Reformation Day While we, in the United States, observe October 31st as Halloween, it is also a very important day in Christianity. On October 31, 1517, at midday, Martin Luther posted his ninety-five Theses against the Merits of Indulgences on the church door at Wittenberg. If you would like to read the translated version (original was in Latin), you can find them here: iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html . That day was the birthday of the Reformation. You can also read more about the Reformation at newadvent.org/cathen/12700b.htm What is the reformation? The Protestant Reformation was the schism within Western Christianity initiated by John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other early Protestants. The protests against the corruption emanating from the popes sale of reprieves from penance, or indulgences in Rome began with Martin Luther. Historians usually date the start of the Protestant Reformation to the 1517 publication of Martin Luthers 95 Theses on October 31. Its ending can be placed anywhere from the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, which allowed for the coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany, to the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years War. The key ideas of the Reformation were a call to purify the church and a belief that the Bible, not tradition, should be the sole source of spiritual authority—these were not themselves new ideas. But, Martin Luther and the other reformers became the first to use the power of the printing press to give their ideas a wide audience. While today we have the luxury of not only the ability to read but also the luxury of being able to readily acquire an abundance of reading materials, in the 16th century very few people, except the wealthy and powerful (such as political and religious leaders) could read. Not to mention that until the invention of the printing press, reading materials were scarce and expensive. Information was primarily shared by word of mouth and largely by the church (which was being used as a tool by the feudal lords and kings to control the population). During this time the church was quite corrupt and was largely a puppet of Rome and the political leaders of the time. The organized church had lost its focus – from the love of God in Christ and the Bible to taking money from the poor, telling them that by giving their money, they would be buying forgiveness and salvation. The church was then using the money to stuff the pockets of leaders and to build ostentatious structures for the church, all while the laypeople were starving and dying of disease. In 1517, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, saw what was happening around him and was terribly troubled. He wrote and posted on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg the “Ninety-Five Theses on the Power of Indulgences”, what has commonly become known as The Ninety-Five Theses. The contents of his post challenged the current teaching of the Church on penance and indulgences, questioning as well the authority of the pope and the corruption of the church. Reaction from the church to Luthers Theses was immediate and strong, leading to his excommunication from the Roman Church and the eventual birth of the Protestant Reformation. Mind you that his posting also triggered wars, persecutions and the so-called Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Churchs delayed but forceful response to the Protestants. This split in the church caused deep and lasting political changes in the world. Northern Europes new religious and political freedoms came at a great cost, with decades of rebellions, wars and bloody persecutions. The Thirty Years War alone may have cost Germany 40 percent of its population. While these were costly sacrifices, positive things also evolved. The Reformation also triggered an era of spiritual enlightenment as well as the intellectual and cultural flourishing on all sides of the split—in the strengthening of the universities of Europe, the Lutheran church music of J.S. Bach, the baroque altarpieces of Pieter Paul Rubens and even the capitalism of Dutch Calvinist merchants and the reduction of the corruption within the church at the time to name a few. And now, nearly 500 years later, we still see chasms in the Christian church. We see denominations fighting among one another, we see politicians pitting church against church and church against government and generally using the church to further their political gains. In addition to that, we see a new player in the distraction of the masses - the “War on Terrorism”. In my opinion, the ability of the media to effectively use “terrorism” as a tool to incite fear is in and of itself terrorism. This tells me that there is a much larger problem. I don’t believe that fear and faith can exist together since faith exterminates fear. So, the fact that the media is able to incite fear tells me that faith is waning. The best weapon against fear is faith. We need to be strengthening our faith and the best way to do this is to keep out eyes on God and follow Jesus’ example. After all, the Roman and Jewish leaders saw Jesus and His followers as terrorists. And, using the media of that time (the church), launched a campaign of fear and doubt which led to our Lord’s death. His death and the way it occurred should be enough to cause us to be on our guard and “Put on all of Gods armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11 NLT). We need to spend less time in the world (the media) and more time in the Word (the Bible). Curtis
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 11:36:22 +0000
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