Lutheranism

In the US, the strictness of Lutheran churches varies both by denomination and congregation. The Wisconsin Synod and Missouri Synod denominations are indeed quite strict. For example, by policy they don't ordain women as clergy and they're very careful about only offering Holy Communion to members.

Still, they're faithful and welcoming. When I took a crew of teens from a more liberal ELCA congregation to do relief work in New Orleans a few years back, Atonement, a Missouri Synod congregation in Metairie, welcomed us into their fellowship with open arms.

The ELCA (elca.org) is the fruit of many denominational mergers. So each congregation has its own roots. You'll find a variety of theological views and a variety of attitudes towards social issues in various congregations. 

You will find some things in common between all congregations claiming the heritage of Martin Luther and his colleagues. We are all trinitarian, believing one God in three Persons (Father / Son / Holy Spirit). We all believe that God reaches out to us human to redeem us from sin and set us free. We all believe that Christ is truly present in Holy Communion, in, with, and under the bread and wine. We all use the ancient Augustinian-era forms of worship, but we always read scripture publicy in the language of the people (not Latin). Most of our ordained ministers read Biblical Greek and Biblical Hebrew.

The EKD (Evangelische Kirche in Deustchland www.ekd.de) undoubtedly has the same sorts of variety and commonality that we do here in the US. That's also true of the present or former state churches in other historically Lutheran countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, etc).

I urge you to visit some congregations. Because of a principle we call "evangelical freedom," it's not really possible to generalize about individual congregations.

Catholics today would agree with the vast majority of Luther's 95 Theses. In fact, most contemporary Catholic theologians consider Luther a great theologian and reformer.

Luther's 95 Theses were legitimate and valid concerns about grave abuses in the Church that were officially and respectfully communicated to his bishop through accepted ecclesiastical and academic channels. Luther's bishop ignored his communication because the bishop was growing wealthy through the sale of indulgences, and instead passed it on to Rome, where the pope was Leo X, a typical corrupt Renaissance pope who famously said "God has given us the papacy, so let us enjoy it."

Still, there are a few of the Theses that might make us uncomfortable. Specifically, six of Luther's theses make me squirm a bit, but not for the reasons one might assume:

1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance. I don't think that contemporary Catholic theology would envision that the entirety of one's life should be dedicated to penance. Rather, we would characterize the life of the disciple as building the kingdom of God, that is, a life given in service to the poor and marginalized and dedicated to reverence for justice and peace.

4. The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues so long as hatred of self continues; for this is the true inward repentance, and continues until our entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Hatred of self? It would be interesting to know what Luther meant by that. It is an archaic expression of humility, which is of course a good thing. But to tie it closely to repentance seems to relate it to Thesis 1 above, although it could also mean life-long conversion, which is a more acceptable idea.

7. God remits guilt to no one whom He does not, at the same time, humble in all things and bring into subjection to His vicar, the priest. Catholic theology today would reject the idea that remission of sin is in the total control of a priest. God forgives the sins of any who ask forgiveness, even if they are not baptized. A priest is not necessary to salvation.

26. The pope does well when he grants remission to souls [in purgatory], not by the power of the keys (which he does not possess), but by way of intercession. Catholic teaching does assert that the pope has the power to waive temporal punishment due to sin. This is not a revealed teaching, nor is it defined. It ranks very low in the hierarchy of teachings. And personally I don't know that I believe it. It's not an essential part of our teaching as a Church.

32. They will be condemned eternally, together with their teachers, who believe themselves sure of their salvation because they have letters of pardon. In this case I think Luther goes too far. People are not condemned because they are in error. For example, if someone naively but incorrectly thinks that reciting some "special" prayer will save them, that does not mean they are damned. God does not only save theologians. He looks into the heart and judges by intention.

40. True contrition seeks and loves penalties, but liberal pardons only relax penalties and cause them to be hated, or at least, furnish an occasion [for hating them]. Again, I think Luther was being too harsh here. I don't think true contrition loves punishment. That's just creepy and vaguely sadomasochistic. I think he was reaching a bit here.

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While Catholic theology would not disagree with most of Luther's Theses, some of the points do make presumptions about the intentions of Julius II and Leo X. While Luther ostensibly assumes their intentions to be the best, history does not necessarily indicate that Julius or Leo had any concern whatsoever for the faithful or for anything other than raising vast sums of money for their egos and the construction of St. Peter's Basilica.

So ironically, Catholics today might disagree with Luther in that he was too easy on these two popes in the following seven theses:

5. The pope does not intend to remit, and cannot remit any penalties other than those which he has imposed either by his own authority or by that of the Canons.

20. Therefore by “full remission of all penalties” the pope means not actually “of all,” but only of those imposed by himself.

42. Christians are to be taught that the pope does not intend the buying of pardons to be compared in any way to works of mercy.

48. Christians are to be taught that the pope, in granting pardons, needs, and therefore desires, their devout prayer for him more than the money they bring. (Yeah, right.)

50. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the pardon-preachers, he would rather that St. Peter’s church should go to ashes, than that it should be built up with the skin, flesh and bones of his sheep. (This of course was the main issue: Julius and Leo cared nothing for the sheep and would sell their souls to build the new St. Peter's as a monument to their pride and lust for power.)

