From a Reformation Day sermon, as posted by Paul McCain:
The different ways people read God’s Word are not merely variations on a theme but radically different Gospels. The Reformation of Luther is not about competing interpretations but about the one Gospel which is true and others which are false. If you read St. Paul’s letters, you hear him warn the people against departing from the truth that He delivered to them. He was not offering one version of the truth but the only truth that saves — the truth of Jesus Christ. We face exactly the same challenge today.
Christianity is not the domain of differing but equally true ideas about God. Christianity is not some umbrella religion of many different truths that all claim to be right. Christianity is about the one, true Gospel that has the power to forgive, save, and give eternal life. The other gospels are false gospels that are powerless to do anything for you. Luther’s battle was not with a pope or a council but with a false gospel which had robbed the Church of the Word that does what it says, delivers what it promises, and bestows what it speaks.
Merry Christmas!
Exodus 20:5 from the co-opted testament:
Not from the Nice Testament, I know, but illustrative of the nature of revealed religion in that “We Know” because “We Know” and there will be hell to pay for those who don’t believe us.
Incidentally, I have downloaded and look forward to reading “The Mormon Bible.” I have a nook, now. It is interesting because the story of Joseph Smith and the seer stones illustrates the power of wanting to believe, even in incredulous things such as a resurrection to atone for sins I never committed.
Nicely put.
Amen!
Thanks very much, Alden!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
– Steve