Lutheran Ping!
Posted on 11/21/2009 9:42:14 AM PST by WesternCulture
When I look at the world of today, I am appalled.
Luckily enough, I'm also a Lutheran and know what cure there is.
I'll tell you about it.
My grandfather was rather "well off".
Rich enough to hire people to take care of his summer houses in different parts of the country (Sweden), but instead he chose to work on those estates whenever having a little of time off, not out of a miser's love for money, but because the love of how it feels to be truly independent.
Church attendence in my part of the world isn't something you'd boast about to Americans, I'm well aware of that.
On the other hand, Sweden of today is indeed a country a guy like ML would've appreciated.
We are a sole 9 million and we have some of the most advanced industries and scientific institutes of the world whether we're talking bio-tech, IT or the ability to spew out fighter planes and advanced tanks (and no, we don't overestimate ourselves here up North, it's the Russians who do so - study what happened when Finland was attacked by them in WWII).
Martin Luther was a great, self-made man. My part of the World owe him everything.
Compare the performance of the most Lutheran nations on Earth (Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark) to that of the least ones.
- Norway has more dollar millionaires than any other nation.
-(Despite Muslim boycotts) Danes enjoy the highest salaries on Earth
- Two of the 20 richest men on this planet are Swedes and the Volvo V70 is the best selling car in my country
Where I live, you go to work but you don't just go to work, you are addicted to work, you strive to overachive youself and your soul belongs to a true TEAM of fellow workers. Yes, it feels good too - and you don't feel the urge to visit a pointless penny arcade or a karaoke bar afterwards like Japanese employees do.
Therefore, our society is prosperous, moral and secure and I drive around in a car like the Volvo V70.
Martin Luther was RIGHT!
About anything in particular?
I was hoping for more about the taxes in Sweden.
Well, if high taxes and socialized medicine are the keys to national wealth, American prosperity must be just around the corner.
I am a friend of Lutheranism. My children attend a Lutheran school. I am a Roman Catholic.
Unfortunately, in this part of the US, the Lutheran Church is guided by the ELCA and it seems to be particularly liberal. Not in my geographic location, but a little closer to urban centers. The leadership seems to be more politically-based than it is on the teachings of Christ.
The ELCA sanctions homosexual unions, which is contrary to the teachings of the Bible, and seems to be passive and silent with regard to pro-life issues. Though I do have many pro-life Lutheran friends in this rural geographic region that I live in.
Therefore, ELCA lacks any moral authority, which I believe is the foundation society, strong families, just laws and stable and robust economies.
I believe this sect of the Lutheran Church will marginalize itself out of existance. I hope the other branches of Lutheranism stay healthy and faithful. Actually, they will stay healthy, but only if they remain faithful.
I agree, though I would insert “confiscatory taxes and graft”.
You’re right! It is just around the corner. It will club us and take what little we have left.
“Well, if high taxes and socialized medicine are the keys to national wealth, American prosperity must be just around the corner.”
- Scandinavia isn’t rich because of high taxes.
It’s rich because of hard work, a true passion for competition and well run companies.
Study the history of Nokia, Volvo, Ericsson and IKEA. You’ll find the answer there.
Call it what you may, Nordic fighting spirit and the idea of looking after one’s own house existed long before Marx and Lenin.
In what part of Scandinavia are the muslims running wild in the streets??
Is it Denmark or Norway?
I thought all of the Scandanavian countries had serious and developing problems with Islam.
One
Holy
Catholic
Apostolic
Church
“And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!”
According to the Wikipedia it is 30-60% in Sweden. It doesn’t seem that any other country has such a weird spread.
If you add state and federal taxes together in the US we are pretty close to 60%.
My guess is that the American Revolution was got kicking over less than that?
Many countries that are predominantly Protestant (including Scandanavia and many English speaking countries) have received a great deal of political freedom and material prosperity. But freedom and prosperity are not indicators that a person or a country is right with God.
When it comes to freedom, some would say that the problem with these countries is that they have too much freedom. In the name of individual choice the citizens of United States, for example (by and large considered a ‘Protestant’ country) have taken the lives of 30 million unborn children—five times the number of Jews that Hitler killed. The situations in other ‘Protestant’ countries are no better when it comes to abortion.
There is freedom to produce, purchase, and view unprecedented amounts of pornographic, violent, and ungodly entertainment. There is freedom that makes possible the confusion of gender roles that our society is experiencing, not only through the homosexual movement, but through the much broader feminist movement.
While freedom has been collapsing into libertinism in some areas, it has been severely curtailed in others. Teachers can hardly mention God in the public schools into which most families are forced to put their children due to the government subsidies these schools receive. Freedom is also curtailed by high tax burdens in “English-speaking, Protestant countries.” (Yes, most countries have high taxes, even “non-English-speaking, non-Protestant countries,” but “English-speaking, Protestant countries” usually are expensive welfare states with abnormally high tax rates.) High taxes make it difficult for families to make ends meet, and this means middle-class mothers of young children find themselves forced to work outside the home. It used to be enough in affluent countries that the father alone was employed.
Countries that commonly are considered Catholic (and no such country nowadays is really that, but there are a few, such as Ireland, that maintain a Catholic ethos to a degree), while usually having low GNPs, tend to avoid some of the social problems found in the richer, “English-speaking, Protestant countries.” They tend, for example, to have lower rates of abortion, divorce, and pornography.
Sweden was such a great help in the last World War.
“On the other hand, Sweden of today is indeed a country a guy like ML would’ve appreciated.”
Are you kidding me? Sweden Lutheranism ordains homosexual bishop and other leaders. ML would’ve embraced that. Right.
Well said, though I would disagree with the statement about Ireland being Catholic. I have studied and lived in Ireland and, sadly, Mother Church is crippled there.
besides, you don't think that the Germans believe the same thing about themselves?
its nothing to do with being Lutheran....its because of where these people live and WHO lives there...( all gonna change)
but enough said.....we all know the picture...
Sadly, I must agree. Ireland (and Portugal) held out longer than most, but my most reports the old values are finally succumbing to what passes as “progress.”
I WAS ELCA, now LCMS. I resent the ELCA high jacking the name “Lutheran”. Thanks to them, it doesn’t mean much anymore. They’re a bunch of heathens.
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