51. Christians are to be taught that it would be the pope’s wish, as it is his duty, to give of his own money to very many of those from whom certain hawkers of pardons cajole money, even though the church of St. Peter might have to be sold. (See #50)

84. Again: — “What is this new piety of God and the pope, that for money they allow a man who is impious and their enemy to buy out of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God, and do not rather, because of that pious and beloved soul’s own need, free it for pure love’s sake?” (See #50)

Reformed Theology claims that everyone, with the necessary exception of Jesus, is depraved from inception without exception. Everyone is guilty of sin and has already been convicted of that sin, but the death of Jesus provides sufficient amnesty for all humanity, but not necessarily everyone will accept that amnesty and they will suffer eternal punishment without it.
Free will exists, but everyone without exception chooses depravity.
When someone accepts Jesus' atonement for their sins they are "born again" and all things become new, but they are still accountable to people in this life for the actions they do and did.
What is more, no one will choose to accept Jesus' atonement of their own free will, because they are depraved, so only those whom God chooses to believe will actually believe, and there are no indications of how God bases that choice, just that that choice has already been made before you were born. i.e. your whole life is a fraud, have a nice day.

Temporal punishment is different from your fate in the afterlife. People are held responsible because, while God may know their fates for certain, you don't. That holds regardless of whether you believe in free will or not. Even for those who don't, God put you on earth to muddle through as best you can, not skip to the end and wait for God to sort it out.

That means a certain amount of temporal law, including temporal punishment for lawbreakers. The Old Testament included that specifically, and the New Testament reminds you to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. That means you're still subject to the temporal authorities, regardless of your state of grace.

Interesting question. In all my reading I've never seen anyone specify the "type" of nail he used. So we should probably assume that it is a regular old nail. Why do you ask?

Michel S., Lutherans do indeed have a rite of private confession and forgiveness. It is not considered a sacrament as is the Roman Catholic sacrament of reconciliation. This rite is neglected, but it does exist.

We have Augustinian roots like the whole church. Father Martin Luther was an Augustinian priest and doctor until he got crosswise (to put it mildly) with Rome.

Lutherans do not recognize the rites of confirmation, marriage, holy orders, reconciliation or healing (fka extreme unction) as sacraments. As you mentioned, we have, and honor, those rites. We share the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion with the universal church.

The ELCA elects female bishops, for sure, among them Margaret Payne, the bishop of my synod. We elect bishops by ecclesiastical ballot -- a process that I understand is similar to the one the college of cardinals uses to elect the Bishop of Rome in the Catholic tradition. A majority of our electors (delegates to a synodical convention) are required to be lay people (not clergy or other rostered church workers).

At my ordination, I was given a set of marvellous handmade stoles. I was also given a hot glue gun with a card saying, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven." Both gifts have been very useful and meaningful.

Luther based this opinion on the 4th Commandment: honor your father and mother (which he applied to our rulers, techers and others in authority over us) and Romans 13: let every person be subject to the ruling authorities. As such, Luther was content to let the divinely appointed rulers keep one another in check. This had many possibilities in Luther's Germany which at the time was comprised of hundreds of principalities of various size and strength.

Luther came out very harshly against the Peasants Revolt. Although he acknowledged they had legitimate complaints, he was aghast that they would use their freedom under the gospel to take up arms against their local rulers. In short order, the Peasants Revolt turned into an unruly mob that destroyed their neighbor's property and terrorized other people. Luther urged the powerful princes to restore order, which they did ... At the cost of thousands of peasants' lives. Luther was shocked by this and his chastized the princes for going to far.

A modern application of Luther's approach is World War 2 where several, independent nations allied together to check and overthrow the tyrants Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

If a church should decide to honor a newly ordained minister, it's critical the church account for the possible tax implications such a gift will create for the recipient. In the context of this question, it appears the givers are personal friends and family of the minister, so the possibility of triggering a tax event is far less likely.

I gave a Minister friend of mine a ceramic Chalice and Paten I brought back with me from the Community of Taizé in France.

Family members and friends can chip-in to buy a meaningful gift such as a personalized silver Chalice and Paten.

Well if you're interested, we've found a few christian (all denominations) related gift ideas that are pretty unique here from jewelry and oils to posters, hangings and even a bike!

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Brianna Olds
CoolProducts.com Social Media Marketing Manager

1. Gift certificates to local restaurants (search for restaurants in Holdrege, Hastings, Grand Island). It is often hard to squeeze enough money out of the turnip to take your spouse out for a nice supper.
2. Luther's Works on CD-ROM
3. Subscriptions to resources you use or can use: Journals, "Feasting on the Word," etc.
4. Pastoral Supplements to the ELW.
5. A pocket sized Bible. I still cherish the one my grandmother gave me for my ordination.
6. Gift certificates for Staples, Best Buy, etc. Can always use those.
7. The "New Interpreter's Bible" electronic version (easier to move than the whole set of books.)
8. Martin and Katie Luther Bobble-head dolls from Old Lutheran.
9. A dart board.

Liturgically, especially in the States (at least in ELCA, not sure about the Missouri Synod) and Scandinavia, not much: both Catholic and Lutheran churches there regularly celebrate the Holy Eucharist; and most of the Catholic sacraments (e.g. all but baptism and communion) are not completely abrogated, though considered of lesser importance. The major difference to a layman would be not confessing to a priest. German Lutheranism is more "Protestant" -- Eucharists are less commonly celebrated, to the point that while the Anglican Communion (also on the Catholic side of Protestantism) is in full communion with the Nordic Lutherans (through the Porvoo Communion), and the Episcopal Church in the US with the ELCA, they are not in communion with the German Lutherans!

On doctrines there are bigger differences -- the Catholic hierarchy tends to be much more conservative on issues such as female ordination, birth control, etc. The governing hierarchy is top-down, while in Lutheran churches bishops are elected. German Lutherans, and I think the ELCA as well, elect women bishops (the previous presiding bishop of the EKD in Germany, composed of German Lutheran and Reformed Churches, was female). Clergies are not required to be celibate, so Catholic clergymen likely enter the church at a much younger age, while in Lutheranism, I suspect (I am Episcopalian) that many people feel called to it later in life after a secular career, so they bring a different perspective.