Happy (Belated) Reformation Day

[!Fluffy!]

It's easy to overlook because of Halloween, but Oct. 31st was Reformation Day, 490 years since Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses:


From Blue Letter Bible

"In honor of Reformation Day. The preservation of the gospel of Christ is always worth celebrating, now as in any era. In 1517, one such notable defense was carried out by Martin Luther as he strove to return the church to purity of faith in the midst of growing corruption. His challenge to draw the church from the interference of merely human influences and back to a life founded upon the Word of God was issued in the form of ninety-five theses. In honor of the 31st of October's Reformation Day (a day meant to celebrate the preservation of the glorious gospel of our salvation), we present Luther's Ninety-Five Theses. In addition, here is an mp3 audio message on Reformation Day, by Pastor Kevin Otsuji of Reverence Bible Church."

In 1517, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk posted upon the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg (in the manner common to those issuing bulletin of an upcoming event or debate) the Ninety-Five Theses on the Power of Indulgences, what has commonly become known as The Ninety-Five Theses. The contents of his posting challenged the current teaching of the Church on penance and indulgences, questioning as well the authority of the pope. Reaction to Luther's Theses was immediate and strong, leading to his excommunication from the Roman Church and the eventual birth of the Protestant Reformation. Luther's historically important defense of the gospel is noted and celebrated annually on 31 October, Reformation Day.​

The following is the translated text of the Ninety-Five Theses.​

Out of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father, Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence in writing.

1. When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
2. The word cannot be properly understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, i.e. confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
3. Yet its meaning is not restricted to repentance in one's heart; for such repentance is null unless it produces outward signs in various mortifications of the flesh.
4. As long as hatred of self abides (i.e. true inward repentance) the penalty of sin abides, viz., until we enter the kingdom of heaven.
5. The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties beyond those imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law.
6. The pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm that it has been remitted by God; or, at most, he can remit it in cases reserved to his discretion. Except for these cases, the guilt remains untouched.
7. God never remits guilt to anyone without, at the same time, making him humbly submissive to the priest, His representative.
8. The penitential canons apply only to men who are still alive, and, according to the canons themselves, none applies to the dead.
9. Accordingly, the Holy Spirit, acting in the person of the pope, manifests grace to us, by the fact that the papal regulations always cease to apply at death, or in any hard case.
10. It is a wrongful act, due to ignorance, when priests retain the canonical penalties on the dead in purgatory.

...../etc.