Posted on 03/17/2016 7:49:46 AM PDT by ebb tide
Rome has found a name for a new Square in the heart of the city, an open space in the middle of a leafy garden park in a choice area near the Coliseum: Martin Luther Square.
Almost 500 years after Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Cathedral of Wittenberg, Swabia (October 1517), and 494 years after the bull of excommunication issued by Pope Leo X ("Decet Romanum Pontificem", January 1521), the city of Rome has honored the man who sparked the Protestant Reformation, a movement premised on what Luther condemned in that very city, the headquarters of the Catholic Church.
The nameplate “Martin Luther – German Theologian (1483-1546)” is assigned to an area laden with history: nearby are Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea and the boulevard named after the Greek-Egyptian goddess Serapide. The square was officially inaugurated on Wednesday, September 16 of last year.
The decision came six years after an official request was advanced by the Union of Seventh Day Adventist Churches and the Union of the Lutheran Evangelical Churches in Italy.
While no official comment was issued by the Vatican, Lutheran circles have understandably been all abuzz. “I'm very pleased that our request has come true before the anniversary of the Reform in 2017,” said Pastor Heiner Bludau, senior pastor of the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Italy:
When we researched [in 2010] the meaning of Martin Luther's visit to Rome … we saw that his stay was clearly a part of the history of the Reformation and therefore of the history of Europe. So to dedicate a square in Rome to the great reformer is a highly symbolic and momentous step; in the light of world history it is a step that reflects the level reached by the process of European unification. On both counts I am extremely grateful.
The news, however, barely registered on the press radar, not only because Italy is grappling with engrossing social and economic troubles, but also because the revival of the memory and cult of Martin Luther has become almost normal fare now, both in secular and ecclesiastical circles.
In secular circles it has been powered in part by Germany's effort to unify the separate cultures which were shaped in the formerly partitioned East and West sides of the country, quietly renewing pride in a common national history so as to get over the country’s guilt complex for the World Wars and the Holocaust, so often mentioned in post-war German education.
The endeavor to get past the memories of the twentieth century, not to mention the economic morass inherited from East Germany in the 1990s, has been so successful that Germany today enjoys a hegemony over the European Union. (Germany trails only the U.S. and the U.K. on the “Elcano Global Presence Report 2015”.) This is the case not just from an economic point of view but also a renewed admiration for the country’s apparent efficiency, moral rigor and hard work.
The process can be illustrated by the success among children and families of the plastic toy Luthers recently marketed by Playmobil, which is the fastest-selling Playmobil figure in the company’s history. Related toy replicas have also been popular, including one of Wittenberg Cathedral, one of the castle of Warburg, and one of Luther’s wife, Katharina von Bora, the ex-Cistercian nun he married in 1525, which are sold as specially numbered collector's items.
Gemany's Catholic authorities also had a part in the revival and unprecedented universality of respect for the father of Protestant Christianity. In January 2015, the Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx—President of the German Bishops’ Conference and coordinator of Pope Francis's Board of Economic Advisors—summed up Martin Luther’s long march through the institutions of ecumenism in Politik & Kultur: “Now having completed fifty years of dialogue, a Catholic Christian, too, may respectfully read the texts penned by Luther and benefit from his ideas.” The same acceptance has been variously expressed by Cardinal Walter Kasper, German Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, and Fr. Hans Kung. In his 2008 publication “Night-time Conversations in Jerusalem”, written in German, Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini praised Luther as having somehow inspired the changes that came after Vatican Council II, thereby effectively recasting as the greatest of reformers he who had previously been seen as the prototypical excommunicated heretic.
Last November, Pope Francis caused a stir when, in the words of Vatican reporter Edward Pentin, he appeared “to suggest that a Lutheran wife of a Catholic husband could receive holy Communion based on the fact that she is baptized and in accordance with her conscience.” Pentin reported a month later that Pastor Jens Kruse of Rome’s Evangelical Lutheran Church “said he believes Pope Francis ‘opened the door’ to intercommunion when the Holy Father spoke to his church last month, and that his parishioners generally have the same opinion.” When asked if he interpreted the Pope’s remarks as “allowing Lutherans to receive holy Communion, leaving it up to their conscience?”, Kruse replied in the affirmative:
The Pope said that’s a question each person has to decide for himself. I think it’s typical for Pope Francis to open doors, and now we, as churches, have the duty to find ways to fill this open door with more of a life of ecumenism, of unity. The image of an open door is, I think, a very good one because we are in front of this door at this moment and now we have to find ways to go through this open door.
