iouae
Well-known member
HalleluYah that you shared this time with us here...may He lead and guide and comfort...and using us...
Martin Luther desired to rid his church of the corruption extortion and exploitation it practiced by works it had created for its faithful to do.
Indulgences were merely a symptomatic result of a deeper evil...the fear of and angry God eager to throw someone into a hell full of eternal fire...you are NOT worthy...GUILTY etc...never good enough...unless you play by the church’s rules of course...bad theology indeed...but beneficial to the church
In his desire to free himself from this killer theology Luther swung into the other side of the road and into the other ditch of FAITH ALONE...as if there were not works prepared by Him for us to not only do to teach ourselves more of Him His Way but witness to others...indeed we wear HIS YOKE no other and certainly no yoke at all as if His Law is abolished...lawlessness...
Ok...so well again...May He lead and comfort...
Luther:
I don’t share the opinion that suicides are certainly to be damned. My reason is that they do not wish to kill themselves but are overcome by the power of the devil. They are like a man who is murdered in the woods by a robber. However, this ought not be taught to the common people, lest Satan be given an opportunity to cause slaughter, and I recommend that the popular custom be strictly adhered to according to which it [the suicide’s corpse] is not carried over the threshold, etc. Such persons do not die by free choice or by law, but our Lord God will dispatch them as he executes a person through a robber. Magistrates should treat them quite strictly, although it is not plain that their souls are damned. However, they are examples by which our Lord God wishes to show that the devil is powerful and also that we should be diligent in prayer. But for these examples, we would not fear God. Hence he must teach us in this way.
Maybe a good thread...and for grieving
A very good post Clefty.
I have not studied Luther much, but I feel Luther was spot on there.