October 31st is Reformation Sunday! What is it????
It is what YOU are as a Protestant Christian believers. Before October 31st, 1517----everyone was a Catholic!!!!!!
Reformation Sunday honors Martin Luther's bold action on October 31st, 1517. On that date Luther posted his statement of faith, known as the 95 Theses, on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, thus beginning the Protestant Reformation. That in effect began the Protestant Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All Across Europe, in 1517, the Roman Catholic Church was engaged in one of the greatest fundraisers in all of history.
If a person – out of contrition for their sins and as a sign of repentance – made a financial gift to help with the building Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, then the church would furnish that person with a certificate acknowledging that gift and promising that they or their loved ones would be freed from a portion of the misery expected in the afterlife.
In short, the church at that time taught that even those bound for heaven had to be cleansed of their earthly sins and this cleansing (purging) in the afterlife took place in a place called Purgatory. The certificates offered by the church (called “Indulgences”) promised to lessen this time of cleansing for oneself or others who have already died.
Now then.........November 1st was an important day for the selling and buying of these indulgences, known as All Saints Day on the church’s calendar....or as we know it today = HALLOWEEN!
The day before, on October 31st, a German Monk named Martin Luther posted a list of 95 Theses – 95 reasons that he objected to this practice of selling indulgences. Along with other writings by Martin Luther, those 95 Reasons went viral. The Gutenberg Press had just been invented and this was one of its 1st productions.
Luther insisted that we are not forgiven because of anything we do – including the buying of Indulgences or doing enough good work. Instead, we are forgiven because of who God is. We are loved and forgiven because God is full of grace and mercy and He gives us "what we do not deserve"!
Martin Luther actually read and believed Galatians 2:16 and based his thesis on this statement by God..........
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
His teachings and writings got Martin Luther kicked out of the church. But he didn’t go alone. Others agreed with him, and after his death those who agreed with Luther became known as Lutherans and also as Protestants.
Every Protestant church traces their roots back to this moment in history.
As Paul Harvy used to say.............."And that is the rest of the story"!
It is what YOU are as a Protestant Christian believers. Before October 31st, 1517----everyone was a Catholic!!!!!!
Reformation Sunday honors Martin Luther's bold action on October 31st, 1517. On that date Luther posted his statement of faith, known as the 95 Theses, on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, thus beginning the Protestant Reformation. That in effect began the Protestant Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All Across Europe, in 1517, the Roman Catholic Church was engaged in one of the greatest fundraisers in all of history.
If a person – out of contrition for their sins and as a sign of repentance – made a financial gift to help with the building Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, then the church would furnish that person with a certificate acknowledging that gift and promising that they or their loved ones would be freed from a portion of the misery expected in the afterlife.
In short, the church at that time taught that even those bound for heaven had to be cleansed of their earthly sins and this cleansing (purging) in the afterlife took place in a place called Purgatory. The certificates offered by the church (called “Indulgences”) promised to lessen this time of cleansing for oneself or others who have already died.
Now then.........November 1st was an important day for the selling and buying of these indulgences, known as All Saints Day on the church’s calendar....or as we know it today = HALLOWEEN!
The day before, on October 31st, a German Monk named Martin Luther posted a list of 95 Theses – 95 reasons that he objected to this practice of selling indulgences. Along with other writings by Martin Luther, those 95 Reasons went viral. The Gutenberg Press had just been invented and this was one of its 1st productions.
Luther insisted that we are not forgiven because of anything we do – including the buying of Indulgences or doing enough good work. Instead, we are forgiven because of who God is. We are loved and forgiven because God is full of grace and mercy and He gives us "what we do not deserve"!
Martin Luther actually read and believed Galatians 2:16 and based his thesis on this statement by God..........
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
His teachings and writings got Martin Luther kicked out of the church. But he didn’t go alone. Others agreed with him, and after his death those who agreed with Luther became known as Lutherans and also as Protestants.
Every Protestant church traces their roots back to this moment in history.
As Paul Harvy used to say.............."And that is the rest of the story"!