My in'laws are WELS Lutherans. I have attended my mother-in-laws church with her a few times, and have seen some things that really disturbed me. The first thing that bothered me was the manner in which The Lord's Supper was given. There is no warning given against partaking unworthily. In fact, the only requirement for partaking is that you must be a member of a WELS Lutheran church. I have watched unsaved people take communion, and leave church believing they are in right standing with God simply because they have done so. They believe in forgiveness of sins through the sacraments(baptism, communion), and also believe that forgiveness of sins can be recieved simply through the recitation of the words in The Lord's Prayer. But the thing that really blew me away is when I learned that they believe that forgiveness of sins can be achieved by confession to the pastor. They call this the use of "The keys", and several times throughout each service they mechanically recite different prayers and creeds, and at each ones closing the pastor will state "Your sins be forgiven you". My question is, with these unscriptural practices, which in essence deny the need for repentance and the blood of Christ, why are the WELS Lutherans accepted as a Christian denomination, and not classified as a cult?

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