Following the November 2015 event, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, told Aleteia.org, “Intercommunion is not permitted between Catholics and non-Catholics. You must confess the Catholic Faith. A non-Catholic cannot receive Communion. That is very, very clear. It’s not a matter of following your conscience.” In order to receive Holy Communion, Cardinal Sarah emphasized, “I need to be in the state of grace, without sin, and have the faith of the Catholic Church. … It’s not a personal desire or a personal dialogue with Jesus that determines if I can receive Communion in the Catholic Church.”
Prior to his pontficate, Josef Cardinal Ratzinger invited the faithful to reflect “very seriously” on Luther's message and “save the great things in his theology”. But he did so without blurring the lines that define the radical change that Luther brought about in “the relationship between the Church and the individual, between the Church and the Bible”, which to this day prevents Catholics and Protestants from sharing “the certainty that recognizes in the Church a common conscience which is greater than private intelligence and interpretations”.
On his trip to Germany, less than a year and a half before abdicating, Pope Benedict XVI stopped at Erfurt, where Luther studied theology and celebrated his first Mass. In the talk given on that occasion, Benedict dwelled on the importance attributed by Luther to the issue of sin, a particularly significant facet of Luther’s teaching in the light of the current emphasis on mercy that often seems to downplay the reality of sin and the real possibility of judgment. Benedict stated:
“How do I receive the grace of God?” The fact that this question was the driving force of his whole life never ceases to make a deep impression on me. For who is actually concerned about this today – even among Christians? What does the question of God mean in our lives? In our preaching? Most people today, even Christians, set out from the presupposition that God is not fundamentally interested in our sins and virtues. He knows that we are all mere flesh. And insofar as people believe in an afterlife and a divine judgement at all, nearly everyone presumes for all practical purposes that God is bound to be magnanimous and that ultimately he mercifully overlooks our small failings. The question no longer troubles us.
In January, it was announced that Francis plans to travel to Sweden in October of this year “for a joint ecumenical commemoration of the start of the Reformation, together with leaders of the Lutheran World Federation and representatives of other Christian Churches.” The event will be the start of events marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation; it will also “highlight the important ecumenical developments that have taken place during the past 50 years of dialogue between Catholics and Lutherans.”
I hope, however, that the warmth to Luther’s ideas will not go even further and fashion the formerly excommunicated heretic into a hero and a saint, whitewashing history until even actual events lose all meaning. For the former Augustinian monk was as much a man of the flesh and of turbulent spirits as Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503), whose sins we are in no danger of being allowed to forget.
If there is a reciprocal owning up of mistakes all around, on the part of the Protestants this might include, for example, a formal disowning of Luther's most virulent invectives, such as the ones against the Jews, contained in Luther’s 1543 book On the Jews and Their Lies, and the ones in his “Admonition to Peace”. In the latter, with regard to “The Twelve Articles of the Christian Union of Upper Swabia” (April 1525), Luther pleaded with the German nobility to suppress all the “murderous and thieving hordes of peasants” in the following terms:
What reason be there for leniency with the peasants? If there be any innocents among them, God will know how to best defend and rescue them. If God doesn't rescue them, then that means they are criminals. I think it's best for God to kill farmers rather than princes and judges, as the peasants have no Divine authority on which to base their wielding of the sword. No mercy, no patience towards the peasants, only wrath and indignation, from God and from man. This moment is so exceptional that a prince can earn heaven through bloodshed. Therefore, dear gentlemen, go ahead and exterminate, slay, strangle, and may whoever has power, use it.
Ironically, it was reported that at the September 2015 event in Rome, Michael Kretschmer, representative of the Bundestag (the national Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany), “remembered the sensitivity of the father of the Reformation for the last (of the world). ‘If he were here today, he would tell us to take care of the poor,’ he said.” Meanwhile, the mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino, stated: “Today gesture means that Rome has to respect every religion and faith. It is easier to smash an atom than a prejudice, Einstein said. And here we have broken some prejudices.” By all means, let’s welcome the ridding of wrong prejudices, but let’s not reject a prejudice for the truth.
That’s not an answer to his question.
It’s a dismissal based on opinion.
He can speak and quite well. If you choose to not accept what is said, that is your prerogative, but it certainly isn’t because he’s not being clear.
It’s only heresy to an organization that needs to justify its existence.
They, for obvious reasons, don’t want people to think or know that they can go directly to Christ without any intermediaries.
We can go right to Christ Himself. We don’t need middlemen to get us to Jesus. He came to seek and save the lost, not to condemn them. He, Himself, calls men to Himself.
Since He’s the one who died for each and every one of us, we have to, as individuals, come directly to Him for our salvation. That’s exactly what happened while He was here on earth in His physical body.
