Luther

I have had the movie Luther (2003) for a long time but only recently watched it. (I’m sure Netflix considers me an ideal customer.) It is a movie that makes you think. I noticed that the people in the movie were trapped in the established doctrines of the age. I am familiar enough with Luther's work to know he was trapped too. In particular the superstition of the age was well represented. Luther's early internal religious life was portrayed as well as a movie could, and it was not pretty. But from my reading Luther outgrew this. While the movie said and showed he outgrew it, his later internal life was not well portrayed, but to be fair, I cannot see how this could easily be done. 

As an aside, the representation of Andreas Karlstadt as a revolutionary did not seem to represent the Karlstadt I know from reading his work on the day of rest. He was more radical than Luther, but opposed the Peasants Revolt. The movie implied he was a revolutionary. This is far from the truth. In his book on the day of rest he has a big emphasis on servant's obligation Andreas Karlstadt in the Movieto serve their masters even on the day of rest.  In the Ten Commandments the Sabbath command of rest is actually directed to employers/masters and their obligation to provide rest to their property and servants. If Karlstadt had been the radical the movie portrayed, this would have been a major emphasis in his book. It was not. 

The church at the time of Luther was corrupted by false superstition and greed. Luther preached against the corruption. As he said at his trial, "Here I stand, I can do no other."

While each of us is also trapped in Babylon, we can rise up and leave it in our hearts. We may not be able to rise up against the system, but each of us can, in our own way, leave it behind. 

We too are trapped by the superstitions and corruption of our age. Can we rise above the myths of our age? The first step is to think about it. I suggest that you watch the movie and think.