How did that go? My wife and I are in the process of joining (in my case coming back to) a Lutheran Church. Love the pastor and the congregation. Has it been a good thing for you?

When my Lutheran church started talking more about Spring's "Earth Day" (April 22) than about Easter, I knew it was time to leave.

I always found it sad that so many Lutheran identities got lost with the formation of the ELCA along with good doctrine many Lutheran groups also gave up ethnic traditions that made them unique

That was the most awesome summing up of the Lutheran confession I’ve ever heard. I’m 31 and on my church council (LCMS). It’s kind of funny talking to non believers but when I say I’m a Lutheran their tone kind of changes and they usually say Luther was a great man or I wish more Christian’s were like him or something to that effect. So there is a lot to be said about that. That it’s a balanced approach to the Law and Gospel.

Oh sure no works salvation at all! I mean just get baptized and you're in! Lol. But I mean no offense. I love you all but I fear for you. I mean instead to ask how you reconcile such things?

Oh also, I'm not sure how familiar you are w so called Calvinism. But Reformed principles, or Calvinists are among the most evangelistic. It's a false narrative I think because of some among our ranks (possibly none at all) who will not share the gospel unless they see signs of the Spirit working in the subject. But for the true Reformed man who knows his roots and the scriptures, that man is aware that there is no "E" on anyone's forehead. So the gospel is shared widely and generously to all who will hear. Some of the most proliferate preachers are Calvinists.

I think it is necessary as Christians that we not misrepresent our brothers. Often it becomes easy to say this or that about others when we disagree without sufficient cause. But that is a lie nonetheless. We must not lie in anyway.

do you believe that an unbeliever can "walk into" a Lutheran church, hear the gospel preached, and be saved, via the hearing of such preaching?

@JEROME BURNETT I dont understand how the churches of christ denomination is any more likely to be the church of the new testament than any other denomination

@JEROME BURNETT The word catholic literally means "universal," as in "the universal church.". It originally was applied to all Christians because we are all part of the universal church in the way that we are all members of the Body of Christ.

​@JEROME BURNETT he sounds Capitol C Catholic because anyone more sacramental than federal vision looks like a Catholic to a Pentacostal/Baptist/Fundamentalist

@JEROME BURNETT You must not be listening. He rejects papal authority, Mariology, praying to anyone but God, Purgatory, the idea that the sacraments are something people do for credit with God, indulgences in any form and many other doctrines of the RCC. So do all confessional Lutherans.

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 1 Cor 15:3-6

What did you mean by the dead interceding on our behalf? Is that a doctrine in other churches?

@@richardfrerks8712 Hey Richard, what they mean is that in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, there is the belief that the dead saints can pray for us on earth, by us praying to them asking for intercession. That's a short summary. God bless.

@@MadForGames to be absent from the ( mortal) body is to be present with the ( living) Lord. Do you believe in the communion of the saints? Peter saw Moses and Elijah conversing with Jesus at the transfiguration.. Were they dead or alive?

@G S show me where those in heaven were praying for those on earth by those on earth praying they'd do so.

Maccabees -- Intercession of the dead who have life in Christ. Book of Revelations - Intercession of the saints. I appreciate something "may be hard to believe" but know than an atheist may say the same thing about God. The question is, there is evidence in Scripture or Tradition to support our beliefs. I believe as many RCs believe, reason is perfected by faith. Luther is on record for calling reason a "whore". God Bless.

If I may ask, how have things turned out for you? I'm a long-ago Catholic who went through many Protestant denominations, and am now finding an interest in Lutheranism, at least in some respects.

@@doriesse824you’re so welcome in the family of Lutheranism💙

Be Orthodox, if not Catholic

Protestantism is not new: "Heresy: That “special” moment when you have greater spiritual insight than the apostles, disciples, apostolic and holy fathers and the entire past and present Church members even though you have a bible, spiritual books and canons that they wrote, compiled and handed down to you.This is deception that despite all this, one believes in one’s thougths and opinions.

I'd been wondering for a couple years where that "movement" came from. I stumbled across the answer a while ago. I was right to be skeptical/wary/almost afraid of it. It's wrong and downright dangerous. Dig into its roots if you haven't...😳

Just curious, what non biblical things did you notice in Catholicism?

