brother, I hearily agree. Which is why such threads are NOT conducive to ecumenicism or coming together. What is the purpose of bringing up this mess, this embarrassment to the History of Christianity? What is so darn great about people leaving the Church to form another church? What does this say about Christians, to an outsider? That we squabble among ourselves and don't listen to our own Scriptures that tell us that we are to love our enemies and NOT become divided?
This article is meant to fan flames. It is meant to keep Protestants in joyful ignorance about the stance of Rome on such issues, while patting Protestants on the back for their continued "protesting". It is meant to keep the "movement" going forward. What is sad is that the DEVIL is behind ANY movements of disunion and disunity among the Body. Consider that prayerfully. It is one matter to correct the other when faulty doctrine or beliefs pop up, to disagree with another over doctrine. It is quite another to constantly be refering to a point in Christian history for the express purpose of MAINTAINING DISUNITY, to maintain separation within the Body. It is not time to re-visit the Reformation, but time to heal the wounds of the past and reconcile our differences.
We have a much bigger enemy out there, the secular world, then each other.
Brother in Christ
Human beings, both Protestant and Catholic, are just human and as such are prone to all kind of errors. Yet Jesus marches on. Protestants and Catholics undergo a constant reformation collectively and as individuals...and, instead of feeling ashamed, we should jump for joy.
In a way, reformation is nothing but returning to the Lord from our human errors. And that is what is so awesome about the Lord. He is always the same...always perfect. We blunder along (all of us) and eventually correct our course to back to His narrow path.
You are right that the past is painful, but it isn't nearly so painful when we realize that we have no room to blame those in our past. They were tying their best just as we are.
I'm continuously reminded of how we look back to traditions-as long as they are the "right" traditions. We need to understand how these traditions were formed and if we are in sinc with scripture.