What Martin Luther Can Teach Us About Conscience

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The “95 Theses” were written in 1517 by a German cleric and theology lecturer named Martin Luther. His fundamental ideas ignited an eventual split up from the church and led to the Protestant Reformation. He conceived the “95 Theses” to express his concern with the corruption in the place of adoration. His Theses crucially called for a full restructure of the church member place of adoration and disputed other scholars to contention with him on activities of position of adoration standard. Luther handed out his “95 Theses” absolutely identifying that he faced excommunication and even death for arguing the culture and convictions of the location of adoration constituent location of adoration. To do so was suggested heresy against God. In January of 1521, Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther and called upon him to battle back his convictions before the Holy Roman Emperor at an Imperial Diet in Worms. When the Diet took place that April, Luther, did not stroll into Worms a careless man. On the first day he was so anxious his words could scarcely be understood. Luther had cause to be agitated, for there were plans to banish Luther from the country (or worse) if he did not recant his beliefs. The interrogation was no short undertaking, but by the end Luther had gathered his bravery, completing with these well renowned words: “My conscience is captive to the saying of God. therefore I will not and will not recant, for going against my conscience is neither defended neither salutary. I can do no other, here I stand, God help me. Amen.”
On May 26, 1521, the emperor rendered his conclusion. Luther was to be put under “ban and two times ban.” The Edict of Worms ordered the men and women of the empire “not to take the aforementioned Mart...

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...lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit.”
• 2 Corinthians 1:12a “For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience.
• 2 Timothy 1:3 “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience.”
• Hebrews 13:18 “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.”
The conscience was not the final judge and jury in matters of the heart, but it is one of the most significant observers to convey to the stand. Conscience-as the faculty within human beings that assesses what is right and what is wrong-is meant to be, as the Puritans put it, “God’s spy and man’s overseer.” It is our prosecuting attorney, conveying up infringements and making guiltyAnd just as importantly, the conscience is our defense attorney, helping us face false accusations and slanders of the evil one (Rom. 2:14-15).

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