The Church Opposed Martin Luther and Eventually Excommunicated Him Longing for unity, Martin Luther didn’t want to see the church divided. But when reconciliation didn’t happen and he was excommunicated, he had no choice but to form a new church practice aligned with what the Bible taught and apart from the Church he loved. A […]
Martin Luther Supported the Roman Catholic Church and Did Not Want to Leave Her The name of Martin Luther remains unknown to most in the Roman Catholic Church, and many of those who know of him blame him for dividing Christianity and causing disunity. Yet remember Martin was a Catholic. He tried to bring about […]
Martin Luther’s 95 Concerns Were Distributed in Printed Form and Essentially Went Viral Martin Luther lived five hundred years ago. He was born at the dawn of the modern era. He became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation. A key technology in birthing the modern era was the printing press. The printing press also […]
Martin Luther Studied the Bible to See If It Supported Church Practices As Martin studied the Latin translation of the Bible, he grew worried about the lack of biblical support for the Church’s misuse of indulgences, of essentially allowing people to buy their salvation. Instead, he found the Bible overflowing with grace. This disconnect alarmed […]
In Jesus We Are the Same Paul writes that when we follow Jesus there’s no real difference between being Jewish or Greek, slave or free, male or female, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, or uncivilized (Colossians 3:11). He’s advocating Christian unity. Stop to think about this, to really contemplate the ramifications. He tells us to break down […]
A few months ago, we went to church on Saturday morning. Now we head off for a Saturday evening mass. Consider these four discussion questions about Church #50: 1. The worship leader directs us to “page one in the white book,” but what we find doesn’t match what they say. We’re confused and can’t follow […]
Luther Studied to Become a Lawyer to Please His Father Hans Luther, a German peasant, and his bride, Margaret, who came from the middle class, committed their lives to each other. Though having different social backgrounds, Hans pledged to work his way up in life. He promised to provide for Margaret and their future family […]
God Used a Lightning Storm to Get Luther’s Attention and Change His Life While studying law and not yet 22, Martin Luther went home for a visit. What he experienced along the way reminds us of Paul’s conversion experience on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-4). It was the turning point for Martin Luther. Martin […]
Discussing Church 18 Today we visit our second Roman Catholic Church. I’m excited—and nervous. We are revisiting Roman Catholicism. Consider these four discussion questions about Church #18: 1. The large sanctuary is grand without being ostentatious. Contemporary and airy, it seats several hundred. It’s the largest we’ve seen so far. Does your building facilitate worship […]
Should Your Church be Best in Class? With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #50. This church holds five services each weekend, and we attended the first one. I was disappointed over the lack of college students present, […]