"Can you explain why this conference is called the "Reformation OC Conference?" Reformation to me means the movement that started when Martin Luther protested certain practices of Roman Catholicism back in the 1500's. So I don't understand the conference's title or its purpose.
I heard that there is a big apologetics conference being held at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa the last weekend of October. It's too bad that these two events are happening on the same weekend.
Thanks,"
Thanks for writing...,Your statement is true about a period of time called, The Reformation. A lot of movements spiraled off the actions begun by Martin Luther.
The broadest movement captured the convictions of rejecting how the Roman Catholic Church had depended so heavily upon the Latin translation of the Bible by Jerome and the traditions and dogmas of the church that could not be supported by substantive scriptural reference. This movement wanted to return to reading the original languages of the Bible (Hebrew and Greek, primarily), and wanted to remove all traditions not expressly taught in the Scriptures.
From this broad movement came a stream of theological reflection that became set apart from other groups (such as the Anabaptists), and rallied to the cries of, "The Bible alone is sufficient to teach us that salvation is of grace alone, by faith alone, on account of Christ alone to the glory of God alone." These 5 "Solas" became the standard for "Reformed Theology." This is the theology that summarizes what our church* believes, and like most churches, we claim it to be the theology expressed in scripture and by the early church.
While the original foil for the Reformation was the Roman Catholic Church, it is a Reformed contention that we always NEED reforming because we tend to fall back into our old ways of actually avoiding the truths of God's word by replacing them with human and cultural ideas and traditions. And this is sort of the point of the conference.
A lot of people today are becoming intrigued with Reformation Theology again because they are wondering if their own churches are faithfully teaching God's word, or simply entertaining, or pushing a political agenda, or ignoring difficult doctrines, etc. Further, Reformation Theology not only directs us in how we worship God in church, but also how we worship God in all of life! Many people today are interested in learning how the Reformation of Martin Luther's day can still be applied to the church and culture today.
Calling the conference, "Reformation OC" is entirely related to how internet search engines link people to websites. For example, one person who found us told us that he typed the word, "reformation theology" in a search engine, and our website popped up first!
The purpose of our conference is to gather everyone interested in this perspective and allow them the opportunity to interact with our very gifted speakers (AND, to introduce them to churches* like ours!)
Yes, this is a busy time of year -- just after everyone gets into their Fall routine and just before the winter holidays. We chose this weekend because Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on October 31, 1517. So we plan to have all our future conferences on the last weekend of October.
I love apologetics!! And I'm sorry to step on another conference for sure... In fact, and it could just be me; but I think our conference will be better for people ;o) I can explain why in more detail later! AND, I'll send you a link to the Apologetics.com show I did just this past weekend on the Reformation to give you an idea of what our conference is going to discuss in detail (it will be posted soon!)
Thanks again,
* See "Looking for a Church" tab on this website
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