>>I find it hard to believe that after Christ was resurrected that God allowed the the Church to thrive for thousands of years, and then say, ‘Oh wait, you guys have been doing it wrong. Here is Martin Luther’.<<
Don’t forget John Calvin (and Galileo).
Jesus instructed us to “call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven” [Matthew 23:9]. Therefore, is not anyone who calls the Pope “Father” denying Christ?
And why do we need a mediator between God and Christ, when Jesus is the mediator [1 Timothy 2:5]?
Frankly, I do not see the imposition by force of Catholicism on the masses over the centuries as justification for their claim to be the arbiters of Christianity. Rather, I see it more as a “falling away” from the principles of Christ and of St. Paul.
People have biological fathers; do you object to them being called “father” by their own children???