"Here I Stand"

 Today is Reformation Sunday, when the Lutheran church "celebrates" the date in 1517 when Martin Luther kicked off the Reformation by posting his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church at Wittenburg, Germany.  I don't know if Jeff M. Lewis is a Lutheran or not, but his article today at the American Thinker today entitled Is Nothing Sacred Anymore could have been written by a devout Lutheran.

I doubt that Luther would be pleased to see his flock celebrating the breakup of the Church universal. Indeed, we call it the Reformation because Luther, a doctor of the Church, intended to bring the Church back to being Biblically based, not to split the Church. He intended the 95 Theses as talking points for a debate. The Church excommunicated Luther after all, Luther didn't run away from the Church. But once it was clear the Church had split, he wanted to call his church Evangelical Catholic, and I suspect died hoping for reconciliation with the Church at Rome.

I have been reading a book by Father Dwight Longenecker entitled Beheading The Hydra: A Radical Plan For Christians in an Atheistic Age. In his book, Fr. Longenecker takes several swipes at Luther for breaking up the church and unspecified theological errors. Unfortunately, Longenecker has some errors of his own. I would cite the whole "Mariology" thing.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Mary was a permanent virgin. Yes, before the birth of Jesus, she was a virgin. But Jesus had brothers and sisters, and all of them were not immaculately born. Then there is the idea of praying to Mary to intercede for us with Jesus. Where does this idea come from? Certainly not the Bible. In the 6th Chapter of Matthew, Jesus offers the perfect prayer, and it doesn't mention Mary. Indeed, we are to pray to God, through Jesus Christ. Christ as our intercessor. There is no need to pray to the various saints, or to have so called "priests." Priests sacrificed animals for the people of Israel. But Jesus became the Sacrifice for all mankind by dying on the Cross. He is our Priest, Prophet, and King, which is why our clergy are called "pastors."

Of course, Longenecker's book, outside of his short sightedness on Luther, is spot on.  And it is the same message as Lewis presents in the the article Is Nothing Sacred. Evil stalks the world, and too many people have succumbed. As Paul wrote, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  What Longenecker proposes is that faithful Christians might try following God's word.  What can it hurt, after all.  We've been doing our own "thing" and it hasn't been working for us.  Maybe we should try doing God's will for us instead?  Would that we had the faith of Martin Luther, who stood before the Pope and could say:

“My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other, so help me God.”