Why You Should Care That Today Is Reformation Day

Geeks Under Grace would like to wish you a Happy Reformation Day!

Oh, you’ve never heard of “Reformation Day“? If you consider yourself a Protestant Christian, allow me to briefly explain the importance of today and why it should matter to you.

October 31st marks the anniversary of when Martin Luther (at the time a young Augustinian friar) in the year 1517 walked up to the doors of All Saints’ Church (also known as, Schlosskirche) in Wittenburg, Germany and pinned his now-famous document known as the Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences (or more commonly known as The 95 Theses). The purpose of this document was written and presented to the Catholic church as a refutation for the sale of “indulgences” (people were forced to pay money to the Catholic church to reduce the level of punishment for their sins here on earth).

Martin Luther found great fault in this due to the fact that the practice and teaching of this particular doctrine was being performed and taught in contradiction to the biblical principle that salvation and forgiveness of sins comes freely through Christ alone (John 3:16, 14:6; Matthew 19:25-26; Romans 10:9-18). This event in Christian history also allowed the reemergence of the doctrine of Sola scriptura, which presents the idea that the Holy Bible is the ultimate authority of the Christian church.

Martin Luther (along with many other figures of the Reformation that came before and after him) set into motion much of what we see in Protestant Christianity today. So when you go out there today and see someone dressed as Spurgeon or Calvin, make sure to  wish them a wonderful Reformation Day (oh, and a Happy Halloween as well).