YEC and Lutheranism

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Hope1960

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It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here but as some of you may recall, I’ve been exploring other faiths and have been primarily going to an LCMS Lutheran Church lately. Trouble is, they believe the earth is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old.

Are there any LCMS Lutheran YEC here and if so, how do you believe that when the earth is actually thought to be billions of years old?

Or are there any LCMS Lutherans here who don’t believe in YEC? And if so, how does that go over with your pastors and fellow parishioners?
 
I’m LCMS. I tend to fall on the side of the earth being billions of years old. I also don’t believe this is an issue that affects salvation, so I don’t bother worrying about it too much.
 
when I was in LCC (Lutheran Church-Canada, Canadian counterpart of LCMS)… people and clergy were pretty well divided 50/50 on this issue.
 
I was confirmed in the LCMS and at confirmation classes, pretty much everyone was on my case regarding the age of the earth.

I don’t know if that’s symptomatic of the church a whole, or just the one I was at.

Either way, it wasn’t a huge problem. We agreed to disagree.
 
Hope1960 said:
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here but as some of you may recall, I’ve been exploring other faiths and have been primarily going to an LCMS Lutheran Church lately. Trouble is, they believe the earth is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old.

Are there any LCMS Lutheran YEC here and if so, how do you believe that when the earth is actually thought to be billions of years old?

Or are there any LCMS Lutherans here who don’t believe in YEC? And if so, how does that go over with your pastors and fellow parishioners?
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I was raised LCA Lutheran (a predecessor body of the ELCA, but spent a number of years in the LCMS.
Never have I heard this to be an issue. In fact, a science professor at the Lutheran college I attended bridged the issue quite well by merging the scriptural account and scientific theory.
As another poster said, it is not an article of faith to believe young earth.
 
JonNC said:
I was raised LCA Lutheran (a predecessor body of the ELCA, but spent a number of years in the LCMS.
Never have I heard this to be an issue. In fact, a science professor at the Lutheran college I attended bridged the issue quite well by merging the scriptural account and scientific theory.
As another poster said, it is not an article of faith to believe young earth.
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I was told that I was welcome but that I “couldn’t teach a class” due to my differing beliefs. Not that I wanted or had any plans to teach.
 
Never even thought about it. I’ve taken too many different courses to think that the earth is only 6-10 thousand years old. Did have a teacher in elementary school believe that age though but never an issue.
 
Hope1960 said:
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JonNC:
I was raised LCA Lutheran (a predecessor body of the ELCA, but spent a number of years in the LCMS.
Never have I heard this to be an issue. In fact, a science professor at the Lutheran college I attended bridged the issue quite well by merging the scriptural account and scientific theory.
As another poster said, it is not an article of faith to believe young earth.
Click to expand...
I was told that I was welcome but that I “couldn’t teach a class” due to my differing beliefs. Not that I wanted or had any plans to teach.
Click to expand...
Well, I was an elder for a number of years in my former parish. It just isn’t a big issue, certainly not to me. I don’t criticize those who believe young earth, or those who don’t.
I just believe the words, “In the beginning…”. And there isn’t an unwillingness to believe in the miraculous. I believe in the virgin birth, the physical resurrection, the real presence.
 
Hope1960 said:
I was told that I was welcome but that I “couldn’t teach a class” due to my differing beliefs. Not that I wanted or had any plans to teach.
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My beliefs make me feel like I don’t fit in at the church. Based on LCMS experience, approx. what percentage of congregants don’t believe the earth/universe is 6,000 to 10,000 years old, would you think?
 
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There are plenty of Lutheran churches that don’t insist you believe the earth is 6000 years old–basically, that would be most of them.
JonNC said:
I just believe the words, “In the beginning…”. And there isn’t an unwillingness to believe in the miraculous. I believe in the virgin birth, the physical resurrection, the real presence.
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I think you’re covered! However, I was a Lutheran and found it unsatisfying in a number of ways. I think you should try to work within your Catholic church. You now have the Mass–every day if you want–and you have the Eucharist. You will miss out on a lot in the Lutheran church.
 
I’ve already talked with a priest. Didn’t do any good. And right now we’re in between pastors.

What do you think would come out of talking to a pastor? It’s not like he’s going to change the Mass for lil’ old me.
 
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Shasta-Rose said:
There are plenty of Lutheran churches that don’t insist you believe the earth is 6000 years old–basically, that would be most of them.
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The only two that are nearby are LCMS.
 
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Hope1960 said:
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Shasta-Rose:
There are plenty of Lutheran churches that don’t insist you believe the earth is 6000 years old–basically, that would be most of them.
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The only two that are nearby are LCMS.
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I suspect WELS would be more insistent, though I could be wrong, and I just don’t think ELCA would fit you, though again I could be wrong.
 
As much as I admire the LCMS (and their partner churches) for their integrity, I find it very difficult to join them over this issue if there were a local congregation much closer to where I live.
JonNC said:
I suspect WELS would be more insistent, though I could be wrong, and I just don’t think ELCA would fit you, though again I could be wrong.
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Poor WELS. Always forgotten when talking about (American) Lutherans.
 
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JonNC said:
I suspect WELS would be more insistent, though I could be wrong, and I just don’t think ELCA would fit you, though again I could be wrong.
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ELCA is super liberal, isn’t it? Not that it matters, there’s none close to here.
 
Code: 
[quote="ATraveller, post:15, topic:557656, full:true"]
As much as I admire the LCMS (and their partner churches) for their integrity, I find it very difficult to join them over this issue if there were a local congregation much closer to where I live.
JonNC said:
I suspect WELS would be more insistent, though I could be wrong, and I just don’t think ELCA would fit you, though again I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Poor WELS. Always forgotten when talking about (American) Lutherans.
[/quote]

don’t pity the WELS too much, there are 40+ Lutheran synods/association in North America (that is what happens when you go SOLA SCRIPTURA)… The majority of people will only know ELCA and sometimes LCMS… Most of the other ones are not known by most people…
 
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steph03 said:
don’t pity the WELS too much, there are 40+ Lutheran synods/association in North America (that is what happens when you go SOLA SCRIPTURA)… The majority of people will only know ELCA and sometimes LCMS… Most of the other ones are not known by most people…
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While this is entirely off topic, I’ll respond.
While it is certainly true that Lutheran polity is not the same as that of the Catholic Church, the number of Synods is not related to the practice of sola scriptura (all caps not needed). A significant portion of the decentralized polity has to do with the historic immigration from various countries.
Since Lutheranism is a confessional tradition, the basic doctrines of Lutheranism are agreed on by virtually all Lutherans. These are found in the Augsburg Confession, the Small Catechism, not to mention the three ecumenical creeds of the Church.
In short, divisions not based on national origin are typically based on either issues of fellowship or modernizing interpretations of the confessions.
For example, The Lutheran tradition has always ordained only males. Some synods have stepped away from that orthodox view.

In short, your comment doesn’t apply to the topic or Lutheran practice.
 
steph03 said:
don’t pity the WELS too much, there are 40+ Lutheran synods/association in North America (that is what happens when you go SOLA SCRIPTURA)… The majority of people will only know ELCA and sometimes LCMS… Most of the other ones are not known by most people…
Click to expand...
As far as I know, there are no WELS nearby. In fact, until I read about them online I’d never heard of them. But, now back to my OP…
 
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