@@rustycrook1363 prayers to the saints, perpetual virgin of Mary, status of a Pope and being vicor of Christ, purgatory, priests remaining celibate

I'm in the same boat. I've tried RCIA twice and I just can't get past the heavy Mariology they have going on. The parish I had been going to for the past two months probably prays to and praises Mary more, than God himself. It's a no go for me. Back to looking into Lutheranism now.

Exactly! I was baptized Lutheran 64 years ago but left an ELCA church due to the issue of who is being ordained and explaining away biblical truth. I now attend a conservative Mennonite church that has not bent to the 'social gospel' of the day, but they have totally trashed the blessed Sacraments, calling them mere symbols 😖😩. It breaks my heart. They are heavy on Bible reading and fellowship but have a host of rules that are almost cult-like. There is no LCMS church near me, so I am stuck.

@@ruthgoebel723 I think there are some other conservative Lutheran branches, but they are smaller than LCMS.

​@ruthgoebel723 I just moved from a buffet of churches in the Upper Midwest (even the most obscure, unheard-of denominations!) to the South. It's almost nothing but Baptist and Pentecostal here. I can't even find a Catholic church (not Catholic, but since it's quite popular in the US, it's my example of a different church) unless I drive at least 45 minutes!! It's a church desert here :-/

@@katie7748 Yet a church on every corner. Lol. I'd be surprised if there wasn't an LCMS Lutheran Church somewhere in the vicinity.

Same here was born evangelical pentecostal (Assmbly of God) became Lutheran at 25 years old (I´m 47)same reason as you.

Any nearby Lutheran parish will do. All Lutherans agree on doctrine/ Augsburg Confession

@@charleshappold4637 That's not true. Plenty of "Lutheran" churches don't believe in the book of Concord or the Bible, and support female clergy, homosexuality, transgenderism and other heresy. Go to a confessional Lutheran church.

@@charleshappold4637 he’s much better off in the ACNA than ELCA

One can equally find verses which seem to say one believes through free will and is thereby saved as one can find verses which seem to suggest that man is free to reject the Word and so be damned e.g. Acts 2:40 Save yourselves from this crooked generation. Mark 1:15 repent and believe in the gospel. John 11:25 Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. So just because you can find verses which seem to suggest that we're damned through our own free will choice to reject the Gospel it doesn't mean anything because one can equally find verses which seem to suggest that we have the ability to believe the Gospel and to save ourselves. In the Bondage of the Will Luther taught on the basis of Scripture that God predestines people to both heaven and hell and he denied that we have the ability to reject the Gospel and bring damnation on ourselves. He taught this in the same way we don't have the ability to believe the Gospel and to save ourselves. This idea that we alone are responsible for our own damnation and that God didn't predestine anyone to hell was introduced mainly by Martin Chemnitz. See my separate comment on this video.

@@Edward-ng8oo I'd say, in short, all preaching that seems to indicate man has a free choice to make actually produces what it demands. The preaching of repentance and belief produces repentance and belief. Neither grants freedom of the will. Taken together with Eph. 2:1 and 1 Cor. 2:14, I don't think you can come to any other conclusion.

@@marcuswilliams7448 Of course your position is basically what the Formula teaches namely that the Holy Spirit attempts to regenerate everyone through the Word and that it’s man's fault if he remains an unbeliever. However that wasn’t Luther’s position in The Bondage of the Will (TBOTW) and it isn’t mine. Luther said in TBOTW that only those who are inwardly drawn by the Holy Spirit are regenerated and that it happens irresistibly, and I agree with that. Neither of the verses you mention teach the universal operation of the Holy Spirit in the means of grace - that’s just an assumption which is imported into them by those who reject predestination to hell. However as Luther proved in TBOTW from Romans 9 and other passages God does predestine people to hell, as he does to heaven.

@@Edward-ng8oo Provide a citation of some kind. A page number would be best so I can read the fuller context. In any case and again, just because Luther held a certain position at a certain point in time it doesn't mean that the Lutheran Church must needs or is expected to hold said view.

