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One of the distinctions of Reformation and Lutheran Christian preaching that I have found life changing is the proper distinction of Law and Gospel. I don't have enough time or space here to do this proper justice, but this distinction has truly changed my view of life and given me hope rather than dread in my Christian life. The core of this doctrine is that God's Law (summarized in the Ten Commandments and expanded upon by Jesus) reveals our sin, it shows how we are desperately sinful people incapable of delivering ourselves through our own efforts at morality. A lot...

In honor of Reformation Day, here are some complaints I’m nailing on the Wittenberg door. Long before there was an Occupy Wall Street, Martin Luther staged the most important protest in history. He was upset because Roman Catholic officials were promising people forgiveness or early escape from purgatory in exchange for money. So on October 31, 1517, Luther nailed a long list of complaints on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. 1. Let’s reform our theology. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is God and He is holy. He is not an “it.”...

Death is the wages of sin (Rom 6:23) and Jesus Christ had none (Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5; 2 Cor 5:21). Death, therefore, had no rightful claim on Him thus Jesus died an unnatural death. This means that Jesus, the true remnant of Israel, alone fulfilled the covenant from our side, pleasing God. And all who are united to Him share in His distinction that death has no rightful claim on them (6:23b). So Jesus alone is our focus, our religion, our righteousness. Yet we still, as Christians often get caught up in our own spirituality. That...

Imagine that the Occupy Wall Street protest continued for years, during which time the community of protesters divided into different factions, each with different beliefs, different demands, and different leaders. But the protests continued for so long that the protesters eventually built makeshift shanties and lived in them, and had children. These children grew up in the protesting communities, and then they too had children, who also grew up in the same communities of protesters, still encamped in the Wall Street district. Over the course of these generations, however, these communities of protesters forgot what it was that they were...

Is the Reformation Over? by R.C. Sproul Is the Reformation over? There have been several observations rendered on this subject by those I would call “erstwhile evangelicals.” One of them wrote, “Luther was right in the sixteenth century, but the question of justification is not an issue now.” A second self-confessed evangelical made a comment in a press conference I attended that “the sixteenth-century Reformation debate over justification by faith alone was a tempest in a teapot.” Still another noted European theologian has argued in print that the doctrine of justification by faith alone is no longer a significant issue...

When I was ein younger man I studied canon law; though Erfurt was a challenge it was just to please my pa. Then came the storm, the lightning struck; I called upon Saint Anne: I shaved my head, I took my vows – an Augustinian. Refrain: Papal bulls, indulgences and transubstantiation: speak your mind against them and face excommunication. Nail your theses to the door, let’s start a reformation, papal bulls, indulgences and transubstantiation. When Tetzel came near Wittenberg, St Peter’s profits soared, so I wrote a little message for the All Saints’ bulletin board; ‘you cannot purchase merit for...

It was 494 years today that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. He wanted to debate the sale of indulgences with his fellow university professors. He wrote in Latin, but a nameless visionary translated the theses into German, carried them to the printing press, and enabled their dispersion far and wide. Luther ended up with more than he bargained for, but he proved to be no coward in defending the discoveries he was making in Scripture. When the Roman church wouldn’t serve him the treat of sufficiently addressing his concerns, he was consigned to...

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther tacked up 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg. With this act, he hoped to provoke a discussion among the scholars about the abuses of the indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church. He was not trying to create a public furor by any means, but within a fortnight, these theses had spread through the country like wildfire. The last thing Luther had in mind was to start some kind of major controversy, but nevertheless major controversy did begin. From the discussions at Wittenberg, the disputations began to accelerate and escalate. Copies of the...

“Fear God and Give Him the Glory!”: The Slogan of the Lutheran Church ReformationReformation Festival Sermon on Revelation 14:6-7 by C. F. W. Walther (1881) Translated by Joel Baseley. Abridged by Charles Henrickson.“Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth, all the earth is full of your glory.” This we cry out today, O Lord our God, along with the cherubim and seraphim. For today we remember the glorious work of the Reformation of the church, which you began and gloriously brought to completion in the sixteenth century. Your glory had been taken from the very midst of your church, the glory...

... We must remember that it is not we who anathematized Rome, but Rome that anathematized the gospel and thereby anathematized itself. The issue is not even really the condemnation of Protestants (those wounds are easy to heal) but the anathema against the gospel. The evangelicals who remain authentic witnesses to the gospel of grace alone through faith alone, therefore, are carrying on the Catholic faith. Just prior to the Council of Trent, there were many—including cardinals—who accepted the material principle (that is, the gospel) as the Reformation restated it. In fact, there was still much hope on both sides...

