
October 31, 1517 - Reformation Day - was remarkable day in history, and is still celebrated among Lutherans today. It is the day on which Martin Luther, a devout Catholic monk, posted the "95 Theses" - errors Luther found in church doctrine and practice that he wanted to bring to light, in hopes of returning the church toward the truth.
Luther’s belief that Scripture alone is the sole authority for doctrine enabled him to question the church. Scripture, he argued, said that Christ’s death fully satisfied the penalty of sin. The Bible states that a person is justified or “declared not guilty” of his sin by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. At the time, Luther had no intention of leaving the church he hoped to reform, but his commitment to the Scriptures as the sole authority branded him as a heretic and led to the splintering of the Christian Church at that time. Now instead of there being one Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church which broke away from the Catholic church some centuries earlier, Lutheran and other "Protestant" churches would appear as well.
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