Was listening to Catholic radio the other night and heard a statement I found very interesting.
As we know Martin Luther left the church to start Lutheranism but his mother remained true to the Catholic faith. When she was older and dying she wrote her son and asked him if she should become Lutheran. His reply to her was “While it is good to be Lutheran when living it is better to be Catholic when dying”
Has anyone else heard this statement? What is your take on what I see as an unusual statement considering it is coming from the founder of Lutherism?
Comments
3 responses to “Unusual Statement”
perhaps he meant that it was better that she remain faithful to her religion that she believed in then to change positions just because she was on her death bed.
He wouldn’t want her to become a lutheran, if she didn’t believe.
What Luther meant by this was simple; being a Catholic has some advantages when death is near, that is if you believe in a last judgment. Some fundamental doctrines of Catholics are very didactic in what rules one should follow… The old saying goes, “repent and be forgiven of all sins, and all who do go to heaven,” right. This can be well illustrated in the inferno test (Dante’s The Divine Comedy…) But I think Luther ultimately means when he says, it is better to be a Lutheran in life is, since he was theologian scholar, he may have thought his beliefs were superior or more cognitive faith to follow when it comes to contradiction. Although I find it absurd to compare the two religions now from such an old quote. Grading religions usually is a losing battle when living in a pluralistic society.
Silly statement. Martin Luther didnt leave the church to start Lutheranism. He was thrown out of the church for trying to fix it. He didnt start Lutheranism, he promoted the bible and exposed the Catholic faith’s failures. His followers started Lutheranism.