Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: festus
Back during the Reformation it could become exceedingly dangerous for a Reformer to speak ill of the RC hierarchy and its justifications if the local protective prince continued to be a devout Catholic.

As a consequence you'll find a vast body of Reformist condemnation of "Jews". However, if you take a really close look at what they're saying, it's actually about the RC hierarchy and any claims it might make as successor to the Temple in Jerusalem. Which means, of course, that the complaint is about the RC hierarchy and not the Jews.

It's kind of like the rage expressed by Democrats in 2006 over a couple of Republican homosexuals. Probably a big surprise to everybody that any Democrats at all were concerned with homosexual misbehavior, but there it was.

In short, without a good grounding in the history of the Reformation it's probably dangerous to take any of this stuff at face value ~ besides which, if it involves Luther, it's being translated out of German, only then a language being tied down in its written form.

31 posted on 01/24/2009 4:38:22 PM PST by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies ]


To: muawiyah
Are you saying Luther is talking about Christians here?
""Listen, Jew, are you aware that Jerusalem and your sovereignty, together with your temple and priesthood, have been destroyed for over 1,460 years?" For this year, which we Christians write as the year 1542 since the birth of Christ, is exactly 1,468 years, going on fifteen hundred years, since Vespasian and Titus destroyed Jerusalem and expelled the Jews from the city. Let the Jews bite on this nut and dispute this question as long as they wish."

…In short, as has already been said, do not engage much in debate with Jews about the articles of our faith. From their youth they have been so nurtured with venom and rancor against our Lord that there is no hope until they reach the point where their misery finally makes them pliable and they are forced to confess that the Messiah has come, and that he is our Jesus. Until such a time it is much too early, yes, it is useless to argue with them about how God is triune, how he became man, and how Mary is the mother of God.

…Therefore, God has to endure that in their synagogues, their prayers, songs, doctrines, and their whole life, they come and stand before him and plague him grievously

… No one can take away from them their pride concerning their blood and their descent from Israel. In the Old Testament they lost many a battle in wars over this matter, though no Jew understands this.

… Even if the Jews were as holy as their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob themselves, yes, even if they were angels in heaven, on account of such a prayer they would have to be hurled into the abyss of hell. How much less will such prayers deliver them from their exile and return them to Jerusalem!

Now you can see what fine children of Abraham the Jews really are, how well they take after their father, yes, what a fine people of God they are. They boast before God of their physical birth and of the noble blood inherited from their fathers, despising all other people, although God regards them in all these respects as dust and ashes and damned by birth the same as all other heathen…

On the Jews and Their Lies by Martin Luther
39 posted on 01/24/2009 5:09:14 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson