So tell me about this dream you had....
Posted on 11/01/2012 8:58:12 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Tomorrow we have our choice -- we can go with Reformation Sunday or All Saints Day. We can sing "For All the Saints" or "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Being that I pastor neither a Lutheran nor a Presbyterian Church, and thus my connections as a Disciple to the Reformation of the 16th century are more derivative than direct, and perhaps because my sermon tomorrow has to do with the Worship of God, we'll take the All Saints Day route. But, instead of For All the Saints, we'll be singing Holy, Holy, Holy.
But, it would be appropriate to note that it was on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther launched the Reformation of the 16th century by publishing his "95 Theses," inviting a debate on matters of reform within the Catholic Church, with special attention given to indulgences and purgatory. It's only later that he is evicted from that church and helps found a new community of faith.
One principal of the Reformation that would be appropriate to remember today is the one that goes by the tune of "Reformata et Semper Reformanda" -- "Reformed and Always Reforming." And such should be our motto, especially the latter part of the statement -- for we should always be seeking to reform our practice of the faith, as we listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Reformers understood well that reform was an ongoing effort and not once for all!
It still defends it because the theology of indulgence is sound, notwithstanding the abuses and the objections of such eminent scholars as Alex Murphy.
And whether Luther earned his cowl I know not, but I do know that he made a vow to God and then broke it.
I guess if you call, e.g., Bible reading, praying with your family, or going to church "labor," then your comment makes sense.
I was under the impression that most Christians regarded things like that as a privilege in which they were delighted to partake, not as "labor". Is being in the presence of God and telling him you love him "work," in your world?
The Catholic church today, defends the practices of the buying of indulgences let alone the sale as they operated in Luther's time?
How did something spiritual — an indulgence is after all a remittance of temporal punishment due to sin — come to be "sold"? The theory was that monetary offerings could count as a form of penance, when the donor truly gave sacrificially from his heart, with the proper motive. Unfortunately, the practice easily degenerated into "buying" remittance of punishment for sin. Worst yet, "selling" of indulgences got linked to a misapplication of the principle of praying for the dead in purgatory. Catholic teaching was that one could offer one's penitential acts to God through Christ as a sort of "petition" on behalf of those who had died and were being purified in purgatory.
Catholiceducation.org would seem to disagree, but there is always this 'out':
Not all articles published on CERC are the objects of official Church teaching, but these are supplied to provide supplementary information.
"Those darned Catholics, always something going on."
Of course you do if you are honest. As for breaking his vow to God, when 'God's organization' came gunning for him it seems that the vow he took in that org might be void. At any rate, that sin has been forgiven.
If a family member or good friend had a 'Divorce' party, would you attend?
I wouldn't ...
No. Not the *buying* of indulgences. The *gaining* of indulgences. I've gained a few partial indulgences myself. Didn't pay for a single one of them.
Here's one, from the inside cover of my Bible:
"An Indulgence of 3 years is granted to all the faithful who read the Holy Scriptures at least a quarter of an hour with the veneration due to the Divine Word and as spiritual reading."Ooooohhhhh!!!! Horrors!!!
So what's with the 3 years bit? In the early Church, there used to be very severe penances. They would take years to complete. So eventually the Church started substituting good works instead: prayers, almsgiving, pilgrimages, etc. The 3 years means that if you do this thing (in this case read the Bible with veneration), it is the equivalent of doing 3 years of severe penance. And the Church has the authority to mete out penance by nature of its power of binding and loosing.
The Catholiceducation.org article you posted was correct. The money was never supposed to be a purchase but a giving of alms--e.g. to the poor. That was abused and easily misunderstood, so the Church put a stop to that. But the doctrine still held and holds today.
I was about to make a similar point, but you did it better. Well done.
I think there were a few years to that process. Again it wasn't after the 95 theses went up and the Church said "wait, this luther is right."
No I wouldn't, if the guy's ex tried to have him killed and failed, I would hoist a few celebratory beers with him.
But I'm not celebrating a broken vow, I do celebrate the true exposition of the Scriptures, Law and Gospel. Thanks be to God for Martin Luther.
... because no Protestant state ever came to power and 'killed' and 'failed' people either ...
Yes, it took years and years to clean out the filth in the stable. The Counter Reformation that we all learned about. And there's still plenty of filth in the stable today, as everyone knows and the current Pope has said.
Luther was right about many things. Not everything. But many things. And I fully admit that the sins of Catholics helped push him to where he eventually went.
"We freely acknowledge that God has allowed this chastisement to come upon His Church because of the sins of men and especially because of the sins of priests and prelates . . . We know well that for many years much that must be regarded with horror has come to pass in this Holy See: abuses in spiritual matters, transgressions against the Commandments; indeed, that everything has been gravely perverted" (quoted in K. Adam, One and Holy, p. 97).
I am not going down that road. In fact, as far as the prelate's statement goes, I agree with him. The fact is that Luther's life was in danger because of the actions of a Pope in Rome, nobody made the pope do it. Later further actions by the Catholic Church in this area proves Luther was right.
I'm more than happy to remain with the doctrines set forth in the Lutheran Confessions.
That is quote an admission Claud, thanks for the honesty.
Note to Alex: I had a weird dream last night about some person I think was you, though how would I know, since I have no idea what you look like? Do you have black hair? No, it was nothing disturbing or salacious. More of an Ambien theme, vague. :o|
So tell me about this dream you had....
It's like this. There was this house. I think it was my house but it didn't look like an particular house I ever lived in. It was either a long time ago, or sometime in the future. There were people there. The feeling was, like "meh".
Or, contrariwise, "hem".
Then whole thing kinda evaporated.
My most cordial greetings to Mrs. Reformanda, and any possible Reformandettes.
The circumspect Mrs. Don-o on Ambien.
Shipping and Handling $7.99
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**Did you know that you can still buy indulgences today? **
Wrong!!!
Where do you get all this erroneous information — a pamplet perhaps? A Catholic hater, perhaps?
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