So Much About So Little
This thought came to me while I was watching Luther for the 100th time. Here it is: “We know so much about so little.”
Martin Luther at the beginning of the movie is in a crisis of spiritual identity and has come to a crossroad in his faith. He can’t comprehend the God that he has been taught to believe in. In the movie Martin had performed (and botched) a religious ceremony.
Later he was sent as an ambassador to Rome. On his return he was so disillusioned by his experiences there that his friend and mentor became very concerned. During their subsequent discussion his mentor asked a surprising question. He asked him if he had ever read the New Testament scriptures, Martin’s answer was equally surprising, no he hadn’t. He knew so much about the doctrines, concepts and theories of his religion and yet nothing about the scripture or the Savior it was supposedly based on.
Is it important to know doctrine?
Absolutely, Biblical doctrine is the skeletal system of the body of Christ. I must make a distinction here, though, because there is a difference between religious doctrine and Biblical doctrine.
We must ask the questions, “Does the world know Christ more because of us and our rigid adherence to our philosophies and traditions?
Just like there has to be people who stand up against the mafia and risk everything there must come a revival of men and women willing to risk everything to declare the passion of Christ. What I mean by everything in this sense is their political or social standing in their religious organization.
In the words of Luther:
“We obsess...over relics, indulgences, pilgrimages to holy places. Yet all the time, all the time, there is Christ. Christ. Christ, here... in every corner, in every hour of the day.
He isn't found in the bones of (dead) saints... but here, in your love for each other, in your love for one another... in sacraments, and in God's holy word. If we, if we live the word, by faith... in love and service to one another, we need fear no man's judgment.”
He was speaking as a 16th Century Catholic priest to mostly ignorant peasants and yet he very well could have been standing today speaking to people who have begun to obsess over our own relics, indulgences and pilgrimages to holy places.