Last Friday, Rev. Robert Jeffress, the Dallas pastor who introduced Gov. Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit, spoke derisively about the Mormon faith of Mitt Romney, making the case that “Mormonism is a cult.” Two days later, he chided Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism as “false religions.” Last year, Rev. Jeffress said the Roman Catholic Church was the outgrowth of a “corruption” called the “Babylonian mystery.” He continued, “Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn’t come from God’s word. It comes from that cult-like pagan religion. Isn’t that the genius of Satan?” Catholic League president Bill...

Pope Benedict XVI has urged Catholics to read the Bible while on vacation, particularly the lesser known books of sacred scripture."This seems to be a good thing to do on the holidays: take a book of the Bible, so you have some relaxation and, at the same time, enter into the great expanse of ​​the Word of God and deepen our contact with the Eternal," said the Pope in his Wednesday General Audience address at his holiday residence of Castle Gandolfo, 15 miles south of Rome, Aug. 3. Pope Benedict noted how "each of us needs time and space...

Shortly after the Reformation began, in the first few years after Martin Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses on the church door at Wittenberg, he issued some short booklets on a variety of subjects. One of the most provocative was titled The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. In this book Luther was looking back to that period of Old Testament history when Jerusalem was destroyed by the invading armies of Babylon and the elite of the people were carried off into captivity. Luther in the sixteenth century took the image of the historic Babylonian captivity and reapplied it to his era...

Fellow Freepers: I had a thought. Is the solution to the war on terror the birth of a new Islamic sect? We have Sunni, Shia, and a number of minor sects. But perhaps Islam needs a new sect: one based upon shunning jihadist terror as a component of religious life and rejecting violence. In other words, maybe the world needs a truly moderate Islam. We've paid lip service to it through many presidencies, so where is it? And not simply an independent state's civil constitutional rights that aren't enforced (Lebanon, anyone?); but rather, where is the truly tolerant Islam? Why...

"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." Romans 3:28 "Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness." Romans 4:4-5 I was going through some of my old study notes today and came across this short article by Dr. R. C. Sproul. In reading it through again, I was reminded about the magnitude of the issue as it...

In the book of Judges we read about another generation which arose, which knew neither the Lord nor what He had done (Judges 2:10). Today, it appears that a generation has arisen, which like Israel under the Judges, knows little of either the Lord nor of what He did during the time of the Protestant exodus and the struggles in the wilderness, which followed in the 16th and 17th century. Sometimes this is from a cowardly dislike of controversy and confrontation. But few people seem to understand either the evils from which the Reformation delivered us or the blessings which...

There was once a great man who managed to upset the religious leaders of his day. They were screaming for his blood because he had both bypassed their own power structure, and had gained a large popular following. He had taught those under his influence that the traditions they had received were wrong, distortions of the Word, and called them to something far older, something far more biblical. And the world was being turned upside down. Those in authority accused the man of heresy, demanding that he cease and desist. And then, the most amazing thing happened. The history tells...

In Geneva, 450 years ago, a new version of the Bible in English began to come off the printing presses. For the first time, English-speaking people in the British Isles could purchase a Bible in their own tongue translated, in its entirety, directly from the original Hebrew and Greek – a notable milestone on the road begun by William Tyndale, who famously intended to make it possible for a ploughboy to know more of the Scripture than the learned man who claimed that it was better to be without God’s law than the Pope’s. Tyndale was to find it impossible...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Jan. 3, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty is joining forces with Refo500, a project that aims to bring international attention to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Leading up to the anniversary in 2017 of Martin Luther's posting of his "Ninety-Five Theses," Refo500 is engaging with a variety of partner organizations to promote the importance of the Reformation period and its relevance for today's world. "Refo500 has the potential to help Acton bring its message about the relationship between faith and freedom to a broad and diverse audience...

On January 3, 1521, Pope Leo X issues the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, which excommunicates Martin Luther from the Catholic Church. Martin Luther, the chief catalyst of Protestantism, was a professor of biblical interpretation at the University of Wittenberg in Germany when he drew up his 95 theses condemning the Catholic Church for its corrupt practice of selling indulgences, or the forgiveness of sins. He followed up the revolutionary work with equally controversial and groundbreaking theological works, and his fiery words set off religious reformers all across Europe. In January 1521, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther. Three months later,...

