“I’ll agree that the Reformation was an imperfect start.”
Its end is no better either: atheism, communism, hedonism, skepticism, utilitarianism, totalitarianism.
“I’ll agree that the Reformation was an imperfect start.”
Its end is no better either: atheism, communism, hedonism, skepticism, utilitarianism, totalitarianism.
.............
Yeah I’ve seen catholics on other forums make this charge. While a satisfying charge to make—it doesn’t properly connect cause and effect. The cause for the ugly stuff above is a by product of the scientific revolution—which began in with the introduction of greek ideas by way of the Renaissance. The principal Greek idea here is that “Man is the Measure of all things.” This — taken to its logical conclusion — would include God. Naturally if you can measure God, then he is not God. If he is not God—then all the laws and structures related to him are built on fantasies. Therefor you get all the ugly stuff above. etc.
St Paul’s most spectacular failure was in his serman on Mars Hill in Athens to Greek Epicureans and Stoics. Why? because he tried to fit his words into the the architecture of Greek Philosophical thinking. Which began with the premise. “Man is the measure of all things.”
By contrast—Jewish/Christian theology begins with the premise that God is the measure of all things.
The shorthand here is that that philsophy is man centered bottoms up reasoning whereas theology is God Centered top down reasoning. Confuse the two and there’s hell to pay.
Yup, these are surely worst than...
Pope Stephen VI (896–897), who had his predecessor Pope Formosus exhumed, tried, de-fingered, briefly reburied, and thrown in the Tiber.[1]
Pope John XII (955–964), who gave land to a mistress, murdered several people, and was killed by a man who caught him in bed with his wife.
Pope Benedict IX (1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048), who "sold" the Papacy
Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303), who is lampooned in Dante's Divine Comedy
Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), who complained that he did not hear enough screaming when Cardinals who had conspired against him were tortured.[2]
Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), a Borgia, who was guilty of nepotism and whose unattended corpse swelled until it could barely fit in a coffin.[3]
Pope Leo X (1513–1521), a spendthrift member of the Medici family who once spent 1/7 of his predecessors' reserves on a single ceremony[4]
Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), also a Medici, whose power-politicking with France, Spain, and Germany got Rome sacked.