There are 3 special Reformations in History. First, Jesus changed history from the life styled by The Law of Moses to the life styled by Christianity AD 33. Second, Emperor Constantine changed history from the Roman styled life to the Christian styled life AD 325.
Third, Luther changed history from the dark ages of Christianity to today’s World of Christianity. This 3rd Reformation will be 500 years on Oct 31, 2017. Martin Luther an Augustinian Monk posted the 95 theses on a Wittenberg church door in Germany initiating this Reformation
In simpler days, everyone understood how to react to such anniversaries. Protestants would celebrate the “German Hercules” cleaning out the dark ages of the church, restoring the primacy of Scripture, and bringing to light the Word of God , ‘ Verbum Dei’, the Gospel of salvation by Grace alone, through Faith alone and on account of Christ alone.
While the Roman Catholics would denounce the Protestants as a revolt against the godly authority, a rejection of orthodoxy that channelled millions of souls away from the gates of hell.
This year, however, is different, and not simply because the anniversary marks a nice round 500 years.
But, because we don’t think as did some of our ignorant ancestors thought it noble to say that somebody’s theology is defective. Both churches held to the ideology, “Your theology is wrong and only ours is right”.
Similar to the days when both the UNP and SLFP politicians said “Our democratic policy is correct and yours is not.” The Good Governance seems to have changed this to some extent, and so have the bitter lessons of the past brought these two opponents closer to this 500th Anniversary of the Reformation.
e.g:The Lutherans and Roman Church’s 30 year war 1521-1551- in Germany, 10 Million dead
But the latter has of late tended to highlight less the theological errors introduced with the Reformation. Needless to say, Protestants and Catholics have had a rocky ‘Adi Pudi’ past. At present, Pope Francis himself has said, “Lutherans, Catholics and Protestants and all of us agree on the doctrine of justification. On this point, which is very important, he [Luther] did not err.”
The Roman Church has been extremely silent and applied both hand brakes and foot brakes on what we heard a few decades ago “ Extra Ecclesia Nulle Salve” ( Outside the Church there is no Salvation.) Broadly speaking, the tone and music have definitely changed.
“Let’s get together yeh yeh yeh” and “We are one in Spirit. We are one in the Lord and They will know we are Christians”.
Ref: Historian Tertulian 171 AD “See how the Christians love one another” said the Greeks and the Romans.
At St. Catherine’s Catholic Church, Ontario, Canada, on certain Sundays of the month the preacher is a Lutheran Minister. In 1987, when I said a Sunday Mass on warship, ‘Deutscheland’, I did not know that the one who concelebrated with me , Chap. Rolf, was a Lutheran Chaplain. After the service 3 German sailors objected to what had taken place. I personally don’t think there would be such objections in the future.
If the Reformation did not take place would there be only one church all these 500 years? After the Reformation we see that even though Luther did not intend to cause any division the inevitable took place, not just a division into 2 but into 4,6,8 etc.
The Lutherans were followed by the Zwinglians, Calvinists, Knoxian, Westminstrians, Weslians, Concordians, Carians and more recently the Charismatics.
The Bible Society reported that there are over 500 divisions in Sri Lanka alone.
These divisions were not like the atomic divisions right to subatomic parts and quarts. But, on a policy in which each founder stated “My interpretation is right and yours isn’t“. Who is now going to take the blame?
Attorney St. Augustine, AD 354-AD 431, appearing for his clients in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and in the unwritten jargon of his locality was an intellectual giant who was not only able to dig deep into the Biblical works of Attorney St Paul but also able to comprehend its profound teachings, and being a master lawyer was efficient in systematically classifying them into theological volumes for his students.
Attorney Martin Luther (1483-1546), 1,500 years later entering an Augustinian Monastery in Wittenberg Germany confronted these volumes, and being an intellectual giant like his founder St Augustine went a step further by simplifying these volumes into a Systematic Catechism for the simple folk in Germany. So, this is how the simple people for the first time got to understand what God had said, till then it remained only with the high ups.
Today, pastors jump at the idea to come to the east to bank their big western salaries, $ 10,000 or $ 20,000, here and live like kings owing to the massive exchange rate and keep praising God for Augustinian Luther’s Doctrine of Predestination that has gifted them luxurious lives here on earth even before going to heaven.
This is an evil of the Reformation when one glances at how penniless St Joseph Vaz and Jerome Gonzalvez went about this island. Some foreign Protestant missionaries however as authentic Christians do reach out to poor Sri Lankans keeping them free from starvation and poverty.
Attorney Augustine the master is a Doctor of the Church to the Roman Catholics while Attorney Martin Luther, his student, is the hero to the Protestants. May this 500th Anniversary of the Reformation reduce the gap between us Christians year by year towards unity, we pray. Amen.
Chap. R R W F. Pereira imiUK. OBU SJC.
Former Chaplain to the British Royal Navy, Port of Colombo