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Sunday, July 4, 2021

Thinking believers? (Der Lutheraner 1849)

      Sometimes a small item in Der Lutheraner caused me to just burst out laughing when I put the German text through the online translators.  That was the case when I translated a footnote that explained the actual situation regarding a certain Protestant Newspaper. The essayist Dr. Sihler had to explain for his readers what was behind this publication. From vol. 6, (Nov. 27, 1849), p. 52 footnote (emphasis is mine):
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*) These newspapers are written “for the instruction and edification of thinking-believing (i.e. rationalistic) Christians.” But “thinking believers” are those who do not, as the Bible believers do, place reason below but above the Bible; but these ‘thinking believers’ are people who think that they believe and believe that they think.”

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C. S. Lewis (image: Wikipedia)

     The name of C. S. Lewis immediately came to my mind as one who considered himself a leader for "thinking believers".  But as I stated previously, I came away confused in my return to my Christian faith when I turned to the writings of this scholar.  — Note well that Der Lutheraner did not eliminate thinking, a common charge by the enemies of Christianity, but only subordinates it to the authority of the Bible. And when one puts reason above the Bible, they are actually destroying it for themselves.

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