Guess which one said:
Adolf Hitler .............................................................................................. Martin Luther
"The Jews deserve to be hanged on gallows, seven times higher than ordinary thieves"
"We ought to take revenge on the Jews and kill them."
"The blind Jews are truly stupid fools"
"Now just behold these miserable, blind, and senseless people."
"eject them forever from this country"
"they are nothing but thieves and robbers"
"What then shall we do with this damned, rejected race of Jews?"
"Such a desperate, thoroughly evil, poisonous, and devilish lot are these Jews"
"They are the real liars and bloodhounds"
"We are at fault for not slaying them."
"I shall give you my sincere advice: first to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them."
"Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed."
"Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews."
"Burn down their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them"
"If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs"
"If I had to baptize a Jew, I would take him to the river Elbe, hang a stone around his neck and push him over with the words `I baptize thee in the name of Abraham'."
Answer:
Martin Luther Said ALL of these things
Adolph Hitler put Luther's word into action.
"We ought to take revenge on the Jews and kill them."
"The blind Jews are truly stupid fools"
"Now just behold these miserable, blind, and senseless people."
"eject them forever from this country"
"they are nothing but thieves and robbers"
"What then shall we do with this damned, rejected race of Jews?"
"Such a desperate, thoroughly evil, poisonous, and devilish lot are these Jews"
"They are the real liars and bloodhounds"
"We are at fault for not slaying them."
"I shall give you my sincere advice: first to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them."
"Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed."
"Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews."
"Burn down their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them"
"If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs"
"If I had to baptize a Jew, I would take him to the river Elbe, hang a stone around his neck and push him over with the words `I baptize thee in the name of Abraham'."
Answer:
Martin Luther Said ALL of these things
Adolph Hitler put Luther's word into action.
FYI...
ReplyDeleteThe LCMS has condemned these remarks:
http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=2166
And your point would be...? Why not condemn the man as well or at least question the validity of your denomination's origins and therefore its existence?
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm not Lutheran. (In fact I'm an Orthodox catechumin)
ReplyDeleteThere's plenty wrong with Lutheranism that has nothing to do with their founder's vicious anti-semitism.
I think it's fair to assume that those who sincerely embrace Lutheran doctrine (perhaps not all of them, but a significant number), do so despite whatever hateful remarks Luther made.
Forgive my presumption.
ReplyDeleteNo problemo.
ReplyDeleteI recently received an e-mail from an Orthodox brother accusing me of having a bad spirit toward the non-orthodox. He used this post as the example. He said I have compared the non-orthodox with Hitler. No, I compared Martin Luther with Hitler in that they both hated Jews and wished for their destruction. Are not Jews non-orthodox?
ReplyDeleteYou are spot-on, Nathan. It's not a "bad spirit" to accurately quote someone...it just seems to burn those who wish to forget the quotations.
ReplyDeleteLuther also had these words to say about the peasants' rebellion:
"Therefore let everyone who can, smite; slay, and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel. It is just as when one must kill a mad dog; if you do not strike him, he will strike you, and a whole land with you."
That's not to say everything he did was wrong, bad, or evil, nor that every Lutheran would agree with these sentiments -- far from it! But it's no good blaming the messenger. I'll have a post on this soon....
I came to Orthodoxy because of Luther. Luther detested the jews because he could not figure out how a people so versed in the law of God could turn their backs on him. Luther often consulted the Rabbis in trying to interpret scripture. He didn't always hate them. I can feel for Luther when I walk into an Orthodox parish were faith is absent and ethnic triumphalism is overt. Rather than hating the nominal Orthodox like Luther hated the jews it is the Christian duty to make disciples of all people, even those who feel they inherited salvation through their race rather than faith.
ReplyDeleteLutheranism and Orthodoxy have a lot in common. Lutherans clung to their culture and language until they were forced to give it up (because of the World Wars). Perhaps if we go to war with Greece or Russia we can do the Orthodox thing and have liturgies in the language of the people whether that be English or Spanish.
Don't forget one of the greatest Christians of all time Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a german, a Lutheran and a martyr.
ReplyDeleteGood word, David, on both accounts. Brother Dietrick did indeed call us all to a measure of discipleship that challenged every cell in one's body. I discovered personally, however, that reading his wordy works caused every cell in my body to ache. But, since I am German and out of respect for the motherland, I trudged through with ferocious tenacity. :)
ReplyDeleteOne more thing...Perhaps, in a way, Brother Dietrick played a role in my Journey To Orthodoxy as well...
ReplyDeleteYet another thing...Oh that this German may emulate even a measure of what Bonhoeffer clarioned!
ReplyDeleteDid Bonhoeffer say, "If you can't say something nice,don't say anything at all"? Oh, wait, that was my Mother...
ReplyDelete