Sunday, May 25, 2008

Here's a moment from the CARM Catholic board:

"Have you ever heard of what happened in Germany after Luther brought out his little heresies? Germany turned into a moral sewer. After all, if one is saved by "faith alone" and one's works have nothing to do with one's final destiny, then HEY!!!! My neighbor's wife has been kinda flirting with me, and after all, I AM SAVED!!! And nothing can separate me from Jesus. So why not? That was what happened in Germany, and I would bet you a lot of money that there are Germans in hell today who are cursing Luther for his false teaching which decieved them." [source]

I took a minute to respond as well.

6 comments:

James Swan said...

Billy, thanks for the link. Here is a related link for you:

http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2008/05/luthers-own-statements-by-henry-oconnor.html

bkaycee said...

That's why paul wrote Romans 6. If your Gospel does not evoke a objection, "that we can just sin our brains out now that we are saved", then it is not the Gospel that Paul preached. Certainly the Gospel according to Rome does not evoke this objection because it requires works, hence it is not the Gospel Paul preached.

Unknown said...

James,

Thank you very much for posts like this. Always so interesting and to the point. Even as a life long Lutheran I learn new things on this site daily. I had no idea Luther wrote so eloquently on this subject. His descriptions so clear as always.

Ree said...

If one wants to stoop to the level of this CARM poster, one could counter by saying that Roman Catholic teaching encourages people to sin as much as they want as long as they go to confession and do their penance. Of course, this wouldn't be a fair or accurate summation of the teaching, but we know that some Roman Catholics live that way and it scores a few points, so who cares.

James Swan said...

Ree,

Great point. I think I'm going to use that next time i run into this type of comment.

James Swan said...

Kevin, see my link here:

http://www.ntrmin.org/Be%20a%20sinner%20and%20sin%20boldly%20web.htm

skip to the end:

VI. Quotations From Luther on Faith and Works

Extensive practical quotations from Luther on faith and works

a. Living Faith, Dead Faith, Works, and the Law

b. Good Works: Serving Our Neighbor

c. False Works and Unbelief