Luther's 95 Theses
Posted on 06/08/2014 1:59:17 PM PDT by matthewrobertolson
In 2017, we will witness the 500th anniversary of one of the most important, influential and regrettable events in Church history: the Protestant Reformation, or the Protestant Rebellion, as some prefer to call it. Indeed, the latter term would suit me better, too. But, being German, I am used to the former expression and should I ever refer to said event as die protestantische Rebellion, people would think me some sort of radical. On that thought, perhaps it is worth noting that rebels are often quite radical themselves, which is one thing we can definitely say of the so-called "Reformers". To mark this anniversary, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has planned a number of events, beginning with a "Lutheran Decade" from 2008 to 2017. Each year has it’s own theme in the form of "The Reformation and…", i.e. Education, Freedom, Music, Tolerance, Politics and others.
The decade will culminate in the celebratory year of 2017, to which the President of the Evangelical "Church" in Germany (EKD), Nikolaus Schneider, has even invited Pope Francis. But, really, how likely is it His Holiness will hop on a plane and join in the celebration of someone his predecessor excommunicated? One might ask, is there any room for Catholics to take part in some sort of event? This is the question that is circulating in the mother country of the Reformation: Germany. The Most Reverend Gerhard Feige, Bishop of Magdeburg, is the Bishops' Conference's representative for ecumenical affairs. He has dedicated a lot of thought and time to the question how Catholics should view this event.
It begins with the name: Do we call it an anniversary, something that could imply happiness, or a commemoration of an event that has wrought such great damage upon the Body of Christ, His holy Bride, the Catholic Church? The German bishops have chosen the latter term. There is still confusion on the whole thing, though: The EKD is not being very clear on what exactly they want to celebrate. One hears catchy words such as "diversity", "conscience", and the like stuck onto the Reformation in their talk, but never do we hear of heresy, schism or even the antisemitism of Luther and his ilk. Indeed, who in his right mind would celebrate the chaos and harm inflicted on the Church by the so-called "Reformers"? Not even the Protestants organizing the event dare to say thus. Yet, one gets the impression that the whole event is not actually interested in critically evaluating the past, or their theology for that matter, but rather praising it as the dawn of an era of "tolerance" and "liberty".
Could this be any further from the truth? Professor Heinz Schilling of Berlin, a member of the advisory board for the anniversary, stated in an interview that Luther was "everything but tolerant" and criticized the EKD as "quite understandably not interested in any of the research’s findings". He went even further and said that the organizers made themselves appear "laughable among scholars" by claiming what they do. Margot Käßmann, who is the anniversary’s ambassador and a former Lutheran "bishop", once claimed that it was thanks to Luther that her sect had female "bishops". The professor criticizes this as yet another inaccuracy and something that Luther certainly did not envision. Is it any wonder, then, that the EKD has not come out clearly and said what the entire occasion is about for them, as the bishops have repeatedly bewailed, if even their own board members see through their catchy slogans?
What about us Catholics? Is there any way in which we can join our separated brethren in their commemoration? I argue: no. Some will disagree, but to me, the Reformation is intrinsically connected to fracture in the Body of Christ, heresy and the resulting total chaos. I could never join any such "commemoration", even if one doesn't call it an "anniversary" for the sake of appeasing Catholics. When have we ever "commemorated" the schism of 1054, or any heresy, for that matter? I believe we would do great harm to the effort of achieving Christian unity by taking part in any way. It obscures the borders between Catholicism and Protestantism, confuses people, and may even cause scandal.
The aforementioned Margot Käßmann suggested the following kind of participation of Catholics and Protestants: Each group could begin a pilgrimage on their own route, and reach one common destination. She would also like the program to achieve that all people learn "that 31 October is Reformation Day and not Halloween", to which Bishop Feige of Magdeburg replied "and the eve of All Saints". But the problem I see with Käßmann’s proposal is this: Although the idea might seem nice, it suggests that Protestantism and Catholicism are somehow equals. They most definitely are not. And certainly not according to Luther himself! Catholics know that their Church is the Church Christ the Lord founded on St. Peter, and Protestantism's very name already suggests otherwise. The Reformers made that point very clear. From a Catholic point of view, a heretical movement that splits the Church cannot be of equal worth as the One True Faith. Just think how we would have fought Arianism if such had been our position! This is not to say that Protestants aren't Christians, of course, but we must realize that Protestantism is not what our Lord willed us to have or believe: Catholicism is. Thus, two equal pilgrimages reaching one destination à la Käßmann would cause scandal and confusion. I assume she does not want it to symbolize the way we might some day find unity, but rather the common destination means Christ. But that is precisely the point: The Catholic Church is the ark of salvation, the Body and Bride of Christ, and She alone has "the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). She is Christ in this world apart from Whom "no one comes to the Father" (John 14:6). Protestantism has distorted those words of eternal life fundamentally, and thus cannot be on equal footing with Holy Mother Church. If Christ is "the Way, the Truth and the Life" apart from Whom there is no salvation, then so is the Catholic Church, for She is His Body (Ephesians 1:22-23, Colossians 1:24).
