The Reformation

Faith Requires Skepticism

Rick TryonLeave a comment

Question everything. Faith requires a healthy dose of skepticism about everything we think we know.

Wait, faith requires skepticism?

Of course it does. Our Heavenly Father commands us to love Him with all of our hearts, souls, and minds. Did you get that last one? Minds.

God wants us to ask questions, examine His wonders, and search the Scriptures seeking truth. That requires an inquisitive mind.

The most dangerous aspect of the doctrines of men is that they are usually close enough to biblical truth that they fool even the most sincere and honest among the faithful.

Some of those doctrines of men are so convoluted and confusing that they present stumbling blocks to those outside the faith and sometimes cause the faithful to abandon the faith.

We should faithfully seek to understand God’s truths about His nature, His creation, and His will for His people, even if that means challenging long‑held doctrines and theologies that were devised and propagated by religious folks for their own benefit — or for the purposes of the principalities and powers behind them.

Remember who the enemies of our Lord were? The religious leaders of his time and culture who had perverted and changed the Word of God into the doctrines of men.

Remember the lesson of the Reformation? Churchianity was challenged, and the centuries‑old religious status quo was called to task — salvation by grace, not ceremonies and dead works.

Bible Rebel will be asking questions and challenging assumptions here. We believe it’s high time for a New Reformation, or at least a fresh look at the old wine in the old wineskins.

Every Wednesday we will be raising some important questions about commonly held doctrines and assumptions within modern Churchianity.

Stay tuned.

They Said It: Quotes About Luther And The Reformation

Rick TryonLeave a comment

Introducing a new regular feature from Bible Rebel – They Said It, highlighting quotes from various folks on various topics of interest and relevance to our readers.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German writer and statesman):

“The Reformation was a great act of emancipation by which man was restored to himself. Luther’s discovery of the Bible opened the door to the modern age.”

Thomas Carlyle (Scottish historian and essayist):

“Luther was the great Reformer, the man who alone could challenge the power of Rome and shatter the spiritual bondage of the age. His words were half-battles.”

Will Durant (American historian, The Story of Civilization):

“Martin Luther was the most powerful man of his century. He freed half of Europe from papal rule and gave birth to Protestantism, which would reshape the Western world.”