baptist vs. lutheran

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bmoore15

100+ Posts
My entire life I have gone to a Baptist church. My girlfriend has always gone to a Lutheran church. We have started to attend her church one Sunday and mine the next. It works out just fine right now but eventually we will have to choose. I'm trying to be as unbiased as possible on this. A lot of the time I feel like the congregation at the Lutheran church are just robot like. But I just really don't know what all Lutheran churches teach and everything. So I was hoping someone knew the differences between Baptist and Lutherans pretty well. What is everyone elses opinion on this?
 
One big question: What type of Lutheran church is it? There are two major separate Lutheran denominations in the U.S., the ELCA (the larger, more moderate-to-progressive one) and the Missouri Synod (the more conservative one). You'll find Missouri Synod to be closer to Baptist (I'm assuming you mean Southern Baptist), although there are still quite a few differences.

Both Wikipedia entries are informative and fairly thorough:

ELCA:The Link

Missouri Synod:
The Link

My best advice is to find a church that you are BOTH happy to be a part of; sit down and talk about it and make a list of the things that are important to each of you to have in a church home.

My wife and I came from different Christian backgrounds, but we tried a bunch of different churches after we got married until we found one that felt "right" to both of us (which happened to be an ELCA Lutheran church in Dallas, even though neither of us had ever been Lutheran).
 
An alternative suggestion... bring other denominations into the mix. I knew a buddy who was SB and married a Episcopal. They faced a similar situation, and rather than pick one or the other, they balanced out all of the protestant denominations and decided that Methodist suited them both well, as it retained some vestiges of the anglican ceremony that is featured in the Episcopal Church, but toned down for my Baptist buddy. Just a thought.
 
Baptism will present issues if you ever have a little one.

Her church will likely want you to baptize the baby as an infant.

Your church says, "Whoa, wait until they have faith in Christ first."
 
I always thought that the difference between Baptists and Lutherans was that Lutherans will acknowledge each other in the liquor store.
 
Wesser brings up a good point. I am in the United Methodist Church and we get many 'mixed' couples. Especially, Baptist/Catholic, ect. The Anglican Church, Episcopal, and UMC all stand 'in between' those two denominations That is IF you find conservative churches in those denominations. Missouri Synod and S. Baptist are both more 'conservative' as a denomination. I am in this field and would love to try to answer any more specific theological questions you have. Although, I can't be the definitive word of course.


Therapod, no denomination I know of will 're-baptise.' Southern Baptists (and all other anabaptist groups) do NOT acknowledge infant baptism, therefore saying that you aren't being 're-baptised' you are being baptised for the first time. I am going to assume that is what you meant. I don't mean that as any type of personal attack, just trying to clarify the 're' thing.
 
It's not that they don't acknowledge it - it's just that they don't see it as "believer's baptism", that is, baptism as one's expression of faith - a pronouncement of what one believes. Baptists see it as a commandment but not a requirement of salvation.

I was baptized as an infant as a Catholic but also baptized at 24 in a Baptist church as an outward profession of faith.
 
HookEm, I could be wrong here, but I was under the impression that Baptists would say that you were not really baptised as an infant because you can not be baptised until you believe. They believe that belief precedes baptism. And I am aware and agree that baptists do not believe that baptism is necessary for salvation.
Now that you have mentioned it, I question what I wrote before, because I just can't remember about Baptists. Of course what we call baptists today were once all called ANA baptists because they did not acknoledge infant baptism of the RC church or other 'new' protestant denominations.
 
I was raised Baptist and my wife was raised Lutheran (Missouri Synod). Both denominations believe that salvation is based on God's grace, and his grace alone, not works.

As mentioned above, Lutherans baptize at birth, Baptists on profession of faith. Lutherans profess their sins, and the pastor intercedes on their behalf, Baptists ask for forgiveness directly from God.

Baptists don't drink, don't dance, or do anything that could basically be considered fun, that is why I now consider myself a Lutheran.

Saved by God's grace, born again in his likeness, but a beer drinkin', dancin' fool. After all I had many years to make up for.

Chief
 
My personal opinion. I wouldn't marry someone who was not completely, 100% on board with accepting my faith tradition. And I don't mean accepting, like "I don't care what we do on Sundays, I'll go along for the ride", I mean embracing. That's just me.
 
I have a relative that was a member of the People's Front of Judea. He started dating a girl who was a member of the Judean People's Front. They fought so much they finally had to break it off.

catfight.gif
 
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