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Martin Luther was a ‘teacher of the faith’, say [Catholic] German bishops
Catholic Herald ^ | August 12, 2016 | Jonathan Luxmoore

Posted on 08/12/2016 3:59:59 PM PDT by ebb tide

Germany’s Catholic bishops have praised Martin Luther as a “Gospel witness and teacher of the faith” and called for closer ties with Protestants.

In a 206-page report, “The Reformation in Ecumenical Perspective”, Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, chairman of the German bishops’ ecumenical commission, said the “history of the Reformation has encountered a changeable reception in the Catholic Church, where its events and protagonists were long seen in a negative, derogatory light”.

“While the wounds are still felt to the present day, it is gratifying that Catholic theology has succeeded, in the meantime, in soberly reconsidering the events of the 16th century,” he said in the report, published this week by Germany’s Bonn-based bishops’ conference.

Bishop Feige said the “history and consequences” of the Reformation would be debated during its upcoming 500th anniversary, but added that there was consensus that previous mutual condemnations were invalid.

“Memories of the Reformation and the subsequent separation of Western Christianity are not free from pain,” Bishop Feige said. “But through lengthy ecumenical dialogue, the theological differences rooted in the period have been re-evaluated – as is documented in the work presented by our ecumenical commission.”

Martin Lazar, the Magdeburg diocesan spokesman, told Catholic News Service on Wednesday that the Reformation still caused tensions in Germany, especially “in religiously separated families.”

The bishops’ report said the “Catholic Church may recognise today what was important in the Reformation – namely, that Sacred Scripture is the centre and standard for all Christian life.

“Connected with this is Martin Luther’s fundamental insight that God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ for the salvation of the people is proclaimed in the Gospel – that Jesus Christ is the centre of Scripture and the only mediator.”

The Reformation is traditionally dated from the October 1517 publication of Luther’s 95 Theses, questioning the sale of indulgences and the Gospel foundations of papal authority.

Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X in January 1521 and outlawed by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

The German bishops describe Luther as “a religious pathfinder, Gospel witness and teacher of the faith,” whose “concern for renewal in repentance and conversion” had not received an “adequate hearing” in Rome.

They said the reformer’s work still posed a “theological and spiritual challenge” and had “ecclesial and political implications for understanding the Church and the Magisterium.”

The report said a joint Catholic-Lutheran statement in 1980 commemorating the Augsburg Confession, which set out the new Lutheran faith, had been crucial in bringing churches closer, while another ecumenical statement in 1983, on the 500th anniversary of Luther’s birth, had started an “intensive engagement” with the reformer’s work.

A historic 1999 joint declaration on the doctrine of justification was a “milestone in ecumenical dialogue,” the report said, by recognising that remaining differences should “no longer have a church-dividing effect.”

The bishops’ report includes June 2015 conciliatory letters between the German bishops’ conference president, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, and Lutheran Bishop Heinrich Strohm, president of the Evangelical Church of Germany, outlining plans for a 2017 ecumenical pilgrimage to the Holy Land and a Lent service devoted to “healing memories.”

In an interview with CNS, the ecumenical commission’s deputy chairman, Bishop Heinz Algermissen of Fulda, said Catholic-Lutheran ties had improved since the Second Vatican Council, but that churches must work for “visible unity, not just reconciled diversity.”

“This means not only praying together, but meeting the challenge of speaking with one voice as Christians when we are all challenged by aggressive atheism and secularism, as well as by [radicalised] Islam. Otherwise we will lose more and more ground,” he said.

“In commemorating the Reformation, we cannot just see it as a jubilee, but should also admit our guilt for past errors and repent on both sides for the past 500 years,” he added.

Catholics make up 29 per cent of Germany’s 82 million inhabitants, with the Evangelical Church of Germany accounting for 27 per cent, although all denominations have faced declining membership.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Mainline Protestant
KEYWORDS: ecumania; francischurch; heresy; luther
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To: ealgeone
[5] His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye. John Chapter 2.

More cherry-picking on the protestants part? Did not the waiters fulfill the Blessed Mother's command? And did not Jesus work His first miracle, even though He had just said, "[4] Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come."

121 posted on 08/13/2016 11:09:50 AM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide

... But the Brown Scapular you claim to wear is an idol.


122 posted on 08/13/2016 11:10:54 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Only in your opinion.

Catholics don’t believe in false gods, such as Luther or Mohammed. I’ve noticed several prots have posted pictures of their hero, Luther, on this thread; but none have posted an image of Jesus Christ. I think I know who their “god” is.

I’m tagging out for awhile now to pray a rosary for the heretics.


123 posted on 08/13/2016 11:21:40 AM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: rwa265
The statement you posted was answered earlier: This as you can see refers to the virginity of Mary as it relates to Christ’s birth, not going forward. Matt 1:25.

LCMS does not doctrinally teach Mary was 'ever virgin'. Mary's virginity was only of consequence as a virgin conceiving and bearing the Son of God IAW with the prophetic words of scripture. Scripture is silent on Mary's sex life after Christ's birth, but as a faithful woman the assumption can be made she was also a faithful wife to her husband Joseph. In any case, Christ is the center of scripture and the only source of salvation as the only mediator between God and man, the only One with the Father and the Holy Spirit worthy to receive worship and praise. Any other inference is in error.

