As if there were no ecumenism at all, the followers of the mother argue with the followers of one of her daughters about the “correct doctrine”. The flagship of one is the falsely declared “sola scriptura”, the other a very dubious unity.
Inhalt / Content
Annoying disputes
The disputes between the Catholic Church and one of the Protestant churches continue today as if the mutual rapprochement did not even exist. However, these confrontations occur more at the level of the good churchgoers and less at the level of the church leadership in the respective hierarchical structures. Protestants mainly accuse the Catholic Church of traditional peculiarities, such as praying to, with and for the dead and keeping pictures, figures and “lucky charms”. In particular, the almost deification of Mary, who should definitely have a divinity according to the countless “intercessions” addressed to her at the same time, is a thorn in the side of the Protestants.
On the other hand, the “defenders of the Catholic faith” like to emphasize the unity of their church that has been achieved for many centuries, while the number of Protestant denominations is between 35,000 and 60,000. This is also proof that only the priesthood, primarily the bishop, has the authority to be able and allowed to interpret the Bible. This in the light of the Catholic catechism.
If everyone comes along and simply tries to interpret the Bible themselves, the visible result is fragmentation into tens of thousands of different churches and communities. In addition, the church stands above the authority of the Bible, because it ultimately has divine authority based on the succession of the apostles with the pope as the heir of the “first pope” Peter.
Actually only shadow fighting
It is clear that the word has not yet spread among the “quarrelers” on either side that actual Protestantism, i.e. the proclaimed protest, is long dead. Pretty much everything that Luther, Zwingli, Tyndale and Co. set up has long since been torn down by the former Protestant churches. (Info).
This applies not only to the renunciation of protest against the countless traditions of the Catholic Church that are far removed from the Bible, but also to the Bible’s own once discovered truths. The large Protestant churches in particular (e.g. EKD) have long since separated themselves from the Gospel and are only abusing the Word of God to maintain their downright hypocrisy.
Correcting the distorted worldview a little
The self-praised unity of the Catholic Church only applies to the Roman Catholic institution. However, there has been no global (ecumenical) unity since 1054. In that year the “Eastern Schism” was completed. A separation between the Western Church (Rome) and the Eastern Church (Constantinople). One of the main reasons for the disputes that had been going on for centuries up to that point was the claim of the Bishop of Rome to be the undisputed head of the church for all regions of the world.
This went completely against the grain for the churches in the East (Orthodox), since the claim to primacy had been lost when Emperor Constantine moved the seat of government of imperial Rome from Rome to Constantinople in the first half of the 4th century. Where the emperor is, the seat of the church is also, so the motto goes. The Bishop of Rome and his followers, however, had a different opinion. The claim to leadership was further strengthened when the last emperor with influence in Rome, Romulus Augustulus, abdicated in 476, thus bringing an apparent end to the Western Roman Empire.
However, there was no political vacuum, because the Bishop of Rome recognized the opportunity. He won the affection of the Frankish king Clovis, who had been created by the collapse of the Merovingian Empire in the West. Clovis converted to Catholicism and willingly made his military strength available to provide the Pope with active support in fulfilling his geopolitical wishes.
Papacy seized absolute power
Within a few decades, the Vandals, Heruli and Ostrogoths were scattered or removed from the face of the earth. Their princes were not prepared to recognize the authority of the Bishop of Rome, let alone submit to him. After all, the Ostrogoths were not only on Rome’s doorstep, but also had both feet in it as conquerors. In 538, the last resistance of the Ostrogoths was broken and the Pope (Vigilius) had a free hand. The beginning of the so-called Dark Ages in human history.
In accordance with the Roman Emperor’s undivided claim to absoluteness, the Pope also understood his position as a figure worthy of worship and an absolute primate. The Roman Catholic Church is nothing other than the continuation of the ancient empire, with the Pope as quasi-emperor, with only the religion of Christianity added on board.
Emperor Constantine had already ensured this fusion between Christianity and the Roman Mithras cult (sun god worship) with his titles “Pontifex Maximus” and “Sol Invictus” by setting the “Day of the Lord” on the first day of the week (Sunday). However, the “Lord” was and is a completely different person than the one described in the Bible. (Info).
The unity within the Roman Catholic Church, which its soldiers of faith like to emphasize, was achieved using simple means. The gospel was withheld from people and even forbidden to own it. The official language of the church, including during sermons, was Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. The people, as well as the majority of priests, had little to no idea what the truth of the gospel actually looked like.
The Roman Church taught its own (pagan) traditions, taught people that they were hopelessly lost if they rejected the “divine authority” of the church. “Violations” did not go without sanctions. With excommunication, the “removed” person not only believed himself to be lost and a candidate for eternal torment in hell, but was also finally removed from his existence very quickly after pain and torture.
