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To: wmfights; Kolokotronis
They all preexisted the Reformation

I did not mean to give an exaustive list in 4136. (Anabaptists, for sure did not preexist the Reformation, at least not by much). The union of church and state is not a Catholic teaching either. How about the specifically Protestant teachings, such as the four solas -- who on that list, in your view, is a proto-Reformer?

4,428 posted on 01/08/2007 10:01:34 AM PST by annalex
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To: annalex

Anabaptists did exist prior to the Reformation as there were always those who rebaptized. Anabaptists were not a denomination per se. Their belief systems varied widely. You will find believers who rebaptized all of the way back to the Roman period. They may not have been called Anabaptists. I'm sure that you have read the quote by Stanislaus Hosius? I'm not sure of its context, so I'm not hanging my hat on that particular quote. However, Baptistic ideas (as in modern Baptists) do have kindred spirit all through the history of the church.


4,433 posted on 01/08/2007 10:15:16 AM PST by Blogger (In nullo gloriandum quando nostrum nihil sit- Cyprian)
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To: annalex; Dr. Eckleburg; HarleyD; Forest Keeper; Blogger; blue-duncan
The union of church and state is not a Catholic teaching either.

The merger with the state fundamentally changed your sect. As power was consolidated, any sect which disagreed with your interpretation of Scripture, practices, or was unwilling to subjugate themselves to your domination was branded traitors and heretics. The Donatists are a good example.

The Donatists objected to the ease with which those that denied Jesus, helped destroy Scripture, and aided in the persecutions were allowed not only back into the church, but assumed positions of authority. The were also opposed to the union of church and state. I believe they only practiced adult baptism, by immersion and had a congregational form of church government.

If you look at that list I think all of these different sects had these features to a lesser or greater degree. IOW, you can find throughout history, prior to the Reformation, sects of Christianity that refused to submit to the domination of the state religion and sought Scripture as the primary guide. Thus, the idea that the Reformation was the first time that the primacy of Scripture, Sola Scriptura developed is wrong. I think you will find the same is true for all the other Sola's.

4,450 posted on 01/08/2007 11:42:33 AM PST by wmfights (LUKE 9:49-50 , MARK 9:38-41)
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