And now that His Spirit is freely given to us, it’s through His Spirit that we come to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the one who draws us and enlightens us and works in us to will and to do according to HIS good pleasure.
Perhaps he has no ears to hear ...
Which is why when He says that all we need to do is to believe to be saved, we believe it.
And that is why my salvation is secure in Him.
John 3:3-8 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
And you as of yet, have not proved that the Catholic church is the one of which He spoke. It's only being claimed retroactively by the Catholic church.
Sorry, but you cannot do one without the other.
Got bad news for you....you can.
The disciples, Paul, Mary, James His brother and His other brothers, Cornelius, the people at Antioch, the woman at the well, Nicodemus and countless others became Christians long, long before Roman Catholicism's false teachings came into play.
Jesus says come, follow Me....not come, follow a church.
A follower of Christ comes to Him through faith. Faith that the one time sacrifice He made on the cross is more than sufficient to forgive ALL of our sins.
The follower of Christ is secure in their salvation based on the promises of Jesus Himself and what He imparted through the Holy Spirit to Paul on what he wrote in Ephesians 1:13-14.
There is no other way to Christ but through faith in Him.
40“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40
Do you believe that through faith in Him your sins are forgiven and that you have eternal life?
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40
It is looking more and more like the deepest heresy at the heart of the religion of catholiciism is this conflating the institution of rigor, with the actual body of believers who Jesus is still building. Every one of the many heresies and blasphemies in catholiciism appears to have its roots in that first great deception upon their minds.
>> Jesus says come, follow Me....not come, follow a church.<<
What a joke, coming from somone who believes in sola scriptura.
1
Matthew 16:18
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
2
Matthew 18:17
And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.
3
Acts Of Apostles 5:11
And there came great fear upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things.
4
Acts Of Apostles 7:38
This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on mount Sina, and with our fathers; who received the words of life to give unto us.
5
Acts Of Apostles 8:1
And at that time there was raised a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all dispersed through the countries of Judea, and Samaria, except the apostles.
6
Acts Of Apostles 8:3
But Saul made havock of the church, entering in from house to house, and dragging away men and women, committed them to prison.
7
Acts Of Apostles 9:31
Now the church had peace throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria; and was edified, walking in the fear of the Lord, and was filled with the consolation of the Holy Ghost.
8
Acts Of Apostles 11:22
And the tidings came to the ears of the church that was at Jerusalem, touching these things: and they sent Barnabas as far as Antioch.
9
Acts Of Apostles 11:26
And they conversed there in the church a whole year; and they taught a great multitude, so that at Antioch the disciples were first named Christians.
10
Acts Of Apostles 12:1
And at the same time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands, to afflict some of the church.
11
Acts Of Apostles 12:5
Peter therefore was kept in prison. But prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him.
12
Acts Of Apostles 13:1
Now there were in the church which was at Antioch, prophets and doctors, among whom was Barnabas, and Simon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manahen, who was the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
13
Acts Of Apostles 14:22
And when they had ordained to them priests in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, in whom they believed.
14
Acts Of Apostles 14:26
And when they were come, and had assembled the church, they related what great things God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
15
Acts Of Apostles 15:3
They therefore being brought on their way by the church, passed through Phenice, and Samaria, relating the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren.
16
Acts Of Apostles 15:4
And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church, and by the apostles and ancients, declaring how great things God had done with them.
17
Acts Of Apostles 15:22
Then it pleased the apostles and ancients, with the whole church, to choose men of their own company, and to send to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas, who was surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren.
18
Acts Of Apostles 18:22
And going down to Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem, and saluted the church, and so came down to Antioch.
19
Acts Of Apostles 20:17
And sending from Miletus to Ephesus, he called the ancients of the church.
20
Acts Of Apostles 20:28
Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
21
Romans 16:1
And I commend to you Phebe, our sister, who is in the ministry of the church, that is in Cenchrae:
22
Romans 16:5
And the church which is in their house. Salute Epenetus, my beloved: who is the firstfruits of Asia in Christ.
23
Romans 16:23
Caius, my host, and the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, saluteth you, and Quartus, a brother.
24
1 Corinthians 1:2
To the church of God that is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in every place of theirs and ours.
25
1 Corinthians 4:17
For this cause have I sent to you Timothy, who is my dearest son and faithful in the Lord; who will put you in mind of my ways, which are in Christ Jesus; as I teach everywhere in every church.
26
1 Corinthians 6:4
If therefore you have judgments of things pertaining to this world, set them to judge, who are the most despised in the church.
27
1 Corinthians 10:32
Be without offence to the Jews, and to the Gentiles, and to the church of God:
28
1 Corinthians 11:16
But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the church of God.