124 posted on 08/13/2016 11:39:13 AM PDT by xone
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To: ealgeone
Belief in the scapular for your salvation is idolatry.

But it is lighter than a golden calf.

125 posted on 08/13/2016 11:41:55 AM PDT by xone
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To: ebb tide
Only in your opinion.

Catholics don’t believe in false gods, such as Luther or Mohammed. I’ve noticed several prots have posted pictures of their hero, Luther, on this thread; but none have posted an image of Jesus Christ. I think I know who their “god” is.

I think you missed that this thread topic is about Luther!

I’m tagging out for awhile now to pray a rosary for the heretics.

Any prayers for idolaters wearing the fake brown scapular or praying to anyone else other than God?

Idolatrous trinkets from China do not save, bro.

https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/scapulars.html


126 posted on 08/13/2016 12:18:49 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
“The custom of holding a crucifix before a dying person has kept many in the Christian faith and has enabled them to die with a confident faith in the crucified Christ.”

Luther's works, vol. 22 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1-4

127 posted on 08/13/2016 12:27:42 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide
“The custom of holding a crucifix before a dying person has kept many in the Christian faith and has enabled them to die with a confident faith in the crucified Christ.” - Luther's works, vol. 22 : Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1-4

Wow! Thank you for providing evidence that even a man God used, like Blessed Father Luther, can be wrong at times. Again, once you stray from the scriptures, you accept less than God has for all who entrust themselves to Him alone.

Good post.

128 posted on 08/13/2016 12:36:55 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Again, cherry-picking.

Everybody is wrong except for you! What a convenient armchair “religion” you enjoy!


129 posted on 08/13/2016 12:42:13 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide; aMorePerfectUnion; Elsie
Catholics don’t believe in false gods, such as Luther or Mohammed. I’ve noticed several prots have posted pictures of their hero, Luther, on this thread; but none have posted an image of Jesus Christ. I think I know who their “god” is.

Except for the scapular you're relying upon to keep you out of the eternal fire.

130 posted on 08/13/2016 12:46:53 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
Any prayers for idolaters wearing the fake brown scapular or praying to anyone else other than God?

None for heretics in a state of mortal sin to pray. But thanks for the offer.

131 posted on 08/13/2016 12:50:11 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
Again, once you stray from the scriptures, you accept less than God has for all who entrust themselves to Him alone.

Luther not only strayed from scriptures, he edited "scriptures" to his own heretical and physically lustful whims: sin, and sin boldly.

132 posted on 08/13/2016 12:54:57 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide
Everybody is wrong except for you!

Fact. Everyone is wrong, who does not teach what God inspired in the Scriptures.

I submit to the Word of God.

You will note that crucifixes are never mentioned. They have no powers.

Nor are brown scapulars, produced in China by Buddhists/atheists, preprinted with statements that contradict the Scripture.

Bro, if you're depending on the second hand word of someone who saw a ghost, who said you needed a Chinese scapular, I have a suggestion for you:

1. Trust Christ entirely for salvation and throw aside all your beads and hexagrams and have eternal life.
2. If you reject #1, buy an asbestos suit - you'll need it.
3. If you reject #1, buy a pallet of sunscreen from the Chinese guy too! Eternity lasts a long time.

If you don't choose #1, it's on you bro.

133 posted on 08/13/2016 12:59:43 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Your “facts” are nonsense.


134 posted on 08/13/2016 1:01:22 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

I reject all three of your “choices”. None are viable for my salvation. And to equate a rosary with a hexagram is pure evilness.


135 posted on 08/13/2016 1:06:29 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide
Your “facts” are nonsense.

So, you reject the inspired Scriptures as authoritative???

Typically, I only see people do this when they want to depend on something outside the authority of God's Word - like idols of all kinds - or scapulars, or beads, or candles, or works.

Again, on you bro.

136 posted on 08/13/2016 1:10:04 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: ebb tide
I reject all three of your “choices”. None are viable for my salvation.

It amazes me anyone would reject the amazing gift of grace of Christ's death and prefer their own attempted merit and chinese trinkets. Again, on you bro. I just wish better for you.

137 posted on 08/13/2016 1:11:06 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion

Don’t ask me. It was Martin Luther and other protestants who have excised, edited and rejected scripture to their own desires.

Sin, and sin boldly!!!


138 posted on 08/13/2016 1:19:06 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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To: ebb tide
Don’t ask me.

Don't think I'm asking you anything. I do suggest that instead of seeking your own merit, you accept the grace of God in Christ and have eternal life and assurance of salvation - as the Scripture teaches.

Cast away the chinese amulets and cast yourself on Him alone.

139 posted on 08/13/2016 1:22:14 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
How to pray the Lutheran rosary

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

140 posted on 08/13/2016 1:29:26 PM PDT by ebb tide (We have a rogue curia in Rome.)
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