Highlights from 95 Theses

Highlights from the 95 Theses
Have you ever read Luther's 95 theses? In honor of October 31, Reformation Day, here's a selection of 31 from a "modern translation":



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.

5. The pope must act according to canon law.

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.

21. An indulgence will not save a man.

22. A dead soul cannot be saved by an indulgence.

23. Only a very few sinners can be pardoned. These people would have to be perfect.

24. Therefore most people are being deceived by indulgences.

25. The pope’s power over Purgatory is the same as a priest’s.

26. When the pope intervenes to save an individual, he does so by the will of God.

27. It is nonsense to teach that a dead soul in Purgatory can be saved by money.

28. Money causes greed - only God can save souls.

45. A person who passes by a beggar but buys an indulgence will gain the anger and disappointment of God.

48. The pope should have more desire for devout prayer than for ready money.

53. Those who forbid the word of God to be preached and who preach pardons as a norm are enemies of both the pope and Christ.

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.

71. People who deny the pardons of the Apostles will be cursed.

76. You should feel guilt after being pardoned. A papal pardon cannot remove guilt.

77. Not even St. Peter could remove guilt.

79. It is blasphemy to say that the insignia of the cross is of equal value with the cross of Christ.

82. Why doesn’t the pope clean feet for holy love not for money ?

84. Evil men must not buy their salvation when a poor man, who is a friend of God, cannot.

89. Why are indulgences only issued when the pope sees fit to issue them ?

93. Those in the church who claim there is no problem must go.

94. Christians must follow Christ at all cost.

95. Let Christians experience problems if they must - and overcome them - rather than live a false life based on present Catholic teaching.

It's All About Jesus

The Statue of Responsibility

When Patrick Henry beaconed, "Give me liberty or give me death," his maxim was pointing to an overbearing government and their oppression through taxation, not the systematic departure of moral authority. When you observe our culture, you see a people obsessed with images, a people obsessed with sex, violence, and instant gratification. You see a people that have forgotten to logical consequence of their own behavior. They have jettisoned absolutes and don't realize they will reap what they sow. For example, take the typical 26 year old man who is addicted to porn and denies God. Well, now give that man a wife and two children. His porn problem continues if not consistently; on and off. Now, fast forward 20 years, when his daughter is 18 years old. Her figure is becoming more prominent, and her curves more visible. She is an attractive young lady in the eyes of men, but her father (now 46) stops hugging her and kissing her. Why? Well think back to his porn problem, it has now a deep root in his heart, and he cannot stop his habitual sin. The lustful videos and photographs of women posing and inflaming his lustful desires have messed with his mind to the point where he feels shame because those women are beginning to remind him of his daughter. In short, when he sees his daughter his mind goes to naked women he has been looking at on the computer because of the general patterns of association the brain develops. He now doesn't want to touch his daughter or express affection because he feels shame.

We have forgotten that we reap is what we sow. One needs to realize on the other side of liberty (freedom) is responsibility. Personal responsibility for ones actions, choices, and decisions. Perhaps lady liberty needs a sister statue erected on its sister coast, the statue of Responsibility. God is not mocked whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.(Gal 6:8) Let us wake up to the destruction of our day, think you the logical consequences of our actions and not make decisions in haste.

As C.S. Lewis, the British philosopher delineates, we have removed the organ, yet demand the function. In short we have created men without chests!

Quote

"My business is with all my might to serve my own generation. In doing so I shall best serve the next generation, should the Lord tarry...I have but one life to live on earth and this one life is but a brief life for sowing in comparison with eternity for reaping."

George Mueller

"Revival Conference Live Webcasts 2009

Tim Keller Sermon

150 Tim Keller sermons online now for free

http://sermons2.redeemer.com/redeemer-free-sermon-resource.

If you've never heard him, you have to listen. He is Yoda smart with the gospel.

Anglicans become Catholics.

I found this article on CNN to be very interesting and bewildering.  Apparently the Catholic Church is letting certain Anglicans who are tired of prominent liberal Anglican views rejoin the Catholic Church.  I could comment more on this, but I am curious to hear what some of you all think about the article and what the implications of this might be.

Check it:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/20/vatican.anglican.church/index.html