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Showing posts with label Martin Luther. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martin Luther. Show all posts

July 6, 2016

As the Muslim community celebrates Eid al-Fitr - it's also almost 500 years since Martin Luther's Reformation

While the Muslim community celebrates Eid al-Fitr, also known as Eid ul-Fitr or Eid celebration that marks the end of Ramadan (a holy month of fasting observed by Muslims) - it is also almost 500 years ago since Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation revolutionized the former dogmatic, legalistic Christian thinking;

One of the greatest achievements of the Reformation movement was that it brought forward the need for "educated faith"

As Martin Luther would have said:"You can now ask questions. You can be critical about the church. You yourself can read the Bible and sharpen your own conscience". Maybe, as we wish our Muslim brothers and Sisters a Şeker Bayramı, we also pray for them that they will be blessed in finding their own Martin Luther.

Almere-Digest

February 25, 2015

Turkey gets first Christian TV station: by Julia A. Seymour

For the first time, millions of people in Turkey watching government-regulated satellite television will be able to find Christian programming.

Shows created by SAT-7 TÜRK, a satellite TV ministry reaching the Middle East and North Africa, began broadcasting on Turkey’s most-watched satellite, Türksat 4A, in recent weeks, Mission Network News announced. The new channel airs dramas, documentaries, and worship programs, as well as content for women and youth. 

“We are overwhelmed and truly believe it is a miracle that we can finally broadcast on Türksat,” SAT-7 Executive Director Melih Ekener said in a press release. Ekener also said the company had been hoping and praying satellite access since 2006, when it began airing SAT-7 ARABIC.

Note EU-Digest: As Christian TV Comes to Turkey, Martin Luther the great Christian reformer from the 1500's, who modernized Christianity and broke away from the hardline Orthodox Vatican Catholic Church, did away with Latin "only" being spoken from the Pulpit (which no one could understand}, fought for women's rights and abolished celibacy for nuns and priests, comes to mind.

Martin Luther made many profound statements. On what we would today consider freedom of speech he said: "If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.” On faith he said::“We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” .

Turkey today is a Muslim Nation, but 100 years ago Turkey’s Christian minority made up 25 to 30 percent of the population, this has now dwindled to between 100,000 and 200,000 believers, mostly from the Syrian, Greek, Russian, and Armenian Orthodox traditions. 

Christians around the world hope and pray that this first Christian TV station in Turkey will not only reflect truly modern biblical interpretation and teaching, but also inspire their Muslim Brothers and Sisters to follow Martin Luther's footsteps in seeking refreshing non violent ways to also modernize Islam and may God bless them in these efforts.

Read more: WORLD | Turkey gets first Christian TV station | Julia A. Seymour | Feb. 23, 2015

January 11, 2015

Paris Terrorist Attack – Muslims need to find their own Martin Luther – by RM

Islam needs a Martin Luther
Several observations can be made following the latest Paris terrorist attack. a

a) There is a struggle going on for power in the Islamic community between three major radical groups, including: Al-Qaeda , ISIS, Boco Haram, and these terrorist attacks are now mainly “side shows” by these different factions to demonstrate the capabilities of their organizations around the world. In essence all these factions want to turn back the clock to feudal times where there was Sharia law, women had no rights what-so-ever, and corporal punishment, including beheadings, was the rule of the day

b) Muslims living in Western Communities at large, of which more than 80% have never read the Qur'an, are getting more and more frustrated being labeled Muslim and associated with terrorism, consequently they are leaving the Islam religion in droves.

More and more intellectual and Western educated Muslims are calling for a Muslim version of Martin Luther, whose 16th-century movement in Christianity, known as the Protestant Reformation rejected several teachings and practices of the Catholic Church, which were very similar to present day Muslim Sharia laws.

The Catholic doctrine at that time also called for nations to be Catholic theocracies.

Martin Luther in his writings denounced that the Pope was in fact the de-facto representative of God on earth and also noted that celabacy requirements for priests and nuns were unnatural and even married a nun, Katharina von Bora on June 13, 1525

His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication and condemnation as an an outlaw by the Roman Emperor who put a price on his life – dead or alive.

An interesting side-note about Martin Luther's life is that during the wars between the Ottoman Empire and (Habsburg) later the Austrian Empire Martin Luther was actively urging Emperor Charles V and the German people to fight a secular war against the Turks at the battle of Vienna in 1529. He made clear, however, that the spiritual war against an alien faith was separate, to be waged through prayer and repentance and not by bloodshed.

In 1542, Luther read a Latin translation of the Qur'an He went on to produce several critical pamphlets on Islam, which he called "Mohammedanism" or "the Turk". Though Luther saw the Muslim faith as a tool of the devil, he was indifferent to its practice: "Let the Turk believe and live as he will, just as one lets the papacy and other false Christians live." He also opposed banning the publication of the Qur'an, wanting it exposed to scrutiny instead.

Martin Luther died on 18 February 1546 (aged 62) of a stroke in Eisleben, Saxony, the present Germany.

The Catholics are still around, and so is the Pope, but they have lost most of the iron grip they once held over Governments and peoples lives back in the 16th century. thanks to revolutionary theologians like Martin Luther, and other Protestant Christians.

The Catholic Church. which during the past ten years has been losing members in large numbers recently elected a more “PR” oriented Pope at the helm of their Church.

And it must be said that since coming to power Pope Francis has been doing his best to project a more friendly and benevolent face of the Vatican.

Unfortunately, regardless of all the crowd pleasing statements made by Pope Francis, the Catholic church still remains a closed secret cult, with little transparency and continued global aspirations of power.

D) Concluding, however, one should be optimistic and note that despite the increased violence and unrest around the world - with “fanaticism, religious tensions, terrorism, extremism, corporate greed” - being the headlines of the day, something very positive is happening. One can only call this “united people spiritual power ”. Yes indeed a people's revolution is in the making.

People are not accepting everything and anything they are told at face value anymore, be it from Government, religious leaders, political leaders, pundits, the press. Instead, they are relying on one of our greatest human assets, the inner spiritual soul, which tells us what is right and wrong, and acting on this accordingly, without fear of reprisals.

We can see this movement slowly taking hold at demonstrations around the world. Specially following horrific events involving accidents, acts of terrorism. political and economic unrest and natural calamities.

People, no matter what their color, creed or faith, are coming together as one in expressing grief and best of all solidarity.

Yes indeed behind every cloud there is a silver lining and the best is still to come.