Thus, let me emphasize again: Celebrating the Reformation, or even commemorating it with Protestants, will blur the sharp line between the One True Church and those communities that came from the Protestant Reformation. It will scandalize and, actually, almost certainly make Christian unity harder to achieve. For in pretending Protestantism is somehow equally valid or of the same dignity as Catholicism, we take away the very reason for Christian unity: to be united in the one Church that our Lord left us, founded on Peter in the person of the Roman Pontiff.
Therefore, I hope the German bishops decide not to participate – however unlikely that is. It remains to be seen whether the ecumenical progress in achieving unity hoped for will come about. Let us pray, that 2017 will bring to many people's attention the Truth of Catholicism and the scandal that the separation of Christians is, fostering in them the desire for unity with Christ in His Bride, which is Holy Church.
Luther's 95 Theses
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As I repeat -- you as a mother do not create your children or originate them, but you bear them, the gifts of the creator. In the same way, Mary bore Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God.
There is no point discussing the divinity of Jesus Christ, Lord and GOD with those who believe that he was just a prophet. Kindly leave this post to us Christians whether Protestant or Catholic or Orthodox.
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.
Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.
Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.
(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)
Jesus Christ was not a man who was born of Mary and then possessed or absorbed by the Holy Spirit (adoptionism). Mary did not bear some hollow husk that was later animated by the Holy Spirit. The entity she bore was GOD and yet was also man. She was the mother, the bearer of both.
As I keep repeating, just as our mothers are not our creators, so too Mary is not.
I think you probably don't understand me because you may continue to believe the Roman Catholic church is the only "true" church. I'm not unaware of the semantics game some Roman Catholics play when they are talking about "the one holy catholic apostolic church" (note lower case). It becomes necessary to define terms first before any agreement can be made over the point. For example, if you asked Iraeneus back in 125 A.D. to describe the faith he held, he would probably have used words like "catholic" and "apostolic". Catholic meaning "of the whole" or "universal" and apostolic meaning began by an actual Apostle of Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the laying on of hands, ordaining leaders to guide the local assembly of the believers in that area. The basic rule of faith that was held by these believers can ALL be found clearly taught in the Bible. Any Apostolic succession that happened was one of the passing on of that rule of faith tradition and not simply a title or position of authority. The authority and power was found in the gospel as it was written down under Divine inspiration for all believers after the only apostles were gone.
Two thousand years later, certain people have developed an elitist group that they call the "One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" (note the capitals), based in Rome and assert IT is the one the Apostles established back in that first century and nobody can be saved unless they are also members of this specific church, submit to its one global leader and follow all the rules they have declared are mandatory. They claim "they" have the fullness of the faith and every church outside is not a "true" church even though many of these other churches believe the EXACT same things that first century church did. This was NOT how the New Testament churches operated for the first three or four hundred years. It's only been in the last century that Rome has made overtures to other churches such as the Orthodox and Anglican to "rejoin" the communion of Rome, but prior to that, these "separated" churches were condemned as apostate and heretical.
You want me to "take a stab" at identifying which of the thousands out there are "bona fide" churches but you only want those that match the model of the Roman Catholic church (RCC) - which you have asserted is THE church Jesus established. I reject your whole premise of the RCC being the "model" in the first place. What we SHOULD be looking at is which churches match the New Testament model - which IS what Christ established upon Himself as the cornerstone. Since we have both "wheat and tares" growing together among all the assemblies of Christians - it should be fairly obvious that it CAN'T be one, single denomination that contains ONLY wheat. Instead, we have to look at what is preached and taught within those assemblies to know whether or not they are following the model of the NT church. The way we can know that is to look at their statements of faith, their creeds and how closely they follow the Scriptural model within the members of the congregations. What we will arrive at is a good idea of whether or not any single church is a "bona fide" representation of a New Testament church and, if it is, the greater likelihood that it will contain more wheat than tares.
I don't know how to explain it any better than that. If you are looking for me to tell you the Southern Baptist Church is THE one holy catholic apostolic church, then I won't, but neither is the Roman Catholic church. I do believe the Sountern Baptist church is a bona fide church because I know what they teach is the Christian faith. Christ's body WILL contain only the redeemed children of God - there won't be ANY weeds or goats among them. This holy, spotless, bride of Christ is already in union with Christ. It is HIS spiritual temple of which EACH and EVERY believer is a living stone. THAT is what God's word tells us.
