Author: ReligiousLiberty.TV

John 15:13 comes to mind when I contemplate the courage that Martin Luther exhibited the day he nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg door.  It reads, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Martin’s personal freedom of conscience was directly tied to helping others understand and obtain Biblical freedom of thought, belief and decision.  In so doing, he was putting his own life on the line.

In the near future, when persecution again returns, those who persevere in faith for the Lord and for others, just like Luther, will without doubt be persecuted.  Matthew 10:17, 21-23 reads in part to “be careful of men; for they will deliver you to be scourged…brother will deliver up his own brother to death, and father his son; and children will rise up against their parents and put them to death…and you will be hated by everybody because of My name.”

Finally in John 15:14-15, Jesus lays it all on the line when He calls each of us His friends.  To properly recognize Luther, one needs to see the amazing and clear message, that he was willing to pay the ultimate price to defend freedom of conscience!

Eric R. Youngberg, BA International Policy Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies, 1988

Texts from George M. Lamsa’s Translation from the Aramaic of the Peshitta

History enlightens us that freedom is a difficult state to achieve and equally difficult to retain. Our current Political/social and Religious struggles remind us of this fact. While there are many in varying religious organizations who shudder at the name Martin Luther, there are also millions who celebrate. The reason I celebrate is because Luther is one of the extreme champions in a long series of names who laid his life on the line to establish the freedom we currently enjoy. The cost of this freedom is currently not obvious to many and as a result, we live in a very divided nation. I would like to remind all of the unbelievable price of human suffering that has been paid to gain both Political/social and Religious freedom in our nation.

In1381 the English Peasants Revolted and demanded the abolition of feudal obligations (serfdom). While their revolt failed, their demand was a tremendous expression of courage which questioned the strict bounds of their political/social society.

Luther accomplished the same thing in the Religious realm he challenged the Religious hierarchy. The result of these and many other challenges ultimately resulted in the separation of Church and State and the Bill of rights. For all who question the heroism of those mentioned above, none of them were “politically correct” and Luther was on the “death list.”  The enigma is that today we have freedom. However, there is a rising generation who reject the “grassroots” which make freedom ring.

C. Norman Farley, Ph.D. is a retired Seventh-day Adventist pastor. A graduate of the University of Southern Maine in Portland, ME, Atlantic Union College in So. Lancaster, MA, Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI, and received a doctoral degree from the California Graduate School of Theology in Glendale, CA. His interest in Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience dates back to his Business/Pre-Law education at the University of Maine.

Historians and theologians will debate Luther until the end of time.  He remains controversial – think only of his views on the Jewish people or his justification of the brutal treatment of the peasants’ uprising.  But make no mistake his posting of the Theses set off a chain of events that continue to affect us.  Luther’s most dangerous idea – I agree with Alister McGrath – is that of individual freedom in religious matters.  Not a new idea.  Arguably, individual freedom existed since the time of Adam and Eve – each was responsible for their own personal actions and the consequences of such.  But the social, political and economic pressures that existed at the time of Luther found their powder keg on the door of the Wittenberg Church.  The Theses was the ignition that set in motion unstoppable change.

Religion matters.  What we believe about the fundamental pre-suppositions of life guides our whole approach to life.  If we believe that our salvation is dependent upon our relationship to God then we need no intercessor but Christ.  While the church edifies and has its role for communal living it does not, cannot, be the determiner of our salvation.  These were radical concepts in 1517.  They also found their parallel in economics – individual freedom to pursue business, and in politics – one person one vote.

Rationalism matters.  Many will note that human rationalism has played a negative role in the Luther legacy.  The ability to rationalize is human.  Both Adam and Eve rationalized their fatal mistakes as the fault of someone else – including God!  Individual freedom is used to rationalize the rejection of any personal responsibility.  No one is willing to be another’s keeper – not even our brother, or sister.  We have become individual absolutists – to the point of narcissism.  That was never Luther’s plan or desire.  For Luther, the religious community still had a very important role to play in taming the innate push to radical autonomy.  But modernity has forgotten that aspect of Luther

Making sense of Luther and his dangerous idea remains a legacy that we have to grapple with – at what point do we put a bridle on the individual?  What is the place of the religious community?  What is the place of secular state authority?  These questions have to be answered for every succeeding generation.

The basic legacy remains:  we all have an opportunity to take advantage of our freedom to think, believe and act on our beliefs for the betterment of our relationship with God and with our fellow human beings.

Barry Bussey, Esq. serves as general counsel to the Canadian Counsel of Christian Charities, interpreting legal and regulatory environments and representing the Christian charitable sector to the wider Canadian society. Barry has earned advanced degrees in political science (MA, Memorial University of Newfoundland) and law (LLM, Osgoode Hall Law School). He is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his work to support religious liberty in Canada and abroad.

Martin Luther’s Reformation has had a profound impact on the modern world, not just the religious world but also in the secular world. It was not intended to be more than a call to reform the Church, but it has turned out to be a ringing bell of freedom for everyone. Today we are not bound by a particular way of thinking. We have the freedom to question or criticize the status quo. We have human rights that were not expected a half-millenium ago. We have the freedom to ask hard questions in science which people were either afraid to ask, or didn’t even think to ask, five hundred years ago because the Church reserved the right to have the final word in science and oppressed those who thought for themselves. So we have the industrial and scientific and technological revolutions that have changed our world in so many ways. We have separation of church and state in so many places, where freedom of religion is equivalent to freedom of speech and the right to assemble and to vote one’s conscience. We even have the right to abuse these freedoms within certain bounds, so long as we do not infringe on the rights of others. The Bible is no longer an unread book, kept away from the people and reserved only for the clergy, but every person can access and interpret God’s word for themselves, to a large extent in their own language. It is the most widely read book in the world and is at the heart of culture for many people. Our world would not be the same were it not for Luther’s Reformation. This is especially true in the United States of America.

Edwin Reynolds, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament Studies and Biblical Languages and Graduate Program Coordinator for Religion, Southern Adventist University

“The Martin Luther Experience” implications exist throughout recorded history.  Control of humans is incomplete unless it controls beliefs related to an afterlife.  In recent history Evolutionary Theory for many includes “You only go around once in life so get all the gusto you can.” Historically,  dictatorship-links between government and one or more religious systems were used to try and gain complete control.  The Martin Luther Experience demonstrates an awakening to this control issue.

When Martin Luther lived the Catholic Church via the Pope told people what acts or payments were needed to assure a heavenly afterlife versus the experience of an eternal hell. When Martin Luther had an awakening experience as he was going up a Vatican stairway on his knees, He got up and walked away. His intellectual and emotional struggle led to the posting of the 95 Thesis on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517.  The link  http://www.uncommon-travel-germany.com/95-theses.html includes a succinct summary of the Martin Luther’s posting under three headings:

1. Selling indulgences to finance the building of St. Peter’s is wrong.
2. The pope has no power over Purgatory.
3. Buying indulgences gives people a false sense of security and endangers their salvation.

What are the implications of this historical event today? There are still many countries where governments and religion collaborate for control of the now and the hereafter. In Christendom, there are more than 30,000 denominations that seem to use “Getting Your Doctrines Right” as a condition for salvation control. This is then used to generate financial support and forms of control. Taken to the extreme this seems paradoxical to the “True to Conscience Concept” found in Romans 2: 12-16 and Jeremiah 31:31-34.

In Matthew 18:1-5 when the disciples ask Jesus who will be greatest in heaven He puts a child in their midst and states: ” 3 and “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.”

• Robert D. Moon