On our Facebook page last week, I asked this question:

What do YOU think of when you think of October 31st? What is the first thing that comes to mind and what is the significance of that day for you? How do you celebrate/participate in or not, etc. October 31st?

I recieved a small range of comments. Someone commented that they chose not to celebrate Halloween. Someone else commented that Halloween is when their family decorates for Christmas (what a planner!) One woman commented that she enjoys it as a fun holiday, and makes sure to pray for protection from evil.

People have different views on Halloween- but October 31st has another significance: Reformation Day!

Reformation Day is a day to remember when Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Catholic church. The 95 Theses challenged the Catholic church’s teachings on several issues.

First, it challenged their teaching on baptism and that it is a necessary part of salvation. It also challenged absolution, the practice of one confessing his sins to a priest and the priest than assigning a penance for the confessor to perform so that he could be forgiven. Another major teaching Luther challenged was indulgences. After a person had confessed his sin, paid his penance and been absolved, he had the option to pay an indulgence, which was commonly used to lessen a penance. This was one of the major point with which Martin Luther disagreed with the Catholic church. The practice in itself doesn’t seem particularly sound to me in the first place, and on top of that, the Church was allegedly abusing the practice.

Without diving deeply into all of the above issues and more, I think you can easily see why this is a day for celebration. Here are some verses you might find encouraging:

1. Rom. 3:28-30, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. ²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.”
2. Rom. 4:5, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness,”
3. Rom. 5:1, “therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

To sum it all up? I hope that you will take time to thank God for Christ’s death on the cross, which provides the simple way to salvation.

Here is a helpful link that specifies the 95 Theses: http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/history/95theses.htm

The 95 Theses