Happy Reformation Day!

Disclaimer: If you haven't guessed already, this is a tribute to Martin Luther. If you don't like my opinions, either don't read or disagree respectfully and with facts. Let's not restart the Thirty Years' War in my comments section.


The 31^st of October usually evokes jack-o-lanterns, free candy, and all things that go bump in the night. Few remember October 31^st as the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses onto the door of Wittenberg Castle Church. Most choose to ignore today’s religious significance because of its seeming irrelevance or potential to surface old wounds. Yet to deny Reformation Day is to deny one’s own history, and we can all learn from the blunders that led to this historic revolution.

To fully appreciate Martin Luther’s contribution, it is necessary to understand the state of the Catholic Church in 1517. Corruption was rampant in the Vatican Curia, the governing body of the Catholic Church, and few exemplified this better than the Pope at the time, Leo X. Leo X was quoted as saying to his brother that “Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it.” And enjoy it he did. To maintain power, Leo X resorted to nepotism and assassinated cardinals who disagreed with him. He also poured Vatican funds into grand boar hunts, numerous artistic commissions, and his (failed) campaigns against Spain and France to establish a central Italian kingdom. Rome paid a heavy price in blood and treasure, and Rome’s treasure, however large, could not last forever. The Vatican did not have enough money to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Pope decided to incentivize private donors by offering indulgences.

An indulgence is “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven” (Catholic Catechism). According to the Catechism, repentance is a necessary prerequisite of earning an indulgence, and now indulgences were earned on the basis of wealth. If you were rich enough, you could earn forgiveness without changing your ways. That could potentially cause problems. Despite the assertions of fundamentalist Bible-thumpers, the Pope was probably not trying to sell salvation (indulgences do not even deal with eternal forgiveness), but as Catholic Encyclopedia explained, “it is easy to see how abuses crept in”.

Luther’s 95 Theses exposed this corruption and thus rendered the universal Church a great service. Nobody likes getting called out, however, and the Pope’s dim view of Luther (“a drunken German who would soon be sober”) meant that events only went downhill from there. The Reformation soon became a Revolution, and Luther, with a heavy heart, was excommunicated by the Pope and forced to flee from Papal-controlled territory. Thus begins the split between Protestants and Catholics.

But the Catholic Church is not the only Christian group guilty of mismanaging their funds. Protestant megachurches in particular struggle to discern the difference between promoting the community and promoting themselves. Financial management, whether they be due to an excess or lack of money, is a real struggle for all churches. Reformation Day should be a time for all churches, both Protestant and Catholic, to consider whether their expenses benefit the ministry and if their practices truly honor the name of Christ.

But in practice, all you need to do is to remember that Halloween day is more than jack-o-lanterns, candy, or monsters. Whether you trick or treat, hold a house party, or go to Halloween alternatives (Come out to GLOW Sarang kids!), stay safe, honor God, and have fun. Happy Reformation Day!