rifice a child based on faith proved Abraham’s holiness in God’s eye. It is the purpose of the scriptures to promote faith in God, and to instill a sense of obedience to the God.I (and professor Twesigye) have stated before that the scriptures form a foundation for faith, however it can also be said that faith forms the basis for the very same scriptures. It was Luther who realized this in 1517 when he challenged that one did not need a leader such as the pope to instill faith. Instead, Luther claimed that all a man needed was his bible, his wits and his God. According to Luther man was a sinful creature, a fallen imago dei from God’s Garden of Eden. The only way to make it back to this paradise is in a process called the Justification, or Salvation. And, according to Protestantism, the only way to achieve this goal is to take up a bible and have faith in the Lords teachings. Luther stressed the state of original sin, that all men are born sinful due to Adam’s corruption in the Garden. “Death alone shall free us” from sin, and the only way to make up for our fallibility is by professing our faith onto our savior.There have been debates for centuries, countless lives have been lost, and wars have been fought to see which side, Protestant or Catholic is the more righteous. Why is it so important that Catholics denounce Luther’s teachings, and why is it so important that only faith can save us? Faith is so important to us on so many levels, that it was only natural for Luther to adopt his Sola Fide philosophy. Faith is the positive orientation to life and its mysteries, therefore we need a divine being to entrust our faith to, in order to understand our surroundings. Since we are mortal and finite creatures, we will never be able to understand what goes on around us, and this is why we need a God to enlighten us. God appears for us as a redeemer, fulfiller and savior, and we can only be...
