Catholics vs Protestants - A Game That Should Been Played

I have to apologize for two things before we start.  First, I know that January is over and Christian Unity Month is in the past and this post is about Christian Unity.  Secondly, to all my Protestant friends, I know that I have a picture of Pope Francis, looking very happy with a most pleasant expression on his face while Martin Luther has a face that looks like he just drank a glass of warm lemon juice. I really scoured the internet for a jovial looking Luther but believe it or not this was the best one I would find.  I am sure he must have smiled or laughed once in his life. I think that those who sought to capture his likeness wanted to portray the serious Martin Luther, thus the dour expression on all of the available pictures. 

This is Super Bowl Sunday for most of the world.  For me, it is just Sunday.  I do not follow sports because many years ago my doctor advised me to stop watching sports because it was raising my blood pressure.  I used to throw things at the TV when things went bad for the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls, or the Chicago Bears.  I was born on the south side of Chicago so the Cubs were never thought of as being worthy of attention by me or my friends.  

One of the saddest things that ever happened in this world happened in the 1500's. The Church of Christ was split in two and from that day on things would never be the same.  A Catholic monk tacked up 95 complaints to the door of the local church and as time went on the Church and Martin Luther fought and Luther left the Church and formed ( or as he saw it reformed) his own church. One could say that Martin had no choice as the Church had excommunicated him. But excommunication is not irreversible, it is not a spiritual death sentence.  Rather, it is a judicial instrument that is supposed to give the one under it time to reflect his or her position and to repent and return to the Church. Martin Luther was aware of this fact and he elected to commit spiritual suicide and revolted against the Catholic Church and setting up a new church with himself as its head. 

Did the Church need to be reformed?  Oh, without any doubt there were things that needed attention.  The straw that broke the camel's back was the sale of indulgences.  An indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment as a result of sin. The Church believed then and still believes today, that every sin we commit, even when forgiven in confession has its consequences in the afterlife. These consequences can be made up in this life through penitential practices, such as prayer and fasting, or they can be made up after death in purgatory.  At the time, penances for sins were rough.   For example, after confession and receiving forgiveness a penitent might be assigned six months of wearing sackcloth and ashes and begging forgiveness of those who passed him on the street.  During this time the penitent would not be allowed the sacraments Indulgences were and still are remission of these penances either partially or in full.  At the time they were expressed in the number of days of penance they remitted for a pious act committed.  So, the days were not time off time in purgatory where time does not exist, it was time taken off the penance assigned here on earth.  Martin Luther had no problem with the indulgences. He understood that they fell within the Church's authority to grant.  He became offended when some priests, without the authority or consent of the Pope in Rome decided that people who donated money could receive an indulgence. Quite rightly, Luther saw this as a bad idea.  The fight escalated and eventually, Martin was excommunicated from the Church.  This is when he really went off of the deep end and ended up outside of what Christ wanted for His Church.  Martin Luther set up his own Church and all hell broke loose! 

Once he stepped outside of the authority of the Church, Martin Luther came up with new, novel, ideas that would form the centerpiece of his church.  All of these new ideas took years to form because at the start of his excursion his church was not too much different than the Church.  Some of the new ideas which he taught were sola scriptura, a teaching which says that if it is not in the Bible, it should not be taught, he also said we are justified by faith alone, not faith and works.  There are other things too, but this post is not a criticism of his teachings, it is a discussion about the hatchet job he did on the Church and its effect on millions of souls over the intervening years. 

Jesus on the night before he died did something wonderful.  He prayed to His Father, out loud, in the presence of His apostles.  Can you imagine being privy to a conversation between God the Father and God the Son?  The apostles had to be awestruck.  In this prayer, Jesus says that he wanted His followers to be one as He and the Father were one.  When the Church was cut into two pieces, into the Roman Catholic (Universal) Church and the Lutheran Church, the person who caused this division stepped outside the will of God as expressed by Jesus.  

But, couldn't we say that the new church founded by Martin Luther only formed because of the will of God?  Isn't the founding of this church a sign that the Church that Jesus had founded had gone astray, fell into apostasy and this was God's way of repairing it?  No, I am sorry but this scenario does not work simply because Holy Scripture clearly says differently in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18, where Jesus, the Son of God, says, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock, I will build my charge and the gates of hell shall not prevail it."  To tear down the Roman Catholic Church and replace it with the church of Luther (and the other reformers) you would first have to make null and void the words of Christ and state that the gates of hell did prevail against the Church.  Then, if the gates of hell did prevail against the Church in spite of what Jesus said then He was wrong and if he was wrong about such an important institution that He calls His Church then He was nothing more than a spellbinding pious fake. We know that this is not true, we know that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior who came to earth and saved us from our sins.  It follows, therefore, that Luther and by association the other reformers were wrong in splitting the Church asunder. Once it started, it never stopped. If we assume that the Holy Spirit spoke the truth to Martin Luther, then why did John Calvin feel it necessary to break away from him?  If Calvin heard the word from the Holy Spirit then why did Knox form his own church? Why did Wesley find it necessary to create a church in his own image?  On and on it goes until today we have at least thirty thousand Christian denominations. Wikipedia lists forty-one different Lutheran church bodies in America alone!  Which one of the forty-one has the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Christian unity is called for by Paul as well in First Corinthians Chapter 1 verse 10, "I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgement." It seems we have failed to be even close to the ideal required by Jesus and requested by Paul  

Can Christianity be salvaged?  Can we truly become one in Christ like we are supposed to?  I do not know.   In his wonderful book "If Protestantism is True" Devin Rose says this, and I do not think I could say it any better: 

"What will it take for us to answer Paul's appeal and be reunited?  Firstly, it will take humility on the part of every Christian. Secondly, it will require mutual respect for one another. Finally it will take an honest examination of our beliefs, their origins, and the reason behind them, and a willingness to be shown something more fully true than what we currently believe..."

Pride is what got Luther into trouble.  Pride is what caused the Church to abandon all hope in reasoning with Martin Luther and excommunicating him. Pride afflicted all of the reformers up until this very day. Pride is what caused Adam and Eve to sin.  Humility and the love we bear for one another under Christ the Lord is the only thing that will take this mish mosh of churches and return it to be the one True Church that Christ prayed for before He died. Remember, it is not the Popes Church or Luther's Church.  Jesus said He would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. 

God bless.  Please, leave a comment.  I would love to know what your thoughts are on this topic.  Feel free to leave a question if you have one.