Geneva was a church-city-state of 15,000 people, and the church constitution now recognized "pastors, doctors, elders and deacons," but the supreme power was given to the magistrate, John Calvin. In November 1552, the Council declared Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion to be a "holy doctrine which no man might speak against." Thus the State issued dogmatic decrees, the force of which had been anticipated earlier, as when Jacques Gruet, a known opponent of Calvin, was arrested, tortured for a month and beheaded on July 26, 1547, for placing a letter in Calvin's pulpit calling him a hypocrite. Gruet's book...

Florida’s Republican Senator-elect and Tea Party heartthrob Marco Rubio is the youngest member of the senate, the GOP’s only Latino senator (he is Cuban-American), and a straight-talking Catholic who brings the same sense of conviction to his faith as he does to his politics. A flattering profile of him at Catholic Advocate last February was called, “Marco Rubio, A Catholic Candidate Who Will Not Compromise.�But now it turns out (I have a piece on it all at PoliticsDaily) that Rubio has been attending a Southern Baptist-affiliated megachurch near Miami for much of the past decade, a revelation that has...

In Christ Alone lyrics Songwriters: Getty, Julian Keith; Townend, Stuart Richard; In Christ alone my hope is found He is my light, my strength, my song This Cornerstone, this solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are stilled, when strivings cease My Comforter, my All in All Here in the love of Christ I stand In Christ alone, who took on flesh Fullness of God in helpless Babe This gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones He came to save ?Til on that cross as Jesus...

Louis Bouyer contends that the only way to safeguard the positive principles of the Reformation is through the Catholic Church. For only in the Catholic Church are the positive principles the Reformation affirmed found without the negative elements the Reformers mistakenly affixed to them.Interpreting the Reformation is complicated business. But like many complicated things, it can be simplified sufficiently well that even non-experts can get the gist of it.Interpreting the ReformationHere’s what seems a fairly accurate but simplified summary of the issue: The break between Catholics and Protestants was either a tragic necessity (to use Jaroslav Pelikan’s expression) or it...

Reformation Day is a religious holiday celebrated on October 31st or the last weekend in October in remembrance of the Reformation. Martin Luther posted a proposal at the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany to debate the doctrine and practice of indulgences. This proposal is popularly known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the Castle Church doors. This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices....

“Justification: It’s What Holds the Reformation Together” (Romans 3:19-28)Today is Reformation Day. It was on this day 493 years ago, on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, thus sparking the great Reformation of the Christian church. We are the heirs of that Reformation, blessed to be so, and so we join with Lutherans all around the globe today in celebrating that historic event and all the blessings of pure doctrine and sound practice that came from it. How do we celebrate the Reformation? By believing in and...

To celebrate Reformation Day let's post out favorite Hymns of the Reformation, and other eras, that give praise to God. Please guard our discussion so we can maintain the Caucus label.

Yesterday, a friend called me from Brussels, and he told me that Belgium is undergoing a huge sexual abuse scandal in their Catholic Church. Here is a news story on the scandal: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/belgium-priest-abuse-linked-to-suicides-20100911-155cp.html I am a Catholic, and I love my Church, and the failings of individual officials of the Church will not undermine the faith that a billion people have in the core message of Christ and his Church. I know that it is common for conservative Catholics to blame the sexual revolution of the 1960s, for the abuses in the Church. Unfortunately, sexual abuse of young boys in...

STONOR, England — For nearly three centuries after the Reformation, Catholics in England were outlaws.But in the turmoil and persecution that followed the break between King Henry VIII and Rome, noble families such as the Stonors clung to their faith, "in spite of dungeon, fire and sword," as the Victorian hymn "Faith of our Fathers" put it."We're just stubborn, really," says Ralph Thomas Campion Stonor, the seventh Lord Camoys, a title bestowed on an ancestor for valor in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.Pope Benedict XVI will recall the years of persecution during his upcoming tour of Britain Sept. 16-19....

....."Moral Corruption in the Leadership of the Church The years leading up to the Reformation were plagued with abuse of position in the Roman Catholic Church... . " .. . The immediate issue that prompted Martin Luther to post his 95 propositions for debate in 1517 was the abuse .. indulgences..associated with the sacrament of penance and the doctrine of purgatory. While the sacrament was believed to provide forgiveness of sin and eternal punishment... The indulgence ..could purchase for a sum of money that would free him from the temporal penalty of sin. . In 1517 the Dominican Johann Tetzel...

What are we to think of Calvin? Rev . Fr. Philippe Marcille The influence of John Calvin (1509-1564) has been immense, perhaps even more so than that of Luther. Certainly, without the bellowing revolutionary Luther, Calvin would not have been able to do anything; yet without Calvin, the revolt would not have had the political impact that it did in France and especially the United States. Origins He was born in Picardy, France, in 1509. His parents were well-to-do people. A very gifted student, he received a benefice from the Church and continued his studies at Paris. He was not...

