Reformation Day
31 Oct
On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenburg, sparking the Protestant Reformation. Our church had a Reformation Celebration today.
David supervised a chess tournament and created a Power Point presentation about the Reformation.
I served refreshments with my friend, Michelle. This was the best popcorn ever!
There were lots of cute games for the kids, like “A Mighty Fortress” where kids race to build the tallest fortress with blocks. Last I heard, the record was over eight feet tall! The idea came from the Reformation hymn, A Mighty Fortress. There was also a hay ride, “Pin the Theses on the Door” and the “Diet of Worms Cake Walk”.
It was lots of fun, but phew, David and I are tired! Does your church have a fall carnival or Trunk or Treat?
Love,
A Young Wife
Stopping by from SITS! Have a great week.
I love reading about everyone’s different traditions and ways of spending time together- looks like your event was a blast!
Tiffany
Yes, it does look like you had a lovely day. Happy Reformation Day!
That popcorn was good! Hope David is starting to feel better this evening.
Stopping by from the SITS Halloween Parade – nice to meet you!
I found your site because I was looking for images of Martin Luther, and I could not help noticing you are an admirer of his. So I say with all the respect a Christian owes another, have you ever honestly considered whether Luther was really right? The most basic premise of Luther’s theology is that man is saved by faith alone. Yet in James 2:24, we are told in no uncertain terms that is not the case:
“Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”
That is from the King James Bible, but all other versions will say the same. In fact, the words “faith alone” never appear in Scripture, nor does any direct equivalent. However, Luther took it upon himself to add “alone” to Romans 3:28 in his German Bible. I don’t know about you, but I would be very wary about someone who deliberately changes God’s word.
Don’t you owe it to yourself, and also to God, to examine whether you have the fullness of Christian truth? If you would to discuss any of this, please feel free to write.
Best regards,
A friend
Hey! I love these
Ok so I’m going to break this post up a bit for clarity. I will first discuss Luther and second salvation by grace alone through faith alone.
So Luther. He was one of if not the bravest man I’ve ever read about in history. Never seeing Christ and only ever being taught wrong doctrine (by an oppressive, money seeking, corrupt cult called the Roman Catholic Church) he was able to read and interpret God’s word. Then what he believed to be the true word and doctrine of God he nailed his findings on the door of a “church” for all to see. He decided to stand against a mighty empire for the sake of the doctrine of God. There were 95 theses that were for correcting the doctrine of the Catholic “church”. For this alone I admire him for what he did. He opened the door to true theology and though I might not agree with all of what Luther believed he began a reformation that restored us to a place in which we now can proudly claim, reformed.
Now for salvation by faith alone, well actually salvation is this: it is by grace that we are saved through faith and that it is not of ourselves lest any man should boast. So salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone. We had nothing to do with it. The law of God had to be fulfilled, and it was through Christ. As a perfect Lamb he was our everlasting payment for sin. We are covered in His works and His blood.
We didn’t even have the work of choosing him to be our savior again “not of works lest any man should boast” the dead can not choose life for they are dead. He said it Himself “you are not my sheep if you were my sheep you would hear my voice and come unto me but you are not my sheep”. And again the disciples asked Him “why do you speak in parables?” His answered, “If I did not speak in parables they would repent” (fyi these are not copy/pasted from the Bible I’m summarizing for time but they can be looked up easily and I encourage it). And again He said “Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated before they were even born before they had done any good or evil” and again “He(Judas the betrayer of Jesus) was destined for destruction from the beginning”. About Pharaoh for this reason I have raised him up that I might demonstrate my power in him. I can go on and on. but i stress that we have no action within salvation that we can claim as our own. We do however if we are saved will produce works. the fruit of The Spirit is Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control.
The verses “If we abide in Christ then He will abide in us” and what you put “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” are sometimes used to say that it is by works we are saved, but remember the God of the New Testament is the God of the Old Testament and it is written. “There is none that seek him, NO Not One” and our righteousness is as filthy rags. You can’t work your way to heaven, you’re only making the clothes bin more filled with dirty rags. They must be washed, and the only way to do that is the washing we receive in the grace of the blood of Christ. Works is a visible sign that you are justified not that justification happens because of your works.
In the regenerative love of our Lord God, Savior, and Advocate,
David
Faith must…be sincere. It must be a faith that performs good works through love. If faith lacks love it is not true faith. …To think, “If faith justifies without works, let us work nothing,” is to despise the grace of God. Idle faith is not justifying faith. – Luther