Posted on 10/05/2011 9:47:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Regards
I’m not so sure about that. I have read about the ChiComs redacting the Bible for the churches there.
Impressive! Welcome to 2000 years of Christianity!
I think the aspect of continuity and “the big picture” is probably one of the most wonderful things about being Catholic.
Best wishes...when will you be received?
Finally, once when my son and I were talking about the lack of a connection back to the Apostles, my son asked why we weren't Catholic. Of course, there isn't a really good answer to that question only shallow answers or emotional answers. Besides, he was always accusing me of sounding like the friars at his school, so, ... there really is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church but some of us are just dense and take a while to recognize that fact.
Regards
Newman wrote that to know history is to cease to be Protestant.
Luther was a bit obssessive, especially towards the end of his life (when he seems to have gone off the rails and was urging polygamy and all sorts of odd things), and while there were legitimate complaints against the Church of that time - or of any time, in fact - a lot of his rebellion against the Church was based on a desire to assure himself that he had been saved, which he did not seem to believe. I think this was more of a personal problem than anything else, and in fact, if he had read the Church fathers more or been better educated, he would probably have found words very similar to his own in them.
But Luther came along at a time of great unrest, when different forces were jockeying for power, and in many ways Luther or “Lutheranism” (although he had not originally intended to found his own sect) was something that was very useful to one or another of these forces. So his very personal concerns got caught up in the battle between the peasants, the rising merchant middle class, the nobles, and the royals, with each one trying to claim the Church as its own.
That said, the current Pope has been wonderful on dealing with this. He was very kind, respectful and inclusive, but he said that the theological differences must be discussed honestly. He gave a couple of excellent talks on this matter during his recent visit to Germany, his home country and that of Luther as well.
If you’re coming in before Easter, let us know (you can Freepmail me personally) so we can all rejoice for you!
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