How could the Reformation be of God?

[Hiskid1973]

When I read about how fleshly nature shows up in His church, I think of these verses…
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Power and control can do alot of damage in the pursuit of the great commission…It’s was about the gospel message…It was His word changing lives…Something got lost along the way…Whether you see protestantism as a bane, that is up to you…But people are brought into the kingdom daily whether you acknowledge it or not…Wait til we start seeing worldwide persecution and you will see His saints drawing together…

 

[rtconstant]

These numbers that get thrown around by Catholics are always quite ridiculous, although that is not to say that there are not quite a few distinct protestant faiths. The only way they reach these numbers is by making 1st Baptist and 2nd Baptist church two different denominations, even if they both hold to the Southern Baptist Convention.

Actually the “they” in this case was a Protestant. It is true the number of 30,000 isn’t really accurate, but the number wasn’t just made up by Catholics. The reason it is so high is because denominational instances were recounted at the national level. So take for example the Southern Baptist denomination’s United States branch was counted as a separate denomination from its Korean branch, even though they are in fact a single denomination. That’s how the numbers got so high. In truth the number is probably more like 3000.

So you’re right the Catholics shouldn’t use the 30,000 number, but its not like 3000 is really anything to be proud of either. The point is any count higher than 1 is far to many.

 

[rtconstant]

To the OP, I would say that no it wasn’t the will of God, as God would certainly have no vested interest in breaking his Church. However, I will say that God used this event of human origin to accomplish some good. The good in this case was the Counter Reformation which was very much needed. It also drew attention to abuses that were occurring in some regions. This Counter Reformation was necessary, but it came at a heavy price.

 

[joann1957]

man caused the reformation not God, he just allowed it.

everything is a test of faith. we have free will to choose and do as we like

God allows things to happen , but it does not mean he wills it and if he does
will it then there is a good reason beyond what we can comprehend his will is
for such occurences…

Jo ann

 

[firstmode]

Are all of those church splits I listed in my posts “of God?”

What are your feelings on the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, the Assyrian Church of the East, even the Montanists?

 

[Justy90]

It just couldn’t be. Why would He want all of this disunity? There are over 30,000 different denominations. I can only see Satan wanting this. I am not saying that the Protestants are following Satan because they are God fearing individuals. But they all have this hidden hunger for unity. Why is that? Could it be of the Holy Spirit? He is calling them to unite, but they will not find peace without the Church

The problem here is that you don’t have the unity that you speak of either. Regardless of sound doctrines, there are Catholics who do not believe in the Immaculate Conception, the Eucharist as defined by the catechism and the supremacy of the pope amongst a slew of other things. 30,000 Protestant denominations?? I’ll bet there are 300,000 different Catholic viewpoints on the Roman Catholic church! Unity has to be physical, not just written and assumed by doctrines.