@@marcuswilliams7448 Here's a few quotes from The Bondage of the Will showing that Luther believed in double predestination and rejected human free will with respect to both salvation and damnation: Now take the saying of Christ in John 6 [:44]: "No one comes to me unless my Father draws him." What does this leave to free choice? For he says that everyone needs to hear and learn from the Father himself, and that all must be taught by God. He plainly teaches here, not only that the works and efforts of free choice are fruitless, but that even the message of the gospel itself (which is what this passage is about) is heard in vain unless the Father himself speaks, teaches, and draws inwardly…. But the ungodly does not come even when he hears the Word unless the Father draws and teaches him inwardly, which He does by pouring out the Spirit. There is then another "drawing" than the one that takes place outwardly; for then Christ is set forth by the light of the Spirit, so that a man rapt away to Christ with the sweetest rapture, and rather yields passively to God's speaking, teaching, and drawing than seeks and runs himself. (p.285,286, Vol 33 Luther's Works) Admittedly, it gives the greatest possible offense to common sense or natural reason that God by his own sheer will should abandon, harden, and damn men as if he enjoyed the sins and the vast eternal torments of his wretched creatures, when he is preached as a God of such great mercy and goodness, etc. It has been regarded as unjust, as cruel, as intolerable, to entertain such an idea about God, and this is what has offended so many great men during so many centuries. And who would not be offended? I myself was offended more than once, and brought to the very depth and abyss of despair, so that I wished I had never been created a man, before I realized how salutary that despair was, and how near to grace. That is why there has been such sweating and toiling to excuse the goodness of God and accuse the will of man; (page 190, ibid) But if God is robbed of the power and wisdom to elect, what will he be but the false idol, chance, at whose nod everything happens at random? And in the end it will come to this, that men are saved and damned without God’s knowledge, since he has not determined by his certain election who are to be saved and who damned,... (page 171, ibid) I will here bring this little book to an end, though I am prepared if need be to carry the debate farther. However, I think quite enough has been done here to satisfy the godly and anyone who is willing to admit the truth without being obstinate. For if we believe it to be true that God foreknows and predestines all things, that he can neither be mistaken in his foreknowledge nor hindered in his predestination, and that nothing takes place but as he wills it (as reason itself is forced to admit), then on the testimony of reason itself there can't be any free choice in man or angel or any creature. (page 293, ibid)

LCMS? I’m thinking lutheran,confessional? What else? I’ve never heard of that before.

​@@kylesalmon31Lutheran Church Missouri Synod 😊

I was about to post this as well so I second this!

@Marty Lol you're full of shit. You're a sectarian heretic who idolatrously worships your Church over the person of Christ, thereby adding to the Gospel and incurring the Anathema of Paul as revealed in Galatians 1. Besides this I'm lost as to why you're even bothering to waste time hanging out on the comments section of an intra-Protestant video if you're convinced we're all heretics and damned, you obviously have too much time on your hands

@Marty Speak for yourself delusional Papist moron

JEROME BURNETT No, he’s not. He’s explaining why he’s a Lutheran.

JEROME BURNETT You didn’t watch it, obviously.

Well, I'm not sure how Dr. Cooper will put it, but I'm a confessional Lutheran too. And if i were to answer your question, I would say that faith comes by the Holy Spirit from hearing the Word of God (Gospel). So, faith is a gift (it's not your own doing but the Grace of God), but you can choose to reject it. You can still choose to rebel. You can still choose to sin (and you will), and that's not because you don't have enough faith but because of your sinful nature, the part of you that wants to rebel and reject God at Satan and the world's encouragement. I'm sure Dr. Cooper could explain it better, but that's what I have been taught and that's what I believe. Hope it helps

@@thescribeknight9952 thank you so much for such a succinct presentation of how faith in Christ comes about. God bless you, brother.

I think, but not sure, it’s from Lewis’ introduction to a running of Athanasius “On the Trinity”

He is AALC, it’s a smaller sect but nearly identical in beliefs to the LCMS

Many Lutherans don't refer to ELCA as Lutheran...I am one of them. They need to drop the L. And the C. And the E.

