Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers: Exploring Chrisitan Faith
Search in google:
Lutheran Christians often have questions about Lutheran theology and beliefs that are basic to the Christian faith itself. Featuring a unique question-and-answer format. Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers is an accessible and concise treatment that provides the most frequently asked questions on important topics and brief but complete answers from distinguished historian and theologian, Martin Marty. Among the questions included are: What is the purpose of the Bible? How do Lutherans interpret the Bible? What is the meaning of the cross? What is the purpose of human life? What is the grace of God? Do Lutherans have to worry about being "Left Behind"? Arranged according to doctrinal topics the book is ideal for individual and group study and new-member and confirmation classes.About the Author:Martin E. Marty pastor, and teacher, having been a professor of religious history for thirty-five years at the University of Chicago
Invitation 9Lutheran History and Heritage 11Where Do Lutheran Churches Come From? 11What Are the Origins of Lutheran Churches in the United States? 13What Do We Mean by a "Lutheran" Church or "Lutheran" Theology? 14What Is Lutheranism? 15Why Do Lutherans Have So Many Confessions of Faith? 17What Makes Lutherans Different from Presbyterians or Methodists or Baptists? 18Do Lutherans Believe in "Predestination"? 20The Bible 22What Is the Basic Message of the Bible? 22What Is the Purpose of the Bible? 25What Do We Mean When We Say the Bible Is "God's Word"? 26Why Is the Bible Considered an Authority for the Church? 27Since We Have the New Testament, Why Do We Need the Old Testament? 29Are There Errors in the Bible? 30How Do Lutherans Interpret the Bible? 32Do Lutherans Believe in a Literal Adam and Eve? 34God 36Can We Prove That God Exists? 36How Can We Know God? 38What Is the Trinity? 39What Are Some Practical Results of Believing in the Trinity? 41What Is the Providence of God? 42Does God Will Evil and Suffering in the World and in Our Lives? 44Is God Male? 46Jesus Christ 48What Is the Incarnation? 48Where Was Jesus Before He Came to Earth? 50Do Lutherans Believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus? 51Why Did Jesus Come into the World? 52Why Did Jesus Have to Die? 54What Is the Meaning of the Cross? 56Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead, and What Does His Resurrection Mean? 57Humanity 59What Is the Purpose of Human Life? 59What Does It Mean to Say Humans Are Created in the Image of God? 60What Is Sin? 62Why Do We Sin? 63Do Lutherans Believe That Humans Are Totally Evil? 64What Do We Mean by "Original Sin"? 65Do We Have "Free Will"? 66The Holy Spirit 69What Does the Holy Spirit Do? 69In What Ways Does the Holy Spirit Work in the Church? 71What Do Lutherans Believe about the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit"? 72What Do Lutherans Believe about the "Gifts of the Holy Spirit"? 73Is "Speaking in Tongues" a Necessary Sign of the Holy Spirit in One's Life? 75What Is the Holy Spirit's Role in Evangelism? 76Does the Holy Spirit Work outside the Church? 78Salvation 79What Is the Grace of God? 79What Does It Mean to Be "Saved"? 80Must We Be Baptized in Order to Be Saved? 82Will Non-Christians Be Saved? 83The Church 86What Does It Mean to Be a Church "Member"? 86Why Is the Church So Full of "Sinners"? 88What Do We Mean by the "Visible" and the "Invisible" Church? 90What Is the Priesthood of All Believers? 92Why Do Lutheran Churches Put Such a Stress on Christian Education? 94What Is the "Mission" of the Church? 96What Should Be the Church's Relation to Culture? 98Worship 101Why Should We Worship? 101Why Does the Prayer of Confession List Sins I Never Commit? 103What Is the Function of the Furniture I Might Expect to See in a Lutheran Church? 105Why Don't Lutheran Churches Have Altar Calls? 106What Is Preaching, and Why Is It Important? 107Why Do Lutherans Insist That Sacraments Be Celebrated Only in Worship Services? 108What Is the Relation between Worship and the Rest of Life? 109The Sacraments 111Why Do Lutherans Have Two Sacraments? 111Why Are Sacraments Important? 113Why Do Lutherans Baptize Babies? 115I Do Not Remember My Baptism as an Infant. Can I Be Rebaptized? 119What Happens in the Lord's Supper? 120Do We Really Eat and Drink the "Body and Blood" of Jesus in the Lord's Supper? 123Can Unconfirmed Children and Non-Church Members Take Communion? 124Christian Life 127What Do Lutherans Believe about Saints? 127Do Lutherans Believe That Christians Can Attain Perfection in This Life? 129If We Are Christians, Do We Have to Obey God's Law? 130Does God Answer Prayer? 132Does God Heal Today? 134How Do We Know the Will of God? 135What Is My Christian "Vocation"? 137The Reign of God 139Why Is Our View of the Future Important? 139What Do We Believe about the End of the World? 140When Will Jesus Come Again? 143Do Lutherans Have to Worry about Being "Left Behind"? 144What Do Lutherans Believe about the Millennium? 145What Is the "Resurrection of the Body"? 146What Is the Kingdom of God? 147Polity 150What Are the Main Features of the Lutheran Form of Church Government? 150What Is Ordination? 153What Are Elders, and What Do They Do? 154What Are Deacons, and What Do They Do? 155What Is a Synod, and What Does It Do? 155What Is Church Discipline, and Why Is It Important? 156For Further Reading 158Index of Topics 159
