Hi there! I'm also from Puerto Rico (Arecibo). Was raised as a Pentecostal, and am now very much interested in Lutheran theology. Is there a way I could contact them or any local LCMS pastors. Thank you and God bless

Indeed, I also treasure their clarity of doctrine.

Praying for you Andrew that God will give you the tools & the words to show your wife, her, brother, & the elder the truth of the Lutheran Church. And I'm praying that the Holy Spirit will open their hearts and minds to see the fullness of the Gospel in the teachings of the Lutheran Church. 🙏🏻

Why would you believe that extra-biblical items & rituals would have any impact on a Christians acceptable worship?? I'm genuinely curious.

​@bobbycecere1037 well probably because he believes they are not unbiblical. That's why we have the Book of Concord-to show that the Lutheran faith is the one that aligns itself to scripture

For clarity, an excerpt from John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter 21, Paragraph 7: "We say, then, that Scripture clearly proves this much, that God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his PLEASURE one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his PLEASURE to doom to destruction." For biblical reference, Ezekiel, Chapter 18, Verses 23, 32 (ESV): "Have I any PLEASURE in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? ... For I have NO PLEASURE in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”

​@@annakimborahpaYup, we've read the institutes. I used to be a Calvinist.

@@noahm44 Then you are aware that in the preface to the 1545 French edition published in Geneva, John Calvin stated that (1) God, not Calvin, was the actual author of the Institutes and therefore (2) the Institutes should be memorized first before reading the Bible so that the reading of the latter might then become "profitable" (Beveridge translation).

I was raised Pentecostal and the book has helped me tremendously.

that's a great idea

Go ask your husband

I like Tobit myself, but Sirach is pretty good.

I’m an Anglican who really likes the ‘Apocrypha’-some good stuff in there.

That would make more sense if history wasnt littered with Popes saying and doing absolutely disgusting asinine things. Vicar of christ.....I dont think so.

Nice try papist, but Christ Jesus doesn't need an interpretation

I converted to the Catholic faith 9 years ago and what you are saying is not true. “Only” scripture is not the Catholic worldview. The magisterium and oral Tradition holds equal weight with the Bible in the Catholic faith (sometimes trumping it some would argue) My faith in Catholicism has crumbled once I saw first hand where this form of “spirituality” leads. The results are pretty bad depending on the individual

Yes, the most prominent are the westminster standards and three form of unity

Actually, unlike the other two historical tradition of protestantism (namely Lutheranism and Anglicanism) , there is no one document which alone define the body of beliefs of the Reformed Tradition, unlike the Ausburg confession for Lutherans and the XXXIX articles for Anglicans. Instead, there is a lot of Confessions which have been written during the XVIth century or later, each made to unite a Church in a specific area like, England, France, or Switzerland. The confessions can be divided in two groups really : - The ones written on the continent : the Confession of la Rochelle for France, the Confessio Belgica for the Netherlands and Belgium, and the later 2nd Helvetic Confession for Switzerland. - On the British Isles, the Scottish Confession, for the eponymous nation, and the Westminster Confession for the English-speaking Reformed. That seem like a mess, but actually, each one of theses Confession are in full agreements with each other, so if you fully agree with the content of one of them, you're in full communion with any Churches which uphold one of theses. Now, The Westminster Confession, and all the documents which are included in the Westminster Standard are a very popular confessional for defining Reformed doctrines around the world because, well, we live in an english world don't we ? However it should be noted that the only Council that united all the aforementioned Reformed Churches is the synod of Dort, which established the Confessio Belgica, the Heidelberg Catechism and the "Canons of Dorts" as the three documents which define Reformed doctrines. Theses 3 documents, knows as the "3 forms of unity", are the only documents to have received an "oecumenical" official approval. Yet, I think the most well-done and most useful of all confession is the 2nd Helvetic Confession, it's the most complete and well defended of all reformed confessions to the best of my knowledge. You're getting an answer from me very late, I wonder if you remembered this comment, nevertheless I wish you to be blessed by the Lord of peace !

joseph faulkner They say that they honor the BoC but only insofar as they feel it is right. However, a Confessional Lutheran would say that the BoC should be held to fully because it is a right interpretation of the Scriptures.

I don't know the ELCAs official dogmatic opinion. But many of their clergy treat that the Bible is not infallible. They say that truth is found in it, but not all of it is the truth, so they pick out the teachings they believe to be correct. The Book of a concord treats the entire scripture as infallible. So no, the ELCA does not hold to the Book of Concord

,@@sethl7078, please dont generalize about ALL ELCAs.

@@angelbonilla2255 Literally look it up. The "church" approves of gay-marriage, female priests, and other such absurdities. And notice how I said, "many of their clergy." This isnt a generalization, I am stating an obvious fact that most of all ELCA "Lutherans" (Even tho Luther would hate them) are liberal and modernistic. Most conservative Lutherans have fled to either the LCMS, WELS, or the Papacy.

@@angelbonilla2255 any orthodox believer in the ELCA needs to go away from it, as eventually your church will end up accepting gay and female "clergy".

If you do not believe that the bible is infallible then there is a hole, a deep hole, in your Christian faith.

Found the ELCA apostate lol

You clearly didn't watch the video. We don't put the BoC on the same level as the Bible. We use it because it lines up with the Bible

You aren't a Christian if you think the Bible is equal to the Quaran, which is a book full of heresy, and think it's just a guide.

You miss the fact that men are sinful and a confession is needed to curve the want of our sinful flesh to twist God's Word.

So the authors of the BoC are exempt from sinful tendencies?

+John6forty-eight Well, they are dead so...

That's not an answer to the question. The BoC was not written post mortem. . .

+John6forty-eight The authors did not ere in regards to their confession. What is preserved in the Book of Concord lines up with what Scripture teaches. If you want to dispute this, give me an example of where Scripture contradicts the confessions.