Re: is it too much to ask?

I don't really understand the Lutheran faith, denomination, philosophy, manner of worship, etc. (I thought "Lutheran" was a sort of "religion", although I'm not surprised to hear such realistic thinking come from you or your pastor, Godly people are "renegades" from religious THINKING, but a "manner of worship" will always be present).

I think the dividing line between religious thinking and Godly thinking is that a "religion" teaches that a person's thinking/behavior should be governed/restricted to "the textbook",...resulting in the religious person's denial of SELF (Colossians 2:18 and 23).

http://cf.blb.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=self+abasement&Versi...


Being a GODLY Christian (regardless of a chosen "manner of worship") requires HEARING God's word (John 10:27,...the sword of the spirit, Ephesians 6:17) and establishing a "self" (conscience, some have made shipwreck of their personal relationship by disregarding it) by knowing yourself AND being the person you really are (justly and with reverence to The Lord). We are God's offspring and can only experience true inner peace by imitating Him (His name throughout all eternity is "I am who I am", Exodus 3:14).

Sadly, the "religious" worshipper has been convinced (taught) to be hypocritical by nature because "self" HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THEM and their mind replaced by "text" (and rigor of devotion).

All scripture (word of truth, 2 Timothy 2:15, Ephesians 1:13) is good for TRAINING ("ELEMENTARY"/introductory doctrine, Hebrews 6:1) and has been inspired by God. In The Great Commission, The Lord specified to only spread the GOSPEL (first four books of the N.T., realizing that the sincere would choose to continue on with all scripture), but "religion" makes the requirement that our relationship/devotion be based on the bible IN TOTALITY and not have the priority of HEARING God's will.