u/Kamoot-

Last time, I visited and told my perspective of the WELS, our closest denomination. Today, I visited the total opposite religion of us, Mormonism. This is part of just a few weeks of post-graduation, where I am working part-time and with this additional time-off been visiting all sorts of different churches, learn about their religions, and hopefully improve at my apologetics.

First of all, everything I say here is read from my perspective as a Confessional Lutheran. Note that Mormons might use many overlapping terminologies as us, but they mean totally different things. I don't know anything about their religion, I'm just retelling my story of what I saw today. For answers to deeper theological understanding of the Mormon religion, we are blessed to have u/Over-Wing who can provide a much more profound understanding and more clarifications.

The first glaring observation that I saw was that despite the fact that LDS claims to being an ancient orthodox church created by God from the beginning of time, the architecture of their temple is glaringly modern. In fact they not only seem so unbothered by the modern architecture, actually to them it is pride point. They also seem to take pride in the fact that architecture changes with each generation, whereas we Lutherans take pride in an unchanging tradition. It's almost as if the LDS architecture reflects a continuity of updating revelations.

The second glaring observation was how opulent the building was. The temple was probably one of the most ornate and beautiful buildings I have ever stepped foot in, but with a type of ornateness totally opposite of say a Gothic Cathedral like Cologne. I now understand why every Marriott Hotel looks like this architecture. It was ornate, but not tacky at all; I remember knocking on a random door and realized it was solid wood and mahogany. The finest construction build quality I have ever seen in my life. And as a side observation, their temple is actually the total opposite of what we would think of a cathedral. Their temples close on Sundays, and they do not hold worship services in the temple. Temples are meant for the Mormon equivalent of "Sacraments" like marriages, eternal sealings, and a couple of other things I no longer remember off the top of my head.

Three, I felt that Mormon Baptism in many ways is actually the anti-Baptism of our Sacrament of Holy Baptism. It is apparent the Mormon baptism is pretty central to them, there is this massive room with a massive font held up by 12 life-sized oxen. I wish a camera was allowed to take pictures, I can't put in words how massive and central this was. I call this the "anti-sacrament" because despite being like our Baptism, their baptism also plays a central role to them too, but the difference is we Baptize so that the infant will be saved and grow up in the faith and have the promise of eternal life; they baptize so that their dead will have a backup insurance plan. We have One Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, they have many baptism(s) for sins that belong to their ancestors and not their own. As a Chinese-American, this reminds me of ancestor-worship religion.

Four, their view of heaven is surprisingly "Lutheran"? When I ask an average Protestant what he thinks heaven will be like, he'll oftentimes list out an endless supply of earthly pleasures: foods, entertainment, feasts, etc. Maybe I've been reading too much Augustine and Aquinas, but I really do think that with heavenly and perfect contentment, the soul will be so fulfilled that these objects will still exist and be enjoyed in heaven, but no longer function as escape mechanisms that we use here on earth. I say this because there is this room in the Mormon temple called the "Celestial Room", which is supposedly meant to be a parallel of Mormon heaven. Interestingly, it was by far the most austere room in the temple. No paintings, no images, just plain white walls, and the least ornate room of all.

Five, I don't think Mormons being nice and smiling can simply be explained that they are just a pretending act just to attract more converts. It is definitely sincere, yes it is probably amplified by their social and cultural conditioning, but it's not possible that it's all fake.

Six, the Divinity of Jesus Christ as God is not something I was able to get a clear answer from the Mormons on, but I don't think it's correct to say that Mormons don't believe Jesus is God. They push back very hard on any claims that they don't believe Jesus is God, and after many clarifying questions the missionary finally responded saying that Jesus is God, but lesser than the Father. They also put so much emphasis on Jesus being the Son of God that it really seems to imply that they believe Jesus was a created by the Father. So I would say Mormons actually believe a hybrid between Subordinationism and Arianism. Of course any basic understanding of not dividing the Substance while also not confusing the Persons is totally thrown out the window, and the logical conclusion of that error is that they have to therefore believe in a totally different god.

To conclude, my head is spinning with all this new information that I've learned about the Mormon and LDS religion. I have a lot of LDS neighbors and now have a much better grasp of what is their religion. Hopefully as I think about some of these things deeper, I'll be able to develop some apologetics to better defend and articulate the truths of Confessional Lutheranism.

Normally I'm an LCMS organist every Sunday, but I took this week off to visit and see what the local WELS church is like. It's a small WELS church, in fact actually it's the only Lutheran church in the city where I live, located only a 5 minute drive from my house. I've driven by there thousands of times in my life, but never knew there was even a Lutheran church there until recently. All other Lutheran churches are LCMS and farther away.

I've been wanting to visit ever since all the recent chatter about "Reconcordia" ecumenism movement to increase fellowship with the WELS, and just last Friday on On the Line podcast, President Harrison hinted that some recent discussions with the WELS have been going surprisingly well. Personally I'm much more ecumenical than the average LCMS person, so this makes me glad to hear that there isn't a massive chasm of disagreement between us.

