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From Scrupulosity to Lutherosity, Part 2

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Trent Beattie

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Contrary to Luther’s misconception (see Part 1 ), humility is in reality wise, while pride is foolish. St Alphonsus tells us that “no fool esteems himself foolish, but his folly consists in being a fool without knowing it.” Luther was so foolish that his own pride appeared to him as wisdom. Luther seemed to go all the way from torturous doubt (as a monk) to unmitigated arrogance (as founder of his own religion) in order to deal with the doubt. The proper way of dealing with his doubt would have been to practice humble obedience to his lawful superiors. This is in fact what the saints did in order to overcome their nagging doubts and gain peace of mind.

St Philip Neri (1515-1595) encouraged the scrupulous soul to “Have confidence in your confessor, for the Lord will not allow him to err; there is no surer way of cutting the snares of the devil than to do the will of another, and there is nothing more dangerous than to be directed by one’s own opinion.” The founder of the Oratorians also says that “Before a man chooses his confessor, he ought to think well about it, and pray about it also; but once he has chosen, he ought not to change, except for the most urgent reasons, but put the utmost confidence in [him].”

In Luke 10:16 Our Lord tells his disciples “He who hears you, hears me; and he who rejects you, rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me.“ It is easy therefore to see how St Philip can say that “He who always acts under obedience, may rest assured that he will not have to give an account of his actions to God.” St Alphonsus advised the scrupulous to “ask this grace of God: that He may make you practice obedience to your director…do not doubt that if you practice it you will be saved and become a saint.”

However, humble obedience was not something that appealed to Luther, as seen above.

This is clearly because he thought of himself as being above judgment and actually in a position to judge the teaching of Our Lord’s Church as handed down through the centuries. Luther‘s own words are unambiguous: “I shall not have [my teaching] judged by any man, not even by any angel. For since I am certain of it, I shall be your judge…”

One way in which Luther sat in judgment of Church teaching is in reference to the Bible. What does one to do he comes across books of the Bible which do not correspond with his own opinion? If you’re Martin Luther, you simply toss them out! Luther audaciously removed seven books of the Old Testament, books which were declared canonical at Church councils in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and again at the Council of Florence in 1442, long before Luther was born.

In fact, what many people do not realize is that Luther even wanted to remove books from the New Testament, only to change his mind later on. Luther was no fan of the Epistle of James or the Book of Revelation. In his 1522 Preface to the New Testament he stated that “St James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, for it has nothing of the nature of the Gospel about it.” Moreover, in his 1522 Preface to the Revelation of St John, Luther opines:

About this book of the Revelation of John…I miss more than one thing in [it], and it makes me consider it to be neither apostolic nor prophetic…I can in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced [it]…there are many far better books available for us to keep…My spirit cannot accommodate itself to this book.

Take note of the fact that Luther does not want to base canonicity on any objective standard , but on his own personal opinion . This is most certainly not the way to determine which books belong in the Bible and which do not, as we might have as many Bibles as we do people if this operating principle were universally used.

Contrary to the view of many, Luther was a friend of the Bible only when the Bible fit in with his own views. This is totally unacceptable, as selective obedience to Church teaching is no obedience at all, but proud dissent colored with shades of false humility. If one person can refuse to follow teaching A, then another person can refuse to follow teaching B, and a third person can refuse to follow teaching C. This would go on and on until the reality of an organized Church no longer exists.

The truth is that Lutheroristy or Lutheranism, was Martin Luther’s way of dealing with scrupulosity. It was the removal from the Deposit of the Faith of whatever Luther did not understand or like. Many books of the Bible were removed, along with the Mass and later on Confession, the two outward activities that are the occasion of the most trouble for the scrupulous. Instead of adapting himself to reality, Luther demanded that reality be adapted to him.

You will likely be shocked at reading the following quotation from Luther on a warped conscience, but not so much by the actual description itself. The shock will come from the fact that Luther apparently did not realize that he himself fit into this category of people he so adeptly describes in his Table Talk :

It is a fearful thing when Satan torments the sorrowful conscience with melancholy; then the wicked villain masterfully disguises himself in the person of Christ, so that it is impossible for a poor creature, whose conscience is troubled, to discover the knavery. Hence many of those that neither know nor understand the same, run headlong into despair and make away with themselves; for they are blinded and deceived so powerfully by him that they are fully persuaded it is not the devil, but Christ himself, that thus vexes and torments them.