29
1 Corinthians 11:18
For first of all I hear that when you come together in the church, there are schisms among you; and in part I believe it.
30
1 Corinthians 11:22
What, have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God; and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? Do I praise you? In this I praise you not.
31
1 Corinthians 12:28
And God indeed hath set some in the church; first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly doctors; after that miracles; then the graces of healing, helps, governments, kinds of tongues, interpretations of speeches.
32
1 Corinthians 14:4
He that speaketh in a tongue, edifieth himself: but he that prophesieth, edifieth the church.
33
1 Corinthians 14:5
And I would have you all to speak with tongues, but rather to prophesy. For greater is he that prophesieth, than he that speaketh with tongues: unless perhaps he interpret, that the church may receive edification.
34
1 Corinthians 14:12
So you also, forasmuch as you are zealous of spirits, seek to abound unto the edifying of the church.
35
1 Corinthians 14:19
But in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may instruct others also; than ten thousand words in a tongue.
36
1 Corinthians 14:23
If therefore the whole church come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in unlearned persons or infidels, will they not say that you are mad?
37
1 Corinthians 14:28
But if there be no interpreter, let him hold his peace in the church, and speak to himself and to God.
38
1 Corinthians 14:35
But if they would learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church.
39
1 Corinthians 15:9
For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
40
1 Corinthians 16:19
The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house, with whom I also lodge.
41
2 Corinthians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother: to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in all Achaia:
42
Galatians 1:13
For you have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion: how that, beyond measure, I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.
43
Ephesians 1:22
And he hath subjected all things under his feet, and hath made him head over all the church,
44
Ephesians 3:10
That the manifold wisdom of God may be made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places through the church,
45
Ephesians 3:21
To him be glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus unto all generations, world without end. Amen.
46
Ephesians 5:23
Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. He is the saviour of his body.
47
Ephesians 5:24
Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things.
48
Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it:
49
Ephesians 5:27
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish.
50
Ephesians 5:29
For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the church:
And right on schedule, one of them proves the point, unable to differentiate the institutional org from the spiritual Ekklesia. Amazing that!
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.See what the message is to those who believe, not the cross will help you on judgment day maybe, but, you were dead but you have been made alive, past tense, you have been forgiven, past tense, the ordinances that condemned us, taken out of the way, past tense. It is finished. Past. Tense.
(Colossians 2:13-15)
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.No "maybe" in that.
(John 6:35)
Please see my post #247 to ealgeone and the immediate next post illustrating the point of #247. It is amazing!
ekklēsía(from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2564 /kaléō, "to call") – properly, people called out from the world and to God, the outcome being the Church (the mystical body of Christ) – i.e. the universal (total) body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom.
The church is the body of believers....those who follow Christ.
If anyone thinks just joining a "church" saves them they are not a follower of Christ.
Being Roman Catholic does not save you.
Being Methodist does not save you.
Being Southern Baptist does not save you.
Being Lutheran does not save you.
Being Presbyterian does not save you.
Being any "insert denomination here" does not save you.
It is only through faith in Christ.
If anyone thinks praying to Mary and hoping she intervenes for their salvation is not a Christian.
If anyone believes in any other way to Heaven than apart from Christ...they are not a Christian.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
Jesus is being very emphatic in this statement. The Greek John recorded this statement in tells us this.
There is no other way to be a Christian than to follow Christ. Nobody else.
He is the only One to have died for our sins.
It is only His shed blood that cleanses, wipes clean, our sins.
He is the One who promises He will come back for us.
There is no other way. John records the words of Jesus on this topic.
35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
36“But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.
37“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.
38“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
40“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:35-40
http://biblehub.com/text/1_corinthians/10-4.htm
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock (petra) that followed them, and the Rock (petra) was Christ.
I threw myself on the mercy of the court, so to speak, and received that mercy.
Just like the tax collector who went away justified.
Catholics don’t understand the concept of being dead to sin.
Galatians would be a good book for them to read. It’s as if the Holy Spirit put it in Scripture to specifically address the arguments Catholics use.
Excellent, as usual.
And what certain defenders of Rome do not objectively consider or make known along with the invectives of Luther is that of RC attitude and treatment of Jews, while the so-called evangelical followers of Luther are the strongest advocates for Jews and the state of Israel, today among those called Christian, while Rome seems to heavily favor Muslims, and were quite reluctant to recognize and affirm the state of Israel.
841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."330
Hey SR!
Great to see you around the forums. Haven’t seen you in a while. I hope you are well friend.
ampu
Her hatred of the Church she has apostatized from.
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