Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Letter to the editor - Oct. 7

Protests can bring meaningful change

Thank God for protesters. Regardless of one’s views concerning the recent high-visibility protests, students of history will know that Martin Luther found it necessary to post his own protest.

Five hundred years ago this October, the Roman Catholic priest and Augustinian monk protested the populist message that a few coins donated to the St. Peter’s Basilica building fund in Rome could secure the release of one’s dead relatives from the tortures of purgatory.

For Luther, the issue at stake was the loss of Jesus Christ. Salvation was not up for sale and certainly impossible apart from faith in Christ. His 95 Theses were a catalyst toward reformation in the Christian Church.

In a sense, all people need reformation. Sinners need reformation from evil, and that includes sinners in today’s churches who are aware of their failings. Burdened by a guilty conscience, I knew that my best efforts to keep God’s Law fell short and contained hypocrisy, sinful thoughts and failure.

For a while, I subscribed to a try-harder, pseudo-Christianity. Then, I began to read translations of Martin Luther’s works. Luther led me to a personal reformation by showing me that the law of God never saves.

Law keeps order and shows our need for salvation. God’s law was intended to lead sinners like me to the Savior Jesus Christ.

Luther helped me to distinguish between the law and the Gospel good news. Luther also helped me to understand the difference between teaching a performance-based, moralistic religion and preaching the authentic, gracious Christ Jesus who came to save people from their sins.

I urge your readers who are sensitive to a heavy conscience to have their own personal reformation this month and, like Luther, rediscover the authentic salvation through complete trust in Jesus.

Samuel Walsh

Clovis