How remarkable! Is there a better description of Luther’s own problems? Maybe he did in fact realize that he had been tormented by the devil, but did not realize that the devil had actually succeeded in deceiving him as well. It is one thing to recognize a strategy of the enemy, and another thing to realize that one has been conquered through this enemy‘s strategy. Luther was clearly deficient in grasping the latter aspect.

Luther had been deceived by the devil and consequently refused to obey lawful Church authority. St Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) says that “When someone places confidence in his own prudence, knowledge, and intelligence, God…withdraws from him His help and leaves him to work by himself.” This is what happened with Luther, who went from scrupulosity to Lutherosity . Luther did not see things clearly, but instead of humbly recognizing this and deferring judgment to his lawful superiors, he proudly trusted in his own opinions, refused to obey, and brought about unprecedented division in Christianity.

What is even more tragic is that his Lutherosity had such an effect on so many people other than himself. Many unsuspecting souls have been taught that Lutherosity is the truth, but it is actually Christianity as seen and mutilated by a scrupulous man who would not admit his need for help. In fact, the original religion that Luther invented soon became the occasion of more invention. There are literally thousands of doctrinally conflicting denominations today, a sad reality which was made possible in large measure due to Martin Luther. As St Alphonsus wisely said,

[T]ake away the authority of the Church, and neither Divine Revelation nor natural reason itself is of any use, for each of them may be interpreted by every individual according to his own caprice…if you take away obedience to the Church, there is no error which will not be embraced.

If only Luther had acted like the many saints who were troubled by scruples– that is, if only he had humbly obeyed his lawful superiors–he would have saved himself and the world from so much confusion and misery. This is a huge incentive for the scrupulous Catholic to humbly admit the need for help, prayerfully look for an orthodox and kind spiritual director (they are out there), and obey him for the sake of pleasing God (and gaining peace of mind). “He who hears you, hears me; and he who rejects you, rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me.”

Comments

4 responses to “From Scrupulosity to Lutherosity, Part 2”

  1. Cooky642 Avatar
    Cooky642

    Luther was not the only, or even the first, heretic in the world. However, it seems he was the only one who fell from the Grace of the Church via a religious order, and for that, he deserves all the blame he has accrued. Scrupulosity cannot be blamed entirely for his heresy, however. As pointed out in the article, many have had to deal with this terror, and many of those, by the Grace of God, have overcome. I wanted to share the fact that, as a student of psychology, I was well aware of my own Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, which is abbreviated OCD in medical literature. When I became serious about my relationship with God, He was generous enough to lead me (without my asking) to a Confessor who was experienced in handling penitential scruples and who set me straight in no uncertain terms (God bless him). Imagine, if you can, my profound joy when, in the midst of the trial, He also led me into an Order whose initials are……did you guess? OCDS! (S because I’m a Secular.) Every time I sign my name, it becomes an occasion for a chuckle and great gratitude for God’s mercy and grace. And, isn’t that what Luther lacked?

  2. Warren Jewell Avatar
    Warren Jewell

    A bit of aside, up-front: “. . . we might have as many Bibles as we do people . . .” but isn’t that what Protestantism accrues, as a million Protestants can read a verse and come up with a million of ‘their own’ paths of guidance out of it? And, ‘scripture alone’ becomes all too easily ‘MY scripture alone’.

    As the worthy Lady Cookie observes, it is only in the humility by which to thank God for doing what not I nor any human can do – ‘save me’ in all the particulars of salvation – that I begin to go His Way. Every step of my pilgrim’s journey is made in humility, else I tempt my very own self to wander. For thus can pride make Satan’s job so easy – to be prideful is to be one’s own worst enemy.

    And, pride can be so easy to fall back on, back into. In depressive sense, in ecstatic sense, and at every oh-so-human point in between, pride can be taken again as if some prize of great value. It is seeing that pride is but a FAUX pearl of great price that I can know that I’ll pay too heavy a price, and forever, to own such a trite gem.

    Humility can be such a subtle thing, a paradox of seeming little or no value. It has little ‘now’ payoff. Except for one thing: it marked the ever and once and future King for His true majesty. And, He makes it that I can so have such majesty in this humility – indeed, in this lowness most glorious.

