A Thorough Statement of Faith

June 29, 2022 By Gene Veith

Last Saturday was the 492nd anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession on June 25, 1530. Nine years earlier, Martin Luther–all alone–confessed his faith before the Emperor, Charles V, at the Diet of Worms. Now, at the Diet of Augsburg–the term “diet” referring to the Emperor’s legislative body of nobles–seven princes and the representatives of two cities confessed their faith by presenting the Augsburg Confession, which summarized the teachings of the Reformation, to the Emperor.

Before long, more and more principalities, cities, and even countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland) would sign on, along with an untold number of theologians and congregations.

The Augsburg Confession became the definitive statement of faith for Lutheran Christianity. It was written not by Martin Luther, but by the classical scholar Philipp Melanchthon, a layman. But it succinctly and richly sets forth what it means to be Lutheran. But because it was written to reassure the Emperor that the evangelical movement was not some quirky cult or new religion, but rather that it is historic, orthodox Christianity, the Augsburg Confession can speak to all Christians.

To respond to the papal critics, Melanchthon also wrote a defense of the various articles in the document known as the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, which also became a confessional document.

You can read the Augsburg Confession, which consists of 28 articles, here. In belated celebration of the anniversary, I will post a few highlights:

Article I. Of God.

1 Our Churches, with common consent, do teach that the decree of the Council of Nicaea concerning the Unity of the Divine Essence and concerning the Three Persons, is true and to be believed without any doubting; 2 that is to say, there is one Divine Essence which is called and which is God: eternal, without body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible; and 3 yet there are three Persons, of the same essence and power, who also are coeternal, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the term “person” 4 they use as the Fathers have used it, to signify, not a part or quality in another, but that which subsists of itself.

Article III. Of the Son of God.

1 Also they teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God, did assume the human nature in 2 the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that there are two natures, the divine and the human, inseparably enjoined in one Person, one Christ, true God and true man, who was born of the Virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and 3 buried, that He might reconcile the Father unto us, and be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.

Article IV. Of Justification.

1 Also they teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for 2 Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. 3 This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4.

Article X. Of the Lord’s Supper.

1 Of the Supper of the Lord they teach that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly present, and are distributed 2 to those who eat the Supper of the Lord; and they reject those that teach otherwise.

Article XII. Of Repentance.

1 Of Repentance they teach that for those who have fallen after Baptism there is remission of sins whenever they are converted 2 and that the Church ought to impart absolution to those thus returning to repentance. Now, repentance consists properly of these 3 two parts: One is contrition, that is, 4 terrors smiting the conscience through the knowledge of sin; the other is faith, which is born of 5 the Gospel, or of absolution, and believes that for Christ’s sake, sins are forgiven, comforts 6 the conscience, and delivers it from terrors. Then good works are bound to follow, which are the fruits of repentance.

Article XIII. Of the Use of the Sacraments.

1 Of the Use of the Sacraments they teach that the Sacraments were ordained, not only to be marks of profession among men, but rather to be signs and testimonies of the will of God 2 toward us, instituted to awaken and confirm faith in those who use them. Wherefore we must so use the Sacraments that faith be added to believe the promises which are offered and set forth through the Sacraments.3 They therefore condemn those who teach that the Sacraments justify by the outward act, and who do not teach that, in the use of the Sacraments, faith which believes that sins are forgiven, is required.

Article XVI. Of Civil Affairs.

1 Of Civil Affairs they teach that lawful civil ordinances are good works of God, and that 2 it is right for Christians to bear civil office, to sit as judges, to judge matters by the Imperial and other existing laws, to award just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers, to make legal contracts, to hold property, to make oath when required by the magistrates, to marry a wife, to be given in marriage.

Article XVIII. Of Free Will.

1 Of Free Will they teach that man’s will has some liberty to choose civil righteousness, and to work 2 things subject to reason. But it has no power, without the Holy Ghost, to work the righteousness of God, that is, spiritual righteousness; since the natural man 3 receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, 1 Cor. 2:14; but this righteousness is wrought in the heart when the Holy Ghost is received 4 through the Word.

