{"id":186,"date":"2017-09-10T23:27:54","date_gmt":"2017-09-10T23:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=186"},"modified":"2017-09-10T23:31:09","modified_gmt":"2017-09-10T23:31:09","slug":"whoops-reformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hwwchurch.org.uk\/wordpress\/2017\/09\/10\/whoops-reformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Whoops! Reformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five hundred years ago, an Augustinian monk called Martin Luther decided to start a debate about some of the things he thought were wrong with the Roman Catholic church.\u00a0 In an act which was pretty much the 16th century’s equivalent of writing an “open letter to the Times”, on 31st October 1517, he pinned a paper to the church door in Wittenberg where he was a lecturer at the university.\u00a0 It had 95 bullet points.<\/p>\n

Some of these points were connected with allegations of corruption in the church.\u00a0 So far, so unremarkable – lots of people of the day were complaining about this.\u00a0 However, in his studies in the book of Romans, Luther had discovered something altogether more radical – “sinners are not loved because they are attractive: they are attractive because they are loved.”<\/p>\n

Luther’s discovery changed his circumstances.\u00a0 Instantly, he found himself out of favour with the church authorities including the Pope.\u00a0 (You can imagine how popular he was when he later declared that Scripture had authority over the Pope – not the other way round.)\u00a0 But at the same time, speaking of the truth he had unearthed in the Bible, he said, “Here, I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.”<\/p>\n

His thinking went on to change the world.\u00a0 Over the century which followed, others picked up his ideas and developed them further, rediscovering truths of the Christian faith that had been buried over time.\u00a0 A reformation of the church had begun, and neither the religious nor the political landscape of Europe would ever be the same again.<\/p>\n

\"\"Theologians of the Reformation articulated five key truths at the heart of the Christian faith.\u00a0 These are known as the “Five Solas” of the Reformation (or in English, the “Five Alones”).<\/p>\n