    Re-read all about the Agony in the Garden (Matthew 26:36-46; Luke 22:39-46) and see the obedience from out of humility that Luther forgot. If very God made man can obey God, who am I to think not to? If God can fall to His knees in tearful submission into His own humility, even humiliation, who am I to think to do otherwise?

  3. elkabrikir Avatar
    elkabrikir

    When teaching my children about the history of the Catholic Church, I have never shied away from the fact that at times the Church, or certain orders within the Church, were in need of reform.

    I have used the examples of St Phillip Neri and also of St Teresa of Avila to illustrate how the Holy Spirit raises up saints for the times. I contrast the saints with the heretic: Luther, and the path of disobedience he took. I guess Jesus’ words, “Father, that they may be one, as you and I are one” never registered with him. A pride filled, craven man, abandons his Mother in her hour of need.

    With regard to Luther’s character, it’s interesting to note that he was raised by an extremely abusive father whom he could never please. I’m certain his chidhood experiences were formative in what he became. I believe he was fighting the demons of his chidhood when he “took on” the “donkey Popes” as illustrated by the following example which shows another of his additions to the Bible (talk about “manmade” teachings)

    “Martin Luther, in his German translation of the Bible – a translation that had as powerful an impact on the German language as the King James Version had on English – inserted the word “alone” (allein in German) in Romans 3:28 making the text read: 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith (alone) apart from works of the law.

    Roman Catholic scholars of the 16th century knew this word was not in the original Greek text of Romans 3:28 and took Martin Luther to task for this intentional mistranslation. Father Georges Florovsky, a patristics scholar and well-known Orthodox theologian of the last century who taught at Harvard and Princeton and was the dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary in the 1950’s, wrote the following about this Reformation controversy: “Luther even added the word “alone”—allein—in Romans 3:28 before “through faith” precisely to counter the words in James 2:24: “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” What is more is that Luther became very aggressive and arrogant in his response to the criticism that he had added “alone” to the Biblical text. “If your papist makes much useless fuss about the word sola, allein, tell him at once: Doctor Martin Luther will have it so and says: Papist and donkey are one thing; sic volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas. For we do not want to be pupils and followers of the Papists, but their masters and judges.” Luther continues in a bantering manner in an attempt to imitate St. Paul in the latter’s response to his opponents in the Corinthian correspondence (2 Corinthians 11:22-23): “Are they doctors? So am I. Are they learned? So am I. Are they preachers? So am I. Are they theologians? So am I. Are they philosophers? So am I. Are they writers of books? So am I. And I shall further boast: I can expound Psalms and Prophets; which they cannot. I can translate; which they cannot . . . Therefore the word allein shall remain in my New Testament, and though all pope-donkeys should get furious and foolish, they shall
    not get the word out.” In some German editions the word “allein” was printed in larger type!” copied from http://www.pravmir.com/article_672.html

    May God have mercy on Luther’s soul and return the lost sheep to the fold.

  4. caporasa Avatar
    caporasa

    As proclaimed by St. Cardinal Henry Newman “To be a student of history is to cease to be Protestant”. Yet in our day, now beyond the “age of information”, so many remain outside the church! How do we understand this? I’m sure some still remain outside because of so called “invincible” ignorance, yet I’m sure there are many more secondary to (occult or not so occult) ulterior motives, ie. they don’t think it is all that important, and they don’t want to face the unpleasant consequences of “rocking the boat” that they are in. Or they are enslaved to a particular sin that their particular denomination doesn’t frown upon, or at least looks the other way. Or they are in a position of authority and can’t bring themselves to make the difficult transition to lay status and face the “scandal” it would create in their own congregations. Some I’m convinced carry a vitriolic hatred for the church because they have experienced a real or perceived hurt. Many more I’m sure just don’t care – the church serves a social function at best where we mark special occasions like weddings and baptisms and then return to our secular lives (any church will do). I don’t think we can begin to fathom the damage Luther has done to Christ’s body the Church, yet God has brought great blessings out of even this. The most “infectious” Catholics were often once the harshest anti-Catholics (eg. Scott Hahn) which reminds us Truth is on our side and there is always hope. I’m sure if Scott had been born Catholic and didn’t have to go through the crucible of conversion we wouldn’t have been blessed with his powerful ministry through the St. Paul Center. We must just continue to love and pray for each other. MMM.

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