Musings on the Reformation - 500 years later.

Today is the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation, and it's brought up a lot of questions, a lot of pondering, and a lot of wishing things were not as divided as they are in Christianity.  I cannot even begin to deny the abuses that were happening in the church at the time of Luther.  They're pretty cut and dried, and known historical fact.  But they were PRACTICES.  Not doctrine.  There's a difference.  They were what sinful people did in the NAME OF THE CHURCH, not what the Church taught itself.  And that's a huge difference to me. 

I've been re-reading one of my favorite authors, Peter Kreeft, a professor of Philosophy at Boston College.  And one thing he said when he was researching church history as a protestant has struck me as particularly relevant, as we look at where we have ended up as a Christian Church in 2017:

"But if Catholic dogma contradicted Scripture or itself at any point, I could not find it. I explored all the cases of claimed contradiction and found each to be a Protestant misunderstanding. No matter how morally bad the Church had gotten in the Renaissance, it never taught heresy. I was impressed with its very hypocrisy: even when it didn't raise its practice to its preaching, it never lowered its preaching to its practice. Hypocrisy, someone said, is the tribute vice pays to virtue.  "

It's an ugly history, this Christianity.  We've failed and failed again at what Christ commissioned us to do.  What to do about that, though? 

For me, it all boils down to two questions, really.  FIRST:  What did Christ mean when He said "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it."?  And SECOND:  "What did the Reformers reform the church to?" 

Christ did not leave behind a book.  In fact, He didn't write down a single thing that we have evidence of today.  What He DID do is start a Church, and entrust it very specifically to people He knew, taught, and trusted, on the "rock" foundation of one man.  That much is clear from scripture.  So... where is it today?  Because He promised us that it would survive for as long as time, and never be taken down by the gates of Hell.  I believe we ALL should believe what Christ promised, if we profess to be Christians. 

And in regards to the second question, a reform is a return to an original, not the creation of something new.  Was the focus of the reformers the clergy who were perpetuating abuses?  To reform the fact that the church was too much of a political entity, and was used for political power?  If the medieval church had added on "pagan trappings" over time that needed stripping off.... to what extent did the Reformation turn back the clock?  Did the Reformation turn back the clock to reform the church to as it was before 1500?  To how it was in the 800's?  To how it was before Constantine?  To the Early Church?  What is the standard by which they are "reforming" to an original?  And if it IS the Early Church pre-Constantine that they were attemptingt or eform to, then I would challenge every last Protestant to read the writings of the Early Church.  Because they exist, in surprising numbers.  Reliable, historically verifiable writings of the very earliest Christians, who at times were taught by the Apostles themselves.  GO READ THEM. There is a whole, vast history between the time of Christ and 1517.  Read what these Christians wrote before the Bible was even assembled and canonized.  And see what the church looked like for those first 300 years, and where and how it grew thereafter.   And then ask yourself "WHERE TODAY IS THE CHURCH THAT CHRIST ESTABLISHED THEN????"  Look around you.   Do you see it anywhere today?

These are the questions I have asked myself time and again, and then I have spent crucial years searching for answers.  Because only if I truly settle these things in my head and my heart can I claim to be what I profess to be. 

Quote of the Day: Christ our Mediator

From St. Ambrose ca 390 AD

"Christ Himself is our mouth through which we speak to the Father, our eye through which we see the Father, our right hand through which we offer to the Father. Without His intercession neither we nor all the saints have anything with God."

— St. Ambrose

On the Reformation and the "Jesus as Lifeguard" image

I read THIS this morning, and I just have to respond:

Imagine you’re in a swimming pool and you’re drowning. Your head pops above the water just to yell, “Help! Help!” Above, you see the lifeguard on his stand looking at you. He’s holding a life ring. And he says, “Come grab the life ring! This will save you!”
If that’s the case, you’re in big trouble, right? If you’re drowning you can’t save yourself.
Yet, prior to the Reformation, this was how salvation was being taught. “Yes,” they would say, “Jesus is the way to salvation. But you must come and get him.”
Jesus would be like that life ring that the lifeguard is holding. Try. Try. Try. And if you want, you could offer the lifeguard some money and he might toss the life ring to you.
That was the situation prior to the Reformation. People being taught that they need to earn their way to salvation through their own works. And they could also pay their way out of potential punishment through the purchase of indulgences.
The Reformation was ALL ABOUT JESUS. Jesus throws himself into the depths of the pool to rescue us even without our asking. Not only does he rescue us from death, but he dies in our place.
The Reformation was ALL ABOUT JESUS and over the course of the next 4 weeks we will see how the Reformation is still ongoing in our own lives, and the fact that IT’S STILL ALL ABOUT JESUS!

EXCUSE ME!!

THIS IS WHY there continues to be so much division in Christianity today, because of misconceptions and misrepresentations.  It breaks my heart really.  Why would we ever celebrate our division, when Christ called us repeatedly to be ONE?  Why would we celebrate the divorce, when we are meant to mend the marriage??  We are called to be ONE BODY in Christ, we are COMMANDED to be one body in Christ!  In this fallen world, we need unity, because we face an ugly, vicious foe.

