"laestadian, apostolic, gay, lgbtq, ex-oalc, ex-llc, llc, oalc, bunner" LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: Lars Levi Laestadius' Sermons Online

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Lars Levi Laestadius' Sermons Online

Theoforos originally pointed out this site back in 2006 on the Merry Christmas Everyone thread, but I think it got lost in the holiday cheer. ;-)

Anyway, I recently bumped into this site again, and thought it was worth posting in case you missed it the first time. It's a comprehensive collection of Laestadius' sermons in Finnish, English, Swedish, and Sami.

http://www.laestadiustexter.se

Welcome to Internet-adress www.laestadiustexter.se. On these pages You will find both original manuscripts, old copies and printed books, preliminary translations and other texts. It is allowed to freely use and share all this material.

It is allowable to copy any part of the books by means of the PC printer and photo copier for education and other kind of purposes. All kind of commercial use of the texts on these pages is prohibited.

You can download the files into your PC and read them by means of Your Web browser or Acrobat Reader.


Growing up in the ALC, I knew about Laestadius but never heard or read any of his sermons. I've since learned that Laestaduius' sermons play a much more central role in some of the other branches of Laestadianism, such as OALC, where they are frequently read from the pulpit.

20 comments:

  1. If you click on my Nick, it will take you to an, in my opinion, very beautiful song/pslam often sung on laestadian services. Sentimental84 ha posted it.

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  2. The one you now can hear by cliking on my Nick is also beautiful. It’s sung by laestadian youths at Jämsän kristillinen kansanopisto.

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  3. As Tomte wrote, laestadianism is a movement in the old pietistic tradition.

    There are also other pietistic movements in Europe, but they are small compared to laestadianism. In Finland there is another pietistic movement called Herättäjät and claim to be closer to original pietism than laestadians.

    They also try differentiate themselves from laestadians in various ways, of which one is that they don’t allow tents.

    They mock laestadians by saying, that if you cannot thrust God that much that he will give good weather when you gather in his name, you shouldn’t be in the business. So they insist in not having tents on their services.

    You can see it on the video, which is attached to my Nick.

    Laestadians has found it good to safeguard with tents on their services, and LLC has a new tent they used first time on this summers services.

    The pietists (herättäjät) are more a traditionalist movement, and not so much about living faith, as laestadianism.

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  4. This evening we had services in the old Lutheran Church in city. The church was almost full. The church is built in the 1700’th century. You can see a picture from inside of it by clicking on my Nick.

    The preacher was from Sweden and spoke a lot about sin. Not that the people outside of the church are sinners, but particularly these inside and about our sins.

    He is a teacher, so he told that a Christian colleague use to question the point of telling the youth they are sinners. He said he agreed, and told him it would be terrible if we leaved it that way.

    But all old psalms and songs we sung had the same message, so that’s what the people who built the church also believed.

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  5. Quote: "The pietists (herättäjät) are more a traditionalist movement, and not so much about living faith, as laestadianism."

    I have to tell you that a living faith is not what is connected wit the OALC... NOt in the public eye here anyway, and not in mine.
    (I am aware of the different types of laestadian movements so I figure it can be different other places)
    Kind greetings from Miss S.

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  6. Laestadians has generally a different view on living faith than many other Christians. Even thought jumping and having noise traditionally has been a part of laestadianism, and to some degree is still, this is not what laestadians mean with living faith.

    What laestadians mean with living faith is that you really believe you are a sinner and that Jesus is your savior.

    Many other Christians has Jesus only as their friend they pray to etc. but laestadians emphasize the role of Jesus as a personal savior from sin, which also mean you have to be aware you are a sinner, to be in living faith in laestadianism.

    That’s why almost all traditional laestadian (and Lutheran for that matter) songs, talks mostly about Gods majesty, mans sin, and thanks to Jesus for rescuing us from sin.

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  7. Link doesn't seem to work. It just opens one page..

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  8. The site uses frames. If you click on "english" it will open a new page, but the link address stays the same.

    A bit of a pain, but what can you do? ;-)

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  9. What laestadians mean with living faith is that you really believe you are a sinner and that Jesus is your savior.


    Yes i see but when it´s all about the sin, Always the sin, the sin and the sin... never about mercy or love. When i´ts only about that you dress properly and behave rightly. When you do your sinful things when no one sees it. Then I don´t call that a living faith.

    But of course I do belive many OALC members belive in Jesus Christ for real. But sometimes I wonder why they would consider me a sinner because I have short hair... What about my faith?

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    1. Everyone is a sinner, your faith is what you must question yourself! The OALC believe that the cutting of one's hair is a act of vanity, a pleasure to one's flesh! OALC is the one true doctrine, I know from my experience.

