MEET THE LUTHERANS

MEET THE LUTHERANS

You are invited to ASLC’s very own Sunday Morning “Talking Heads” show at The Miners, 12119 Gray Star Way, Columbia, starting at 9:45 am.

As a “pundit” you will have the opportunity to express your views on a variety of topics related to the subject “A Way Of Teaching” (Chapter Three of “Baptized We Live.”)
Don’t worry – no one will be “picked on” to respond. However, the more you volunteer to express your opinions, the less you have to listen to the moderator pontificate.

Our first priority is to discuss any and all topics that interest you from Chapter 3. You may email your interests to the moderator in advance, or bring them up spontaneously at the meeting.

As moderator, my primary concern is that we will not be faced with 45 minutes of “dead air time.” Therefore I have generated the following “fall-back” agenda of topics for discussion:
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Chapter Three “A Way Of Teaching” addresses the Reformation as embodied in The Augsburg Confession, and how it should impact how we as Lutherans should live today:

“As Lutherans we understand ourselves to be a teaching movement within the catholic church – teaching the word of unconditional grace and teaching the necessity of reformation that the life of the church may conform to the Gospel. This is the LUTHERAN WAY OF TEACHNG”

1. In your own words (i.e. without paraphrasing Article 4 of The Augsburg Confession), what does “Unconditional Grace” mean to you?

2. How does being the recipient of “Unconditional Grace” affect your daily life?

3. Do you believe that the church today is continuing to teach the necessity of reformation that the life of the Lutheran Church may conform to the Gospel:
“If we are faithful to the spirit of the Lutheran Reformation, we will ask ‘What are our indulgences?’ – meaning ‘What is there in our institution which hinders us from hearing THE LIVING WORD?’”

“Evangelical, (from a Greek Word which means “public proclamation of good news” is a term Lutherans have traditionally used to identify themselves. The word is often used today to identify Christians who claim one must have an adult experience of decision to be a Christian, an experience called being “born again.” Almost all catholic Christians teach that we are born again in Baptism.”

4. Why do Lutherans claim that we are Evangelical? i.e. What Christians are not Evangelical? And if all Christians are Evangelical, are some more Evangelical than others? (Are Lutherans Evangelicaler-Than-Thou? )

“The Lutheran party sought to present a convincing argument that … those who are loyal to the reform movement led by Martin Luther are faithful catholics who desire to live serve, worship, teach and encourage renewal within the Roman Catholic Church.”
“The final seven articles of the Augsburg confession tell us that the church must be changed to conform to the evangelical, catholic teaching.” “Articles Twenty-two through Twenty-eight list seven changes which sixteenth-century Lutherans enacted in their congregations.”

5. If Martin Luther and his following genuinely sought reform within the Roman Catholic Church, why did they set reform within the Roman Catholic Church back 400 years by presenting non-negotiable demands (Articles 22 – 28), and then, when these demands were not met, to break away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church? How far should one go trying to reform from within the system? Is revolution the inevitable consequence when reform is suppressed?

“If we say we are Lutheran Christians, we claim the Augsburg Confession as our own.* *When there were rumors that Rome might “recognize” the Augsburg Confession, many confessional Lutherans felt that a much more fundamental question is whether or not WE recognize the Augsburg Confession.”

6. How do you think that WE do not recognize the Augsburg Confession? Which portions do we ignore? Reminding ourselves that we are catholic? Serving as an evangelical teaching movement? Living as a reforming movement?