Author: Joel Otto
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Joel Otto serves as the dean of students and a professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wisconsin.
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“HAPPY ANNIVERSARY” are words relished by a husband and wife. These words lead to reminiscing about the first date, the proposal, the wedding, the ups and d...
Why is Holy Communion so important to confessional Lutherans? Since the Reformation, no teaching has caused more division than the teaching of the Lord’s Supp...
Priests in the Middle Ages had two primary tasks: Correctly perform the sacraments of the church to earn God’s grace on behalf of the people and listen to con...
In Luther’s days, there were differing views about what the church looked like. The Roman Catholic Church considered the one holy church to be the church of R...
There has always been tension between the church and government. At various times and places in history, the government has tried to wipe out the church. At oth...
Monasticism received a lot of attention from Luther and his fellow reformers. They saw that the church promoted this “religious” way of life as the best way...
One of the sharpest criticisms of Lutheran theology revolves around the subject of good works. The argument is directed against the teaching that a person is sa...
When Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses, he was seeking a debate on the issue of indulgences, especially as they related to the repentance of the Chris...
Teachings about the Lord’s Supper separate most of the various branches of Christianity. When true Lutherans accept this teaching of the Scriptures, they stan...
Most American Protestant Christians have views of Baptism different from Lutherans. Some see Baptism as little more than a dedication ceremony where the parents...
As Martin Luther carried out his reformation, there were other reform movements at work throughout Europe (Anabaptists, Zwinglians, Calvinists). He was often cr...
How does a person have a right to stand before God and obtain eternal life? The Bible presents two answers. Perfect obedience of all the commandments is one ans...
Grace is one of those big, beautiful Bible words. As with all big, beautiful Bible words, while it is an immensely comforting concept, it has also been misunder...
“There’s a little bit of good in everyone.” “Such a cute baby . . . so innocent.” “Everyone’s got the choice to be good or bad. We just have to pu...
A question asked in almost every Lutheran catechism class is: “What are the two main teachings of the Bible?” Sometimes, a student might be confused and say...
What was the Lutheran Reformation all about? Was it merely that we Lutherans don’t pray to Mary and our clergy can get married? What does it mean to be truly ...