Reformation
.
The Reformation to today.
By the 16th century the church was ripe
for reform. As we talked about last week, Catholics were confused about the
hierarchy of the church and therefore it's authority. When the plague struck,
many of the clergy on the ground ministering to the sick had died. Because
there was now a clergy crisis many unsuitable men were hurriedly ordained,
leading to a great deal of corruption. For a man born into poverty the
priesthood was a great career. Food, accommodation, respect and authority were
given to him. Many men who were worldly and unholy revelled in this. As the
world moved into the Renaissance and became a commercial market secularism
began more and more to spread amongst the people, there was a lot of distrust
of the church on the ground. We desperately needed a reform within the Church.
Luther
On 31st October 1517 Martin Luther (a Catholic priest) nailed his 95 complaints against the church to a church door! This was the spark that ignited the entire Reformation and subsequent confusion amongst Christians. His followers became known as Lutherans. He was really arguing for a reform of the corruption in the church which was needed. However, he was caught up in the battle of arguments and the Lutherans ended up revolting against the Pope, and denying articles of the faith that had been carefully and faithfully preserved for 1,500 years, such as purgatory, the Eucharist, indulgences, etc. We know they were in error because, although some of these things needed to be clearly defined and explained, Christ himself promised that the Holy Spirit would guide church teaching, and although it's members may be sinful and even corrupt the church's teaching cannot fall into Satan's hands. The Lutherans forgot this and thought the Holy Spirit was speaking a contradiction to all that had gone beore in Christian history through them. Shortly after this revolt the church did begin to address the corruption and abuse but by then it was too late.
Whereas from 33AD there had only been one church (with two branches), since that date in 1517 over 40,000 Christian denominations have been set up, (although most have failed and died within a generation of the death of their founder.) Only the Catholic Church has remained loyal and can trace it's line unbroken back to St Peter.
Most of northern Europe became protestant. So called because they were protesting against the Church. Ironically considering the future to come, King Henry VIII was granted by the Pope the title 'Defender of the Faith', because in 1521 he wrote a letter defending Church teaching against the errors of Protestantism. This title has been conferred on ever Monarch since.
However this changed a mere thirteen
years later. In 1534 because his queen, Katherine of Aragon hadn't produced a
living son, and heir to the English throne, and because the church refused to
manufacture an annulment to the marriage when there was no grounds for one, in
anger against the Pope Henry declared England separate from Rome and himself
the head of the church of England, and threw England into schism and turmoil.
Lincolnshire Rising
Two years later in 1536 the Lincolnshire Rising marched from Louth to Caistor, to protest at the Kings ransacking of the monasteries, and all the towns wealth going into the King's coffers. The people of Louth had heard that the kings commissioners would be in Caistor and, after vespers (evening prayer) in St James church and a strong sermon from the priest they marched, picking up men from Market Rasen and the villages in between on the way. From Caistor they camped overnight in Hambleton Hill and marched to Lincoln. One of the Kings commissioners died and is buried at Caistor. In truth it was an unruly mob but it led to the pilgrimage of grace being organised from Yorkshire the following year. The other result was that Henry declared Lincolnshire the most beastly of all his counties and had every single religious house completely destroyed. This is known as the harrowing of the north.
The Anglican priesthood was considered valid by the Catholic church until 1550. In that year the Anglican church deliberately changed the form of ordination in order to distinguish itself from Catholicism, and all references to the Priest offering the 'sacrifice' of Mass were eliminated. This form of the ordination only lasted for twelve years, but by then most of the Bishops ordained by the laying on of hands of the direct successors to the Apostles, had died. As a result the Anglican priesthood was distinctly separated from the Catholic priesthood, and declared as invalid by Pope Leo XIII.
The Reformation did not reform the church, instead it caused a split in the body of believers contrary to the prayer of Christ that 'They will be one'.
Counter Reformation
In 1545 the church called the council of Trent to correct abuses in Ecclesiastical life and to discuss and define questions of dogma, I.e Divine Revelation.
No council has ever had to accomplish its task under more serious difficulties; none has had more serious questions to decide on although the divisions between Catholicism and Protestantism were too deep to be healed. However at this Council Catholic truth was clearly proclaimed in opposition to the false doctrines of the time, and a firm foundation laid for the overthrow of heresy and the Church's ability to carry out a genuine internal reform.
Basic differences between Catholic
and Protestant teaching.
