Quotes from Martin Luther on Parenting
“My mother caned me for stealing a nut until the blood came. Such strict discipline drove me to a monastery although she meant it well.” Martin Luther
“My father once whipped me so that I ran away and felt ugly toward him until he was at pains to win me back.” Martin Luther
“[At school] I was caned in a single morning fifteen times for nothing at all. I was required to decline and conjugate and hadn’t learned my lessons.” Martin Luther
“Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason… , takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, ‘Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores… ?’” Martin Luther
“What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? O how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labor, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight…” Martin Luther
“God, with all his angels and creatures is smiling–not because the father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith.” Martin Luther
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