Hypocritical mercy
The Church of Rome officially states that it does not want to force pagans to convert to the Catholic faith through interventions. However, it is constantly concerned about its unity and therefore cannot tolerate any forces of division. Right and proper for justifying real military campaigns, especially against those of other faiths who do not follow the Roman Catholic catechism. This was reminiscent of declaring the overturning of a milk bucket on the island of Sylt to be a threat to the internal security of the USA and therefore initiating military intervention.
Thomas Aquinas – No forced belief
The “supremely holy church philosopher” and explicit enthusiast of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, described clearly in his famous work “Summa theologicae” in the second half of the 13th century how to deal with the “apostates of the Catholic faith” and the splitters of unity.
“There are some unbelievers, such as the Gentiles and the Hebrews, who have never accepted the Christian faith. These should not be forced to believe under any circumstances… Believers may be prevented by reasonable force from interfering with the faith by blasphemy or evil inducements or open persecution. For this reason Christians often wage war against unbelievers, not to force them to believe, but to prevent them from interfering with the Christian faith. But there are also other unbelievers, such as heretics and all apostates, who once accepted and professed the faith. These should be compelled, even by physical force, to perform what they have promised and to keep what they once accepted.“
Thomas Aquinas – Dealing with heretics
Thomas Aquinas explains how to deal with heretics in his work in the chapter “Secunda Pars Secundae Partis, Quaestio 11”. One thesis presented is that heretics must be tolerated, since according to 2 Timothy 2 the servant of God should be gentle, even if the other person should resist the truth. If heretics are even handed over to death, they are deprived of the opportunity to repent.
However, Aquinas had a completely different attitude to this:
“I answer: with regard to heretics, something must be taken into account on the part of the heretics and something on the part of the Church. On the part of the heretics is their sin, by virtue of which they deserve not only to be excluded from the Church, but also to depart from the world through death. […] But on the part of the Church there is mercy, so that heretics may convert. And therefore she does not condemn them immediately, but “after the first and second rebuke.” But afterwards, if the obstinacy continues and the Church can no longer hope for conversion, she takes care of the salvation of the souls of others, separates “the heretical man” from the Church and leaves him to the civil court to be separated from the world through death..“
Unity without choice
The explicit “mercy” of the Roman Church thus consists in granting the declared heretic two chances to convert, i.e. to return to Catholicism, before he is handed over to the state for killing.
The perfidious thing is that practically every single citizen in the catchment area of Rome was a Catholic, since he had no other choice due to his own baptism as an infant. A different view was therefore automatically a heresy. “Once a Catholic, always a Catholic”, after all, through baptism one went from being a human being to being a person of the Church with all rights and duties. This only changed with the Reformation in the 16th century.
The Inquisition, founded at the beginning of the 13th century and promoted with particularly thorough intensity in Spain from 1478 onwards, also fulfilled the task of preserving the “unity of the Church” very effectively. An unprecedented brutality that still exists today (namely now “Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith”), which gave the distinction of being called the “Dark Ages”.
A diabolical system
The Inquisition lived primarily through denunciation and commission. A contemporary who did not like his neighbor could easily get rid of him by reporting a “suspicion of heresy.” The Inquisition equated guilt with suspicion. The accused thus had to prove that he was innocent.
This was not exactly easy, however, due to the “physical treatment” used to extract “confessions.” The informant was able to enjoy a commission that came from the accused’s assets confiscated by the church. The accused’s relatives had to cover the costs of torture, imprisonment and guards. There were actual bills of costs, listed according to the methods used.
A devilish system, applied by the Roman Catholic Church, “in the name of Jesus” and unity. Any “defender of the faith” of this unspeakable institution, which is still active today and whose character has never changed, should therefore at least reflect a little on history.
Who knows exactly what character people, who were serfs through and through, were in the 13th and 14th centuries. The law of God, written into the mind and heart with the New Covenant, certainly caused a bad conscience in the event of wrongdoing, in order to recognize serious offenses as such. The Inquisition was a well-oiled machine, but also dependent on people’s behavior. Was the Magdalene flood (1342), which is surprisingly little known today, and the plague (1347 to 1353), which arrived just a few years later and killed around a third of the population of Europe, a response to this?
The scapegoat was ready
The Jews were seen as scapegoats for the “Black Death”. Not only were they quick to pin some misfortune on Jewish believers, but above all because the Jews were noticeably less affected by the plague than the vast majority. This automatically declared them “poisoners of the wells”. What the plague couldn’t do, the cruel persecutors did.
The reason why Jews were less affected by the plague is easy to explain today. They adhered to the provisions of the Torah (the law books of Moses) and the purity laws contained therein. There was a huge difference between the provisions found in the Bible today and the general hygiene measures of the time.
But even then the driving force behind the great disaster was the Church of Rome. After all, this institution, which only looked Christian, declared itself to be the “Body of Christ” and the Pope to be the physical representative of Jesus, even his earthly embodiment. (Info). The so-called unity emphasized by many of its church supporters has as its foundation only a rotten wooden plank, floating on a bloodbath of unknown depth to this day.
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Jude 1:11
Bible verses from King James Version (1611)
