You wrote:
“Actually, it does. The great corruption of the Catholic church from its inception as a government body in the time of Constantine, through the middle ages led to rebellion against the Church, not against G-d.”
You are presenting anti-Catholic myths as if they were historical realities. The Catholic Church was never a “government body” at the time of Constantine for instance. Constantine, in fact, persecuted the Church after originally favoring it. In any case, he did not control it nor was it part of the government. Like others who peddle the nonsense you’re posting you probably also believe that Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Nope. That happened more than 40 years after Constantine died. Suddenly your myths vanish.
“With work, the Church eventually reformed, and now provides one (of many) paths to G-d and virtue.”
Christ says there is but one path. And there is but one Church.
“The church does its best work when it has competitors who are virtuous and holy, and thus competition is for the most virtuous. By contrast, if rebellion was not permitted, well, G-d gave us minds to permit us to question.”
Holiness is not about competition. It is about obedience to God and Church and cooperation with God’s grace. You are consumerizing Christianity.
““I doubt, therefore I think” as Descartes said.”
Descartes is not my God. If he is yours, then you have chosen poorly.
The Church says there is one path, the Church. That self serving twaddle almost need not be refuted.
Christ said “Noone comes to the Father but through Me” But Protestants also worship G-d, and count on Christ for the redemption of sin, so they do come to the Father through Christ.
When priests sin, that properly reflects on the Church who trains and employs them. Judge a tree by its fruit. Get the beam out of your own eye before you try to remove the mote from anothers.
The problem is Christ did not intend to create a NEW “church”. Judaism was to be modified via the new revelations and it was expected there would simply be a continuation of Judaism, not a rift that would leave the “Hebrews” separate.
And as far as I know, there was no organized church for decades; maybe centuries.
That said, I have huge respect for Catholics. Sometimes I think I defend it so much people think I’m really a patsy for it. But I cannot let certain statements from Catholics fly by; hence my reply.