mandolin
March 28th 2004, 10:38 PM
Various people in the ecclesiology section of T-web seem to have a drastic hatred towards the roman catholic church. They condemn modern day catholics based on the murderous actions of roman catholics 500 years ago. By saying stuff like "Roman Catholics killed the early protestants" they try to paint protestants as the victims and the RCC as the earthly dominion of Lucifer. While even if protestants were the innocent victims, and the RCC was the murderous bully, one does not have the right to condemn modern roman catholics for these actions.
Also, the perception of a perfectly innocent early protestantism seems to be a drastically flawed view. As the various protestant reforms spread in the 16th century so did persecution from all types. As the lutherans arose in germany and the prebyterians popped up off of Zwingli in switzerland, so came the radical "anabaptists".
The anabaptists were slaughtered by all sorts of sects for their "heresy". Their heresy: baptism of the believer. Because the anabaptists denied the practice of infant baptism, they were persecuted and killed by protestants and Roman Catholics alike. They were drowned and burned at the stake for their "heretical views". While the re-baptism was not the only of their "heretical teachings", it still stands that protestants were murderous as well. While not all protestantism was evil, either was all RC.
A protestant has no right to condemn Roman catoholics for their bloody history. While the protestant history may not be as bloody as that of the RCC, the words of Christ still hold true: "let he who is sinless cast the first stone."
Much like a person does not have the right to blame Americans today for the brutal slaughtering of native americans hundreds of years ago, much like the average white male of today cannot be blamed for being a slaveowner, we cannot blame the RCC of today for killing protestants so many years back.
Much like we cannot call Native americans today, or African Americans of todays culture "victims of the oppression of the murderous and slaveowning white man", we cannot call protestants of today victims of the murderous Roman Catholic church of 500 years ago.
Protestantism has a bloody history as well. While the RCC killed protstants, the protestants also killed eachother. If one is to ignorantly blame today's RC church for killing the early protestants, one must also blame today's protestants for doing the same.
All in all, christian history of all denominations is filled with corruption and murder. Perhaps this is why I do not even call myself a "christian". The connotations of this word is filled with hatred, condemnation, hypocrisy, and deceit.
Can we blame the problems in church history on the Catholics? Of course we can. As long as we throw away all the evidence that places equal blame on all corrupt christainity.
The disciples themselves did not always agree. We see instances in the books of acts where two revolutionary aposteld of Jesus seperated themselves from each other. While the two were seperated, I highly doubt that they questioned eachothers sanctification. I doubt they condemned eachother to hell as the childish protestants and catholics of today seem to do. While we have our differences, and while we disagree greatly on many things, I do not see a reason to condemn each other to hell because of the church affiliation that we join.
All christianity is corrupt and dispicable. Not just the RCC. Take the plank out of your own eye before you condemn your brother for the speck of dust in his.
Also, the perception of a perfectly innocent early protestantism seems to be a drastically flawed view. As the various protestant reforms spread in the 16th century so did persecution from all types. As the lutherans arose in germany and the prebyterians popped up off of Zwingli in switzerland, so came the radical "anabaptists".
The anabaptists were slaughtered by all sorts of sects for their "heresy". Their heresy: baptism of the believer. Because the anabaptists denied the practice of infant baptism, they were persecuted and killed by protestants and Roman Catholics alike. They were drowned and burned at the stake for their "heretical views". While the re-baptism was not the only of their "heretical teachings", it still stands that protestants were murderous as well. While not all protestantism was evil, either was all RC.
A protestant has no right to condemn Roman catoholics for their bloody history. While the protestant history may not be as bloody as that of the RCC, the words of Christ still hold true: "let he who is sinless cast the first stone."
Much like a person does not have the right to blame Americans today for the brutal slaughtering of native americans hundreds of years ago, much like the average white male of today cannot be blamed for being a slaveowner, we cannot blame the RCC of today for killing protestants so many years back.
Much like we cannot call Native americans today, or African Americans of todays culture "victims of the oppression of the murderous and slaveowning white man", we cannot call protestants of today victims of the murderous Roman Catholic church of 500 years ago.
Protestantism has a bloody history as well. While the RCC killed protstants, the protestants also killed eachother. If one is to ignorantly blame today's RC church for killing the early protestants, one must also blame today's protestants for doing the same.
All in all, christian history of all denominations is filled with corruption and murder. Perhaps this is why I do not even call myself a "christian". The connotations of this word is filled with hatred, condemnation, hypocrisy, and deceit.
Can we blame the problems in church history on the Catholics? Of course we can. As long as we throw away all the evidence that places equal blame on all corrupt christainity.
The disciples themselves did not always agree. We see instances in the books of acts where two revolutionary aposteld of Jesus seperated themselves from each other. While the two were seperated, I highly doubt that they questioned eachothers sanctification. I doubt they condemned eachother to hell as the childish protestants and catholics of today seem to do. While we have our differences, and while we disagree greatly on many things, I do not see a reason to condemn each other to hell because of the church affiliation that we join.
All christianity is corrupt and dispicable. Not just the RCC. Take the plank out of your own eye before you condemn your brother for the speck of dust in his.