It's been over six months since "the brave German woman," Heidi Mund, interrupted the invocation of a Muslim imam at a a Muslim / Christian concert at a church in Speyer that had been built to honor Martin Luther, but the video is still viral on the internet. On hearing him invoke Allah, she suddenly began to shout out her confession from the balcony. "Jesus Christus allein ist Herr über Deutschland. . . . Ich stehe hier; Ich kann nicht anders!" she cried, refusing to be silenced, in what she later called "an holy anger."
Here it is with her interview, which is quite moving. HT: Rev. Wade Seaver
Every Lutheran pastor in attendance should be ashamed of his silence and repent. When it becomes necessary for a woman to speak in defense of the Faith and the Church against idolatry (as it clearly is necessary in such a circumstance), it says nothing good at all about the pastors, or the baptized men in general.
ReplyDelete"Every Lutheran pastor in attendance should be ashamed of his silence and repent."
ReplyDeleteJust for clarification, are we talking about Yankee Stadium heresy, the Newtown heresy, or the Speyer heresy?
You are absolutely correct Jim. Silence is compliance. In addition, and just as shameful, is the fact that the editors of Gottesdiest deliberately and intentionally reposted this video. The editors are just as complicit. One of the editors even posted the video on his Facebook page to solicit comments, of which there were many. And, yes, there were many illicit comments, which were to horrible to repeat here. All of these comments ( including his own) have been since deleted. So the proof has been deleted. Nevertheless, it is extremely irresponsible for a Lutheran pastor, or any Christian minister, to post such a video in order to solicit intolerant comments. This goes beyond silence to the extreme of agreement by posting it here and on his personal FB page. Incidently, what do you think would happen if a Muslim were to enter into a Christian service with the specific intent to disrupt it? The outcry from Christians would be much worse, I assure you ( you, meaning in general, but a specific person). Read my response to the public post as soon as you can, but I'm sure that it will no doubt be deleted and I'll be blocked forever from expressing my opinion.
ReplyDeleteTypo alert. " You" meaning people in general, NOT any specific person.
DeleteWith the admission that the Facebook page containing the comments has been deleted, rehashing the contents here with accusations about the motivations of one of the editors and the alleged behavior of Lutheran or other pastors seems to be rather gossipy, according to LC.III.281-283 standards.
DeleteFair enough. I should have printed the comments before making the accusations, but since I failed to do that, and thus my comments unknowingly became hearsay, I humbly apologize. And as well as commenting on the alleged behavior. I do have a legitimate question which I will pose to you or any editor: Why post such a video such as this without offering an explanation or even stating a comment that this woman'e behavior is not representative at all of Christians as a whole? SpecificaIly, what would happen, if it hadn't already happened, that someone would casually come across Gottesdienst ( of which I have a great deal of respect for, even though I erred today), see this video, and assume, rightly or wrongly, that this is something that the magazine would endorse? I KNOW that Gottesdienst does not endorse this, but look at it objectively and realistically, the immediate conclusion that someone who saw this for the first time without any qualifiers added to the post, would immediately assume the worst. Realistically, am I not correct? I'm only asking because I genuinely would like to know. I know the purpose of the blog. I get that. But would this not be contrary to evangelization and the Great Commission? Please post LC.III.281-283 for me, as I cannot download it. Again, Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa.
DeleteI got it. I am not bound in by the LC.
ReplyDeletePastor Johnson,
ReplyDeleteI certainly think this incident begs to be commented on intelligently! I have tried to do this in a post on my own blog, which I invite you to read and comment on: https://infanttheology.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/in-need-of-a-mic-a-key-to-avoiding-ugly-religious-incidents/
In short, I really do respect this woman even as I do not fully sign on to her actions (for a good short piece defending her actions see here: http://mannsword.blogspot.com/2014/02/heidi-mund-and-speaking-truth-to-power.html )
My interests center on the wider questions of church and state, and what this means for leaders in general who think there really is no possible forum for religious differences to be discussed. It seems to me that insofar as any state ruler is not going to be eager to encourage the best and most civil and respectful representatives of various religions to openly discuss (and not only dialogue on this but also respectful debate) not only their similarities but differences, they are foolish to think that these kinds of "prophetic actions" are not going to be inevitable.
+Nathan
Oye... well I said I respected her. That is true.
DeleteThat said, in my post I noted that I do not fully sign on to her actions. Please take out the "fully". I don't sign on to her actions period. I hope that is clear in my post, where I said: "I do not think that what this women did is something that any of us should get in the habit of doing" (yes, I realize that this is not an all out full-throated condemnation of her actions - I simply can't do that).
+Nathan
The "brave German woman" defends her actions in a video interview:
ReplyDelete"I would call it a holy anger... And then I rose with my flag and I was calling and proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord over Germany."
"My purpose was, I broke this curse because [Muslims] say, 'Only Allah is the Lord. He is God, the only God.' And I broke this curse in this church and I broke it over my country."
In the video Mund repeats the legendary words attributed to Martin Luther in 1521 after he refused to recant his faith in Scripture, "Hier stehe ich und kann nicht anders!" ("Here I stand. I can do no other.")
During the video in response to a claim, "This is a concert for peace," Heidi Mund can be heard responding in German, ""No it's not! Allahu Akbar is what Muslims scream while murdering people! Don't be fooled! Don't be fooled! This is a lie!"
Mund was removed from the building.
Paragraphs 280-283 can be found in Large Catechism under Luther's explanation of the 8th commandment.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your honest answers, as they truly helped me to understand more fully all of your points of view, and and I will certainly reflect on them. Nathan, I appreciate your answer and I have a much understanding of your position. I'm not a pastor though, but thanks for the honor. I would never have the qualifications to even become a pastor. I do have a question. Is this a pastor's only blog? Or for pastor's only? Or for anyone who is a Chrisitan. I thought it to be a blog that anyone could access since it's in the public, and no secret password is needed to enter. To the editors: again, I apologize to Gottesdienst Online for jumping to an hasty conclusion regarding the posting of the video. However, regarding that Facebook post that I refered to earlier, not only have the comments been deleted, but so has the entire post, which was the same video posted here. Why would it suddenly be deleted? Now, I am absolutely in the right here because there is no petty gossip ( as I have been fasely accused) because I know more than two people that will attest that they saw this video posted yesterday, saw the comments by others, and will also attest to the fact that this same video was magically removed this morning. I refuse to be accused of petty gossip when I only reported the truth, and I can have these people send the magazine emails to attest that they are witnesses. Just look at it from my position, and understand how I feel about this, and I felt it necessary to defend myself against the charge of petty gossip. I promise to drop the subject from here on out, because I have told the truth, and shall stand by it. I ma not bound to anything in the Large Catechism, I can assure you of that. ;o) I won't bring up any of what I've written again, I promise. And I was right. ;o) I truly enjoy reading Gottesdienst, and hope to be included in future discussion.
ReplyDeleteMr. Johnston,
ReplyDeleteNo, this is a public blog - sorry I assumed you were a pastor. I don't know much about the Facebook thing, but surely it is wrong to suggest that the video would be posted in order to solicit intolerant comments. In fact, if intolerant comments did result, it would be no surprise to me that it would be taken down. This happens all the time on the internet, and in some cases, I am sure, that is a good thing.
+Nathan