The experience was very good. Definitely way more high-church and traditional than compared to the LCMS churches in the local area (churches on the west coast are all mostly praisy-brand and contemporary). But compared to your average midwestern LCMS church, I would say it's a little more traditional and liturgical than the Midwest average.

Very standard Common Service with all typical German Lutheran hymns. In their Common Service, you really wouldn't know there was a difference, except that they have a smaller hymnal that is red color, hymns with obviously different numbers, and breath marks in the pew hymnal itself (as opposed to only having them in the organist's edition). Very minor differences, I guess they have a bit of an updated wording as compared to DS 3, and for example they bow for "and with your [not thy] spirit". I also noticed, they sing very loud compared to the average LCMS church. The organist was very talented.

Demographically, unlike the LCMS which for some reason we have an extremely high representation of engineers, at this congregation a lot of WELS seem to be pretty average of the local residents from all different walks of life, and are to be tied to the Wisconsin Synod through family history. Notably, a lot less convert-heavy than the LCMS. Also, unlike the LCMS which is mostly male, the WELS seems to be mostly female. I also noticed that the WELS seems, on average, to be younger. Median age probably in the upper 30s and lower 40s, while LCMS is probably 65+.

Interesting, they use a lot of CPH books. Because their publishing house is smaller, apparently as I'm told, they use CPH publications like Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions Readers Edition, Portals of Prayer, A Simple Explanation of Christianity (Small Catechism), etc. They also sometimes use Wengert-Kolb Book of Concord, but their younger seminarians are increasingly preferring to read Triglotta Version.

So overall I had a really good experience, and would encourage anyone else if they have the opportunity to do so to visit the local WELS church if one is nearby.

This is a question I have been thinking about every day for the last week and the more I think about it, the more questions and doubts that come up as I increase in detail of each granularity. It's been on my mind all week and so I would really appreciate a clear and direct answer on. Also to preface my question, I am an engineer and not a finance or economics background, so forgive me in advance if I make any claim that is not accurate in terms of economics.

To start, it is very clear from the Large Catechism that we condemn bad mechantism, strange finances, cheating, overcharging, and exhorting under the Seventh Commandment (LC 1:7). And the charging of exorbitant interest on borrowed money counts as usury, and this is condemned.

1. The first confusion I have is that today's currency is fiat currency. Our currency is no longer gold-backed, our money is not redeemable for gold or another asset. As the Federal Reserve who issues our money says: "Under a fiat money system, a dollar is just an accounting unit. A dollar bill is no longer made redeemable in gold or any other asset." When our Small and Large Catechism condemns the diminishing of our neighbors money or possessions to contribute to our own pile of wealth, that implies that what was taken has intrinsic value. But if currency no longer has any intrinsic value, is it even considered usury in the first place? If you take something with no intrinsic value, is that even considered stealing at all? With every breath of air in my lungs, am I taking oxygen from my neighbors? As ridiculous as this question sounds, when taking to the extreme, is that not the very definition of fiat currency? We only choose to assign value to fiat currency because we feel it, not because it has any intrinsic value.
2. My second question comes from charging interest only up to the point where inflation is covered, nothing more. Usurious behavior is defined as the charging charging a payment from the debtor above value of principal sum of the borrowed amount itself. Well with an annual interest rate of 3% or whatever the number currently is, charging interest at that percentage does not demand the repayment of value above the principal sum; when you normalize the principal value over how many years have elapsed to count for inflation, if you charge at that exact interest rate to match inflation, the repayment is of the same value as the principal sum. Would this case would still be considered usury?
3. My third question is with credit cards. When I get cashback on my credit card (1%, 2%, 3%, categories etc), credit card companies get this money mainly from either charging fees to the merchant, and from charging people interest and fees who fail to pay their bills on time. It is the second part that is very clear and plainly obvious to me is considered usurious charging and I do not feel comfortable at all benefitting from cashback and sign-on bonus. Is it usurious for me to to then benefit from these cashback rewards? If so, should I switch to a different credit card that instead rewards not in cashback, but in mileage points? Or is it not considered usurious because the cashback percentage isn't even enough to account for annual inflation? The questions keep going when I keep going down this line of thinking with increasing granularity each time, it is endless and endless more and more doubts.
4. My fourth question. Say this is all usurious behavior and we want to stop all of it. How do we even practically go about living a usury-free life? If you decide to stop using credit cards, well nowadays there are merchants who don't even accept cash anymore. But even the mere using of cash currency still further enables the entire system of usury too and keeps the usury machine running. The entire economic system property and income taxation, inflation, and money printing, are also be forms of exploiting and diminishing the property of individuals too, and even the mere choice of paying in dollars further enables this machine. The questions are endless upon layer upon layer of complexity and granularity. How do we even go about thinking about it at all? I don't even know what are the first steps I should even take.

I conducted an informal experiment on the various drive modes on the GV60, looking for the most efficient driving pattern possible. A very informal test and not necessarily equal test conditions, but I tested on my daily commute consisting of the following conditions: 32.8 miles round trip (18 mi freeway, 14.8 mi city), Southern California spring weather (heater, no AC, driver only climate controls), 826 ft. descent/ascent, total 1,652 ft total vertical, never exceeding above 10 mph above the speed limit (needed to do so for lane changes/merging) but driving exactly the speed limit for the majority of the time, controlled by smart cruise control.

