In this Issue: The Approach to Al Mu'tasim: Jorge Luis BorgesThey came Two by TwoThe Sojourn (by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)Samson and DelilahThe Lion of JudaThe Beginning of Rome (by Theodor Mommsen)The Last of the Hebrews: Jeremiah newI shall not be forgotten: Sappho newThe Cosmopolitan (by Theodor Mommsen)The Characters (by Theophrastus)If there is Paradise it must be here: VirgilThe Road to EmmausOnly the Naughty Bits: Petronius ArbiterThe Master's Touch: Cornelius TacitusProclaim the Great Pan is dead: PlutarchA Plea for the MandaeansWhat does it say?Rome and the JewsDesperate for Shortcuts: PlotinusThe Wizard's NieceKeeping the Faith: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus newBishop St. SpyridonAn Age of Magic newThe Worm in Eve's Apple newMohammed and the Koran (by Edward Gibbon)Not a Smoking Gun, but I wonder!The Innovation of ChildhoodThe Magnificent PeopleBondage of the Will: Martin LutherA Frenchman's Itinerary: Michel de MontaigneWas he for real? DescartesSancho’s Dream: Miguel de Cervantes and his Age newMy Great-Great Grandmother’s LetterA hot Chestnut in the Fly: Laurence SterneAll in the Mind: Immanuel Kant newThe Ape that talkesWhat Goethe couldn't knowInto the Crystal you shall fall: E.T.A. Hoffmann newOn the Manufacture of Ideas while we speak (by Heinrich von Kleist)From the Memoirs of Mr. Schnabelewopski, Esq. (by Heinrich Heine)Lazarus (by Heinrich Heine) • My Kind of Saint: Antonin ChekhovA Catholic Childhood: James JoyceThe Shame: Franz Kafka newA Case of blurred Vision: Gottfried BennThe Elements of Style (by William Strunk)At the PicturesThe TerminalDylan in ElysiumAbout MeBooks I enjoy readingA Simple Matter of MathThe Magic NumberIf E.T. is out there, why doesn’t he visit us?Cosmos versus CosmologyWhere does the Lake go, when the Geese fly to Canada?A Directory to the AfterlifeEvoe!

Bondage of the Will

 

As long as we are here in this world we have to sin. This life is not a dwelling place of righteousness.

Martin Luther




The humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469 – 1536) had written a book on free will. Martin Luther, the runaway Augustinian monk, published in 1525 a rebuttal, De Servo Arbitrio (Concerning the Bondage of the Will), written in powerful Latin and very much in the spirit of Saint Augustine himself.

Luther made it crystal clear that it is "essentially necessary and wholesome for Christians to know that God foreknows nothing by contingency, but that He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His immutable, eternal, and infallible will. By this thunderbolt, 'Free-will' is thrown prostrate, and utterly dashed to pieces. Those, therefore, who would assert 'Free-will,' must either deny this thunderbolt, or pretend not to see it, or push it from them."

So if we believe it to be true, that God fore-knows and fore-ordains all things; that He can be neither deceived nor hindered in His Prescience and Predestination; and that nothing can take place but according to His Will, (which reason herself is compelled to confess;) then, even according to the testimony of reason herself, there can be no "Free-will" – in man, – in angel, – or in any creature!”

If we believe that Satan is the prince of this world, ever ensnaring and fighting against the kingdom of Christ with all his powers; and that he does not let go his captives without being forced by the Divine Power of the Spirit; it is manifest, that there can be no such thing as "Free-will!”

“If we believe that original sin has so destroyed us, that even in the godly who are led by the Spirit, it causes the utmost molestation by striving against that which is good; it is manifest, that there can be nothing left in a man devoid of the Spirit, which can turn itself towards good, but which must turn towards evil!”

“If the Jews, who followed after righteousness with all their powers, ran rather into unrighteousness, while the Gentiles who followed after unrighteousness attained unto a free righteousness which they never hoped for; it is equally manifest, from their very works, and from experience, that man, without grace, can do nothing but will evil!

Finally: If we believe that Christ redeemed men by His blood, we are compelled to confess, that the whole man was lost: otherwise, we shall make Christ superfluous, or a Redeemer of the grossest part of man only, – which is blasphemy and sacrilege!

This may sound like the statement of a raving fanatic, but so far it is Christian doctrine pure and simple, and as far as I know, it doesn’t contradict even the Catholic statement of faith. Jesus himself said that the "very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Mt. 10:30; also see Mt. 22:1-14) and "many are called but few the chosen;" (Mk. 10:17-27; Mt. 5:10-12, 5:14-15;). Yet the zeal with which Luther carried the attack against Erasmus, was all his own:

Here then, I see, you suppose that the truth and the utility of the Scripture are to be weighed and judged of according to the opinion of men, so that, what pleases or seems bearable, should be deemed true, divine, and wholesome: and what has the contrary effect, should at once be deemed useless, false, and pernicious. What else can you mean by all this, than that the words of God should depend on, stand on, and fall by, the will and authority of men?

Luther had a point! The concept of “scripture,” of a text of undisputed authority, is an intellectual obscenity, yet once we accept the premise the conclusion is inevitable:

“This is the highest degree of faith – to believe that He is merciful, who saves so few and damns so many; to believe Him just, who makes us necessarily damnable, that He may seem to delight in the torments of the miserable, and to be an object of hatred rather than of love. If, therefore, I could by any means comprehend how that same God can be merciful and just, who carries the appearance of so much wrath and iniquity, there would be no need of faith. But since that cannot be comprehended, there is room for exercising faith, while God kills and the faith of life is exercised in death (Luther).

As far as I am concerned a rather desperate “faith.” But then again, Luther may have overlooked something. After all, the fewer are “saved” the greater the joy for the selected few gloating over the divine spectacle. In the words of the Angelic Doctor: “In order that the happiness of the saints may be more delightful to them and that they may render more copious thanks to God, they are allowed to see perfectly the sufferings of the damned. Divine justice and their own deliverance will be the direct cause of the joy of the blessed, while the pains of the damned will cause it indirectly, and the blessed in glory will have no pity for the damned" (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, III, supp. 94, a 1-3).

© – 1/9/2009 – by michael sympson, 875 words, all rights reserved

Proprietary Notice: © – 04/102003 – by michael sympson. Text may be downloaded for personal use, provided all copies retain the copyright and proprietary notices. No material may be modified, edited or taken out of context. Any commercial use in advertising or publicity requires permission in writing by the author's estate.
Check this
out:


16GB USB 
Flash Drive