“Though womenfolk are ashamed to admit to this, nevertheless Scripture and experience show that among many thousands there is not a one to whom God has given to remain in pure chastity. A woman has no control over herself.  God has made her body to be with man, to bear children… He has also ordered man and woman to be in marital union. Suffice it to say that no one needs to be ashamed over how God has made and created him, not having been given the high, rare mercy to do otherwise.”

I can understand why the Catholic church does not care for him even some 500 years later. I can also understand why I find him sometimes frustrating, sometimes embarrassing, and sometimes utterly delightful…

The full letter appears below with the full passages in context translated from the original German.

To Several Nuns
by Martin Luther

From Wittenberg
6 August 1524

Translated from
Briefe aus dem Jahre 1524 No. 733 -756
(Letters of the Year 1524 Nos. 733 – 756)

Weimarer Ausgabe

translated by
Erika Bullmann Flores

To the free nuns, my dear sisters in Christ, written with a
friendly disposition:

Mercy and peace in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior!

Dear sisters, I have received both of your letters and am aware
of your concerns.  I would have answered you sooner if there had
been messengers available, and I also have been very busy.

You are correct that there are two reasons for which life at the
convent and vows may be forsaken: The one is where men’s laws
and life within the order are being forced, where there is no
free choice, where it is put upon the conscience as a burden.
In such cases it is time to run away, leaving the convent and
all it entails behind. If this is your situation, where you are
not freely choosing the cloister, where your conscience is being
forced, then call your friends.  Let them help you escape and,
if the law allows, take care of you or provide for you.  If
friends and parents are unwilling to help, obtain help from
other goodly people, regardless of whether your parents become
angry, die or recover.  For the soul’s well-being and God’s will
are above all, as Christ says (Matth. 10:37): “Anyone who loves
father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me.”

However, if the sisters do allow you to leave, or at least let
you freely read and hear the Word of God, then you must remain
within and join them in their works, such as spinning cooking
and the such, even though you have no confidence in it.

The second reason is the flesh: Though womenfolk are ashamed to
admit to this, nevertheless Scripture and experience show that
among many thousands there is not a one to whom God has given to
remain in pure chastity. A woman has no control over herself.
God has made her body to be with man, to bear children and to
raise them as the words of Genesis 1:1 clearly state, as is
evident by the members of the body ordered by God Himself.
Therefore food and drink, sleep and wakefulness have all been
created by God. Thus He has also ordered man and woman to be in
marital union. Suffice it to say that no one needs to be ashamed
over how God has made and created him, not having been given the
high, rare mercy to do otherwise.  All this you will amply learn
and read and hear proper sermons about when you come out. I have
abundantly dealt with these issues in the book about monastic
vows, avoiding men’s teachings, sermons about
married life, item) in the Postil proven and established as
true. If you read these, you will find enough instruction about
various things, be it confession or whatever.

It is too much to write about here and not al all necessary,
because I am convinced that you will leave the cloister, if one
or both of these reasons pertain to you as you have written.
Once there is freedom in choosing to join an order, anyone who
is so inclined can join. Just so the Counsel of Bern in
Switzerland has opened the most famous Cloister Kînigfelden, and
any maiden can freely leave, remain or move in, and they allow
her to take with her whatever she has brought in. May the Lord
bless you, and pray for me.

Written in Wittenberg,
the day of Sixti Martyris
(Aug. 6) 1524.

Martinus Luther

Hot on the heels of cloning the wolly mammoth there has been some murmurs around about the DNA samples that have been recovered from neanderthals. This raises some ethical concerns right off the bat. The Catholic church has already come out and said that they oppose human cloning. But there’s an issue with that. Some scientists classify neanderthal as a seperate species that died out. Other scientists say that neanderthal disappeared as our genomes merged. So is neanderthal human? Is it so close to being human that it counts as human? The Church does not oppose cloning of primates. Where does the line lie? Is it in conciousness? We don’t know that neanderthal has conciousness.

But let’s suppose for a moment that we actually DO clone a neanderthal. That will raise significant ethical concerns. No matter what, the clone will be all alone in the entire world with no family. One of a kind. Depending on the intelligence of it, this could be emotionally devastating.