Article XXIV. Of the Mass.

1 Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among 2 us, and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns, which have been added 3 to teach the people.

The articles start short, but then get a little long, and they are divided between “The Chief Articles of Faith,” I-XXI, and “Articles in which are reviewed the abuses which have been corrected,” XXII-XXVIII, such as allowing priests to marry, the critique of monastic vows, and insisting that ecclesiastical power has to do with preaching the gospel and administering the sacraments and not civil authority,

Vocation is covered in XIV, “Of Ecclesiastical Order”; XX, “Of Good Works”; XXVI, “Of the Distinction of Meats”; XXVII, “Of Monastic Vows”; and XXVIII, “Of Ecclesiastical Power.”

We usually treat October 31, 1517, when Luther posted his 95 Theses, as the beginning of the Reformation. But, as our pastor Ned Moerbe said, that event may have got things rolling, but much of that document still reflected medieval Roman Catholic theology. With the Augsburg Confession, though, which took form out of extensive Bible study and theological reflection by many people, the content of the Reformation took shape. Thus, June 25 is the true Reformation Day.

Illustration: Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, 1530, 19th century engraving. Via Lutheran Church of Canada.

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The Real Reason Why Scandinavians Are So Happy

May 13, 2021 By Gene Veith

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For the fourth year in a row, Finland is ranked as the happiest country in the world. So why do Finns and other Scandinavians rate so happy when they are also notoriously gloomy?

According to the World Happiness Report, an ambitious yearly study, in the plague year of 2020, here are the world’s 20 happiest countries:

Finland
Iceland
Denmark
Switzerland
Netherlands

Sweden

Germany

Norway

New Zealand

Austria

Israel

Australia

Ireland

United States

Canada

Czech Republic

Belgium

United Kingdom

Taiwan

France

The list is interesting for lots of reasons. (Such as why is Israel happier than the United States, despite having to live with the constant threat of terrorism, rocket attacks, and the opprobrium of much of the world?)

But the biggest puzzle is why five of the top eight spots are occupied by Scandinavian countries? That violates all stereotypes. What about the “melancholy Dane”? What about all of those jokes about the morose Norwegians of Minnesota? As for Finland, I heard a joke about its famously introverted and reserved people and COVID, something about their reaction to the two-meter social distancing rule. After COVID goes away, the Finns will be glad they won’t have to stand so close.

A Finnish immigrant to the United States, Jukka Savolainen–who says that he moved to America in part because he likes to see people smile–has written an article that explains it all entitled The Grim Secret of Nordic Happiness.

Nobody is more skeptical than the Finns about the notion that we are the world’s happiest people. To be fair, this is hardly the only global ranking we’ve topped recently. We are totally fine with our reputation of having the best educational system (not true), lowest levels of corruption (probably), most sustainable economy (meh), and so forth. But happiest country? Give us a break.

He quotes approvingly a visitor’s description of Helsinki’s glum pedestrians: “This is not a state of national mourning in Finland, these are Finns in their natural state; brooding and private; grimly in touch with no one but themselves; the shyest people on earth. Depressed and proud of it.”

So why do they rank as the happiest people in the world? Savolainen points out that the research behind the World Happiness Report asks respondents to rate their lives on a scale of one to ten, with ten representing “the best possible life for you,” and one representing the worst. That is to say, the scale measures what people think is possible for themselves. The Scandinavian countries are indeed prosperous and safe, with a welfare state that takes care of them. But the key, says Savolainen, is their low expectations. They don’t expect much, so they are highly satisfied, and, thus, very “happy.”

Savolainen makes this observation, which makes this all of interest to this blog: “Consistent with their Lutheran heritage, the Nordic countries are united in their embrace of curbed aspirations for the best possible life.”

So Lutheranism is what makes Scandinavians both gloomy and satisfied? I wonder about that. True, Lutherans know themselves to be sinners. They will be skeptical about any kind of earthly utopia. They reject any “theology of glory” in favor of the “theology of the cross.”

