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To: dangus
Catholics often forget that Luther was a Catholic himself and not just a Catholic, but a learned one at that. A monk I know for sure. He was not some fly-by-night outsider. He read the same "unedited" Catholic scriptures as many here. Compared to most here however, he was a scholar in such works, probably having more knowledge of them and additional traditional teachings than your average Catholic today.

While Catholics will accuse others of piddling over small details, it appears they forget Martin Luther would have been content to drop the small details for the Pope(of that time) to acknowledge the Gospels and justification. What I would ask myself as a Catholic was if the Pope, a man, of that time who was so wrong about indulgencies and the like also be wrong about issues like justification? Did he really have a problem with the idea, or was he so damn mad that Martin Luther was stepping out on him that he refused to even consider it?

here's a little history lesson, in the simplist of terms, for what appears to be the most hated person of Catholics:

Martin Luther dealt the symbolic blow that began the Reformation when he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church. That document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.

But Luther himself saw the Reformation as something far more important than a revolt against ecclesiastical abuses. He believed it was a fight for the gospel. Luther even stated that he would have happily yielded every point of dispute to the Pope, if only the Pope had affirmed the gospel.

And at the heart of the gospel, in Luther's estimation, was the doctrine of justification by faith--the teaching that Christ's own righteousness is imputed to those who believe, and on that ground alone, they are accepted by God.

435 posted on 03/20/2004 5:27:46 AM PST by cupcakes
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To: cupcakes
Good point. And many Catholic clergy agree that the Reformation did clean up the corruption that was there in the church. Luther would NOT leave the current church. That's why we should welcome lutherans and others back to the fold, it is a 'catholic' / universal church after all.
758 posted on 03/22/2004 3:10:28 AM PST by Cronos (W2K4!)
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