Martin Luther

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VirginiaHuguenot

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Today is Martin Luther's birthday. He was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany.

As a traveller in Germany some years ago, I visited the ruins of the Frauenkirche Lutheran church in Dresden which was bombed by the Allies in World War II. After the war, the city decided to leave the church in ruins as a memorial but also to build a statue there. The statue is of Martin Luther. I came across it quite unexpectedly and it made a vivid impression upon me. I ended up writing a poem about it.

In any case, Martin Luther's witness to the world still stands. He being dead yet speaketh...
 
Speaking of Martin Luther, why do you suppose so many today see themselves as modern day Martin Luthers? They think "outside the box", discover a new "understanding," (that of course no one perceived in all of church history until them) and immediately start nailing them to church doors throughout Christendom. Gee and amazingly, searching church history, we find that this new understanding has been understood before (and rejected). Now of course, being tolerant, I would never accuse anyone of such a thing. UhuuuFVuuumph.....

[Edited on 2-18-2005 by lwadkins]
 
Lon: It is a bad problem. People want to use the exceptional circumstances Luther was in and make them normative.
 
Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
Today is Martin Luther's birthday. He was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany.

As a traveller in Germany some years ago, I visited the ruins of the Frauenkirche Lutheran church in Dresden which was bombed by the Allies in World War II. After the war, the city decided to leave the church in ruins as a memorial but also to build a statue there. The statue is of Martin Luther. I came across it quite unexpectedly and it made a vivid impression upon me. I ended up writing a poem about it.

In any case, Martin Luther's witness to the world still stands. He being dead yet speaketh...
Click to expand...

How about posting the poem you wrote. I would be interested in reading that.
 
Sure, I posted it in an earlier thread, but I don't mind posting it again:

Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
Here's another written in 1992 after a trip to Germany during which I stumbled upon a statute of Martin Luther at the ruined Frauenkirche in Dresden in the middle of the night:

Ruine Der Frauenkirche Dresden

Meandering from a bridge over the haunting Elbe,
through the shrouded mist enveloping foreigners,
I was brought to stop and see a judgment of the God
for whom Martin Luther still stands.
No spotlight illuminates this bittersweet memorial --
causing many barren souls to stumble their own way home.
The war is no reminder to them whose guilt is past.
A lamp shined here centuries ago, but of the mass
people are in darkness, which is come upon them
with vengeance. This land of spires, this testimony
to common grace, which I too carry in my heart and more,
is visited, but in the Reichstaag is sanctuary sought;
notwithstanding, the mighty fortress is become
a requiem for protestants.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
Here's another written in 1992 after a trip to Germany during which I stumbled upon a statute of Martin Luther at the ruined Frauenkirche in Dresden in the middle of the night:

Ruine Der Frauenkirche Dresden

Meandering from a bridge over the haunting Elbe,
through the shrouded mist enveloping foreigners,
I was brought to stop and see a judgment of the God
for whom Martin Luther still stands.
No spotlight illuminates this bittersweet memorial --
causing many barren souls to stumble their own way home.
The war is no reminder to them whose guilt is past.
A lamp shined here centuries ago, but of the mass
people are in darkness, which is come upon them
with vengeance. This land of spires, this testimony
to common grace, which I too carry in my heart and more,
is visited, but in the Reichstaag is sanctuary sought;
notwithstanding, the mighty fortress is become
a requiem for protestants.
Click to expand...

Dresden's Frauenkirche is scheduled to be re-"consecrated" on October 30, 2005 (roughly 60 years after the Allied bombing of Dresden) and, ironically, just in time for Reformation Day.
 
This is the view that I saw:

131344784sGGbWq_ph.jpg


This is the view in Dresden now:

Frauenkirche_Dresden_August_2004.jpg
 
I think part of the reason many people see themselves as modern day Luthers and think that their innovations are reformations is that the church has neglected Reformation eschatology. If people understood the monumental historical significance of the Protestant Reformation as the Post-Reformers and as all Protestants did until well into the 19th century they wouldnt flatter themselves with claims of 'semper reformanda.' The Reformation wasn't just a little renovation of Christian dogma it was the casting out of Satan from heaven; the pouring out of vials of wrath on the seat of the beast; it was the greatest victory of King Jesus over the devil since he openly made show of him on the cross. The Reformation was the greatest event in history and the greatest spoiling of the devil's kingdom since the first coming of Christ and will be until the second. In the history of the NT Church, in significance and chronology, the Reformation stands between the first and the second coming. If 21 century Protestants understood this we wouldn't have heretics equating themselves with Luther.
 
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