October 31 - Why Does that Date Sound Familiar?

It’s October 31. Hmmm...does that sound familiar? Does it have any significance? Well, yes, there’s Halloween. But I am thinking about something else. Did you know that Halloween is a contracted form of (All) Hallow’s Evening? November 1 is called All Saints Day on the church calendar. All Hallow’s Evening refers to the day before. But that isn’t what I have in mind, either.

It was on October 31, 1517 when a very significant action took place. On that date Martin Luther tacked 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. If you have seen a picture showing Luther posting these theses on an otherwise barren door, you are probably mistaken. At that time, the church door served as the community message center. Church events were posted. Civic reports were posted. Social events and activities were posted. So were invitations to debates, and this was Luther’s invitation to debate certain points that he found that the church had adopted without Biblical support. In Luther’s words: this was an invitation to a "disputation on the power and efficacy of indulgences out of love and zeal for truth and the desire to bring it to light."

Who was Martin Luther? He wasn’t merely a disgruntled priest who was picking a fight. Luther was a Doctor of Theology in the local university, one of only a few who were paid, and, among these, the highest paid. He was quite learned and gave serious thought to his classes. His reputation for his intellectual astuteness was so well known that the prince of this region went out of his way to bring Luther to Wittenberg.

Luther most surely wasn’t a rabble-rouser. His environment was theological and academic. The 95 Theses were, in fact, written in Latin and were unintelligible to the common man. In these theses, Luther sought public debate on current church practices. His goal was not to condemn the Catholic church, much less found a “new” church. He asked for debate to show him how these practices, particularly indulgences, are grounded in the teaching of the Bible. As far as he could see, they weren’t. He asked for clarification, hoping to inspire reformation within the church.

Less than a century earlier, Gutenberg produced the movable type method of printing, and more and more information was spread through print medium. Someone took Luther’s 95 Theses, translated them into the vernacular to took them to a printer. They were printed, and distributed widely, arousing public interest and adding public support to Luther’s ideas.

What were the 95 Theses? They were a series of statements on a number of church issues. Luther wanted a local academic debate. Someone, however, sent a copy of the theses to the Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who called for a meeting (called a Diet)  of church leaders and civic leaders to assess Luther’s teachings and to induce Luther to recant. The court continued, with Luther defending his determination not to recant with the statement that unless he could be convinced that he was wrong “by scripture or by reason,” his conscience [was] bound by the word of God. At the end of his testimony Luther, refusing to recant, offered his famous lines: "Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen."

If people have heard of the 95 Theses, few have actually read them. In the interest of brevity, I offer an abridged version of them. I have abridged them based on duplication within the statements, on issues that were primarily relative to that time, and on some continuity between 3 or 4 theses, that is, this action leads to another action, which, in turn, leads to another, or this action is a consequence of another action which, in turn, springs from yet another action.

1. When Jesus said "repent" he meant that believers should live a whole life repenting
2. Only God can give salvation - not a priest.
3. Inwards penitence must be accompanied with a suitable change in lifestyle.
4. Sin will always remain until we enter Heaven.
6. Only God can forgive -the pope can only reassure people that God will do this.
18. A sinful soul does not have to be always sinful. It can be cleansed.
36. A man can be free of sin if he sincerely repents - an indulgence is not needed.
40. A true repenter will be sorry for his sins and happily pay for them. Indulgences trivialise this issue.
42. Christians should be taught that the buying of indulgences does not compare with being forgiven by Christ.
43. A Christian who gives to the poor or lends to those in need is doing better in God’s eyes than one who buys 'forgiveness'.
44. This is because of loving others, love grows and you become a better person. A person buying an indulgence does not become a better person.
46. A Christian should buy what is necessary for life not waste money on an indulgence.
47. Christians should be taught that they do not need an indulgence.
54. It is blasphemy that the word of God is preached less than that of indulgences.
55. The pope should enforce that the gospel - a very great matter - must be celebrated more than indulgences.
62. The main treasure of the church should be the Gospels and the grace of God.
84. Evil men must not buy their salvation when a poor man, who is a friend of God, cannot.
94. Christians must follow Christ at all cost.