The Catholic Church has NEVER TAUGHT that we earn our way to salvation... that we have to climb up out of that "pool" ourselves and grab the life ring.   That's why the early church condemned Pelagius as a heretic, for promoting just such a notion!!  Rather, it has taught, from the time of St. Peter, that, when that "life ring"  of salvation is thrown to you, you best grab it.  We're ALL drowning, and Jesus wants to save us all.  In the analogy above, it's not just one person drowning in the sea, but all of humanity from the beginning of time.  And Jesus wants to save them all.  He said so. So why aren't we all saved?  Because we have a PART.  And our part is acceptance of the gift.   Jesus does the saving, we do the receiving, but receiving is not PASSIVE.   He will never save us against our will.   Our loving Father wants a relationship, and a relationship is between two active participants.   Our "works" are a sign that we have accepted this gift.  If we've truly accepted Christ... it changes us, from the inside out.  Thus we have the "gifts" of the Holy Spirit, and the "fruits" of the Holy Spirit.  No one earns a gift, but a person can certainly reject a gift.   And if we HAVE received the gift that Christ offers us, truly and sincerely, then it can be seen outwardly in our lives (fruit = works).  Our journey to heaven is not a "one and done" thing.  It's a continual effort to become more like Christ, in order to be ready to stand in His presence one day.  Salvation is a gift, but it is a gift of TRANSFORMATION,  not a gift of being yanked immediately into Heaven!   Because in our current fallen state, we are not capable of Heaven.  Nothing imperfect is.  Thus, we take on Christ, His very nature, from the inside out.  AND THAT IS HOW HE SAVES US!!

Furthermore, the Church never taught that paying ANYTHING can get you to heaven.  Were there some devious and evil people twisting church teaching for their own gain?  Yup.  Absolutely there were.   There were some pretty nasty "Christians" back then, and pretty nasty "Christians" now.   But that was never what the Church taught.  The deposit of faith never taught that we could pay our way to heaven.  Evil people did that.  They have a name and a face (John Tetzel for one), and are recognized as such... and THAT'S what Martin Luther was rightly protesting against.  Those individuals twisting Church teaching.  Only after Luther was excommunicated did he throw the baby out with the bath water.  As Peter Kreeft so eloquently puts it  "Luther was right about what was wrong, but wrong about how to make it right".  The counter-reformation was "how to make it right".  Dividing the body of Christ has been a tragic disaster from day one.

Lord Jesus, help us to strive toward unity.  I pray that all Christians may stand together in opposition to all evil that encroaches upon the world.  May we be Your hands, Your feet, Your heart in the world... as ONE BODY IN CHRIST.

From the Council of Trent, in 1547:

"But when the Apostle says that man is justified by faith and freely, these words are to be understood in that sense in which the uninterrupted unanimity of the Catholic Church has held and expressed them, namely, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification, without which it is impossible to please God and to come to the fellowship of His son....This disposition or preparation is followed by justification itself, which is not only a remission of sins but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man through the voluntary reception of the grace and gifts whereby an unjust man becomes just and from being an enemy becomes a friend, that he may be an heir according to hope of life everlasting. The causes of justification are: the final cause is the glory of God and of Christ and life everlasting; the efficient cause is the merciful God who washes and sanctifies gratuitously, signing and anointing with the holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance; the meritorious cause is His most beloved only begotten, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, when we were enemies, for the exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, merited for us justification by His most holy passion on the wood of the cross and made satisfaction for us to God the Father; the instrumental cause is the sacrament of baptism, which is the sacrament of faith, without which no man was ever justified,…"

Sub tuum praesidium

From a hymn written in Greek, scribed on papyrus in 250 AD, and found in Egypt.  And still appropriately being recited now, 2000 years later.

Beneath your compassion,

We take refuge, O Mother of God:

do not despise our petitions in time of trouble:

but rescue us from dangers,

only pure, only blessed one.

This.

"I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things."

Mother Teresa

It's a Mad, Mad World

Is the world going crazy?  I think so.  Really.  I do.  In the past month alone, between three major hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, school shootings, dark-web hacks, dictators lobbing ICBM's, and mass murders for no apparent reason, (and then TOM PETTY DYING), it seems like one crisis can't even end before the next one pops up, worse than the last.  What is happening to our country? We are so unstable right now as a nation, it's hard to get our feet underneath us, and find firm ground. 

And still, "Hail Holy Queen" runs through my head non-stop.  But, after hearing the prayer being said by an 8 year old girl last Sunday, I realized that the version in my head had an incorrect word.  I had been repeating "To thee do we cry, poor abandoned children of Eve."  And that's not right.  It's not "abandoned", but "banished".   Poor banished children of Eve.  That one word makes all the difference!  What a crucial, horrible mistake I've made in my head!   

Yes, we are banished from the direct sight of God.  It's abundantly evident that we no longer live in Paradise with Him.  We ARE banished, to this insane, troubled place.  But we are NOT ABANDONED.  Through it all, even in our sinful, topsy-turvy world, He will not leave us.  Not for a second.  His love prevails, His church gives us the solid footing we so desperately need.  We are held.

How could I have made such a mistake, even subconsciously???