Anne was born during the reign of King Henry VIII to an honoured knight, Sir William Askew. Anne was described as attractive in form and faith, a beautiful and high-spirited young woman, well educated, with unusual gifts, and “very pious.” Her father arranged that she should be married to the son of a friend, Thomas Kyme, to whom her deceased sister had originally been promised. Anne endeavored to be a faithful wife, and bore her husband two children. However, despite an initially happy marriage, her husband, Kyme, threw her out of the home because of her Protestant Faith. Anne had...

(my disclaimer)I do not wish to diminish the contributions of any of the many individuals or events that will be left out of my articles, but in order to be as concise as possible I will inevitably fail to give proper credit to the accomplishments some. I have settled upon the following six areas to cover which I put in five parts. Follow any link to read other parts. Part I -------- An Introduction and Overview of the Renaissance (Just part I is posted, follow the links to read the other four parts) Part II ------- Political and Social...

(This is the fifth and final installment of a five part series on the Protestant Reformation) Part I ------ An Introduction and Overview of the RenaissancePart II ----- Political and Social ChangesPart III ---- LiteraturePart IV ---- Art, Inventions & ExplorationsPart V ----- Conclusion Conclusion The definition of the word Renaissance is "rebirth" and while it is true that the era was highlighted by man's awakening from a spell of stagnation known as the Dark Ages, the Renaissance helped give men the will that was needed to stand up to the church. It seems quite interesting that, prior to the...

(This is the fourth installment of a five part series on the Protestant Reformation) Part I ------ An Introduction and Overview of the RenaissancePart II ----- Political and Social ChangesPart III ---- LiteraturePart IV ---- Art, Inventions & ExplorationsPart V ----- Conclusion Art, Inventions, and Explorations Art It has been said that if a work of art dwells upon beauty, it will inspire the viewer to make that beauty a part of his life and their outlook on the world. In this sense the art of the Renaissance Age gave men a reason to reflect upon their place in the...

(This is the third installment of a five part series on the Protestant Reformation) Part I ------ An Introduction and Overview of the RenaissancePart II ----- Political and Social ChangesPart III ---- LiteraturePart IV ---- Art, Inventions & ExplorationsPart V ----- Conclusion Literature Any discussion about literature of the Renaissance Age must include the Council of Ferrara. In 1439 a large delegation from the Eastern Church held discussions with the Western Church over the doctrinal differences of Christendom. While every agreement made at this council was eventually disregarded, the effect that it had on literature was profound and since the...

(This is the second installment of a five part series on the Protestant Reformation) Part I ------ An Introduction and Overview of the RenaissancePart II ----- Political and Social ChangesPart III ---- LiteraturePart IV ---- Art, Inventions & ExplorationsPart V ----- Conclusion Political and Social Changes The Western European feudal system that was begun by the first Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne would eventually morph into a system that was quite different from other feudal systems around the world. Throughout most of the dark ages, the powers of the Church and state co-existed with constant tension between the two. This pluralistic...

(This is the first installment of a five part series on the Protestant Reformation) I am presenting you the first part in a series of five articles about the great Protestant Reformation. In this series I will present various historical aspects I believe worked together to create the atmosphere needed for the Reformation to take place. I do not mean to diminish the contributions of any of the many individuals or events that will be left out of my series, but in order to be as concise as possible I will inevitably fail to give proper credit to some. I...

This is a guest post by Dr. David Anders. David and his wife completed their undergraduate degrees at Wheaton College in 1992. He subsequently earned an M.A. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1995, and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2002, in Reformation history and historical theology.  He was received into the Catholic Church in 2003. He will be on EWTN Live on June 23rd, 7:00 pm Central (8 EST), and may be discussing some of the material from this article.Portrait of Young John Calvin Unknown Flemish artist Espace Ami Lullin of the Bibliothèque de GenèveI once...

The Protestant Reformation is called the Reformation for a good reason. It is not called the First Reformation or Reformation II, as if they happen every so often. I have never been asked, when referencing the Reformation, “Of which Reformation do you speak?” Renewals? Of course. Revivals? Who could doubt it? There has been only one Reformation, precisely because they are rather hard to come by. Those of us who long for another, then, might be wise to search out that spark that started the Reformation. Where did it all begin? Was it with Martin Luther’s stirring speech at the...

