Baptist / Lutheran

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Remember though that in the Bible Jesus gave the power to forgive or withhold forgiveness of sins to the Apostles. It is going off of this tangent that the Catholic church believes they have the power to forgive sins. As far as the Lutheran church it is more of a declaration of continuely being cleansed in the blood of Christ. We still sin even after we are saved, and we still need to ask for forgiveness from the parties which were offended. A pastor merely declares that your sins are forgiven. Lutherans don't believe that the pastor can determine whether or not you go to heaven or hell by any means. As far as changing the wording- there really isn't any reason for it for those who understand it. And for those that don't, well, like you did, you ask.

Also, tw, about the verses having to do with infant baptism- let's take it to a new thread as to not make this one to complicated. If you want to talk about infant baptism/believer's baptism, open an new thread and I will jump on it this weekend.