needs a LOT of development in Lutheranism. We "talk the talk" (really well) but don't "walk the walk" much.
I still haven't shared why I wandered to Lutheranism.... I will...
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