[af_vet_1981]

One of your links did not work. The other attempts to defend Luther, concluding "The Jews and Their Lies" did not "represent Luther at his best" as if he just had a bad day and gave a poor sermon. I see no apology, no remorse, and no repentance.

LUTHER AND ANTI-SEMITISM

Luther also wrote about Jews in sympathetic ways and rebuked European Christians for their treatment of Jews. Here's one example: "The fury of some Christians (if they are to be called Christians) is damnable. They imagine that they are doing God a service when they persecute the Jew most hatefully, think everything evil of them, and insult them. . . . Whereas, according to the example of this psalm (14:7) and that of Paul (Romans 9:1), a man ought to be most heartily sorry for them and continually pray for them. . . . They ought to attract them by all manner of gentleness, patience, pleading and care" (What Luther Says: An Anthology, Vol. 2, 683).

Luther's attitude is more accurately characterized as anti-Judaism rather than anti-Semitism. His opposition was not racial or ethnic, but theological. He was targeting people who persistently and vigorously rejected the truth of salvation through faith alone in Jesus the Messiah and Savior of the world. Luther wrote harshly against the Roman pope and his theological supporters for the same reason. Like everyone else, Luther was a child of his times. It's difficult for people today to put themselves into his historical context, yet it's unfair to judge him according to our standards of civility. Luther's language sounds cruel, but his opponents often used similar language, and literary style of the era included harsh ridicule, name calling, and deliberate excess.

Ultimately we must conclude that the treatise in question doesn't represent Luther at his best. We cannot endorse or excuse what he wrote. From a historical viewpoint, it should not surprise us that he sometimes shared unacceptable attitudes of his day. What is amazing is how often he rose above his times and advocated magnificent and eternal truth, most of all the full and free gospel of forgiveness.

Contributing editor Forrest Bivens, professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wisconsin, is a member at Victory of the Lamb, Franklin.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

[xone]

There is no need for an apology for a 'Lutheran' denomination for Luther's AS. They post date those writings, and were never part of the Lutheran Confessions. It is lefties that feel the need to apologize for the sins of their fathers.

I see no apology, no remorse, and no repentance.

No need to apologize, 'Lutherans' didn't write JTAL. Remorse? For what? For something in which you are not complicit? Repentance? You really are a dope. "Lutherans' didn't write JTAL, didn't espouse it views, had no sin to repent of.

Your two-faced approach to this issue is hilarious. Historical proof of AS: Catholics-YES Lutherans-NO. Catholic Popes-YES Lutherans don't have Popes. Do you know of a Confessional Lutheran Synodical President that has had a public AS Position? Of course not! However, many popes, cardinals and innumerable bishops? Oh yeah, history tells a different story. Even some of Luther's Catholic adversaries had papers rivaling JATL. Never hear of them. The Nazis weren't the only organization with a good propaganda office. And their own share of dupes on the Internet who spout their know-nothing bile.