Daemonistan E-Book

Jakob Munck

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 219

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Denmark is the country in the world where Lutheranism has the greatest impact on culture, government and policy. It has an impact on everything from taxes to education, from criminality to sexual ethics. The Danish way of life can only be understood in the light of the Lutheran religion and its anthropology. In this little book, we review the basic features of the Lutheran religion, which the Danes - under the Danish Constitution § 4 - are obliged to support. Only very few people understand how this fusion of state and religion works, and that is precisely the premise and the reason why it works. Just as a fish does not know what water is, the Danes then do not know what Lutheranism is. And most of them do not care. But there are exceptions. Some wish to understand and therefore desire to obtain real information about what the background is to the Danish religion and the culture of the Lutheran Paradise. This book is intended for those people.

Leseprobe

Content:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. LUTHERANISM AND DANISH IDENTITY

1. Determinism and demonization

2. Regiment doctrine and obedience duty

3. Subjectivism and the concept of God

4. Ethics

5. Lutheran work ethics

6. The image of the enemy

7. Summary

Notes

3. DO HUMAN BEINGS HAVE A FREE WILL?

1. Theistic determinism

2. Mechanical materialism and psychology

3. Moral and determinism

4. LUTHERANISM IN DENMARK

1. Introduction

2. Determinism and demonization

3. Ethics

4. Two regiment doctrine and obedience duty

5. The idealization of physical labor

6. State culture and patronization

7. Victim attitudes and the culture of complaint

8. The positivist jurisprudence

9. Subjectivism and the new religions

10. Aesthetics

* Recent trends in the Lutheran art

* Intellectualism

* Demonism

* Scandinavian Design

11. The enemy picture

12. National romanticism

13. Threats to Lutheranism

Notes

5. THE LUTHERAN VIEW OF ART

1. The hostility against pictures

2. The emptiness and the enslaved will

3. Subjectivism

4. Work ideal

5. Authority and employment

6. The view on women

7. Intellectualism and exorcism

8. The religious art

9. Conclusion

6. STATE, ETHICS AND RELIGION

1. The nanny state

2. National Romanticism

3. Work as the ultimate life goal

4. Ethical relativism

5. Religion and royalism

Notes

7. PSYCHOLOGY AND IDENTITY

1. Psychology as the new religion

2. Fear of difference

3. Culture of victimization, culture of complaint

4. The apologists of “Danisherism”

5. Perspectives for the future

* Immigration

* Internationalization

8. THE LUTHERAN NANNY-STATE

1. Lutheran anthropology

2. Demonization and determinism

3. The doctrine of the Two Regiments

4. Subjectivism

5. The doctrine of work

6. Paternalism in practice

7. Ideology and State Church

8. Features of Danish mentality

9. Materialism

10. Psychology and jurisprudence

11. Victim mentality and litigation culture

12. The moral libertinism

13. Does the nanny state have an opposition?

Notes

9. AESTHETIC TRENDS IN LUTHERAN ART

1. Modernism

2. Intellectualism

3. Demonism

4. Scandinavian design

5. State and art

6. Summary

10. HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY OF LUTHERANISM

11. WHAT IS THERE TO LEARN?

12. QUOTES FROM MARTIN LUTHER

13. LITERATURE

1. INTRODUCTION

Dear Reader

The chapters in this book are written as separate articles, all of which have previously been published on the Web. Now they are in an anthology. The theme is Lutheranism, the religion that the Danish government is obliged to support in accordance with the Constitution, paragraph 4.

It is unique for a state in the modern world to be tied to a religious sect in this way. This article makes the Danish politicians untrustworthy when they criticize foreign countries with religious repression, because when there is no religious equality in Denmark, how can we demand that it be introduced elsewhere?

Most people in Denmark have no idea what Lutheranism is, and they are also quite indifferent. They know as little about Lutheranism, as a fish knows about the water in which it swims.

85% of ordinary people are members of the Lutheran state church and at the same time, most of them claim they are against any kind of religion at all. They get their information from the ongoing stream of American films and TV series on state controlled television. Denmark is very popular in the United States and that is all that matters to the Danish politicians and the Danish population. Denmark is a Lutheran colony of the U.S.A. The country claims to be a democracy but all parts of the economy and the culture are controlled from outside.