Hold on there...are you saying that there are a whole bunch of "souls" sitting around somewhere waiting to be sent to a human body? When God created Adam, He breathed into him and Adam became a living soul. There have been deep theological arguments about when a soul actually begins or at what stage a human life "gets" its soul, but the idea that there is a finite "container" of souls waiting to become human life sounds like something Mormonism teaches. Of course our mothers didn't "create" our souls, but our souls wouldn't have existed until our bodies were conceived.
In the argument about Mary, I don't think you can compare our existence with that of the Son of God. Jesus certainly ALWAYS existed, He never had a beginning, therefore, when He was incarnated, took on human flesh, it was His HUMANITY that had a beginning, not His divinity. We, on the other hand, did not preexist our mothers. But Jesus did. The reason people object to the title, "Mother of God", is NOT because they reject the divine nature of Jesus, nor do they disrespect Mary, it is because that title has caused misunderstanding as to Mary's very nature and purpose as well as spawning a cult of Mary that misdirects the glory that belongs to Christ, alone.
True, but I think the point of contention is whether Mary should be elevated to a special status when the scripture strongly indicates that she didn't even believe in him as the savior - at the time that he was in the flesh at least.
Perhaps Cronos could point to the Scripture that supports the Mormonic belief that our souls pre-exist our bodies and are awaiting bodies to inhabit.
Taught by whom ? Which of the thousands of denominations, sects, and cults has an unbroken chain of teaching this "basic rule of faith" ?
Any Apostolic succession that happened was one of the passing on of that rule of faith tradition and not simply a title or position of authority. The authority and power was found in the gospel as it was written down under Divine inspiration for all believers after the only apostles were gone.
So you say, and many fell into the trap of thinking themselves Apostles, that everything written in the Scriptures was written to them personally because of the use of second person pronouns. Silly women imagining themselves Apostles, etc. yet the LORD Jesus told Peter in the presence of the other Apostles And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The problem with the Southern Baptist Convention or any of the baptist conventions, associations, fellowships, alliances, and churches is history. Where is the unbroken chain of legitimacy that they have since adopted ? Can you even form a baptist church except you start it from another church ? Certainly the Independent Fundamental Baptists believe you must have an authentic church to birth another authentic church. Do Southern Baptists hold to that ? Even Westboro Baptist Church (an Independent, Fundamental Baptist Church which adheres to the Baptists creeds was started under the auspices of another Baptist church). Baptists may have great churches but are they really authentic holy catholic apostolic churches ? If they are, how can the others be as new denominations, sects, and unfortunately cults (can we say Bill Gothard here?) are springing up all the time and forming something new; even the Mormons, a bona fide American frontier new religion has established itself by protesting not only the RCC, but the Protestants to boot; and they have their own historical fantasy all written down; the Baptist model seems to have surrendered any historicity of an unbroken chain of apostolic witness in a holy catholic apostolic church that prevailed against the gates of hell. It starts in the first century and then disappears until when ? 1700s ?
I realize how difficult it would be for you to change your convictions after everything you have invested otherwise. I don't expect you to do that. I don't even think the RCC expects you to do that. You should not expect the RCC to deny itself; it truly believes it is the only unbroken chain from the Apostles, excepting the other Orthodox churches that split off in the Great Schism, or something to that effect.
I am glad you agree Christ is the only Redeemer.
If one compares the catechism with the Bible there are many things in the catechism that are non-Biblical.
The catechism certainly does appear to take Mary to another level. There is nothing in the Bible about her praying for our salvation, intervening for us, Queen of Heaven, etc. That's all man-made conjecture.
Stick with the reading of the Word. Ditch the catechism.
This 'unbroken chain' thing is so-cliche'...And it is really meaningless...
If a group of people tomorrow start a church and call it Podunk Corners Faith Church it is just as legitimate as any and every church ever started, as long as it teaches the truth of the scriptures...
I'm sure they do.
Problem is, it doesn't mean they're right.
The body of Christ is an organism, not an organization. It's comprised of all believers throughout time and space who are born again from above. They can affiliate with any local assembly they choose and it does not affect their salvation because salvation is through a person, not an organization.
God knows the heart and knows who are truly his, in spite of whatever denominational label they attach to themselves.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
Oh, noes! You might make their heads explode with that kind of logic!
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6)
I am no Mormon, but I think we are all being recycled through this Earth age on account of what happened in the first Earth age. Quite a few scriptures seem to support this. Not meaning to step on your toes here.
Sorry, to your second point, that is equally incorrect -- these are in line with teachings. And it does not go in line that this is conjecture, otherwise one would agree with say the Ethiopian Church that Apocalypse should have been added.
Stick with the Word, Jesus Christ, not just part of this
For references to mormon’s “books” or any other beliefs on adoptionism, I would turn to you metmom
Yet note that as a bearer of God, she was elevated by Him to a special status. As to whether she did or didn’t, there is inadequate evidence
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