If it were not for the events that took place 490 years ago today, people would still be pouring their hard-earned money into church coffers, thinking that their money will bring them eternal salvation (OK, it still happens today. Only now they call it TBN.)
And while I appreciate what Martin Luther did, the fact that he struck the match that set off the Reformation was really an accident. When Luther penned his protests, he did not have the express purpose of leaving the Catholic Church. (In fact, many of the 95 theses were in support of unbiblical Catholic teachings, e.g. purgatory. See #9, 25, 38.) On the contrary, he wanted to simply "reform" it, and do away with the greed involved with the indulgences. It wasn't until later that he began to reject more of the Catholic church's teachings, and even then he didn't part ways on all points. For example, he still approved of infant baptism, something which is far from biblical.
That said, Luther is to be commended for taking the actions he took at the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg on October 31, 1517. And by standing up to Rome at the Diet of Worms, he inspired many across Europe to throw off the shackles of Catholicism, dig themselves out from under the hefty thumb of the Pope, and risk everything by searching the Scriptures for themselves. Thus they found that Rome had buried many truths, only telling people what they wanted the people to hear. (May I take this moment to recommend "The Bondage of the Will")
Happy Reformation Day!