Understanding Lutheranism is a prerequisite for understanding the Danish society. So this book is written for everyone who wishes to understand how Lutheranism and Americanism merge in the Scandinavian cultures - not least in Denmark.

Jakob Munck

2. LUTHERANISM AND DANISH IDENTITY

The content and theology of a religion can always be interpreted in different ways, and this of course also applies to the religion that I am dealing with here, namely Lutheranism. Whether or not one likes this religion depends of course, on what you put into it. If you believe that its core is to follow your own conscience, that there is direct contact between God and the individual believer, and that discharge does not provide entry into heaven, then it is certainly a positive religion that most people in the Christian world could join. And since it is precisely these characteristics that Danes associate with Lutheranism, then it is not so strange that they - in the vast majority of cases - adhere to this doctrine. It is simply common sense and good morals, and who would not like to join in in these virtues?

However, this book is written by a person who has read the Lutheran writings, so allow me to give a somewhat different view of the contents of the Lutheran religion than the one I just presented. I do not deny that the above interpretation of Lutheranism is a possibility, but I must, however, maintain that it is out of line with the writings of Martin Luther himself. The interpretation I myself believe in is a lot more critical, and the reason is that I know Luther from the original source, that is his own writings.

I am aware that some Lutheran theologians would argue, that I "completely misunderstand" what Lutheranism is about. But the following review is not based on any kind of postulate, as I have taken the trouble to read not only Luther's own writings, but also some more recent and reputable Danish Lutheran theologians' interpretations of how Lutheranism is to be understood. I believe that I can pretty much protect myself against the persons that would say that I do not understand what I am dealing with. I believe I do!

I also hope that the readers understand that it is necessary to become acquainted with the basic writings of Lutheran theology to evaluate the religion itself. My intention in this book is to show a correlation between Danish identity and culture on the one hand and the Lutheran theology on the other. That such a relationship exists no one would deny, but depending on how you interpret the Lutheran doctrine, and depending on how one chooses to describe the Danish society and its culture, the relationship can differ a lot.

I am sure my writings will create a picture that many priests in the Lutheran Church will condemn. They will think that it is negative, and they are probably right. In return, I will say that the picture that is created by Lutheranism’s own advocates is even more negative and only serves to justify the Lutheran church and the belief that the Lutheran priests earn their money to spread this belief.

Who is right? The Lutheran theologians or the author of this book? Ultimately, the reader decides what he wants to believe, but first and foremost he must accept that Lutheranism can be interpreted in different ways. If you are living in a Lutheran country then you have probably never heard anything but good things about Lutheranism. You are probably used to hearing about the issues of this book portrayed by members and representatives from the Lutheran Church, and the picture you get is completely different from the picture you will become acquainted with here. Because I do not intend to be apologetic and to defend the Lutheran religion, rather, I intent to describe it as it is. And if there is something that people living in the Lutheran countries are not used to, then it's criticism of the Lutheran religion. Criticism of Lutheranism was illegal for more than 300 years (1536–1848), from the Reformation and up until we had our first Constitution, and still today, almost all news and media contributors in our country govern themselves by a form of voluntary religious censorship. It is stated in the Danish constitution, that the state has to support the Lutheran religion and therefore everyone who wants to gain approval from the state, will never criticize the Lutheran religion.

Our country not much differs from the former Eastern States, where it was the communist party that controlled all media and educational institutions. Here in Denmark, and in Scandinavia, it is not only a single party, but all those people whose interests and livelihood depends of this particular religious denomination that will defend Lutheranism. They don’t know much about the content of this religion and they don’t care, but they know it is the basis of their personal pecuniary income.

But now: What is Lutheranism?

1. Determinism and demonization

An understanding of the Lutheran theology must be based on an understanding of its concept of human nature. For Luther the starting point was that man has no free will and that all human actions are expressions of evil. In his treatise on "The Enslaved Will," he wrote,

"why freedom of human will is to choose an existence as a slave to sin, in death and Satan, man will not accomplish anything and he will not be able to accomplish anything or even to strive for nothing but evil things "(1).

Man has in itself

"only hatred of the good and feel like the evil" (2),

and therefore it is - by its own nature - always against God's will. Luther concluded that

"you can only sin, even how you'll get along" (3).