Causes of the Reformation 221. The power of Romanism was shattered by Martin Luther, of immortal memory. Martin Luther is undoubtedly an outstanding figure in history. But the immortal memory of Luther will become less and less pleasant as the facts concerning him become known. Those who idealize Luther can do so only by ignoring an immense amount of inconvenient information. He was a priest of the Catholic Church, but one who was not faithful to his obligations even as a Christian. On his own admissions he was a victim of both immorality and drunkenness; and he was the most...

Catholic Biblical Apologetics Apologetics without apology! What does the Roman Catholic Church teach about ...? ... and why? This website surveys the origin and development of Roman Catholic Christianity from the period of the apostolic church, through the post-apostolic church and into the conciliar movement. Principal attention is paid to the biblical basis of both doctrine and dogma as well as the role of paradosis (i.e. handing on the truth) in the history of the Church. Particular attention is also paid to the hierarchical founding and succession of leadership throughout the centuries. This is a set of lecture notes...

On a recent evening, about 60 people—ex-Episcopalians, curious Catholics and a smattering of earnest Episcopal priests in clerical collars—gathered downtown for an unusual liturgy: It was Evensong and Benediction, sung according to the Book of Divine Worship, an Anglican Use liturgical book still being prepared in Rome. Beautiful evensongs are a signature of Protestant Episcopal worship. Benediction, which consists of hymns, canticles or litanies before the consecrated host on the altar, is a Catholic devotion. We were getting a blend of both at St. Mary Mother of God Church, lent for the occasion. One former Episcopalian present confessed to having...

John Calvin's 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism's buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism's latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination's logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time's dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision. Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation's other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don't have to second-guess. Our satisfaction...

"I understand the attraction of Rome: the sheer mass of the organization (if you'll pardon the pun); the overwhelming aesthetics; the desirability of belonging to such an august and ancient institution which knows what it is, where it comes from, and where it is going; and the cornucopia of brilliant intellects that have debated, refined, and articulated its confession over the centuries...all that I find superior to what evangelical Protestantism has to offer, particularly in its crassest megachurch and emergent varieties..." "...But, having said all this, I find it hard to connect the mind - the Catholic mind - to...

January 27 Stephanie MannCatholics and the English Reformation Stephanie A. Mann earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in English Language and Literature from Wichita State University, after attending the School of the Magdalen and Kapaun-Mount Carmel High School. She has taught English and History classes at Wichita State University and Newman University, RCIA Ministry and Spirituality Core courses at the Spiritual Life Center in the Religious Studies Program, and various topics in the RCIA program at her home parish, Blessed Sacrament. Her other interests include travel, reading and participating in reading groups, walking, White West Highland...

As we approach the end of 2009, the religious and moral outlook in Britain remains bleak. God continues to be very largely ignored by Government and people. Year after year, legislation pours out of Parliament but never, it seems, is it considered remotely possible that God may have declared his mind on some aspect of whatever area of human conduct is being further regulated. Or if it is abundantly clear that God has spoken – declaring, for instance, that homosexual behaviour is abominable – his revelation must be steadfastly ignored and the nation directed to conform to the norms of...

When a teacher or preacher speaks of the Supremacy of Scripture he is almost always referring to a doctrine that understands Scripture as the supreme source for truth, and in fact the exclusive source for spiritual truth. In the language of the Reformation it is known as Sola Scriptura, which means that the basis for our beliefs is not tradition or experience or ecclesiastical dictate, it is the written Scriptures alone. And it is true that this doctrine has been eroding and that many religious organizations either completely deny it or dilute its essence. Luther desired nothing but proof from...

One of the more commonly shared experiences of Protestant converts to the Catholic Church is the discovery of verses “we never saw.” Even after years of studying, preaching, and teaching the Bible, sometimes from cover to cover, all of a sudden a verse “we never saw” appears as if by magic and becomes an “Aha!” mind-opening, life-altering messenger of spiritual “doom”! Sometimes it’s just recognizing an alternate, clearer meaning of a familiar verse, but often, as with some of the verses mentioned below, it literally seems as if some Catholic had snuck in during the night and somehow put that...

The Crisis of Authority in the ReformationBy Kenneth J. Howell, Ph. D.When I was a young man, I used to hear stories of the courage of Great Protestant Reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin. In my reformation heritage, the emphasis on the sole authority of the Bible generated examples of lonely figures who stood up against the tyranny of the Roman Church in the sixteenth century.None was presented braver than Martin Luther who, confronted with the command to obey the Pope at the Diet of Worms, boldly proclaimed that he must be shown to be wrong on the basis...