Look back in the thread. I tried to explain it to him. I really did. :frown1:
"Der Mensch sind gut, nur die Leute sind schlecht!" That little ditty hangs on a wooden plaque in my bathroom!
My Russian Jewish boss in Phila. told me to close the door one day -- looked me in the eye and said to me with all sincerity, "I want you to know that you are a real Mensch -- and they're rare; very rare!" I took it as one of the highest compliments he could give me. And I was not aware of the "unter" Mensch. I've used the "handle" for a long time!
Apart from the almost 500 years since the Protestant Reformation and the Wiki article I fully read, which bent over backwards to say that modern Lutherans have denounced THIS aspect of Luther's writings (as well as his labeling the Pope the Anti-Christ!) -- the thread I started and the article I posted was meant to "simply" state that the more Mainstream Christians have a very differing view than the Fundamentalists when it comes to defending Capitalism in its more "cruel" forms of hoarding, gauging, greed and avarice!
The part of Ed Knudsen's preface to Luther's explanation of the 7th Commandment that caught my attention was:
"In fact, historic Protestant Christianity is so opposed to central teachings of capitalism that business today has sought to create a new form of Christianity, the religious right, that will support its views. The religious right, such as the television preachers, is a commercialized form of Christianity, which no longer, in fact, deserves to be called "Christian." The American religious right has moved so far away from the tradition of historic Protestantism of the Reformation that it can no longer be rightly called "Protestant." Religious right leaders and pastors no longer adhere to the law of God as understood in the seventh commandment as Luther discusses below. These pastors do not represent the sacred scriptures of Christian faith, the prophets of the Hebrew Bible or the preaching of the Kingdom of God of Jesus Christ, where riches are questioned and the poor are placed at the center of concern."
And finally let me state. Michele Bachmann herself is a Lutheran -- but of a particular "ilk." She comes from THE most Conservative large Lutheran tribe in the nation, "The Wisconsin Ev. Lutheran Synod." (You'll have to read a Wiki article on them to see some of their take on theology!) Most of us "other" 7 million of us wearing the Lutheran brand wouldn't agree with her stance on modern conservative Capitalism.
By the way -- thanks for your responses to this thread -- thought provoking and appreciated!