The State Church

I’m sure when the State Church of Norway began, their intentions were good.  Unfortunately, they got their start from “Holy Ole,” the Viking king that found God on a raid down in England.  Ole was brutal though and “introduced” Christianity to Norway by killing all those who wouldn’t give up their pagan ways.  History says he didn’t exactly give up his Viking ways, though, since he often used horrific measures to make his point.  Burning at the stake, slicing off heads, or putting poisonous snakes down the throats of those who wouldn’t convert, was the norm.  He was determined, but unfortunately, mislead, in what it means to be a follower of Christ.

When the Viking days came to an end, the State Church began.  Our modern day Lutherans came out of the State Churches of Scandinavia.

The Viking kings used to own all the land in Norway, but then the Church got it all.  For nearly a thousand years, Norwegians bought their land and paid their taxes to the Church.  The State Church was the government of Norway.  Even today, the King of Norway is the head of the State Church, but they also now have a Prime Minister that runs the political side of things.

The Church has dictated what a person can do and when they can do it for centuries.  The meaning of Christianity got lost in there somewhere, as the Church devised more and more of it’s own laws and forgot the only important ones from God – to love and to forgive. 

In the late 1800s, some radicals formed the Free Church.  They wanted to be free from all the legalism and dictated rules and just follow what the Bible says.  It was scandalous.  It broke families apart and created quite the stir throughout the land.  Then in the early 1900s the Pentecostal movement arrived and that was even worse.  It was considered devil worship.  My own father-in-law lost his inheritance when he joined the Pentecostal Church, because he dared to believe there was life-changing power in the Trinity.  His parents disowned him because of it.

For the most part, the State Church today is watered down, routine, and boring.   Mandatory church attendance is no more, so very few Norwegians attend any church at all.  Some priests in the State Church don’t even call themselves Christians.  It’s just a job, paid for by tax dollars. 

We lived next to a State Church, and from what I could tell, their greatest function is to perform funerals – sometimes three a day.  I think it’s rather fitting, since the Church itself, sadly, seems to be rather dead.