Skip to main content

500 Years and Beyond

Many of you have been loyal readers of this blog for a while, and I'm sure you've noticed a long layoff from writing.  I have taken time away to do some other writing and decided to stop blogging during this time. 

I'm posting this to say that very soon I'll be doing a weekly blog - beginning in September.  It will be a weekly blog with a theme that will continue for several weeks.  
It's also being linked to the roll-out of a newly designed website for our church f - New Life Fellowship.  

Over the course of the last few months I've been doing a lot of reading.  I'm spending my time studying the great foundational themes of the Reformation.
As you might remember we are celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation this year.  
It was on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther, a Pastor and Professor, Theologian and Teacher, posted his Ninety-Five Theses to the Castle Church doors in Wittenberg, Germany, and called for a hearing on the Catholic church practices that involved a person's salvation.  

Luther was appalled by the practices of Indulgences - the raising of funds for the Roman Church through the sale of "promises for the release of souls from purgatory".  The Roman church's abuse of this was inconsistent with the great teaching of salvation - as Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-9 
4  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
6  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7  in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9  not by works, so that no one can boast. 

The Reform of the Church Luther began spread throughout Europe.  Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin in Switzerland were not far behind Luther.  All together the Reformation raised Five Crucial Pillars that would become the historical record of what the Reformers brought to the Church in order for it to be true.

The Five Solas can be summarized this way:


Over the course of this Fall I want to take some time to focus on why these five "Solas" are so foundational for our faith.  

I'm back blogging...and hope you will come along as I "muse" my way into this 500th anniversary celebation.

Peace

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday, Day 25: Christmas Eve - God Loves Us (So We Can Relax)

For Kids: There’s a lot of things we have to do each day. Get up from our sleep, Get dressed, Eat Breakfast, Get ready for School, Listen to the teacher, play with friends, eat our lunch, and after it’s all done, go back home. There’s time to play, Then we eat our supper… And eventually we have to get ready for bed and go to sleep! And then we do it all over again the next day. Sometimes there’s a vacation - like right now - and we get more time to play, to have fun and not have to do work at school. Our parents are good at helping us know what time it is and what we need to do next – even when we don’t want to move on to the next thing.  God is also good at helping us know what time it is, and what is next.  He doesn’t shout at us, or yell, or even scream…he does it peacefully, quietly.  He wants us to understand that he does it, most of all, for us. Christmas can be quite busy and there’s lots of things going on at once…but l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Joy to the World - Help is On the Way

It’s the first day of Advent– while you prepare for Worship this morning at church take a minute to ask God to direct you through this season that you might be prepared to “receive your King”. In the first week of Advent we celebrate the PROMISE of His Coming. His promise is based on our need. We were made in his image, but there is emptiness in our soul that is the result of the Fallen nature of sin. But why did Jesus come? What in his coming announces God's heart? His desire for us to know and experience? 10 BUT THE ANGEL SAID TO THEM, "DO NOT BE AFRAID; FOR BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY WHICH WILL BE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE; 11 FOR TODAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID THERE HAS BEEN BORN FOR YOU A SAVIOR, WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD. GREAT JOY! Did you know that God is Joyful? 1 CHRONICLES 16:23-27 (NASB) 23 SING TO THE LORD, ALL THE EARTH; PROCLAIM GOOD TIDINGS OF HIS SALVATION FROM DAY TO DAY. 24 TELL OF HIS GLORY AMONG THE NATIONS, HIS WONDERFUL DEEDS AMONG ALL THE PEOPLES....
46 comments
Read more

Wondering Out Under the Stars

A Reading: Colossians 1:9-20 (NIV) 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether th...
28 comments
Read more