Saints & Martyrs: Part 3
So, you’ll notice from this series that I LOVE old stories of heroes of the faith that have gone before us. One of my all time favorite saints (that those in the Catholic faith would disagree on as a saint) is Martin Luther. The reason the Catholics would disagree on him is because he started a reformation that upset the whole order of the system. First, he broke off from the Catholics. Then, he took marriage back and put it in the hands of the church. Finally, he actually started a whole church group that he has no idea he started!
If we go back to the very beginning, we see a young priest named Martin Luther. He started to see inconsistencies between the Bible and what the Catholic church was doing. When Luther was in the Catholic church, it was basically the whole Christian church of the world. The Catholics were basically charging people for the forgiveness of sins and collecting the money. Luther noticed that, and many other things, were wrong in the church. One day he made a list called “The 95 Theses” and hung it on the Catholic church door (follow the link to read them in more detail). That moment was the hammer heard around the world. One man’s act split Christianity out of the Catholic church - and into what we would now call the “Protestant” church (anyone that’s not Catholic).
During this time, he also noticed there weren’t a lot of strong, Godly marriages. Why? Because all the strong men and women of faith became priests and nuns! Martin Luther began to help rescue nuns and return them to their family or find them a spouse. However, there was a woman named Katharina who was so spunky and vivacious, all the husbands kept backing out on him. She finally said she would only get married if she married Luther himself! He proclaimed that God had called him uniquely to singleness. Then, one day, he showed up and said he would marry Katharina. It is said that his marriage helped bring marriage back to it’s original place - the church. During this time, the government was more in charge because of the whole priest and nun thing. Luther’s marriage was known for Katharina’s theological knowledge, partnership, and the ways they ministered from their home together. He even wrote some papers about the holiness of caring for kids!
In today’s society, you will see all over the place churches that are known as “Lutheran”. These are churches that require children to read Luther’s Catechism and their beliefs come from his beliefs. I went to a Lutheran college for my undergraduate. However, I am not Lutheran. One of the things that is sad to me is how much Luther gets misunderstood or overlooked today. This isn’t a dissection of the Lutheran faith or a commentary on it.
Personally, I feel the man Martin Luther and the amazing things he accomplished have become overlooked and bogged down by the Lutheran church. Whether or not you are Lutheran, Luther was one man who left one of the biggest impacts on this earth outside of Bible times. If you are a part of any church that is not Catholic, Luther is part of it’s roots. That’s an incredible impact to have. I hope that if God calls me to do something as crazy as Luther did, I would be willing to step out in that kind of faith. In one moment, he stepped out against the entire church and government culture. That effect lives on today.