Anglicans may affirm or deny the teachings within the Formula of Concord. They also are insistent on episcopal succession against presbyterial succession.

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jrWfntmQlp2qhH0.html

Don't know if I'd call it converting. You wouldn't get re-baptized. You'd just start hearing preaching that focuses on _Christ's gifts to you_ instead of _how you need to bear enough fruit to convince yourself that you're a real Christian._ And you'd get real assurance in the Absolution and the Lord's Supper.

God died for us te have the possibillity to go to Heaven..so we have to choose the Good, we chose not Jesus otherwise why i will be judged if im not free..this is a bullshit..Jesus said în the Appcalipse "I staied at the door and i knock " so we chose to open or not and after Jesus give us the gift like faith etc

*Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11* God wants all wicked to repent and live. *Luke 7:30* God's βουλή (plan/purpose/resolve/counsel) for the Pharisees was to accept them. But they rejected this βουλή of God for themselves, by refusing John's baptism. *1 Timothy 4:10; 1 John 2:2* He is especially the Savior of believers. He remains the Savior of all people. This makes the labor of evangelism and the reproach of scoffers bearable. He is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the church AND the world. *John 1:29; 3:16* The lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. God loved the world. *Luke 8:13* Jesus asserts that some really do *joyfully believe* the gospel for a while, and actually *fall away* through trials and temptations. *Luke 11:13* Jesus is emphatic that the Father gives the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks. *Romans 11:32* Who does God have mercy for? Everyone whom he consigned to disobedience! *1 Corinthians 8:11* It is possible to destroy the saving faith of a brother for whom Christ died. *Eph **4:30* The Ephesians were sealed for the day of redemption, yet Paul warned them that the possibility of grieving the Holy Spirit was a reality. *2 Peter 2:1* Christ bought even the heretics who deny Him and destroy themselves. *1 Tim 2:1-6* Christ died for all people and wants all people to be saved. Therefore, Paul commands us to *interceed* even for godless kings and rulers. *Hebrews 3:1-12* Even "holy brothers and sisters" can "turn away from the living God" with an "evil, unbelieving heart." *Hebrews 2:1, 12:25* The author and the audience could reject God's warning and not escape. *Ephesians 3:3-6; Isaiah 45:19* As God has revealed his secret will in scripture, it is always to extend greater mercy. *1 John 2:2* Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, not only for the church.

That is the forumla practiced by most Lutherans worldwide. Apostolic succession.

St. Jerome proved by the Scriptures that bishops and presbyters are exactly the same. www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001146.htm

The problem is that if you believe in the perseverance of the saints then you wind up using law to determine who is in or out.

@@adamsmith4195 Do Lutherans believe you can lose your faith?

What?

Maybe your pastor is going down the Jordan Cooper path.

Copypasted from *William Carter* _13 hours ago_ 1. Centrality of Gospel. 2. Objectivity(?) of Gospel. 3. Historical Continuity "Early(?)" Church. Catholic Church? 4. Doctrine of Vocation 5. Al!ow Scripture to speak for itself. Lutherans do not grab on to a particular text. Mysteries are non rational. 😇💒

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard

@@SuperGreatSphinx thanks for the info

Another commenter is confused about the video. I'm gonna plagiarize you because you're awesome. Thanks.

Those are the Pietists .... not confessional Lutherans.

@@gabrielemanuelandingemaaga6576 The pietism i am used to know (german) is very open towards other confessions and nondenominationalism of which it is a part.

Plus ... small groups often break down into books studies, watching movies, elevating personal feelings or experiences over objective biblical truths

@@gabrielemanuelandingemaaga6576 I am new to the Lutheran church so forgive my ignorance. You are saying that it is the pietists that are against small groups? Or confessional Lutherans? What is the difference? And why is it wrong to elevate personal feelings if that is the point of the group? I am thinking of a support/fellowship focused group rather than a more Bible study oriented group. But even in the Bible study version, why would it be wrong for a group of Lutherans to meet together to read through the Catechism? Sorry for long reply.

@@gabrielemanuelandingemaaga6576 Huh ? What do you mean? What does watching a movie have to do with pietism ?