Then again, Lutherans believe they have been saved despite their sins by the grace of God, who justifies them freely by the sacrifice of Christ. That takes the pressure off. Lutherans also believe in vocation, that God is present and active in ordinary human work and relationships. That gives meaning to ordinary life.

Scandinavians today have a Lutheran “heritage,” but the Lutheran faith has faded considerably, with some notable exceptions. Perhaps what remains is Lutheranism without faith, the devastations of the Law without the joy of the Gospel, the depressing parts with only a dim–but real–memory of the happy parts. (But read this about confessional, evangelical Lutheranism in Finland.)

And yet, there may be wisdom even in this secular version of Lutheranism. Another word for satisfaction even in the face of low expectations is contentment. The Word of God–another Lutheran emphasis–has much to say about this:

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. (Philippians 4:11-12)

Godliness with contentment is great gain,for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. (1 Timothy 6:6-8)

The Scandinavians have food and clothing and much more. Why shouldn’t they be content?

We Americans, by contrast, tend to want more than we have and be ambitious for ever-greater success, only to be miserable when we do not attain it. We are restless, changeable, and dissatisfied. Though we are still optimistic that a better life is just ahead. This aspect of our national character is part of our strength and dynamism. But it is also why we come in on the World Happiness Report at #14.

Photo: Hamlet [the Melancholy Dane] by Nawe97, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. With the following caption: Sam Gregory, left, will portray the Ghost of John Barrymore and Alex Esola will portray Andy in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s I Hate Hamlet play this summer at the University of Colorado Boulder. (Photo by Casey A. Cass/University of Colorado) .

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“Muwaji’s Law” against Child-Killing in Brazil

June 8, 2018 By Gene Veith

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As we blogged about before, Brazil is attempting to outlaw the practice of some indigenous tribes of killing children whom they think are bad luck–children born of single mothers, babies with blemishes or handicaps, twins, etc. But anthropologists are up in arms trying to block the legislation on the grounds of moral and cultural relativism, claiming that the law would be an imposition of western culture on indigenous people. The Federalist’s John Daniel Davidson has some more details on the story.

The effort to stop the killings is called “Muwaji’s Law,” after the name of a woman who did not want to kill her child and ran away from her tribe. A group of Christian missionaries helped her. They formed an organization to stop child-killing and lobbied for Muwaji’s Law, which has passed the Brazilian lower house and is being considered by the Senate.

But the Brazilian Association of Anthropology is saying that Muwaji’s Law is among “the most repressive and lethal actions ever perpetrated against the indigenous peoples of the Americas, which were unfailingly justified through appeals to noble causes, humanitarian values and universal principles.”

But Muwaji did not want to kill her child! Individuals do not always go along with what their culture dictates. Culture can be oppressive, as other postmodernists keep reminding us. Davidson tells another heart-rending story about a tribe whose elders ruled that a two-year-old who had not yet learned to walk or talk should be killed.

Her parents committed suicide rather than carry out the order. So the job fell to her 15-year-old brother, who dug the hole–the killings in this tribe are carried out by burying the children alive–and he even knocked her out with the flat of his machete. But then he couldn’t go through with actually killing his little sister. So it was up to the grandfather, who shot her with an arrow, but she still survived! The grandfather felt so bad that he tried to commit suicide too, but ended up just taking her into the jungle, where–somehow still surviving–she lived for three years.

The five-year-old was found by a missionary family, who took her in, cared for her, and eventually adopted her. Whereupon the public prosecutor’s office took aim at the missionaries by forbidding non-indigenous people from entering the tribal lands! The consulting anthropologist said the missionaries ‘stood in the way of the realization of a cultural practice filled with meaning,’

Davidson tells of similar practices in other tribal societies, including a remote tribe in India. Which calls to mind the much-broader practice in India at one time of burning the dead man’s wife on his funeral pyre. Would the anthropologists object to putting a stop to that? The British colonialist government did so. An Indian objected that “this is our culture!” Whereupon the British officer said, “And it is my culture to hang men who kill women.” Cultural imperialism, to be sure, but this is one case in which the women of India are appreciative.

