Faith, Works, Abortion, & Martin Luther
The recent murder of Dr. George Tiller by Scott Roeder has caused me to reflect. As far as I can tell both of these men lived their lives as they saw devout Christians should. Lindsay Perna and Tiffany Stanley writing for the Salt Lake Tribune’s Religion News Service state the following:
Dr. George Tiller’s murder last Sunday morning in the lobby of his Lutheran church counters the secular image of a late-term abortion provider, pinning him more as a churchgoing “martyr” than a godless murderer.
“It shows a dimension of the movement that a lot of people don’t know about,” said the Rev. Carlton Veazey, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. “This man was castigated for what he did — but he was a faithful member of the Lutheran church and that gives a different view of him and his work.”
Veazey sees the face of Tiller as more of “a martyr in the same sense that Dr. [Martin Luther] King was.”
Rev. Carlton Veazey sees Tiller as “a faithful member of the Lutheran church.” Before I unwrap this statement I want to point to how Roeder’s was viewed by his ex-wife. In a June 1, 2009 article out of Merriam, Kansas entitled; Scott Roeder’s Ex-Wife: “He Could Actually Do It” the reporter, Monica Evans quotes the wife saying the following:
Lindsey Roeder told FOX 4 on Friday Scott insisted on seeing their son, now 22. He took him to a movie, dinner and to get ice cream. The ex says it's very unusual because Roeder observes his Sabbath at sundown on Friday and always adheres to it.
Y’all walk with me while I lay this foundation because I am going somewhere with this. This word picture has got to be painted so you understand the provocative statements, I mean real provocative statements to follow. Allie Martin, a reporter for OneNews.Now reported the following:
On a recent webcast of his daily radio talk show, Wiley Drake, former second vice-president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), called last Sunday's murder of Tiller "an answer to prayer." Then during an interview with Alan Colmes on Fox News Radio, Drake said he was praying the same type of "imprecatory prayer" against the president of the United States. (Allie Martin “OneNews.Now)
Lord help us today!! What has happened to Christians? We have a Christian doctor, George Tiller, who sees himself as a good Christian by killing babies that are almost ready to be born out of women’s wombs. We have Scott Roeder, who allegedly kills Dr. Tiller to stop him from killing babies. Mr. Roeder sees his act as an expression of his Christian faith. And then we have Rev. Wiley Drake who states that Mr. Roeder’s killing of Dr. Tiller was the answer to his “imprecatory prayer”, and he is praying the same prayer so that President Obama experiences the same fate. Imprecatory means “to call down something bad or harmful, especially a curse, on somebody.” So Rev. Drake has called down a curse on Dr. Tiller and President Obama and still considers himself, along with Dr. Tiller seeing himself, and Scott Roeder seeing himself as being Christians in good standing with God. How? In my opinion, the answer to the question goes back to the theology of Martin Luther. Are y’all ready for this?
The origin of all Christian sects other than Catholicism can be traced to Martin Luther. Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1619. There were a number of things with which Luther took issue with Catholic operation; Catholic theology that said God held one accountable for their actions was a source of great worry for Luther. Here’s why.
Luther had a problem with women. He felt that the liberties that he took with women would cause him to have eternal life in hell. No matter how hard he tried he could not get himself to the place that he was satisfied with the life that he was living. He felt that he was unworthy and did not merit eternal life if judged by a righteous God. Then while studying the Bible he had what I learned in seminary what was called a “tower experience.” My church history professor, Mark Ellingsen, who wrote the book out of which we studied entitled “Reclaiming Our Roots”, puts it this way:
The breakthrough for Luther in his struggles came through dealing with the Book of Romans and its references (1:17; 3:5, 21-22) to the “righteousness of God.” In essence, Luther discovered that the “justice,” more properly the righteousness, of God does not refer to the punishment of sinners. ...This righteousness is a passive righteousness given to the faithful, not because they fulfill the demands of divine justice, but because God gives it to them as a free gift (Romans 3:21ff.). The faithful have been released from the spiritual burden of having to strive to achieve righteousness, for it is already theirs as a gift. ...Though sin remains, it does not count against us; thus, there is no need to despair (lectures on Romans, in Luther Works 25:258ff). (Ellingsen p. 29).
This so-called theological insight on Luther’s part allows Christians to do unrighteous stuff and still see themselves entering into the kingdom of heaven. By Luther’s theology your behavior has nothing to do with whether you are a good Christian or not. One gets eternal life by the grace of God. No matter what you do, if you have faith, then the kingdom of God is yours. You can kill babies in their mother’s womb, kill the doctor that killed the babies, and pray that someone kills the doctor and the President and still make it into the kingdom of God according to Luther’s theology. There is no punishment for sin. The Book of Romans was written by Paul of Tarsus. Howard Thurman speaks about his grandmother having issues with Paul, and she wouldn’t read his biblical writings. She felt Paul’s writings justified slavery. In fact, slave holders used Paul’s words exactly that way.
Luther because of his interpretation of Paul’s writings came up with the theological position of “predestination.” We still hear the remnants of this theology echoed in the church today. When we say it is already decided before you were born we are pronouncing Luther’s theology. This language is saying that life is predetermined. This theology is very dangerous. It allowed Europeans to go to Africa and enslave its people and still be good Christians. It allowed America to invade Iraq under false pretenses and still believe it would be able to get into the kingdom of God. Luther’s “tower experience” has caused people to feel they can do what they want in the name of God and not be held accountable by God. According to Luther, it is your faith, not your works that get you eternal life. The message is to hold on to your faith, don’t worry about your works. It is your faith that will see you through. There is nothing that you can do that will get you into heaven. Paul says that eternal life is free. Eternal life is a gift of your faith, not your works. My question is if there is nothing you can do to get you in, is there something that you can do to keep you out? James seems to think so.
The Book of James is attributed to being written by Jesus’ brother (Mt. 13:55; Mk 6:3; Gal 1:19) who became the leader of the church in Jerusalem (Gal 2:9, 12; Acts 12:17, 15:13, 21:18). Yes Jesus had brothers and some sisters too (Matthew 12:46-50). James writes the following:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ... So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:14-24).
James is telling us faith without works is dead. Paul is saying don’t worry about the works, just have faith. Now who is the better source to believe what Jesus would have us to do. Is the better source Paul or James. Let’s see. Paul never saw or heard Jesus in the flesh. James grew up in the same family. This, for me, is a no brainer. James should know Jesus much better than Paul. Although Paul says some good things, he must me read and analyzed very carefully. I think his Roman citizenship clouded his Jewish upbringing. Christians must be known by our works. Our works tell people the depth of our faith. Carrying out abortions, killing doctors that carry out abortions, preachers praying the someone will kill a doctor who carries out abortions and prays that someone will also kill the President is not the works of a God fearing Christian. I believe that this type of Christianity can be traced to Luther’s “tower experience.” Roeder’s works cannot be viewed as a good example of what Jesus would do, and nor can Dr. Tiller be viewed as a martyr similar to Martin Luther King. To do so is a distorted example of the lessons that Jesus taught. Let him without sin cast the first stone. If we followed this lesson then there would be no stones cast. Bishop T. Garrott Benjamin on last Sunday taught about the scripture according to you. The message is well worth putting into practice. People would much rather see a sermon than listen to one. Our faith will be known by our works. Thank you for listening to AjabuSpeaks.