(Again I am barely conscious. Enjoy the post, ignore the errors.)
The Comical Failure
Every time I see St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, I chuckle a little. It is an impressive building and one of the greatest pieces of architecture in the world; but as for the cost of its building … well, that’s so large, I think only God knows. You see in 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther posted 95 problems on the door of the local church. (Doors of churches were places where public announcements and such were placed.) He wrote them in Latin so that it would be a scholarly debate. The focus of the questions was on the sale of plenary indulgences. Though, it’s a bit confusing, these were documents sold so that people could get themselves or their loved ones out of afterlife punishment.[1] Now, selling indulgences to for Church projects was, alas, nothing new. However, Luther was one of the few to actually have challenged it. These particular indulgences were being sold so as to build … you guessed it … St. Peter’s. The outcome is the same one that has plagued faith and religion since the dawn of time. One person asks a question, this forces the powers that be to fight back, and the person positing the question looks deeper to find out if he or she is indeed right. Rome’s intransigence forced Luther to delve deep into scripture to understand his point of view. Rome could’ve saved face, most of Northern Europe, and several millions of members if it would’ve admitted it was wrong; but it couldn’t sacrifice its pride. It won the basilica in the end, but lost its way.
Indulgences were something I thought faded into the mists of history. I figured Rome had learned its lesson and quietly dismantled the foolish belief until an history professor brought in one that he had bought at a yard sale. This one was issued back in the 1950s. You see Roman Catholic dogma will not let things disappear. If the church were to err, than their entire religion would be in err. Protestants admit that their leaders are more right than wrong, but that these leaders were fallible humans just like any other schmuck. The Bishop of Rome however has a dilemma, when he puts on holy relics and sits on the throne of Peter, his word is gospel and infallible. Even if Rome did believe it was in err, it could not go back on itself because that would undermine everything it has become and is.
In every healthy relationship, a person must admit he or she is wrong. Spouses must apologize to spouses, children to parents, and even sometimes parents to children. The church is no different. Sometimes we humans get it wrong. A verse gets mistranslated, a belief was influenced by a culture and not scripture, or a pastor just flubbed big time. Church is a place for sinners to get together and get better; but who can get better when no one admits when they are wrong? After all, isn’t that the first step in AA; admitting you have a problem?
Well, indulgences are kept around, but with a wink and nod that they really don’t mean anything. I can sort of live with that. I would have an hard time living with Catholicism knowing that I was living with them; but as long as no one took them seriously, I guess I would be okay … sort of … a bit. Not anymore though. The Catholic Church is now beginning to move them closer to the forefront declares the New York Times or at least not be silent about them. Yes, this is a direct challenge to Protestants; much like a bully gloating over its own stupidity. Whatever the Catholic Church may contribute in understanding becomes severely diminished by high-handed declarations.
However the more disturbing problem is the cost this has for the psyche of average believer. Is God’s grace and love to be bought or is it freely given? The Smalcald Articles, written by Luther, puts it like this:
The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us ... Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).[45]
Our faith in God is not built with our works but with our faith. I would rather die for my faith than for my works. This was not something Luther and his protestant reformers created; it was in the scriptures all along waiting to be rediscovered. It feeds our egos to believe we can earn out way into heaven. If that were the case, than God is irrelevant and our own lives had better be the center. Yet how many Christians, Protestant as well as Catholic, believe that our works will earn us our salvation? How much stronger does this myth become when our churches reinforce it with bad teaching and bad examples?
Sin is still in the world, but the way to fight it is not with get out of jail free cards or new church dogma or strategies for growth. The way to fight sin is to rely on Christ to do what He said he would do, take the sin of the world onto Himself.
Luther’s war caused a schism in the church, but one that was desperately needed. It allowed for people to be found more easily by a God constantly reaching for them. Rome licked its wounds, but later moved closer and closer to the rest of the church.
It seems that today, however, it has chosen to go back to its old ways. The question is what new physical edifice will be erected as your spiritual edifice comes crashing down around your ears? What tangible monument to foolish pride will have been lifted up as you ignore the simple monument of a cross the promise made there that “your sins are forgiven?” Perhaps that failure isn’t comical at all.
[1] Actually it kind of goes like this: During the crusades, the popes said that anyone who fought the Muslims would go to heaven and get out purgatory. What’s purgatory you say? Purgatory is a place that doesn’t appear in scripture per se (and by per se, I mean not at all), but appears a lot in the tradition of the Catholic Church. It is a place where people are “purged” of their sins, hence the name purgatory. It is kind of a like refining someone so that you will be good enough to get into heaven. It isn’t pleasant apparently, because why else would people try and get out of it? However, not everyone was fit enough to go crusading, so the Roman Catholic Church said, “Okay, well, if you can’t go, we’ll take a donation that demonstrates your faith in the church. In return for this, we’ll send you the same piece of paper that crusaders are getting to get out of purgatory.” You can see the slippery slope. People left out thoughts of donations and justification, and focused only on the tit a tat viewing payment as a way to get out of punishment, and we know that’s not right!
1 comment:
Phil, you're a Lutheran to the core.
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