What's the deal with Lutherans?

Question

I'm curious what Lutherans are like? I know Missouri Synod is the more conservative synod. Are they like Baptists at all? Are they Penacostals running through the isles? Or are they more like Catholics--devoted to tradition and liturgy--and more reserved in worship? Are there many Evangelicals within Lutheranism?

Answer 1

Lutherans, like Anglicans, and Roman Catholics believe in the real Presence of Christ, in, around, and through the sacraments. There is a difference in the number recognized: L=2. Lutherans recognize the pope as symbolic as the 1 "catholic" (not Roman Catholic) church. None of the 3 sacramental churches practise "believers" or Baptist baptism. Rather the 3 use the rite of catechism to acknowledge and affirm an adult confession of faith.
While there are "splinter" groups outside of the germanic based Missouri Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is by far the largest. It is the result of numerous mergers from ethnic Lutheran immigrant churches cf. Scand, Dane, and the like.
W/in the last 8 years, Lutherans and Anglicans have agreed to "altar and pulpit" fellowship. This is not yet a merger, but a mutual recognition of the validity of each other's ministry.
The 3 tend to see worship as liturgically based and the "work" of the people. Thus the various elements of ancient worship continue. This is in contrast to the now popular "charisma" pastor who does the work w/ music etc. for the people.
Lutherans would not be as likely as Baptists to believe in an inherent Bible. They follow Luther's comment, "The Bible holds the Word of God as the manger held the Christ." The manger had chips and splinters - so also the Bible.
While Lutherans recognize the Holy Spirit as present, they are unlikely to be Pentastals.
Now - I am a Lutheran pastor, pentacostal, excited about upbeat worship, and quite evangelical, having been asked by the national church to start one congregation. FuN.
The Lutherans are very big on GRACE. Romans 8 and Galatians are their favorite books other than the Gospels.

Answer 2

I was baptized Lutheran as a baby and also went through a Lutheran confirmation because my mother says she is a Lutheran (but she doesn't even believe in God). I live in Germany and here the Lutheran Church is the largest Protestant church, there is about an equal number of Lutherans and Catholics in Germany. I can speak only about the Lutheran church in Germany and can just say it is very very liberal. For the confirmation we had classes once a week for a year or so and we hardly ever spoke about religion at all, it was rather like "Look into a candle and say what you feel" and we made a poll in the town about how people reacted to the catastrophe of Chernobyl etc., I think the only text we ever read in the Bible was something about Jesus and the tollkeeper, something merely moral, not theological. I also had Protestant religion classes at school for all my time at school and it was the same, we hardly spoke about religion, we learned about the dangers of drugs, general moral issues, and once we had a whole semester about Buddhism. There were also Catholic religion classes at our school and I know they were very theological and only Catholics attended these lessons, while the Protestant classes were full of non-Christians. And I really never learned anything about Christian theology in the confirmation classes or the school classes, no one ever told me that I have to believe in Jesus to go to heaven or threatened me with hell. When we had to say a creed in the confirmation ceremony we could choose one and I could choose one that doesn't mention the trinity and Jesus being God's son because I didn't believe in it. I also know that they fully accept women in every position and fully respect homosexuality.

However I turned away from religion at all because I simply do not believe in Christianity and do not believe in God at all.

Answer 3

Lutherans are very liturgical, with a strict sense of order and ritual in their worship services. They have stances on moral issues, such as homosexuality and gambling. But my oh my, can they sing loud!

Answer 4

From what I've heard, their services are very liturgical. They believe in infant baptism, I think. There are liberal Lutherans, and there are conservative ones. Avoid the liberals.