The wisdom (sic) of Martin Luther
One of the great immoral monsters of human history is the man Martin Luther, a man who attempted to plunge the West back into the Dark Ages intentionally. Luther was not a man of the Enlightenment but a bitter opponent of reason and logic. Here are some of his "words of wisdom" on the subject.Reason is the Devil's greatest whore; by nature and manner of being she is a noxious whore; she is a prostitute, the Devil's appointed whore; whore eaten by scab and leprosy who ought to be trodden under foot and destroyed, she and her wisdom ... Throw dung in her face to make her ugly. She is and she ought to be drowned in baptism... She would deserve, the wretch, to be banished to the filthiest place in the house, to the closets.
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but -- more frequently than not -- struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.
Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God.
There is on earth among all dangers no more dangerous thing than a richly endowed and adroit reason... Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed.
Reason should be destroyed in all Christians.
Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his Reason.
To be a Christian, you must "pluck out the eye of reason."
Lovely.
posted by GodlessZone at Monday, June 12, 2006
6 Comments:
Holy f*cking shit! Well if you're looking for one thing to make Christianity look insane and stupid, you've sure found it. Man what a wacko, I always thought Luther was quite a liberal thinker, but this is way off the line. Good post, thanks.
June 13, 2006
The irony is that in order to persuade others that reason ought to be destroyed Luther had to employ it.
June 13, 2006
Einzige: Of course. One reason I am convinced of the validity of reason is that others, to dismiss it, have to try to use it. They contradict themselves and have to act as if reason is valid in order to make their case.
June 14, 2006
Wow! I have to give you a hand as well...you are really good at picking and choosing quotes, taking many of them out of context.
Luther was not wholly against reason - he instead saw it as subservient to the work of the Spirit within the believer.
Here is a quote by Luther IN CONTEXT, where he talks about reason:
"[The question was raised] whether the tools of the arts and nature are useful to theology. [Martin Luther answered:] “One knife cuts better than another. So good tools—for example, languages and the arts—can contribute to clearer teaching. Just as many, like Erasmus, are equipped with languages and the arts and nevertheless make damaging mistakes, so the same thing happens with weapons, most of which are made for slaughter. A thing must be distinguished from its misuse. Job distinguished thus when he said, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women would speak’ [Job 2:10]. This text has always pleased me on account of its proper distinction between the creature and its abuse.”
[The question was asked,] Is the light of reason also useful [to theology]? [Martin Luther answered: ] “I make a distinction. Reason that is under the devil’s control is harmful, and the more clever and successful it is, the more harm it does. We see this in the case of learned men who on the basis of their reason disagree with the Word. On the other hand, when illuminated by the Holy Spirit, reason helps to interpret the Holy Scriptures. So Cochlaeus’242 tongue speaks blasphemies while my tongue speaks God’s praise. Nevertheless, it is the same instrument in both of us. It is a tongue, whether before or after faith. The tongue, as a tongue, doesn’t contribute to faith, and yet it serves faith when the heart is illuminated. So reason, when illuminated [by the Spirit], helps faith by reflecting on something, but reason without faith isn’t and can’t be helpful. Without faith the tongue utters nothing but blasphemies, as we see in the case of Duke George.243 But reason that’s illuminated takes all its thoughts from the Word. The substance remains and the unreal disappears when reason is illuminated by the Spirit.”
Luther, M. (1999, c1967). Vol. 54: Luther's works, vol. 54 : Table Talk (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
June 18, 2006
Matt our born again Baptist visitor says it is out of context because Luther believes in reason except where, as Luther put it, it "disagree with the Word." Now that is antireason to the core. Luther, and I guess our Christian visitor agrees, is arguing that reason is valid only if it comes to the conclusions that Luther supported. When reason comes to different conclusions that is not reason. That is like saying that the scientific method is valid but only valid if it supports your hypothesis. The methodology exists to determine if the hypothesis is true not the other way around. And reason is used to determine if the religious belief is true not the other way around. Like Luther, Calvin (that other reformation monster), Mr. Tully judges reason by religion instead of religion by reason. For a good discussion of reason and the Protestant faith (and how reason was revived after the blows dealt it by Luther and Calvin, read The Sovereignty of Reason by Prof. Frederick Beiser, Princeton University Press, 1996. He is also the author of The Fate of Reason but that is a book I have not come across. Of course as Luther was quick to point out that which is Scriptural is that which Luther supports and that which is not is that which he opposes. So for Luther reason is okay if it agrees with the Bible and the Bible is correctly interpreted when it agrees with Luther. I guess reason by definition is that which agrees with Luther. Luther has it backwards. Now Mr. Tully was quite thrilled to get the complete works of Luther on CD for his birthday (oh to be a teenager again).
Mr. Tully says Luther is one of the greatest Christian theologians ever. Now I must admit that Luther got pretty much ignored in the seminary that I attended, which was run by Baptists similar to Mr. Tully. But having been raised Lutheran in my early years, I did read the man myself. Does Mr. Tully's complete works of Luther include the vicious anti-Semitic tract by Luther "The Jews and their Lies". Is it reasonable and pro-reason for Luther to write his treatise to prevent Christians from being "duped by the Jews"? But Mr. Tully can read the entire infamous tract against Jews in his "complete works of Luther" CD and if not then it's not the complete works. Now here is the conundrum. You can't say Luther is one of the greatest and ignore his vicious anti-Semitism. And if you have Luther's anti Jewish tract and still praise him in spite of it, well, that's not so good either. But then I shouldn't say much more on that since Mr. Tully has inspired me to follow up on Luther and his hatred for Jews. That certainly came to fruition later in the staunchly Lutheran country of Germany didn't it?
June 19, 2006
PS: Mr Tully, when you go off to Moody Bible Institute next year stay away from Bughouse Square --- it has been he fall of many a Moody boy. I did my Bible college days not far from there and have been there myself. I don't really worry about you that much. I know, from personal experience, that what one can believe as a teenager, is not necessarily what one believes when mature. To quote Paul, there will come a time when we put away childish things. Of course among those childish things was Paul -- little did he expect that.
June 19, 2006
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