“For in it (in Christ) is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just
shall live by faith.”(Romans 1:17) this was how Martin Luther, a German
Augustinian Monk revealed and believed with. This was his disposition and the
prudent way he held that man is saved by accepting and trusting Jesus alone and
not by church sacraments or doing good works.
With the doctrine and dogmas of
the church that may seemingly unauthentic that time created speculations and
confusions among believers. The misinterpretations of the Word of God was
frightened the masses just to get good amount of indulgences top raise funds
for Rome. Knowing such predicament will surely burst and arouse someone’s
indignation. It is what had happened to Martin Luther that time. He was
spiritually troubled and started to question the teaching of the church from
the confusions and doubts he seized about salvation. The teaching of the church
may somehow an opposite to what was written in the Bible and that was before.
Subsequently, the insidious selling of indulgences for Rome was considered as
haughty act and false belief of some early friars promising the people of
salvation of soul in purgatory and forgiveness of their sins. It seemed to be
ignominious way of teaching as what we lived as of today. The church before
granted this in exchange for pious deed or sum of money in order to raise funds
and to sustain the need of the Church.
How implausible, isn’t it? But
despite the power of majority, of the authority, Luther did not leave behind
and did not let the people live in blind acceptance or in ignorance about that
false teaching of the Church. His passion of reforming the Church was quite
inspiring. It is the main impetus that pushed him to pursue his goal of proclaiming
what is true and just to the people and true Word of God. That was why he
posted “Ninety –five Theses” in the door of the church in Wittenberg, attacking
the selling of indulgences. This seemed to be a musky remark and attack against
Rome. His popularity came to be alarming against the Church. So, Pope Leo X
ordered him to recant his anti-Catholic ideas or to be excommunicated. But
Luther’s courage and optimism of reformation and counter-reformation really
persevered, he refused to do so. The disparaging fortitude of Luther towards
the real teaching of the Bible was treated as a slander against the Church.
Personally, I found it so unusual
to take a glimpse on the positive result of the urbane spirit that Luther bared
to the masses. His piquant revolt using his wisdom and unfathomable faith in
God served as an eye-opener for the Church. The compassion mettle he possessed
may enliven the cognizance of what is true and what is right in the eyes of
God.
Basically, because of the
experience, we must fine-tune our natural and spiritual ears to listen and
learn – it is our faith. Faith is the force of a full life. The primary cause
of unhappiness and discontentment in the world today is lack of faith.
According to Corrie Ten Booin, “Faith is like radar that sees through the fog
of reality of things at a distance that a human eye cannot see.” This axiom
posits that faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the
impossible. So, we should walk with faith and not only by our sight as we journey
our life, our beliefs and our religion in the complexities of reality in this
world. It is our faith that is we believe, not what we know about it. It is
faith not reason alone which inputs men to action for it has no limits that man
possesses within himself. Nothing but faith can accurately guide our life. It
gives us courage to face the questionable present with confidence and the
undoubting future with expectancy. Based on the life of Luther, in his
reformation of the Church, faith either moves mountains or it will travel
through them. All the strength and the force of man come from his faith in
things unseen. A cliché states that “he who believes us strong; he who doubts
is weak.” Strong personal convictions precede great actions as what Luther did.
The faith he had was very
touching. The way he lived his life as a monk will surely expose the real
servant of God. The opulent pearl of faith is worthy to emulate. It is indeed
that the faith saved us the depths of sinfulness and foolishness. It is a lesson
to be learned and past experience aided as a lesson. We know now that the
Church has its vicissitudes being conquered and surpassed in the past. In
faith, the Church brought a strong foundation that strengthened by its doctrine
under the stewards of our pope.
In the end, knowing the ups and
downs, mistakes and doubts of the past of our church is very significant for us
in order to never commit the same mistakes again. Furthermore, what is right is
right even though no one is doing it and wrong is always wrong albeit everybody
is doing it. It is not about the quantity, the tradition alone but it is about
what is true – the Truth. It is good realization that we should not go with the
flow, we may try to check if we are in the right path, right way towards Him.
The faith and veracity of purpose weaned from influences of majority may
somehow a gallant demeanour to stand for in guiding our way to where we go – in
Him. It is truly idyllic to reflect and ask ourselves, “Where are we now with
our faith?” Qou Vadis?
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