What is this thing We call Humanity?

I just read a nice blog post by one of my friends about the hypocrisy of care givers who abort unborn infants. This is is terrible problem that is occurring in many "civilized" nations. And, in many ways, it goes much deeper than the murder of unborn children. Certainly that is awful, but it is only the symptom of a much deeper problem.

This deeper problem is this: What does it mean to be human? This question has led to the deaths of millions upon millions of people in the 20th century.

Now, for most of the philosophers since Aristotle, rationality has been the hallmark of humanity. Even Luther says that "it is certainly true that reason is the most important and the highest in rank among all things and, in comparison with other things of this life, the best and something divine" (Vol. 34, 137-139). But defining humanity by rationality has its limitations. The unborn, the very young child, the person stricken with Alzheimer's are all people that could not be included in this definition of humanity.

I think that Luther has a good solution. Thesis 35 and 36 are very good: ". Therefore, man in this life is the simple material of God for the form of his future life." And again, "Just as the whole creation which is now subject to vanity [Rom. 8:20] is for God the material for its future glorious form."
If you get a chance, read his "disputation on Man," from Vol. 34 of the American Edition of Luther's Works.

Doesn't Christendom Get You Down?

Last week I was in Buxtehude, visiting some long lost relatives (our common ancestor lived in the 1770's). They were very nice people, and allowed me to stay with them. They took me around to many different sites in Hamburg, and around Hamburg.

Neither one of these people are regular church going people. The Husband is not baptized and is not a member of the state church. The wife is a member of the state church, and goes on Christmas and confirmation. The reason that the wife is a member is interesting: "It is part of our heritage and our history."

This is what Christendom (as opposed to Christianity) is devolving into. There is no real faith or conviction. It is the mentality, "We do it because our parents do it and we are expected to do it." This same mentality is creeping up on the American churches. This "cultural" Christianity chokes out faith, suppresses the pure proclamation of the Word, and turns the rites of the Church into a "religious" baby shower (Baptism), or into a coming of age milestone (confirmation).