“>>How do you feel about the LCMS’s sacramentalism and beliefs that tinge closer to Catholicism?”
Funny you should mention that. I have a very good friend who recently joined an LCMS congregation and we’ve discussed this issue from a PCA vs. LCMS perspective. For me, the Lutheran view has always seemed closer to sacramentalism which confuses me because Luther preached sola fide. To be fair, I’d have to study Lutheran doctrine more to give a better formed opinion concerning their view of the sacraments. I’ve attended services with him and with another LCMS friend at his church. In all cases, I’ve abstained from communion though I did go up to the front at one with my arms crossed over my heart and the server prayed for me. I liked that.
“I’m surprised that Lutherans refer to themselves in Luther’s name and not Melancthon’s, considering Melancthon wrote the bulk of the Lutheran confessions.”
PCA theologian R.C. Sproul has said the same thing.
The Lutheran view IS sacramentalism, but Luther believed just like Catholics that the sacraments are God’s works and not man’s.
Luther defined a sacrament as an outward sign of God’s inward grace, so when a child is baptized it’s not the minister doing the act. It is God alone who gives his Holy Spirit.
But he said faith alone is necessary for the sacraments to be effective in the life of the believer, as opposed to St. Augustine’s doctrine of ex opere operato.
The Lutheran Confessions are so close to Catholicism that Pope Benedict XVI has said they could be interpreted in a Catholic manner.
Lutheranism — TRUE Lutheranism’s tenets (unlike the ELCA) are close to orthodoxy — they believe in the Sacrament of marriage, of Confession (yes), of the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist etc.
Melancthon’s writings seem reasoned and logical, while Luther’s writing seem erratic and hysterical in tone.
The Book of Concord struck me as strange in my Lutheran days because it quotes from “the apocrypha” as scripture.
Luther frequently contradicted himself on the sacraments. In 1519, he said there were three Sacraments: penance, Eucharist, and baptism. But 10 years later he contracted it to two and redefined the Sacrament of Penance as being connected with baptism.
In America where Calvinism dominates, Lutheran Protestantism is sort out in left field because they have more in common with High Church Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox than say with the Reformed or Baptists.
My first experience with non-Lutheran Protestants at college came as a total culture shock because although we believed in the Solas, we had virtually nothing in common.