Lutheran View of the Assumption

[BernadetteM]

Although we have some wonderful Lutherans on the forum, I have been to a Lutheran forum, I don’t know whether they are Missouri Synod or another synod.

They are pretty anti catholic over there. One of the ministers stated that he celebrated “Merry’s day”. He does in some way believe that Mary was taken up to Heaven.

The rest of the posters referred to the Assumption/Dormation as Papist/Romish.

The minister brought up the fact that from the earliest days the Church did celebrate Mary’s Assumption. Also that the early Lutherans also celebrated it.

What is the official doctrine on her Assumption by Lutherans? From that forum it appears that Lutherans have many differences in their doctrines other than this one.

I feel bad that these Lutherans appear to be anti catholic. Using derogatory words to describe the Catholic Church etc.

It is so good to know that many Lutherans don’t feel this way and that the ones on our forums are very civil and respectful.

My daughter’s father in law is a Lutheran pastor, but is more or less more towards the liberal side. He and his wife gave up on trying to convert my daughter. Her DH doesn’t go to any church and wants nothing to do with church. He said he had enough as a youth.

Thank you to all the great Lutherans on our boards.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

 

[SecretBeliever]

Hi Bernadette,

I’m presently “posing” as a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) Lutheran (long story) but Lutherans as far as I know do not believe in the Assumption. I don’t think anyone in any Bible study I’ve been to has ever asked the question, but you could try wels.net and look at the Q&A page; they might have a question about that.

Lutherans believe that the office of the Pope is the Antichrist. So it’s not surprising that there are anti-Catholic Lutherans. I’ve seen jokes about that animosity. But Luther changed his position on stuff a few times, so maybe he started out believing in the Assumption and then deciding it wasn’t right (and the churches followed suit). Probably someone with more details about Luther’s life could provide more info.

And of course there are a few Lutheran synods ranging from “liberal” to “conservative” - think ELCA to WELS - so you don’t even have Lutherans agreeing on everything amongst themselves!

The splintering of the church is about the biggest reason I’m headed back over the Tiber.

 

[JonNC]

Although we have some wonderful Lutherans on the forum, I have been to a Lutheran forum, I don’t know whether they are Missouri Synod or another synod.

They are pretty anti catholic over there. One of the ministers stated that he celebrated “Merry’s day”. He does in some way believe that Mary was taken up to Heaven.

The rest of the posters referred to the Assumption/Dormation as Papist/Romish.

The minister brought up the fact that from the earliest days the Church did celebrate Mary’s Assumption. Also that the early Lutherans also celebrated it.

What is the official doctrine on her Assumption by Lutherans? From that forum it appears that Lutherans have many differences in their doctrines other than this one.

I feel bad that these Lutherans appear to be anti catholic. Using derogatory words to describe the Catholic Church etc.

It is so good to know that many Lutherans don’t feel this way and that the ones on our forums are very civil and respectful.

My daughter’s father in law is a Lutheran pastor, but is more or less more towards the liberal side. He and his wife gave up on trying to convert my daughter. Her DH doesn’t go to any church and wants nothing to do with church. He said he had enough as a youth.

Thank you to all the great Lutherans on our boards.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

Sadly, Bernadette, there remains hostility on all sides of the various schisms and separations within the Church. I’m sorry you were offended by my fellow Lutherans.
The LCMS site states the following:

Assumption, Feast of the.

Feasts celebrating the Falling Asleep, that is, the death, of Mary have been celebrated in the East since the 4th or 5th c. Emp. Maurice (582–603) fixed the date for such celebrations on August 15. The feast entered the Western Church in the late 7th c. and became universal by the end of the 8th. Though the doctrine of Mary’s bodily assumption seems first to have been upheld in the 8th or 9th c., it was officially declared a probable opinion in the RC Church only in the pontificate of Benedict XIV and it was only in 1950 that Pius XII in the **bull Munificentissimus Deus **defined it as a dogma that RCs must believe (but left open the question whether or not Mary died before being taken bodily into heaven). It has long been a RC holy day of obligation in many countries. The 1572 Lutheran Church Order for Brandenburg still retained the feast by its traditional name; elsewhere in the 16th and 17th c. some Luth. Ch. Orders kept August 15 as a festival, but commemorated the Visitation (otherwise kept on July 2) on it. ACP

lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=a&word=ASSUMPTION.FEASTOFTHE

As Marian beliefs are not considered an article of faith by Lutherans, we are generally free to believe or not believe the Assumption or Dormition, whether alive or dead. The said:

There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know. And since the Holy Spirit has told us nothing about it, we can make of it no article of faith…It is enough to know that she lives in Christ.

So for Lutherans, the big issue is what I bolded and underlined in your comment: binding the hearts of believers. By the same token, if Lutherans are then free to believe or not, we should respect and honor those who believe… or don’t.

Jon

 

[geometer]

The assumption of Mary is just an assumption, I wouldn’t worry about it…

 

[gcnuss]

As Marian beliefs are not considered an article of faith by Lutherans, we are generally free to believe or not believe the Assumption or Dormition, whether alive or dead.

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… if Lutherans are then free to believe or not, we should respect and honor those who believe… or don’t.

A very good thing to remember as we seek to become closer to our Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters.

 

[BernadetteM]

Thank you all for your responses. Jon, I do recall reading that definition of the Lutheran belief, but the Lutherans I know seem to have no idea that they can accept her Assumption.

Of course they don’t post on CAF and to be honest don’t really understand the doctrine of the Lultheran church they attend. I think people who post here and on other sites are much more interested in their own faith and what others believe.

It is not that we are all special, just from my own standpoint I have always been interested in religion.

Thanks again.

God Bless

Bernadette