My wife and I finally decided to become Lutherans, and now we have peace
Good morning, brothers and sisters. I’d like to share how I finally found my home within Christianity. (Using a Portuguese-to-English translator).
I was born into a Roman Catholic family. I was baptized and attended catechism classes until I was 10 years old. During that time, my parents converted to Spiritism (a spiritualist/Gnostic philosophy founded by Allan Kardec in France). I was a Spiritist from age 10 until I was 23. I met my wife when I was 22. She was also born into a Roman Catholic home, and when she was 14, her parents became Neo-Pentecostals. Her father even became a pastor at that church. She was “at odds” with the faith. Too much legalism, curses, and meaningless revelations, she said. Her entire view of being a “Christian” was based on Neo-Pentecostalism.
I “converted” (I didn’t realize my baptism was valid) by reading the Gospel of Matthew. I knew nothing about theology. I just knew that promise was true. My wife decided to go back to church. We started attending the church her father pastored. It was a nightmare. Full of revelations of seraphim, armies of angels flying through the city, the rapture, trumpets, and curses for the “religious” people from other churches. Shouting, people jumping up and down. In an act of desperation, I fled to the first Baptist church I found: it was a megachurch.
Now we were in a sea of pastors wearing Vans, using smoke machines and LED cannons, with conference tickets, lots of crying, cappuccino, and dopamine. I started reading and studying and realized that everything there was wrong, too. Communion was open to everyone; they even served it with Doritos and soda. I didn’t know what to do. Everywhere I went seemed like madness. I didn’t know how, but I knew it was wrong. I decided to study.
From Pentecostal, I became a Baptist. From Baptist, a Reformed Baptist. From there, to: Presbyterian. We started attending the Presbyterian church and finally could breathe. Order, liturgy, sacrament, study. It was a great relief, and I have a lot of respect for the years I spent as a Presbyterian. Even so, I felt like something was missing: every time I saw a child’s baptism, I didn’t feel joy—I felt doubt: “Is she the elect?” “Was she predestined, or is her baptism for condemnation?”
Were my wife and I the elect? Do I receive the sacrament for spiritual growth or to be condemned? My wife began to struggle with this. She started to hate Calvinism, but she understood that the Arminian “make a decision for Jesus today!” was also wrong. Maybe that was it, then. Spending my whole life in fear.
One fine day, I saw a Lutheran church while I was driving. Strange—I’d never really thought about what Lutheranism was like, even though it was the very first Reformation. I used to think they were Catholics in disguise because they didn’t follow Calvin. But I’m going to read up on it, just out of curiosity, right?
And then I came across the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. The objectivity of the means of grace. The theology of the cross! Absolution that eases our pain. The Divine Service that honors 16 centuries of tradition. The Law and the Gospel, unmixed. Friends, my wife and I have finally found peace with God. The righteous shall live by faith! God bless you!
Today we are attending the IELB (Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil). A Brazilian Lutheran Church in full communion with the LCMS.