Lutherans

Religious Field Research Project

For this research project, the religious organization I chose to study was the Lutheran religion. I visited Living Word Christian Church and spoke with Josh who is a teacher of elementary school kids at the church called Living Word Christian Academy. After interviewing Josh, not only did I find out that the Lutheran religion different from my religion, Roman Catholic, but I also found out there were many similarities between the two faiths. Josh first said he was a member of the WELS Lutheran faith which stands for Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. There are many different types of Lutherans such as the WELS, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America or ELCA, and the Missouri Synod. These types all follow the same ideas and have the same beliefs, the only differences are some synods are liberal and some are conservative. Lutherans are very similar to Roman Catholics, in fact, a very long time ago, Lutherans were apart of the Roman Catholic Church and followed the Pope in Rome. That is until a man named Martin Luther did not agree with some of the aspects of the Pope's teachings. Luther found scriptures in the Bible that contradict what the Pope taught such as the way to get into heaven is by doing goodwill on earth, Luther found a passage in the Bible that said to get into heaven, you must have faith in Jesus alone. Faith in Jesus will give you a place in heaven. Luther found other aspects such as this and published the 95 Thesis which listed how Catholics are wrong according to the Bible. The 95 Thesis created a drift between Catholics and Lutherans. This is how the Lutheran religion began.

Lutheran's believe that since Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we are all sinful and we are all going to sin. For this reason alone, we will have a place in heaven. Lutherans believe getting into heaven is not based on doing good works and deeds; good works are fruits of your faith and comes naturally out of what Jesus did for you and faith in him. Basically, everyone is sinful and are damned to Hell, but since Jesus died on the cross, those with faith in him have a place in Heaven.

Lutherans do not believe in Purgatory which is what Catholics believe in as a place where people who did not do enough good works go to. Lutherans believe in two places, Heaven and Hell, and to get into heaven you must believe in Jesus and to get into Hell, you do not believe in Jesus.

Lutherans celebrate the same religious holidays Roman Catholics celebrate such as Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, and Advent. Lutherans believe in only two sacraments as opposed to Catholicism's seven sacraments. Sacraments are earthly elements connected with God's word that gives us the forgiveness of sins. The two sacraments Lutherans believe in are baptism and the Lord's Supper. During baptism, at the moment the pastor says the words of God, the child faith in the Lord, not at the moment water makes contact with the child. In the sacrament of the Last Supper, the bread and wine is Christ's actual body and blood, in Catholicism, the bread and wine are symbols for Christ's body and blood.

Lutheran's worship no human or anything else besides God and Jesus. Lutheran's do not worship the Virgin Marry, because since Marry believed

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