Davidson concludes his article, No, Amazon Tribes Should Not Be Allowed to Kill Their Children, by observing that supposedly advanced Westerners are doing the same thing. He cites Iceland’s extermination of Downs Syndrome children in the womb, sex-selection abortions among Indian immigrants, and our current “abortion on an industrial scale.”

“From a moral perspective, there is of course no difference between the ways of the Suruwaha and the denizens of London and Reykjavík,” he writes, “with the exception that the Suruwahans aren’t kidding themselves about what they’re actually doing, and to whom, and why.”

Photo: Tribal children in Brazil by Gabriel Castaldini [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

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“The Assumption of the Humanity into God”

May 10, 2018 By Gene Veith

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The resurrected Jesus was with His disciples for 40 days, and then He returned to His Father. So on the 40th day after Easter, making it always fall on a Thursday, we celebrate Ascension Day. Today is that day.

This is one of the most significant and yet strangely neglected observances of the Church Year. Part of the problem is that it is so misunderstood today.

Christ’s Ascension does not mean that He goes away and is no longer with us. To the contrary, shortly before that event, Jesus said, “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). In His time on earth, Jesus was spatially limited to being in one time and one place. But now that He is “seated at the right hand” of God the Father (Ephesians 1:20), the Son of God “fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23).

What the Ascension Makes Possible

Because of the Ascension, Jesus can be present with us in a more intimate way than ever before, even those of us who are living thousands of years after He walked the earth. Now He can dwell in our hearts (Ephesians 3:17). Now He can be in our midst where two or three are gathered in His name (Matthew 18:20). Now He can be present in Holy Communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-29).

Because of the Ascension, Jesus can intercede for us continually before the Throne of God. We can pray to Him, confess our sins to Him, and He can save us. “We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places” (Hebrews 8:1-2). Therefore, “he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Because of the Ascension, the Church is created. Yes, His body was taken up into Heaven. But His body is also still here, because the Church is His body (1 Corinthians 12: 12-27), made such by our baptisms (1 Corinthians 12:23) and His continual gift of His body in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). These are not metaphors, but realities.

Because of the Ascension, the Church is empowered. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). Jesus healed many, but how many has He healed through the Church, which invented hospitals? Jesus fed 5000 at one time, but how many has the Church fed? Jesus preached and taught multitudes, but how many more have heard Christ’s Word through the preaching and teaching of the Church?

The Ascension and the Incarnation

As if all of this were not enough, the Ascension is the fulfillment of the Incarnation. I have heard it said that the Ascension marks the end of the Incarnation, but nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus ascended bodily into Heaven. The incarnate Son of God takes His place in the Trinity.

The Athanasian Creed, unpacking the Trinity and the mystery of the Incarnation, says this of Christ:

Although He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ: one, however, not by the conversion of the divinity into flesh, but by the assumption of the humanity into God.

Celebrating the Ascension

Ascension Day doesn’t involve buying Ascension presents to put under the Ascension tree, and there is no Ascension Bunny. So it doesn’t have the traction of Christmas and Easter. But many of us have been calling for a Christian holiday that is non-commericalized and non-secularized. We have one. So why don’t we celebrate it?

Though still a national public holiday in a number of countries, both Catholic and Protestant (specifically, Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Haiti, Iceland, Indonesia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Namibia, the Netherlands, Norway, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Vanuatu), most American congregations tend to skip over Ascension Day, with some–including Catholics–pushing off the observance to Sunday.

What would be some good ways to celebrate?

Go to church if you can. If your congregation doesn’t have an Ascension service on Thursday or at least on Sunday, visit one that does. (Your friendly neighborhood Lutheran church probably will.)

Take advantage of the Ascended Christ’s presence with you. Ideally, that would include worship and receiving the Sacrament. But if that isn’t possible, or even if it is, pray to the Ascended Christ as your intercessor, your high priest in the heavenly places

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Illustration: Rembrandt’s “The Ascension” (1636), [Public domain or CC0], from Wikimedia Commons

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Eliminating Down Syndrome–by Abortion

August 24, 2017 By Gene Veith

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The headlines read like this: “Iceland is Becoming Nearly the First Country with no Down Syndrome Births”. Wonderful, one might think. What medical breakthrough has Iceland discovered? Read the story and you find out that it has nothing to do with a medical breakthrough. Just genetic testing of embryos followed by, in the case of diagnosing Down Syndrome, a near universal application of abortion.