And speaking of intelligence, this is another ethical problem. If it is as intelligent as a human, is it afforded human rights? (Imagine being in school and being teased as “ape boy”.) If it is as intelligent as an ape, do we treat it like an animal? And worse, if it not smart enough to be human, but sentient enough to be not considered an animal, how do we treat it? We can’t throw it in a zoo and experiment on it. We can’t put it in school like a human child. Do we throw it in a mental institution? Human experimentation is ethical as long as we have a consenting person of authority (such as the person themselves or a family member.) Who would be the legal guardian of such a creature if it were unable to make its own call? Along the lines of medical issues, how do we know that this creature will be able to cope with modern diseases?

I’m curious what the readers here think about this subject.

Video clips of the 2003 film “Luther” about Martin Luther and the Reformation. I have a wide variety of views listed here. I don’t agree with all of them, but I enjoy the diversity. And it interests me that 500 years later people are still so passionate about Martin Luther.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn8I_HttB20&NR=1

Martin Luther defends himself at the Diet of Worms:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5P7QkHCfaI

Diet of Worms – Different movie version – black and white:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0F1utKV46w

Martin Luther in Rome (2003 LUTHER movie:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiSCnZ4wSMov

German Trailer – 2003 Luther film:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qlPKU_3eTA

A video saying Martin Luther is the “devil”:
One of the first defenses is “Luther said the Catholic church sold indulgences. That’s not true, they gave FREE indulgences to people that donated to rebuild St. Peter’s”. I’m told this argument is still used today…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR0hCypT5-k

Video critical of Martin Luther:
Jesus Christ vs. Martin Luther – who will you follow?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM8U6bnt37U

2002 Documentary on Luther and the Reformation:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFqWnEpZvjs

Why the Protestant Reformation matters – Sermon

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otGfG5dDl7Y

Attack on Martin Luther from YouTube member:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH8V8iHFc9U

Catholic vs. Protestant (Apple Parody)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FI5nzGU844

Battle Hymn of the Reformation
“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiRpUtVByxU

Martin Luther vs. the Catholic Church – Part One

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMe2lExkrtQ

Martin Luther vs. the Catholic Church Part Two – Documentary w/film clips

Martin Luther vs. The Catholic Church – Part Three

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbLqMdcvNOg

The Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra from Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas present Mark Hayes’ arrangement of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” in their 10:35am service on February 24th, 2008.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRIp2nnlQuc

Martin Luther – Documentary Part One excerpt:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p01dS27bCQ

Luther documentary Part Two:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXLr_Rtv-es

Luther documentary Part Three:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY6hMVMtjPg

Documentary Part Four:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzUPp1BgWg8

Documentary Part Five:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29FiYa0A5tU

Documentary video Part Six:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i8u_KQvZkk

Martin Luther was not a saint. Here is
“Positive Atheism’s Big Scary List of Martin Luther Quotations”:
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/luther.htm

*****

This video is dedicated to Martin Luther who struggled a lifetime to understand more clearly a person’s relationship with God and to Luther’s insights which have been shared with us through these centuries..
“I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen”,answered Dr.Martin Luther.
Standing before the Holy Roman Emperor
and the princes of Germany, Martin Luther refused to give way. From the moment he had nailed his ninety five theses to the church door in Wittenberg, he had been a wanted man.His enemies accused him of heresy, his books were burned, and he was threatened with excommunication and death.
Dr.Roland Bainton was a leading specialist in Reformation history. The author of many books, he was Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School in the United States. His most famous book “Here I Stand” pictures the struggles, conflicts and achievements in Martin Luther’s life and gives a vivid and exciting portrait of the man who reshaped the face of Europe and turned the church of his time upside-down. Now Dr.Bainton tells that story in the German countryside WHERE LUTHER WALKED!

Where Luther Walked – Part One
With the author of Here I Stand:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HESj2k6iLMc

Where Luther Walked – Part Two:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uwE-pt-c0Iv

Where Luther walked – Part Three:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwBXy2sJGlA

Martin Luther does the Chicken Dance
Ok, maybe I’ve spent too much time on Youtube now!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_qtG90SpxM