GOSH - I almost hate to get involved here - but think some explanations are due. Martin Luther was unhappy with some of the policies of the Catholic church - especially the selling of indulgences. And nailed his theses to the door - sort of like an ad in the paper today - out of that action came the reformation and the churches that became Protestant. He\is intent was to bring the Catholic church back to the straight and narrow not to start a new church. A Lutheran church is Protestant - but not all Protestant churches are Lutheran. Thru the years the Lutheran church has changed - just as have many of the other churches. Some for the better, some for the worst. ELCA - EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AMERICA - is just one type of Lutheran Church and probably least like the Catholic church. There are many different Lutheran churches, Wisconsin Lutheran Church, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod - American Lutheran Church - and these are just in the US - other countries have their own - just like there are many different Baptist and Methodist churches. ELCA is just one type of Lutheran church. Do a search of reformation for more info on how the churches evolved. I think the first use of the word Lutheran was as an insult to Luther - and from there his followers turned it around. chances are if you have Lutherans in your family, you probably have Catholics also. Many of the more traditional Lutherans are more comfortable in a Catholic church than in many of our more modern denominations. just my thoughts - only been Lutheran for half a century. ---- tropishells@aol.com wrote: > I forgot to mention that the original German Lutheran church is not much like the present day Evangelistic Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).  They were much more strict and quite honestly, much more like Catholicism without some of the things on Luther's 95th thesis.  Hope that helps those looking in church records for their ancestors.  Don't be surprised to find both Catholic and Lutherans in your family.  Be safe and look at both! Brigitte -----Original Message----- From: Ric Gordon <gordonfinder@sbcglobal.net> To: prussia-roots@rootsweb.com Sent: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 2:54 pm Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Luther started the Protestant Reformation! Luther didn't start the Luheran church. He was trying to change how the atholic church was doing things, but never started a separate church himself. n his name, the Lutheran church was started in Germany. ----- Original Message ----- From: Angela Knutson To: prussia-roots@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 1:42 PM Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Luther started the Protestant Reformation! That was interesting! Thank you for the information. A lady I know from England was offended when I called one of the churches over there Luthern. She said it was Protestant, not Luthern. That's where I got the idea that Protestant was not relelated to Luthern. Angie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carol M. Duff" <duffc@redwing.net> To: <prussia-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 9:47 AM Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Luther started the Protestant Reformation! > And Evangelisch is different from Lutheran, more like the Reformed > churches. I have a taped in record in one of my church records that said > a Lutheran pastor refused to baptise a child of Evangelisch parents > until they threatened to take the child back to their home community to > be baptised. Father was doing masonery repair on the Lutheran Church. Carol > > SV wrote: > > >Angie, sorry to correct you, but Martin Luther was the first Protestant and > >started the Protestant Reformation. Most churches that aren't Catholic are > >often called Protestant, but the Lutheran church was the first Protestant > >church. Martin Luther was the first to put the Bible into the language of > >the German people, and this also helped standardize the language, which > >often varied village to village. The Latin Bible was often chained to the > >pulpit at that time in the Catholic church. He didn't believe that we needed > >a priest to interpret the Bible for us, but that it should be in the hands > >of the people, and that the Holy Spirit would guide them. > > > > > > > >Luther is the one that is famous for saying Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, and > >Sola Gratia. That means faith alone, Bible alone and God's grace alone. > >Methodists and other churches may also be Protestants, but they followed > >Lutherans in time. He knew we couldn't get to heaven by doing works, and he > >detested the selling of indulgences. You can read a lot that he wrote > >online. Galatians was his favorite book of the Bible (I used to think it was > >Romans), and he wrote a huge commentary on it. He also wrote hymns such as > >"A Mighty Fortress", or as it is called in German, "Ein Feste Burg ist Unser > >Gott". > > > > > > > >susan > > > > > >------------------------------- > >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PRUSSIA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. 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