Here is the original story from CBS News. It is actually more nuanced than one might think, raising the question, “What kind of world do we want to live in?” A world without Down Syndrome? Or a world that aborts those who have it?

Alexandra Desanctis discusses the story from a pro-life perspective in Down Syndrome in Iceland: CBS News’s Disturbing Report | National Review.

Reacting to the story and the backlash it has provoked, sources in Iceland are challenging the CBS piece. Read this from Iceland Magazine. Actually, according to that article, women carrying a Down Syndrome baby are not pressured to get an abortion, and the subsequent abortion rate is not close to 100%. Rather, 15-20% of women choose to keep the baby, and when they do, they are given support and help in caring for their Down child. (Though the article goes on to explain condescendingly that “Icelanders have a different view of abortions than many on the political right in the US,” namely, that it is OK and a woman’s decision.)

But, in fairness, the once-Lutheran Iceland is an exceedingly tiny country, with a population of only 332,529, about the size of St. Louis. Which makes it ripe for statistical distortions.

But treating Down Syndrome by abortion is rampant. In the United Kingdom, according to DeSanctis, 90% of women who receive that diagnosis abort their child. In Europe as a whole, 92% of such babies are “terminated.” In the United States, the number is between 67% and 90%. Compare those numbers to Iceland’s 85-80%, which is actually less than the rate in these other countries.

But one of the many things I found disturbing in the CBS story is the way counselors in Iceland–apparently with the complicity of the church–normalize and even sanctify the abortion by means of religious imagery:

Over at Landspitali University Hospital, Helga Sol Olafsdottir counsels women who have a pregnancy with a chromosomal abnormality. They speak to her when deciding whether to continue or end their pregnancies. Olafsdottir tells women who are wrestling with the decision or feelings of guilt: “This is your life — you have the right to choose how your life will look like.”

She showed Quijano [the CBS reporter] a prayer card inscribed with the date and tiny footprints of a fetus that was terminated.

Quijano noted, “In America, I think some people would be confused about people calling this ‘our child,’ saying a prayer or saying goodbye or having a priest come in — because to them abortion is murder.”

A priest comes in to say a prayer? Saying goodbye? A memento of the abortion with the dead child’s footprints? To do such things implies a recognition of the child’s humanity, and yet still the child is killed, though the church makes the parents feel better.

Photo by Himileanmedia (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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The little nation that defeated the Soviets

May 15, 2017 By Gene Veith

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Simo_hayha_honorary_rifle — Simo Häyhä, the “White Death”

A nation is defined by its history and its people’s common experiences. That is especially true of nations whose citizens, for the most part, share a specific ethnic identity. In Finland, where I spent some time recently, history is a living force.

For some 500 years, Finland was part of Sweden, a region in the East where members of the Finnish tribe dwelt. Finland was Swedish during the 17th century when that kingdom was a world power, as the Swedish kings saved Lutheranism during the Thirty Years’ War and dominated much of Northern Europe. To this day, Finland has a Swedish-speaking minority.

But then, in 1809, Sweden lost a war with Russia. Finland, on Russia’s border, was ceded to the Czar, who made it an autonomous Grand Duchy under his authority. So Finland went into its Russian phase, though it resisted assimilation.

When the Communist Revolution broke out, Finland saw its chance. It declared independence and established itself as a free republic. This happened in 1917, so that this year Finland is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The Communists had their own problems in 1917 so basically let Finland go. Some Finns, however, were on the Bolshevik side, so the new nation fought a bloody civil war, with the “Whites” defeating the “Reds.”

But in 1939, Stalin resolved to take Finland back. Soviet troops poured over the Finnish border. In this conflict, known as the “Winter War,” the Soviets outnumbered the Finns three to one, with 30 times more airplanes and 100 times more tanks.

I was told that the president of Finland then was a devout Christian. He called upon all Finns to pray. And they did. (more…)

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