One of my friends posted a question on what her statement of "What Lutherans Believe," and in thinking of it, I was struck with a flurry of spontaneous Lutheran credology. My favorite statement here is the last. Here it goes:
- Lutherans believe that Christ is the center and the center will hold.
- Lutherans believe that no sin is original--they've all been tried before.
- Lutherans believe that Christ showed his true colors on the cross, and we showed ours, yet God is above all seen in a rainbow of all colors.
- Lutherans believe that "Love your neighbor as yourself" does not mean to keep using Jesus' name to attack that neighbor for any reason whatsoever.
- Lutherans believe that the New Commandment doesn't supplant the 10 Commandments, but rather interprets law through the prism of the Gospel.
- Lutherans believe that God forgives you first, and then you respond with works of charity and compassion out of thankfulness, rather than trying to buy God's favor through good works, which doesn't work anyway.
- Lutherans believe that faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit and not a work that one Christian is better at than others.
- Lutherans believe that humans are not fully good or fully bad, but fully both.
- Lutherans believe that Jesus, and not Rob Bell, emptied hell of all sinners past, present, and future.
- Lutherans believe that human beings struggle and are not perfect.
- Lutherans believe three solas ("alones"), grace, scripture, and faith, but these are neither mutually exclusive nor exhaustive.
- Lutherans believe that doubt is an asset, and not a liability, to faith.
- Lutherans believe that Jesus really is present in communion, not just a memory.
- Lutherans believe that God is gracious, even in judgment.
- Lutherans believe that the Holy Spirit works today, and that God was not buried in the Bible.
And, most importantly:
- Lutherans believe that God is still speaking, even if some Christians never shut up.
