walking by a Lutheran church: a little friendly confrontation

Yesterday I walked by the same Lutheran church (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/08/walking-by-lutheran-church.html) as its small congregation was getting ready for service. I felt weird walking by and looking in through its large glass windows. At some point, I'd considered going to this church for at least one service, but all I can say is that some people can't handle a little friendly confrontation discussing differences in secondary Christian beliefs and/or practices. In the end, I've opted not to visit this church (at least for the time being), to remain curious and to simply continue going to FAPC as originally planned. Said all this, I guess I must emphasize on the following.

1. The clergy in that Lutheran church were welcoming, seemed honest and offered me a place to worship. My comments are by no means an insult or other level of offense to the clergy of such church and/or the church itself.
2. I do respect the ideology of the Lutheran Church although I didn't quite agree with all of it (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/11/walking-by-lutheran-church-born-dead-in.html).
3. I also respect all material written to God, from God, for God by any group of Christians. Of course, this by no means forces me to agree with it all or any of it at all.

walking by a Lutheran church: born dead in sin

I'm still slowly reading "This We Believe" (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/11/walking-by-lutheran-church-this-we.html) while taking notes and highlighting key parts of the text. In any event, I just found a little something that bothers me.

"5. We believe that Adam and Eve lost their divine image when they yielded to the temptation of Satan and disobeyed God's command. This brought upon them the judgment of God: "You will surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Since that time all people are conceived and born in a sinful condition (Psalm 51:5) and are inclined only to evil (Genesis 8:21). "Flesh gives birth to flesh" (John 3:6). Since all people are by nature dead in sin and separated from God (Ephesians 2:1), they are unable to reconcile themselves to God by their own efforts and deeds."
http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/statements-beliefs/this-we-believe/creation-man-and-sin

There are two schools of though on this regard.

1. One says that we're born in sin and hence evil by default. Therefore we need to break out of our human nature and flesh. This seems to be Lutheran perspective. Even if my interpretation were dead wrong, I don't like the whole fire and brimstone gimmick (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/08/tough-sale-mean-business.html).
2. In the other hand, the other school of thought teaches us that we're good by nature (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/06/many-faces-flavors-recipes-for.html) and we need to escape sin to be back with God. This is more likely the Presbyterian point of view. After all, I believe and want to believe in a loving God, not a vengeful God (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-statement-of-faith-as-of-20100331-at.html). I just hope I'm not wrong.

As a disclaimer, I must emphasize that my opinion's no means a way or form of offense to anyone reading or not reading this or any text I've written.

walking by a Lutheran church: this we believe

As I mentioned before (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/11/walking-by-lutheran-church-no-930.html), I started reading "This We Believe" from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod website (http://www.wels.net/). I'm including two quotes that have made me think what it means to be a "true" Christian. Of course, I might be wrong.

Although I've heard the concept that the Old Testament predicted the coming of Jesus many times before, the words in the following quote made this concept clearer to understand and believe.

"5. We believe that the entire Bible is Christ-centered. In the Old Testament God repeatedly promised a divine deliverer from sin, death, and hell. The New Testament proclaims that this promised deliverer has come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus himself says of the Old Testament, 'These are the Scriptures that testify about me' (John 5:39)."
http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/statements-beliefs/this-we-believe/gods-revelation

Maybe I'm desperate to understand and find God that I'm too naive to be eagerly attracted to any likable text (not saying that such text could be wrong, as of yet). I just fail to question my beliefs at times. I also fail to remember that people are imperfect and that human understanding and comprehension are painfully limited.

Then again I should point out that the following quote also from "This We Believe" makes lots of sense. We should keep in mind that some books referred to as the "true" or "best" interpretation of the Bible aren't quite the Word of God. Some of these translations could be biased or simply erroneously false willingly or not.

"11. We believe that the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Greek text of the New Testament are the inspired Word of God. Translations of the Hebrew and Greek that accurately reflect the meaning of the original text convey God's truth to people and can properly be called the Word of God."
http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/statements-beliefs/this-we-believe/gods-revelation?page=0,1

Of course, we should admit and understand that it's hard to say which Bible's truer or better than another (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-bible-vs-your-bible.html). For the time being, I keep jumping from NRSV to KJV to WEB.

In all, the WELS website's got lots of good information to understand and reaffirm what it means to be a Christian. Nonetheless my curiosity doesn't mean that I'm planing to change churches any time soon. If there's one thing that I've learned and that's changed me, it's been the opportunity to be a servant of God by serving others. This last concept -- heavily driven into our minds at FAPC -- seems to be the truer meaning of being a Christian, at least to me within my limited humanoid understanding.

walking by a Lutheran church: WELS?

I'm reading the "This We Believe" section of the WELS website. As I mentioned, I'm curious (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/11/walking-by-lutheran-church-no-930.html).

This we Believe - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)
http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/statements-beliefs/this-we-believe

walking by a Lutheran church: no 9:30 service

I finally stepped inside a Lutheran church I walk by now and then. I wanted to finally accept the invitation (two emails so far) of one of the pastors in the church whom I had met weeks ago (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/08/walking-by-lutheran-church.html). I thought their service was going to be at their usual 9:30am, but today it was scheduled at 10:30am. I opted to excuse myself and left since I had no intention to miss worship at FAPC. As I've mentioned several times, I've got no intention of quitting FAPC, which has become my spiritual home on this earth. My interest in the Lutheran Church is mere curiosity in the differences in practices and doctrines between PC(USA) (http://www.pcusa.org/) and WELS (http://www.wels.net/), which this Lutheran church is associated to.

walking by a Lutheran church

From the different denominations, I'm curious about the Lutheran Church. From what I've seen and read, it looks similar to the Presbyterian Church that I go to. This morning I was curious as I walked by the Lutheran church in the neighborhood where I live. I didn't go in since its service starts at 9:30am and I was going to the 10:00am service considering the 30- to 45-minutes bus ride. Said all this, it's not like I'd end up going to a Lutheran church -- after being raised Catholic and now going to a Presbyterian church -- since I'm comfortable where I'm at.