As I travel through time and throughout Europe, I have seen lots of progress and developments made in many countries over the years; humanism, the Renaissance era, and now it’s into the Reformation time period. I do have sad news though, Thomas More was executed by King Henry VIII on Tower Hill a few months ago, I was so saddened by the news. I wasn’t too fond of the unrest between the two influential men.
Anyways, through this reformation time period, I have learned about two very significant “Reformers.” One who I thought was related to our Martin Luther King, however, I learned that his name was just inspired by this 1500s Martin Luther. Martin Luther is referred to as the Father of Protestant Reformation. Luther is a very devoted Roman Catholic Monk and a Professor of theology. Luther is currently visiting Rome where he is appalled by the conditions of living; he saw poverty, prostitution and corruption in and out of the Church. This is not how he expected or wanted to see Rome, home of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. In addition, the Pope was implementing a corrupt practice of ‘Sales of Indulgences.’ Essentially, the ‘Sales of Indulgences’ was a way for the Church to regain followers that it had lost from Renaissance thinkers and artists. A person would purchase a Sales of Indulgences certificate to save you from going to hell; so no matter what you did you “would” go to Heaven. Now I know that this is just a huge scam, but unfortunately, Italy is so corrupt from the Renaissance, that people will believe anything the Pope tells them. Luther was so disgusted with the Pope’s actions and now manipulative he has been to his people. Luther went back to his home town and publicly condemned the Pope. He would preach the Bible to show how corrupt the Pope is. Also, he claims that the Bible is a higher authority than the Church, which began the Protestant Reformation. Luther is the movement of the Reformation, he is the movement of tomorrow. In addition, I have been informed that Luther has developed the first ever colloquial language Bible, written in German. This represents a huge revolution in Christianity. This is such a huge revolution for two reasons. One, because it takes away a lot of the power from the Pope. And two, the German people can now read the Bible in their own language so they can begin to learn Christianity for themselves and question information that has been presented by the Pope. Martin Luther is truly the Father of Protestant Reformers!
Another significant man I have had the opportunity to get to know in Europe is John Calvin. Calvin is extremely similar to Martin Luther in values and beliefs. They both believe in the corruption of the Catholic Church and how the Church needs a reformation. However, Calvin had more of an expansive view than Luther on Protestantism. Luther believes in pre-destination, pre-destined to be saved not damned. However, Calvin believes that you can be pre-destined to be damned. He argues that your life is an indication of your ultimate fate. Calvin developed a much harsher and stricter code of Lutheranism; he expanded Lutheranism to create a new sector of Christianity called Calvinism. Calvin is determined to make people live a very simple life. Also, he is very much in favour of uniting his Calvinist state and the Church, therefore he is a supporter in theocracy of uniting the Church and the State. Despite Luther and Calvin’s differences, both men are huge contributions to the Protestant Reformation!
These men are very influential to me as a Christian believer!
Anyways, through this reformation time period, I have learned about two very significant “Reformers.” One who I thought was related to our Martin Luther King, however, I learned that his name was just inspired by this 1500s Martin Luther. Martin Luther is referred to as the Father of Protestant Reformation. Luther is a very devoted Roman Catholic Monk and a Professor of theology. Luther is currently visiting Rome where he is appalled by the conditions of living; he saw poverty, prostitution and corruption in and out of the Church. This is not how he expected or wanted to see Rome, home of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. In addition, the Pope was implementing a corrupt practice of ‘Sales of Indulgences.’ Essentially, the ‘Sales of Indulgences’ was a way for the Church to regain followers that it had lost from Renaissance thinkers and artists. A person would purchase a Sales of Indulgences certificate to save you from going to hell; so no matter what you did you “would” go to Heaven. Now I know that this is just a huge scam, but unfortunately, Italy is so corrupt from the Renaissance, that people will believe anything the Pope tells them. Luther was so disgusted with the Pope’s actions and now manipulative he has been to his people. Luther went back to his home town and publicly condemned the Pope. He would preach the Bible to show how corrupt the Pope is. Also, he claims that the Bible is a higher authority than the Church, which began the Protestant Reformation. Luther is the movement of the Reformation, he is the movement of tomorrow. In addition, I have been informed that Luther has developed the first ever colloquial language Bible, written in German. This represents a huge revolution in Christianity. This is such a huge revolution for two reasons. One, because it takes away a lot of the power from the Pope. And two, the German people can now read the Bible in their own language so they can begin to learn Christianity for themselves and question information that has been presented by the Pope. Martin Luther is truly the Father of Protestant Reformers!
Another significant man I have had the opportunity to get to know in Europe is John Calvin. Calvin is extremely similar to Martin Luther in values and beliefs. They both believe in the corruption of the Catholic Church and how the Church needs a reformation. However, Calvin had more of an expansive view than Luther on Protestantism. Luther believes in pre-destination, pre-destined to be saved not damned. However, Calvin believes that you can be pre-destined to be damned. He argues that your life is an indication of your ultimate fate. Calvin developed a much harsher and stricter code of Lutheranism; he expanded Lutheranism to create a new sector of Christianity called Calvinism. Calvin is determined to make people live a very simple life. Also, he is very much in favour of uniting his Calvinist state and the Church, therefore he is a supporter in theocracy of uniting the Church and the State. Despite Luther and Calvin’s differences, both men are huge contributions to the Protestant Reformation!
These men are very influential to me as a Christian believer!
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