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| A Wall Mural, Northern Ireland |
Okay he wasn't right about everything but he was most certainly Biblically correct to say that Christians are saved "Sola Fide" (by Faith Alone). Indeed Pope Benedict XVI himself declared "Sola Fide" in one of his public addresses to the faithful in St. Peter's Square way back in January 2009 and affirmed that Luther had correctly translated Paul's words as "justified by faith alone".
It's hard of course to understand the context of October 31st 1517, when a young Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the door of Wittenberg Church and ignited the centuries in the making reformation but those events led to Luthers realisation that it was (as Pope Benedict XVI said) "the faith of a Christian, not his works that saved him."
Of course Benedict XVI, being exceptionally crafty, qualified his statement on faith by defining it as an "identification with Christ expressed in love for God and neighbour", thereby blurring the lines between faith and works beyond recognition, but hey he's the Pope and it's his job to promote his Church's teaching.
Yet this does not overshadow the very real reformation going on within Rome, a reformation that started pretty much thanks to Luther. It is hard to imagine Trent or Vatican II having occurred without the Reformation and certainly many of the attempts by Pope Benedict XVI to promote prayerful reading and understanding of God's Word along with a more greater emphasis on the proclamation of God's Word have come about thanks to a new appreciation of the Reformers, and Benedict himself admit as much.
This Reformation day, let's stop this whole revolution/reformation malarkey. Let's stop the idolisation of the Reformers, and their demonisation. Instead let's look forward to a time when the Word which once divided us can, as one Catholic Bishop said "unite us once again" and we can all be part of a Bible centred, Christ focused Church.
8 comments:
Hello WP - Very nice to find someone else marking Reformation Day rather than Halloween :-) As one lay Roman Catholic said to me many years ago, "If only the RC Church had heeded Luther...."
Hello, WP,
Well, I must clarify that while Luther was right about opposing corruption in the Church and the selling of indulgences, I think he was dead wrong about condemning indulgences altogether, telling priests and nuns to abandon their vows of celibacy, claiming that good works can do nothing for the soul, etc. etc.
I honestly don't know any good Catholics who think they can get to Heaven without faith, nor any good Protestants who think they can get to Heaven without doing good works! While no one can "buy their way into Heaven", we all will be judged on how we treat our neighbors. So it's a marriage of faith-and-works, not a war between them.
Other than that....how many murals can you Northern Irishmen possibly have? I mean, have you guys painted all the buildings in the country or something?!! Around here, the only two to speak of consist of a giant grinning sun and a dripping ice-cream cone! ;-D
Also, you have proved that "malarkey" is indeed a phrase used in Ireland, as Paul Ryan asserted upon Joe Biden's use of the word!
God Bless,
Pearl
Eh, my mistake! I believe Ryan commented on Biden's use of the word "stuff", although Biden also did use the word "malarkey"! So set us all straight....are they Irish or not??? ;-)
You have been deceived; into thinking the mocking of whatever Protestant principle, or that a Vatican 2 and beyond; is significant in all but Satanic ploys.
Why would one expect any other from a Church; which is a body of people, and system of Satan?
http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/justification-sola-fide
Faith is there but Alone was added by Luther hardly true to form if scripture is the Word Of God, check up on your bible translations prior to Luther, once again man changes bible to suit himself
Newry Liam,
The issue with "Faith alone" is of course how we understand faith. Is a living faith evidenced in works or are works faith in action. Luther of course held that faith is evidenced in works and therefore faith alone saves. The Latin Rite holds (I presume) that faith is both inward (belief) and outward (works) and that both forms have a part to play in salvation.
Bit of a conundrum really...
Mr. McGranor, I do think Vatican 2 was significant in terms of liturgy it showed that Rome was attempting to move beyond the 16th Century... a feat that some of us are seemingly yet to do.
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