There is no need to quote further, to emphasize the main point in Lutheran thinking. You will find this idea in all of Martin Luther’s writings. How he came to this perception is not important for our dealings in this book, so I will not waste the reader's time with additional quotes. If in doubt, you can read the quoted paper where the Lutheran concept is clearly made. Man is evil and he has no free will - that is the main point. Some may question the logical contradiction between declaring on the one hand that Man does not have free will, and at the same time, that he always does evil. But for Luther this was basic fact of the Christian faith, and we should not discuss their relationship further. Theology, as you know, cannot always be explained rationally.

2. Regiment Doctrine and obedience duty

The second distinguishing feature of Lutheran thinking is the two- regiment doctrine that Luther himself explains as follows:

"Therefore God created two regiments, the spiritual through which the Holy Spirit makes people Christians and pious under Christ, and the secular which restricts the non-Christians and puts evil on them, so they in the outer must keep the peace and tranquility, against their will "(4)"

“Since the world is evil and nearly one out of a thousand is really a Christian, humans would if they were not put to the sword, fight each other "(5).

The Lutheran state ideal is therefore authoritarian. Luther recommends that the rulers - always and without hesitation - use the means necessary to beat the evil forces.

"A worldly kingdom, which only serves the wrath of God punishing the wicked and a true forerunner of hell and eternal death, shall not be merciful, but firm, strict and anger-like in its service and ministry. For its hallmark is not a rosary or a love flower, but a drawn sword "(6).

Luther knew that the Gospel does not contain any political recipe, and

"for that reason gospel teaches nothing about how to organize and exercise the secular regime, beyond that it is mandatory that you should honor it and that one should not put up a fight against it "(7).

The consequence of this is that the revolt against rulers is not permitted and that the political ideal of the Lutheran faith is passive submission. Therefore Luther supported the kings and the princes by teaching that:

"you have to act like a Christian, no noble wage war against his head, i.e., the king and emperor or who are otherwise is his liege lord. For the authorities must not be resisted by force, but only by recognition of the truth "(8).

3. Subjectivism and concept of God

The third characteristic of the Lutheran theology is subjectivism. For Luther, it is

"only the heart's trust and faith produces both God and idol." (9).

God's existence is not something objective; God exists only for our consciousness. This makes modern Danish Lutheran theologians believe that God's own being - if God exists at all - is dependent on Man's faith, for

"God of creation is a hidden majesty" (10);"

“An objective, neutral learn about the attributes of God is not possible" (11).

P.G. Lindhardt said, therefore,

"if your faith is right then your God is also right and vice versa". (12)

God is therefore nothing other than what people think he is. In it self, he does not exist, or at least we cannot have knowledge of such an existence. Therefore God exists only in "the faith", and rather than he having made Man, it is Man himself who created him in his own image as the philosopher Feuerbach wrote. The world we live in and the way we experience this world, is also the result of our subjective perceptions. What we perceive as being beautiful, ugly, good or evil, are only expressions of our own subjective beliefs, because no truth can exist independently of our belief. The idea that one proposition has a higher validity than another, is based on pure convention, or - as is the case today - on a majority decision.

This philosophy was further developed by the German Protestant philosopher Kant (1724–1804), who claimed that there was an unbridgeable gap between the worlds as it was "an sich" and the way in which man experienced this world "für sich". All knowledge was therefore only subjectively valid, and when this knowledge was about metaphysical questions, ethics, morality and aesthetics, man could do nothing else than rely on his own faith and his own fantasies. The distinction between the subjective and the objective was insurmountable and the true realization of an existing reality was impossible. The Christian faith was thus - in the end - nothing but a cultural phenomenon that one might speak of, but which did not provide any definitive truth.

4. Ethics

The fourth characteristic of the Lutheran doctrine is about ethics. When people always do evil, then it is obviously pointless to speculate about ethics and morality, which of course assumes that there is a difference between good and evil. Lutheran theologians such as K.E. Løgstrup, therefore reject

"that can be given a special Christian morality, which advises on human life’s many problems" (13),

and it is claimed that

"no human action in itself is good or can be so" (14) (N.H. Søe).

At times, criticism of morality is sharpened further by using, for example. P.G. Lindhardt who claims that God - if he exists - in fact cares more about the sinner than the person who follows the teachings of Christ, because God

"is good against evil and ungrateful, and only to them." (15).

