Summary Of Martin Luther 95 Thesis

St Peter's Basilica is what you can have when you lie to your congregation & imply they can buy their way out of suffering & into salvation. ‪#‎indulgences

Summary Of Martin Luther 95 Thesis

In the revolutionary Martin Luther 95 Thesis, he raised many points. We can make the following summary of his Thesis.

1. Establishes what true repentance is.
2. Establishes the limits of the Pope’s power and will, i.e., as vicar of Christ
3. Canons of Church apply only to the living, cannot extend into purgatory
4. Indulgences must not go beyond the right and just powers of the Pope, which is to declare what God has done, so that they deceive the people
5. The powers of clergy lie in intercession, which is ultimately dependent upon the will of God
6. The certainty of contrition or salvation lies outside of men themselves and with God alone
7. No man is better than another; all benefits of Christ are granted by God alone
8. The indulgent nature of indulgences most often renders them contrary to true repentance; i.e. dulls the conscience
9. Only a very few can rightly distinguish between indulgence(s) and true contrition
10. Service and mercy are above indulgences; works of love improve a man but indulgences promote manipulative behavior
11. A person’s money is better spent than on many indulgences
12. St. Peter’s, or money spent on the Church, is worth less than prayers for the Pope himself or the very flesh and bone of the people
13. Indulgences should not have too great an importance attached to them, especially compared to the Word and the Gospel.
14. Indulgences should not be a matter reserved merely for the clergy, but the people ought to be privy to the accounts as well.
15. The first shall be last, and the last, first
16. The gospel fishes for men, but indulgences fish for wealth
17. Indulgences have their rightful place; i.e., there is apostolic precedent to preaching pardon in Christ
18. To assert that the Pope has power to remit sin is to blaspheme the Pope himself
19. The Pope’s graces come from God via spiritual gifting
20. If grace is free to all, then it ought not be limited to those who purchase indulgences
21. Let’s not make money off of prayers for the dead – they’re past the point of intercession
22. Why doesn’t the Pope use his own wealth, which is substantial, to build St. Peter’s?
23. Remittance of sin by the Pope is redundant
24. These questions are serious and deserve the attention of and reply from the Pope.

The Blind Witness: sent to wash, sent to witness - John 9 notes

The Blind Witness John 9

                  Opening quote – “My graces languish, my corruptions rage, my faith is weak, my devotion is cold, yet all of these are reasons why His healing hand should be laid upon me.”     C. H. Spurgeon. 

                  I mentioned this last time but the way I see it structured…John is stressing 7 miracles prior to the death & resurrection that he believes will convince you that Jesus is not only the promised Messiah but also God Himself clothed in flesh & walking among us.

In John’s argument we’re on miracles # 6 of 7

#1 Turning water to wine, Ch 2

#2 the healing of the official’s son, Ch 4

#3 the healing at the pool of Bethesda, Ch 5

#4 the multiplication of the bread & fish ch 6

#5 is 2 fold: Walking on water & the calming of the storm ch 6

#6 healing of a man born blind ch 9

# 7 raising Lazarus from the dead ch 11

Q#1 – Have you ever felt like your current life experience was punishment from God? 

9:2-8 Who sinned? – Many Jews then like Christians today thought there was a direct link between one’s sins & temporal misfortune. Job’s friend in the OT comes to this same  assumption: Job must be the worst sinner in the land, because he’s the most grievously afflicted person in the land.

Read: Luke 13:1-5 “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ² And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Q#2 – Give me some valid reasons for affliction?

God can punish for particular sins,

General sin of the fallen world effects our lives,

God allows troubles to refine us, to teach us to be dependent on Him

Afflicted to be healed – in the providence of God, afflicted with blindness so God could 1            day heal him & receive the glory

9:3 Some of our sufferings like Job’s trials are for God’s glory, either through our resulting refinement or eventual healing. God’s purpose in any event is not always immediately clear but we’ve been told His purpose is good, Romans 8:28 

Q #3 – Why did Jesus use spit & mud, isn’t that gross?

9:6 Spit on the ground & mud cakes are not for there particular medicinal benefits but for opportunity the man to show his faith in action by washing when he was told to wash – means = Baptism & Lord’s Supper. **Also Siloam = Sent, like Apostle, sent to wash, sent to witness

9:12 Man moves on his path of faith – he goes from not knowing much to vs. 17 calling Jesus a prophet, to vs. 35-38 faith Jesus is Son of God, these steps illustrate what John wants for his readers (Read John 20:31 – the point of John’s Gospel)  

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Q #4 – Was it right for Jesus to heal on Saturday (Sabbath)?

Read Exodus 20:9-10 (ESV)

⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

Exodus 31:12-17

The Sabbath expanded:  ¹² And the Lord said to Moses, ¹³ “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. ¹⁴ You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵ Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. ¹⁶ Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. ¹⁷ It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

9:16 Sabbath work vs. Sabbath gift, instead of being grateful for the supernatural work of God’s grace the Pharisees haggle about observance of Sabbath guidelines. Not one of the actions Jesus performs: spitting, applying mud, going as far as Siloam, washing face, healing blind man are directly forbidden by the law. Instead of questioning their own traditional understanding of the law they reject Jesus & his ministry even though they know he’s from God because of his ability to heal.

There was a wide array of reactions to the miracle:

Some believed in Him & glorified God when they saw His signs, others refused to accept the miracles substantiated His claim to be the Son of God & other skeptics doubted the miracles themselves as tricks

OT law had nothing in it regarding the things Jesus did, however to protect the Sabbath law itself the Jews had listed 39 types of work to avoid on the Sabbath & 1 included kneading dough to make bread, so they may have concluded Jesus broke the Sabbath because he kneaded spit & dust into clay, the Pharisees ignored the fact God gave Sabbath to man for a rest (Mark 2:27), & ignored the Lord of the Sabbath saying its good to do good on the Sabbath

(maybe section) 9:18-34 Pharisees verify the disease & ultimately the miracles by questioning man’s parents. The additional investigation Pharisees don’t learn more but judge harsher Jesus is a sinner, we don’t know if he is from God or not & excommunicate a man who irritates them.

The man’s parents sadly are not profoundly grateful to their sons healer but are fearful of being excommunicated from the synagogue by Pharisees as saying Jesus is a real miraculous healer, is the same as saying Jesus is the Messiah 

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9:39-41 Epilogue – impact of his coming those who falsely imagine they have special insight into God become blind opponents of God’s ways & those lowly & seem to be without insight are lead to faith by the Spirit opening their eyes to who Christ is

9:39 Until the 2^nd coming of Christ this is still the age of redemption where the dead in sin & blind to truth are illuminated & raised to newness of life.

“This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”― Martin Luther

Albert Einstein quote

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a Holy curiosity." - Albert Einstein

Mahatma Gandhi quote

"An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching." - Mahatma Gandhi

While no means a moralist, I do wish I were a better example to friends & family of living a self-sacrificial life.