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    2. Living faith is this, that the promises of grace are felt in the heart, not repeated in the skull. For thought is merely empty concepts without any corresponding feelings, hence the term dead, because feeling is living ect. God in the bible in numerous places says that he looks to the heart, not the intellect, a sorrowful repentant and downcast soul is the one who god considers awake, and christ, dying upon the cross uplifted that poor spirit, for blessed are the poor in spirit. We must have self knowledge in order to comprehend our wretchedness, and with the equilibrium of the sword of the spirit, the law and the gospel, so sin is preached to ever be exceedingly sinfull, and warnings on were sin lies in wait for us, is why we hear warnings on tv dress music technology ect, we want to be in the right watchingplace also when we hear sin sin sin, we also hear Christ Christ christ, for what use is it to only preach the law and not the gospel and the gospel and not the law? We need both for it is written in the last book "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev 14:12 but I cannot coach you to understand living Christianity for it relies on the heart and not the skull,

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  10. In my opinion, it's quite ambiguous what Laestadians really mean by "living faith". To me it seems like the main idea behind it is that all others have "dead faith" while only one particular Laestadian faction has "living faith". That's what it is in the OALC, anyway. If you ask them what the difference between "living faith" and the "dead daith" is, it becomes more difficult to get an answer. It doesn't really matter what "living faith" is because the only thing that matters is that all others have "dead faith" and only the OALC has "living faith".

    But if they come up with an answer (i.e. if you meet a person who really knows what his religion is about), I think the most common answer would be that you have to receive the "living faith" from a person who also has "living faith". (Actually quite similar to the "apostolic succession" in priestly ordinations in the traditional churchers, except that the traditional churches can proived proof of an unbroken lineage of bishops up to the apostles while the Laestadians can't prove an unbroken lineage of "living faith Christians up to the time of the apostles.) Some people may also add that in addition to having received the "living faith" through a person who also has "living faith", you also have to have experienced the right "order of grace". The right "order of grace" is often said to be found in the Beautitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, i.e. first spiritual humility, hunger and repentence, then receiving the faith through a "Christian", and then living a life of sanctification according to the teachings of the OALC.

    The concept of "living faith" and "dead faith" as such is not un-Biblical and not alien to traditional Christianity. The Bible says that "faith without works is dead" (James 2). So there must be something that is "dead faith" and something that is "living faith", but it might not be quite the same as what the Laestadians mean by those terms.

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    1. Living faith is felt and perceived through the heart, not understood by the intellect, or the organ of the intellect, the brain, feelings of sorrow over one's sin is felt in the heart with anguish, but also the joy of sins forgiven by Christ's proclamation through his mediums, is felt in the heart, these are signs of grace, which indicate that the fruits of faith are felt, I have met no other outside the living Christianity that has had these fruits, and abided in them, to restrain from sin for sin is dead because of christ. Doctrine is and has always been ONE, for Christ didn't come to establish 15 doctrines or 500 doctrines but one, and it is hidden from the wise and the prudent, examine yourSELF. It's self knowledge we want to have, know thyself.

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    2. "I have met no other outside the living Christianity that has had these fruits, and abided in them".

      Nor have I, but I suspect my definition of living Christianity might go just a little beyond yours. What would you define living Christianity as?

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  11. "proived proof" should be "provide proof"

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  12. 'Pia Desideria' is a good study of why pietism came to be, by the father of the movement Philip Jacob Spener. It addresses the living faith vs dead faith issue well. Johan Arndt and Johan Gerhard are also good sources.

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  13. Thank you Nora for your information about Philipp Jakob Spener and the pietistic roots.

    Much of what I can read about Spener applies to practical laestadianism.

    Regarding Hibernatus, you are of course right, but laestadians do trace their lineage of living faith down to the apostles.

    Laestadians believe Catholics use to be in living faith, and that living Christianity has been a part of catholic (or orthodox) church.

    There are actually members of the Orthodox Church, which are laestadians. You don’t have to be a Lutheran to be a laestadian. You can also be a catholic or orthodox church member.

    ALC equalients are a little bit looser in defining what is living faith, but the general teaching is that you cannot get your sins forgiven, if you don’t get it from someone who also believes own sins are forgiven.

    If a drunk on the street assures you your sins are forgiven, they are not really forgiven.

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  14. I still dont believe that I need to have another person tell me that my sins are forgiven in order to be forgiven, drunk or sober.

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  15. "I still dont believe that I need to have another person tell me that my sins are forgiven in order to be forgiven, drunk or sober."

    As far as I know the Bible is pretty clear on this subject.

    God has given the power to forgive sins to humans. God does not do this directly; there has always to be a human in between.

    See Joh 20:21-23

    This is also the doctrine in all traditional churches (Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran etc.)

    The idea that God can save a person thru prayer is unbiblical.

    Faith has always moved from person to person. Today’s technology with television ect, makes it a little more complicated, since the person forgiving your sins does not necessary has to be physically present.

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  16. I don't believe another person has to forgive my sins, either. I also don't believe that any 1 person or religion on this earth "knows" who is saved and who is not.

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