All Hallows Eve, and the Reformation

From beliefnet.com

What we call “Halloween” has origin in an ancient Celtic festival to remember the dead called “Samhain.” By the 800s the Celts had become Christian and they “converted” their pagan celebration into a Christian holy day honoring those who had had died and now continued their life in heaven. They called this new synthesized celebration All-hallowmas or All-hallows, meaning All Saints. The night before – the old Samhain – began to be called All-hallows-eve, then finally Halloween.

From ancient times, pagan and Christian, this day commemorates the memory of those who have died. Death of course is a universal human experience, both dealing with the passing of those we love and finally with our own final demise.

From ancient times, pagan and Christian, this day commemorates the memory of those who have died. Death of course is a universal human experience, both dealing with the passing of those we love and finally with our own final demise. Read more at:

The Reformation is also celebrated on October 31st.

In the 16th century — a time before even Bach and Beethoven — an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther, in reading the Scriptures, discovered that indulgences, and acts of penance did not contribute at all to a soul’s salvation or status with God. Most of Luther’s writings affirmed ancient Christian (i.e. catholic, “universal”) beliefs. But Roman Catholics follow the bishop of Rome, known today as the Pope. At the time of the Reformation, Roman Catholic clergy considered Luther’s affirmation of Biblical truth – Grace alone, Scripture alone, faith alone – to be anathema (that is, it would send one to hell) to the Faith.

The name “Lutheran” was coined, because Roman Catholics would connect those they thought were heretics to their teachings: so being called a Lutheran in the middle ages was signaling allegiance to Luther’s “heresy”: that only grace by faith led to being right with God (justified), as opposed to paying money (indulgences) or saying extra prayers (acts of penance).

In the middle ages, printing allowed mass communication for the first time.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses (belief statements) to the church doors, so that many people could see them (even if some couldn’t read them). To prevent Luther from being persecuted like his predecessors who affirmed grace by faith (Jan Huss for example), God used Gutenberg’s printing press to spread Luther’s rediscovery of the Gospel throughout Europe.

Today, there are three major Lutheran synods (assemblies of Lutheran churches that choose to walk together): the ELCA, the LCMS and the WELS.

Many of the European state-founded Lutheran churches, especially in Scandinavia, are now sadly only philosophical – they rarely even mention God. However, the Lutheran perspective of Christianity remains strong in parts of the US, and has taken deep root in African and Asian countries.