Catholic
Belief that faith & good works
are both necessary for salvation.
Galatians 5:6 -'....what matters is faith
that makes its power felt through love.
James 2:24 - ...you see now
that it is doing something good, and not Only by believing that a man is justified.
Protestant
Faith alone is necessary for salvation.
A misinterpretation of Romans 3:28 - 'since
a man is justified by faith and not by the law.' it is a misinterpretation
because in this passage St Paul is clearly speaking about having faith as opposed
to blindly following law.
Belief in praying for souls in purgatory.
Catholic
2 Maccabees 12:45 - 'For if he had not
expected the fallen to rise again it would have been superfluous and foolish to
pray for the dead, whereas if he had in view the splendid recompense for those
who make a pious end, the thought was holy and devout. This was why he had this
atonement sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they may be released from
their sin'.
1Corinthians 3:15 -
1Peter 1:7 -
Matthew 5:26 - 'Come to
terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the
court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge to the officer, and you
will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly, you will not get out until you
have paid the last penny.
Protestant
Denial of purgatory
Belief in Mary as the Mother of God, bodily assumed into heaven, ever
virgin and immaculately conceived
Catholic
Protestant
Varying non acceptance of these points despite
the fact that they were all held as true by the three main protestant founders,
and have been thrown out by subsequent generations.
Belief in the seven Sacraments instituted by Christ.
Catholic
John 3:5 - Jesus replied, 'I tell you
most solemnly unless a man is born through water and the spirit he cannot enter
the Kingdom of God'. Baptism
Acts 8:14 - 'Peter and
John went down there & prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy
Spirit....for as yet they had only been baptised.... Confirmation.
John 6:52 - Jesus
replied, 'if you do not eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you will not have life within you. Eucharist.
John 20:22 - after saying
this he breathed on them and said 'those whose sins you forgive, they are
forgiven; for those whose sin you retain, they are retained. - Confession/
Reconciliation.
Mark 6:12 - ...'They
cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.
Sacrament of the sick (formally known as last rites).
1 Timothy 4:17 'The elders
who do their work well while they are in charge are to be given double
consideration, especially those who are assiduous in preaching and teaching.
Holy Orders.
Mark 10:7 - 'and the two become one
body. They are no longer two but one. So what God has united man must not
divide. Marriage.
Protestant
Non acceptance of the Catholic system of
sacraments despite there being multiple biblical references for all seven. Some
churches carry out these things I.e baptism marriage but don't understand them
as sacraments as we would.
Belief in Scripture, tradition, and the
magisterium of the church.
Catholic
1 Timothy 3:15 ...'that is
in the church of the living God, which upholds the truth and keeps it safe.
2 thess 2:15. 'stand firm,then
brothers, and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth
or by letter.
Acts 2:42 'these
remained faithful to the teaching of the Apostles, to the brotherhood, to the
breaking of bread and to the prayers.
Protestant
Belief in scripture alone despite
contrary to scripture itself.
Abortion and euthanasia
Catholic
Abortion and euthanasia are forbidden and
regarded as murder.
Protestant
Accepted by many protestant churches as
they have no moral teaching, you make up your own.
Belief in the real presence of Christ in
the Eucharist
Catholic
Matthew 26:26 'Take and eat, this is
my body'.
John 6:51 'I am the
living bread which has come down from Heaven, anyone who eats this bread will
live forever'.
John 6:54 'he who eats
my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.
Belief that Mass is re presenting the
sacrifice of calvary
1 Corinthians 11:26 'every time you eat this bread and
drink this cup you are proclaiming His death.
Protestant
Denial of Mass and the Eucharist.
Infant baptism
Catholic
Acts 16:15 'she and her
whole household were baptised.
1 Corinthians 1:16 - 'Then there was the family of
Stephanus that I baptised too.
Protestant
No infant baptism
Belief in indulgences
Catholic
2 Samuel 12:13 Nathan told
David that his sin of killing Uriah and stealing his wife was forgiven but the
punishment would be the death of his son.
Although through confession our sins are
forgiven, the penalty for individual sins still needs to be paid before we can
enter heaven.
Protestant
Denial of indulgences. Belief that
Christ's death was a 'get out of jail free' card, and no recompense for our
individual sins is required.
Divorce and remarriage are forbidden
Catholic
Mark 10:12 'The man who
divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if
a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.
Protestant
Divorce and remarriage are allowed
despite the words of Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment