Against my better judgement I am jumping back into this thread. I have no intention on debating this thing. But upon reflection I think I have clarified in my mind what has been niggling me on this whole issue.
On “the Catholic church gave us the Bible” two things have been niggling me
(1) The shared history issue. Now of course you think the relationship between Catholics and Protestants as “one true church” versus “heresy”. Obviously we don’t see it that way. But you have to understand that for those of us who do not see it that way, we view the apostolic church as shared history instead of the exclusive domain of one group of Christians.
(2) Who really gets the credit. I wish instead of hearing the buck stop at the “Catholic church” that I heard the credit really going back to God. God graciously decided to use humans in this effort. He did not have to. And it was God who gave the humans that He decided to use the discernment to get the assignment He gave them right. But this again might be reflective of my tradition where we are averse to giving humans credit for stuff that God is doing.
On “the Catholic church did not give us the inquisition and priest sex abuse cases”
I perhaps could have worded this better than I did. Now one can construct analogies where assignment of guilt to the group for the activities of the individual is inappropriate. However I also can construct analogies where this is appropriate. Particularly when looking at this from the perspective of the victim. I will not belabour this any more.
But what has been niggling me is that there is clear precedent from Scripture where God does assign guilt to the unit for the activities of the individual (see Achan). Now I am not God, so it is not my call to say whether or not this is the case here. But I certainly would not eliminate the possibility of this being the case myself. Now it seems that y’all have eliminated this possibility, but I would not. But then again, I am not God and do not claim to speak for God.
But anyway, I am sorry if everything that I have spoken here is utter nonsense and from outer space as some have implied. I sometimes am not good at explaining my thoughts clearly. But these are things that have been niggling me as dense as I might be.
Anyway, I have absolutely no intention to beat dead horses any more.
NotTooSmart:
Have you read “On the Jews and Their Lies” written by the “great” Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther? This is hateful, anti-Jewish ranting, which lived on long after Luther’s death.
Hitler actually quoted Martin Luther to help justify his “Final Solution,” which lead to unthinkable atrocities, and, ultimately, the tortuous death of 6 million Jews.
No doubt Hitler would have done the same, even without Luther’s writing. However, Luther’s writing was available to Hitler and suitable for Hitler’s purpose.
My point is, would you want all Protestants to be held accountable for Luther’s hatred of the Jews, and for Luther’s writing—which gave fuel to Hitler’s campaign for genocide of the Jewish people?
There are, indeed, Scriptures that speak of the sins of the father carrying over to future generations. I’m not claiming to understand the details or intentions of those Scriptures.
I do know that we are to place our hope in Christ, our Savior. Forgiveness comes from Christ, and Scripture tells us judgment does not belong to us.
So, my Protestant brother; I urge you to pray and let go of judgment and animosity. The Catholic Church is not our enemy.
Remember the Great Commandment given by our Savior:
Mark 12:28-34 (ESV):
28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
In Christ,
Anna