What Are the 95 Theses of Martin Luther? - 500th Anniversary of the Reformation - Soulful Sunday by A Panama Mama
500 years ago on October 31, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenburg, Germany. The church doors functioned as a bulletin board in that time as announcements were commonly posted there. Soon after posting the 95 Theses, they were translated to German and widely distributed. This is one of the first events in history that was greatly aided by the invention of the printing press. He posted these hoping to create a debate and changes in the church. What this action brought about was a great change known as the Reformation and the creation of Protestantism.
Check out the 1 minute YouTube video below for an overview of the Reformation.
In his letter, he sited 95 things he believed were against the Bible that the Catholic church was doing. This included items such as the selling of indulgences. Back in his time, some Roman Catholic leaders were selling indulgences which promised that the purchaser's past and future sins would be forgiven. Luther stated the idea that salvation, forgiveness, and repentance could be bought and sold was against what the Bible teaches. He knew the Bible did not teach that people could buy or sell their way into heaven, as the church officials were teaching. His first Thesis states:
"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."
To make the Bible accessible to everyone, Luther, along with other scribes, translated the entire Bible from Greek to German. This made it so people could read the Bible for themselves and not just listen to what the priests told them. It was very important to the Protestant Reformers that Scripture was available for the masses.
To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.
During his life, he also penned a hymn that is largely sung on Reformation Day. It is called "A Mighty Fortress " and loosely paraphrases Psalm 46. Check it out on YouTube below:
Other Sources:
Here is a great link with a video about the Reformation and a Bible study included: Reformation
Read through the 95 Theses
Here is another 4 minute YouTube video about his life:
Soulful Sunday will be brought to you here every Sunday by A Panama Mama.
Check back each week for quotes, poems, songs and verses to jump start your week.
If you have a comment, feel free to leave me a reply.
Thanks for visiting! Have a God blessed day!
Interestingly, none of Luthor's accomplishments would have been possible without the introduction of paper to Europe- prior to that, parchment and vellum were far too expensive to mass produce Luthor's writings. There's an excellent book about it called the Paper Trail, which tracks how the world changed in the footsteps of paper.
Thanks for the comment. That sounds like an interesting read.
Hello @apanamamama
I have been hearing about the reformation for years but I have not really taken out the time to research on It.
Men like Martin Luther made Impact and I think it is time I studied his lifetime.
Thanks for sharing.
@ogochukwu
#blockchain-blogger
Good Post.
10 seconds after it was posted you commented. You should take time to read the posts in order to give some decent feedback and interact with other members of the steemit community. It would make your time here much more profitable and enjoyable.
Yes, our opening hymn in Church today was "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" today. Also our priest mentioned Martin Luther and the 500 year anniversary of him posting his 95 theses during his sermon. It surely was an important moment in history! I will watch these videos and look at your links in a bit. I'm supposed to be watching a football game with my hubby right now! 😊
Lol! Glad you stopped by. I'm supposed to be making dinner but posting on steemit instead. ;) 500 years! It is a pretty important date coming up on Tuesday!
Yes!
The reformation got the Word out of the 'clergy' and into the hands of the masses. I believe the reformation is still happening even now, 500 years later as we continue to conform to the Word of God that Martin Luther brought forth. @ironshield
Yes - agree! So glad he was one of the first to step forward and help translate the Bible for the commoner. :) Thanks for the comment!
Its good to see someone writing historical posts! I personally would like more understanding on the protestant movement and the Jacobite rebellion that occurred just after it. Thank you for suggesting that I check this out. I might add that Martin Luther was also the head of the Rosicrucian movement in Germany at the time according to H. Spencer Lewis of AMORC. Luther's family crest was of a cross with several roses in the center of the cross.
Oh thanks, nice. Yeah, I definitely need to study up more on Luther. This just scratches the surface of the Reformation and Luther. I basically just know what I've read to my kids in school from their history books and what I've found while researching for this post. I definitely need to look more into what you've brought up. Thanks for the comment! :)
This post has received a 0.63 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.