I would doubt he ever said the words "Only Lutherans are in Heaven" I was talking about my attitude that I am sure, at my young age, was influenced by his teaching. Obviously you know how proud we LCMS members are about our doctrine. SNL's Dana Carvey grew up LCMS and it inspired his character the self righteous church lady.
I am not bashing any of my Pastors. God put them all in my life and I am grateful for their teaching and Holy Spirit calling.
Now to my Pastor discussion. Reading Luther don't Pastors actually have much authority in a local parish. A sort of shepherd of the folk? I bring this up because The LCMS institution is be undermining this relationship in my experience.
I edited out "may be" and replaced it with "is" and the resulting typo.
I see that again we are looking at your attitude, and a desire to have the origin of it begin from the pulpit of the church you attended. A just as likely origin is that it was your attitude, not the preaching. I say this because your current stance isn't based on any orthodox LCMS preaching, so we should lay aside the preaching you received as a causal factor in your current situation.
Regarding 'pride' in LCMS doctrine, you write it so it sounds like it is a dirty word. It isn't a pride in our own accomplishment, it is the same pride that a workman with the finest tool has, or the 'pride' a jeweler has who possesses a truly fine gem. We didn't make it or create it, but we are priveleged to use it and share it with others.
Dan Carvey was funny in the skit, but irrelevant to this discussion.
Reading Luther don't Pastors actually have much authority in a local parish. A sort of shepherd of the folk? I bring this up because The LCMS institution is be undermining this relationship in my experience.
I can't see what you are asking. Luther describes the duties of the called servant of the Word. LCMS has always given pastors lots of 'room' to do their jobs. But the 'power' in a Lutheran congregation is in the laity who decides monetary issues, calling of a pastor, etc.