A couple of questions:
- What are the doctrinal differences in the LCMS and Wisconsin synod?
There are two principal differences between the WELS and the LCMS. The first is their respective understandings of church fellowship. The WELS has a ‘unit’ concept of fellowship; they believe that all aspects of fellowship are on the same level. This means that altar fellowship is placed on the same level as prayer fellowship. As such, WELS are very careful about prayer and will generally not pray publicly with those who are not in communion with their Synod. The LCMS has historically distinguished between types of fellowship; i.e. an LCMS pastor will not (or should not anyway) commune someone who is not LCMS or one of her sister churches abroad. However, an LCMS pastor may pray with Christians of other denominations.
The second large difference is regarding the office of the holy ministry. The LCMS teaches that the pastoral office is distinctly ordained by Christ, and therefore should be thought of in a different light than other functions of the ministry (i.e. teachers and elders, etc.) The LCMS sees these different offices as being created by man for the benefit of the church and to fulfill her purpose, whereas the WELS Theses on Church and Ministry states that the pastoral office is not instituted apart from the other offices of the church.
One other difference is that women can vote on congregational matters in most LCMS congregations (an LCMS congregation’s constitution, rather than the Synod, determines this for each congregation) whereas women are not permitted to vote in the Wisconsin Synod.
It should be noted, though that the WELS and LCMS agree 99% of the time. Specifically with the current questions of female ordination and homosexual marriage/ordination, the LCMS and WELS have been in lock-step together. They have the same understanding of the role and nature of Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions in the life of the church.
- How far do you think the split is going to go with the ELCA Lutherans after the recent decision to allow “gay clergy in a committed relationship”?
I pray daily for our misguided brothers in the ELCA. To be honest, the most liberal 1% of the ELCA happens to be the 1% guiding the direction of the church. At my home LCMS congregation, we have received about 100 phone calls over the past few weeks from scared ELCA members who want to learn about conversion to the LCMS. There are many more conservative church members in the ELCA than the public perceives. The problem is that the ELCA gives their congregations too much autonomy.
I believe that there will soon be another split. I hope that the conservative faction of the ELCA will merge into either the LCMS or WELS, rather than creating a new church body (which is the last thing we need.)
- Martin Luther was devoted to Mary, as evidenced in his writings. When and why did Lutherans abandon Marian devotion?
That is a great question. I do know that Luther to his death defended the doctrines of Mary’s perpetual virginity, and I do know that many LCMS theologians hold that Luther believed in the immaculate conception as well, particularly Arthur Piepkorn. I think that over time the Lutheran church has gone through periods of “un-Catholicising” at which points we perhaps throw out the baby with the bathwater.
However, Lutherans have never held that one can pray to Mary or any other saint for intercession.
- Sometimes Lutherans rail against “man-made teachings” (other Protestant groups are more vocal about this too). Since Lutherans believe revelation was closed when the canon of scripture was put together (at least that’s what I was taught in LCMS catechism), how are the teachings of Martin Luther, a man, justified (pun intended
)?
This may not be the answer you’re looking for, but essentially we don’t see Luther’s teaching as a ‘teaching of man’ because he simply summarizes the scriptures. In other words, Luther didn’t add or subtract anything from scripture; his teaching simply clarifies and organizes what the Lord has already given us in the scriptures.
There are a few who join the Catholic priesthood, but I think there is a stigma against married priests within Catholic parishes, at least from what I’ve heard.