Snapshot: (Un)Happy Reformation Day! (#148)

Snapshot: (Un)HappyReformation Day

[00:00:00] Intro

If you ache for truth, goodness, and beauty, If you're hungry for a Christianity with substance and strength, if you long for a faith that's big and bold and biblical and all about Jesus Christ, if you're inspired by the idea of one church that has spanned twenty centuries, twenty four time zones, and two hemispheres, enfolding every race, nation, and language, then you're considering Catholicism.

Greg

Well, welcome back to the podcast. I just wanted to record a quick snapshot today because it's, well, it's not just Halloween, which of course for Catholics is the eve of All Saints Day, but for Protestants, it's Reformation Day, which means that my Facebook [00:01:00] timeline is filled with my former colleagues telling each other, "Happy Reformation Day!"

Now, I used to feel that way. I was proud of our Protestant heritage. I was, proud to stand up for scripture alone. I was, proud to stand for conscience based on scripture alone. You know, there's this famous quote of Martin Luther when he was on trial. I think it was before Charles the fifth and Protestants, especially Lutherans, but Protestants love this quote where Luther being tried for heresy and whatnot, stands and raises his finger or raises his fist and says, "Unless I am convinced by scripture and plain reason, because I do not accept the authority of popes, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe, so [00:02:00] help me God! Amen". 

Now, in the Protestant imagination, this whole thing about Luther saying that in his trial is this magnificent vision of Of a man of faith standing alone with his Bible against corrupt effeminate Catholic bishops and cardinals and popes somewhere down in Italy, you know, living in palaces decorated with frescoes of naked people and scenes from Roman mythology, and they're all drinking wine and counting their ill gotten money and dressed in lace and dallying with their concubines or buggering their altar boys or whatever.

And it's this, this sort of Reformation inspirational image of manly virtue, you know, the, the heroic Germanic warrior with a Bible instead of a battleaxe against those lying perverts in their Italian [00:03:00] palaces who had corrupted the true faith. And this is how Protestants imagine this day and imagine what it was all about.

I had this pastor friend, he was a kind of a semi famous Christian author and he liked to do this thing when he was in front of an audience where he would hold up his well worn leather study Bible and, you know, in his right hand and say, "This is my Bible. It is my only sure guide. It is my sword of truth, my defense and my comfort. With it, I will stand. With it I can face everything. Nothing can turn me aside as long as I have my Bible for all the days of my life." And then the, everybody in the audience would go, Oh, and you know, they'd all swoon because it's sort of called the mind, the old Testament prophets, you know, armed only with the word of God calling out the corrupt kings of [00:04:00] Israel. And in their mind, the Reformation gave birth to this sort of glorious new world in which every English plowboy could read God's word for himself and not need some sleazy Italian or Spanish Catholic priest to manipulate him. And, you know, all of this is the imagery and the propaganda that the reformers themselves used to denigrate and defame the Catholic Church and position themselves as heroes of the faith. And they've been doing it for 500 years. 

But, as I considered Catholicism and then I converted and came into the church, I realized how wrong I had been about all of this.

So three quick thoughts for Reformation Day. 

First, the Reformers weren't reformers, they were schismatics who sought to shatter the Body of Christ. Were there abuses to be called out? [00:05:00] For sure. In fact, at the time of Luther, it was a troubled chapter in the life of the church and it badly needed some reforms. But did Luther and Calvin seek to reform the Church? Because earlier saints like Catherine of Siena or Francis of Assisi sought to reform the Church. No, see, Luther and Calvin weren't reformers of the Church, they weren't like Old Testament prophets armed with God's word calling out the kings of Israel, because the prophets in the Old Testament never sought to overturn Israel and set up a new kingdom on their own authority. Which is what Luther and Calvin did. Luther and Calvin didn't heal the Church. They set up their own churches. Thousands of them. Each subject to their own abuses and corruptions. 

 The reformers premise to found a new church based [00:06:00] only on each person's private interpretation of scripture, divorced from apostolic tradition, brought the chaos of Protestantism. Which has played out over the last 500 years. The priesthood of all believers, one of their most precious concepts, has meant endless division. In which none of them can agree on anything and it's brought us to the chaos in Christianity today with tens of thousands of denominations and independent churches that can't agree on anything of substance, even the most fundamental doctrinal, sacramental, biblical or moral issues. Protestantism is, built on sand because it's foundational principles, what are called the five solas, are basically theologically and logically unstable. So if you want to hear more about that, we did a whole episode. It was episode 67. It's called "Cracking the Protestant [00:07:00] Worldview," episode 67, "Cracking the Protestant Worldview." I walk through these five solas and why the five solas of the Reformation don't hold water. 

Okay, so third quick thought. You know, Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruits. So, let's look at what the Reformation has wrought. The Reformation destroyed Christendom, or at least shattered it. It's brought endless division. It's played out in moral chaos. It opened the door for the modern shedding of the Christian mind and worldview. And really, as we face 21st century forces of nihilism and moral anarchy and the new paganism, Protestantism in its end stages offers no unified or compelling answer except individual private consciences based on private interpretations of scripture, which in this century and the forces that are right against us is really no [00:08:00] answer from Christendom at all.

So in conclusion, no, I don't celebrate Happy Reformation Day anymore.

In keeping with today being All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, or the Vigil of All Saints Day, I prefer to celebrate all of the saints down through the ages who lived and died in the faith of Holy Mother Church, and who intercede for us before the Beatific Vision of the Holy Trinity.

So, Happy All Saints Day!

Outro

Thank you for listening. My name is Greg Smith, and if you've enjoyed this podcast, would you please hit the like and subscribe buttons wherever you get your podcasts, and please share it with others. And if you're curious about the Catholic worldview and faith, the church and its saints, or Catholic history, culture, and art, then visit consideringcatholicism. com and email me to let me know what you think.[00:09:00]