Diferences in Beliefs?

Question

Okay, all of my friends are Evangelical Free and I'm a Lutheran. What is different between what we believe? My teacher makes it sound like there is a big difference . . . please help? Thanks!

Answer 1

As I looked on the Evangelical Free website, I could see two glaring differences. (I'm speaking from the perspective of an LCMS Lutheran.)

The number one important difference is that they do not believe that Holy Baptism & Holy Communion are God's chosen means of grace. First of all, this is contrary to what God's Word teaches. Second, if a person doesn't believe in the means of grace that God provides they are likely to replace them with something different, most likely something that they do (meditating, prayer, etc.) which means they are relying not on God coming to us, but our efforts to reach God. You'll hear them say 'Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship' which if understood correctly is right, but what they mean is that man is responsible for getting into & keeping a relationship with God. The truth is that God has chosen the means of grace through which He establishes (His Word & Baptism) & maintains a relationship with us (His Word & Communion). We would do good not to question the Creator concerning His chosen means of salvation. We teach that until God raises us from spiritual death in Baptism, we are utterly helpless & dead, unable to establish a relationship with Him.

The second difference I see is that they believe in Premillenialism. In short this is a dangerous Theology of Glory that is in direct opposition to God's Word & a true Theology of the Cross.

Don't stop fellowshipping with your friends. Sometimes you need any Christian to come along side of you against the secular world. Just know the differences & be ready to defend your beliefs when the opportunity comes up. There are many things that you do have in common with them.

If you have Luther's Small Catechism, this is a good resource when you have questions. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions is also useful if you want to learn more about what you as a Lutheran believe.

Answer 2

Good question!
The E Free churches were established by Scandinavian Immigrants that either did not associate with Lutheran churches or Synods in the US or were members of "free churches" back in Scandinavia. The Evangelical Free Church here in the USA was formed by the merger in 1950 between the Swedish Evangelical Free Church of the United States of America and the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association of North America.

Worship
EFree- No single patter of worship and informal.
Lutheran- Liturgical can be either high or low in nature.

Sacraments-
EFree- Viewed to be a demonstration to the world that salvation has taken place in a person's life. (Symbolic)
Lutheran- Believe the Sacraments are God's means of grace for forgiveness.

The Bible-
EFree- Take strong stand on the authority of the Bible.
Lutheran- Either split by Liberal Protestants low view of Scripture or Confessional high view of Scripture.

Church Government-
EFree- Congregational with each local church in complete control of its own affairs.
Lutheran- Synodical

Church Membership-
EFree- Qualifications for church membership is based on the evidence of conversion and the living of the Christian life.
Lutheran- Members join the local congregation and the Church (triumphant) either through Baptism or Catechism/Adult Confirmation.

Salvation-
EFree- Teach justification BY faith
Lutheran- Teach justification BY grace THROUGH faith

Similarities:
Both are Trinitarian
Both believe in the full divinity and full humanity of Christ.

Hope this helps.

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Asad,
You should be ashamed of yourself. Your answer neither answers the question nor helps him out. You are trying bring people back under the Law after Christ's Atoning sacrifice has brought us out from under the Law and been the Propitiation for God's Wrath. Islam provides no security or assurance in a right relation with God, has a god who is withdrawn from humanity and is capricious who could change his mind at the last minute and go against his word. You are absolutely correct, Islam creates turmoil in humanity because there is no assurance that what you are doing (submitting to Allah) will merit you salvation. Christians have said assurance, because none (absolutely none) of the redemptive work was performed by humanity. You are absolutely wrong, the Bible and the Torah CAN NOT be reconciled with the quran.

The Torah, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15

The Prophets, “"See, he is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous will live by his faith” Habakkuk 2

The New Testament, “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.” Romans 4

Can you provide the quran's reference that the Righteous shall live by faith?

Answer 3

I categorize some differences between denominations like Lutheran at http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/fgospel.html

Answer 4

Let me destroy all your beliefs by the following and put you in more turmoil ....... the true belief for Mankind is:

1. Submit to One Supreme Being .. GOD and accept His power over you.

2. Believe in God, His Angels, His Books (All of them) today its the Quran, Bible and Torah, All his Messengers who brought the same faith to Mankind and the Day of resurrection or that the end of Journeys for all of us is GOD.

After that you can dispute and find out in yourself what is the truth ... but have to try and figure it out yourself ... if you let others do it for you, it won't be the same thing.

Hint: the Quran, the Bible and the Torah are exactly the same message to Mankind and the Universe, The Quran is the only one that has not been Changed and the Messiah Jesus son of Mary, Messenger of God and His Word will return to tell us the same :-)).

Answer 5

Not much differences.

Answer 6

Well, I am Baptist and I don't know of an differences.