Furthermore dogma professor Regin Prenter reassures his readers that judgment does not exist, for

"Christian teaching does not know of any kind of judgment." (16)

He is not even quite sure about this and immediately after writes that

"consequently, the judgment is no moral assessment of man… God's judgment is a judgment not of a man's deeds, but over its person. Not what it has done, but what it has been "(17).

The Christian religion, as construed by Lutheranism, has nothing to do with morality, and Christian believers do not have to worry about their own behavior in the light of God's judgment. Firstly that judgment does not exist, and secondly, God prefers the bad to the good. If Lutheran believers therefore have no moral concerns, all they have to worry about is to appear in a good light to their fellow beings, because God does not care.

5. Lutheran work ethics

The fifth characteristic of Lutheranism is its view regarding work. The issue being that Man - according to Luther - cannot do anything morally good, is not the same as Lutheranism not having an ideal of life. Precisely due to Luther believing that the secular and the spiritual reigns were separated, any kind of legal norms are however only justified by the conditions in the first of these regiments. It is required here, as mentioned earlier, that the believer is obedient to the authorities, but it is also important that they understand themselves each as a working people, for the good work that God does not count for anything, can very easily - Luther admits - bring joy to other people. Man does "good work" by obeying his principal in doing physical labor and N.H. Søe explains that:

"whoever wants to serve God must be in his vocation and do what his magistrates, his office and state, need and want" (18).

Work is - for Lutheranism - not only a necessary duty, but also a God-given obligation, which can be compared to the "church service" (19) in Catholic religion. It is therefore not surprising that a large part of modern socialism, after it has left the consistent atheist views of Karl Marx, has taken an ideological standpoint close to Lutheranism. Both ideologies sanctify, in their own way, work and regard work to be the real wealth of human life. Danish culture of work, and the philosophy that forms the core of Danish political initiatives against unemployment today (spring 2000), must be understood from this perspective.

6. The image of the enemy

The sixth and final feature of Lutheranism is perhaps the most significant of them all, and it concerns its enemy. Here, I am not thinking of Luther's attitude toward Jews or followers of non-Christian religions, but only his attitude toward the church from which he originated. For Luther the head of this Church - the pope - was identical to the "anti-Christ" (20), and church members were

"Pope Sycophants" (21)

and the church itself was

"the origin of all heresy" (22).

These anti-Catholic positions have never left Lutheranism, although of course, they are not always expressed in the same coarse manner as Luther expresses them. Lutherans are mainly defined by what they are not, namely Catholics! All Danish children have therefore learned the Lutheran parody of the Catholic, as summarized in the phrase:

"when the money in the box tinkles, the souls out of purgatory jump."

For the secularized Lutheran, this is an adequate summary of the content of Catholic hypocrisy, and no matter how many mistakes, contradictions, or how much unpleasantness they find in the Lutheran religion, they believe it will always be better than what the superstitious and hypocritical "Papists" believe.

The Danish National Church’s rejection of the International Catholic-Lutheran "Joint Declaration on Justification, doctrine" (23) should be seen in this context - as a Lutheran theologian puts it -

"Despite the friendly cooperation which Catholicism now after II Vatican Council (24) shows Rome's dogmas are the same as they were at the time of Luther."(25).

And therefore real Lutherans can obviously not go in favor of cooperation or any kind of theological joint statement with representatives of the Catholic Church, which is the dominant creed of approximately 60% of Europe's population. (26) Regin Prenter therefore writes:

"reject any communion with this Church" (27)

7. Summary

The heart of the Lutheran religion is not - from the point of view of its own supporters - some kind of humanity, or a theology. It is first and foremost, concerned that you are not Catholic. Lutherans claim that they are not in favor of superstition and religious hypocrisy, and whatever Martin Luther said and wrote, this is in any case better than what he rebelled against - that is the Catholic Church. The Catholics are the enemies, which is the basis of the Lutheran faith.

The believers of the Danish religion have only one thing in common. They believe that: We are not Catholics, because we don’t believe that "when the money in the box tinkles, immediately the souls out of purgatory jump." Admittedly, this has never been Catholic teaching, but the Danes believe that it has.