• Comfort Mode, iPedal braking: 3.2 mi/kWh
• ECO Mode, iPedal braking: 3.3 mi/kWh
• ECO Mode, Auto braking: 3.5 mi/kWh
• Sport Mode, Auto braking: 3.7 mi/kWh
• Comfort Mode, Auto braking: 3.7 mi/kWh
• Comfort Mode, Auto braking: 3.8 mi/kWh (this time I attempted driving below or exactly at speed limit, and really babying it)

From this experiment it seems to be that iPedal efficiency is significantly worse than the Auto braking mode, and ECO mode isn't any more efficient than Comfort Mode and even Sport Mode. Based on those results, I came to the conclusion that the most efficient driving scheme would be to use Comfort Mode on Auto braking. I also found that Sport mode is just way too aggressive in acceleration for my liking, even though the results of my driving demonstrate that it's not necessarily the less efficient, but it's just not comfortable driving.

That particular route was pretty split between city and highway driving. Next I drove on Comfort Mode with Auto braking, but on a nearly exclusively highway route for a total of 153 miles. The results were the following:

• Comfort Mode, Auto braking: 3.2 mi/kWh.

As we can see here, EV efficiency is significantly worse on highway driving than on the city roads.

Other configurations: all braking options in the GV60 menu are set to Comfort, and the ECO climate control setting is turned on.

I cannot figure out after so many attempts how to get the smart key set up. I know I have to get have the two key fobs in the cupholder, but when I click the sidebar Digital Key "Setup Now" in the app, there is an error message, "There is no vehicle owned by userID [4208]" despite being logged in.

A similar issue when attempting to set up the fingerprint sensor, according to the YouTube tutorial, when you prompt the setup of the fingerprint sensor, there the outer circle of the fingerprint sensor should light up, prompting you to store your fingerprint. However in my case the outer circle never lights up at all, and after a few seconds times out.

Any ideas what is faulty, is this a software problem or issue with the vehicle hardware?

Recently there's been a lot of talk about all the different sorts of overtures for this year's Convention and I want to make the case about not jumping to conclusions.

For example, woman's suffrage:

• 2023 Convention: Essentially the identical overture to reconsider Woman Suffrage in the Church was proposed.
  • Outcome: Removed from omnibus, failed to even referred to floor committee. (Terminology: omnibus is the groupings of overtures that should be handled the same way. Omnibus A: Assigned responsibility to others. B: Already addressed by previous conventions. C: Expressing Gratitude). Re-affirmed previous convention.
• 1995 Convention: Basically the same thing.
  • Outcome: Resolution 3-05 was adopted, re-affirming 1969 Resolution 2-17. Resolved, affirming woman's suffrage, re-cited 1969.
• Filing Plaintiffs:
  • 2023 Plaintiffs: 5-38: PSD Circuit 18 PSD, 5-39: Immaunel Mayville WI, Trinity Clinton MA, Circuit 26 SWD, Circuit 8 SWD.
  • 2026 Plaintiffs: Immanuel Mayville WI, Trinity Clinton MA
  • Prediction: Because both filing plaintiffs for 2026 are repeat filings from 2023 with essentially identical wording, therefore you can expect this year's outcome to be the same as in the past.
• 2023: To Instruct CPH to Have Portals of Prayer and Other Devotionals Written by Men:
  • Outcome: Removed from omnibus, failed to move to floor committee.
• 2016: To Review Role of Women in Congregation and Synod Offices
  • Outcome: Referred to CTCR, and Office of President.

A hot topic right now is the overture to break off with the AALC. Let's look at prior precedents from similar related overtures in the past.

• 2023: To Recognize the Organization 1517 as a Heterodox Tract and Mission Society
  • Outcome: Referral to floor committee failed. Point of order raised that it was out of order for the delegate to speak and then make a motion, which was not upheld by the chair. Ultimately by a voice vote, the motion to remove from omnibus and referral to floor committee failed.
• 2016: Seminaries to Evaluate Fellowship with the AALC:
  • Outcome: Omnibus Resolution A, so referred to the following: Office of President, CTCR.

Other hot topics, bizarre, or unusual overtures from the past:

• 2023: To Define: "Domineering in the Office"
  • Outcome: Whereas certain overtures previously delegated to CTCR, therefore it Resolved, that referred to CTCR.
• 2023: To Have Next Available Convention of the Synod in Detroit
  • Outcome: Referred to Synod Board of Directors.
• 2019: To Allow the Use of the Term Bishop in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
  • Outcome: Referred to CTCR.
• 2016: Change Name of Synod to Concordia Lutheran Synod
  • Outcome: Previously addressed in 1998 LCMS Convention.
• 2019: To Give Thanks for God's Holy Word
  • Previously spoken by: Jesus??? (I don't even understand the point of this one)

What is my point is that let's not be jumping to conclusions. People have been proposing all sorts of overtures over the years, and overtures still need to go to committee, and then voted on to be adopted. Majority of the time, the precedent has been that these bizarre, unusual, and hot topics overtures don't even move to committee at all in the first place.