But a religion cannot only be defined negatively. It may even have its own specificities, and those, I have also explained. It is about the demonic and deterministic view of human nature, subjectivism, nonexistent ethics and the work ideal. In real life, there are probably as many interpretations of the Lutheran doctrine as there are members of the Lutheran church. Usually no time is wasted discussing theology, dogma or humanity, and there are only a few members of this church that know which belief statements and confession upon which the church is based. Most Lutherans perceive being a Lutheran as the same as being independent of the Church of Rome, and thereby to have the freedom to think as they wish.

The fact, that the Lutheran religion, through its pastors and theologians, propagate a certain view of humanity and a perception of society, only few are aware of. They do not think that the church should "meddle in politics", and it does not, because it is precisely the state - i.e., the ruling political majority - who appoints its employer, the Church Minister.

For many years, the Lutheran preachers were the only ones who were allowed to work in a religious context in Denmark, and still today it is almost exclusively the Lutheran Church, which gets to represent the "Christian" when the media finds this subject interesting.

In summary it can be said that one cannot understand the Danish mentality and identity, without understanding the Lutheran Church and its position in our society. The similarities between Lutheranism and the Danish way of thinking are so many, that it is hard for most people to separate them. An analysis of the Danish society and the feelings of the Danes must therefore be based on an understanding of Lutheranism, because there is a direct line from the writings of Martin Luther to the nanny state in Denmark today. This book is an attempt to understand it.

Notes

(1) Quote from Luther: "The enslaved will" (Aros Publishing, 1983), p. 348

(2) 25 sermons of Martin Luther, p. 33

(3) The same, p. 19

(4) Luther, quoted from Gerhard Ebeling: Luther – introduction in his THINKING. (Norwegian Gyldendal, p. 146

(5) Luther, cited in Ebeling, p. 145

(6) Luther: About the sharp shift towards the peasants (Luther's selected writings, Vol. 4, Gad Publishers, p. 281)

(7) Luther, cited in Ebeling, p. 147

(8) Quote from "About obedience to state power" (Luther's writings in committee, Vol. IV, p. 195)

(9) Quote Martin Luther: The Great Catechism (The Danish Bible Society, 1976), p. 38

(10) Creation and redemption, p. 226

(11) Creation and redemption, p. 231

(12) The eternal iv, p. 41

(13) Quote From MS Lausten: Danish church history, Gyldendal, 1987, p. 309

(14) Christian Ethics, p. 94

(15) The Eternal Life, p. 41

(16) Regin Prenter: Creation and redemption, p. 603

(17) Regin Prenter: Creation and redemption, p. 603

(18) NHSøe: Christian ethics, p. 252

(19) Such is called by NHSøe in his "Christian Ethics", p. 254

(20) See Martin Luther's preface to his writings, p. 104 (Martin Luther: Writings in committee Credo 1981).

(21) Quote From "Church Babylonian captivity", p. 31 (Martin Luther writings in committee, Credo, 1982).

(22) Quote By G. Ebeling, Luther, p. 89

(23) Joint Declaration on the doctrine of justification. Signed by representatives of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation in Augsburg, 31/10/99.

(24) The Church Meeting from 1962–65 where the Catholic church modernized its doctrine and took a more ecumenical approach, which inter alia, meant that it accepted the Lutheran Churches as "fellow Christians".

(25) Quote, Carl Fr. Wisløff: Introduction to Luther, p. 53 (writings in committee, Credo, 1981)

(26) "Statisches Jahrbuch für das Ausland" (Metzler Poeschel Verlag, Statisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden, 1997).

(27) Creation and redemption, p. 165

(28) Creation and redemption, p. 164

3. DO HUMAN BEINGS HAVE A FREE WILL?

The question of free will is central to all philosophy and theology. If the will is free, then we have a responsibility for our own deeds, but if the will is not free, we have no responsibility. So it is a constant temptation for human beings to push away the idea of a free will, because then all the evil we see and do would be explained even without us feeling guilty. In this article we touch on the subject of free will as perceived in philosophy and theology. I do not provide any final answer but - hopefully - you will get something to think about.

The prerequisite for a person's actions being described as "good" or "evil" is that these actions are a result of the person's decisions based on free will. Therefore, we do not believe that one can apply ethical categories to describe animal behavior, because this type of behavior is not a result of the respective animal’s freedom to choose between alternatives. The animal behavior is due to a genetic program by which the animal is led. A bird is thereby not "evil" when it eats insects, just like a cat is not evil when it catches mice.