It would be unjust to say that the misfortunes of his family and the bitter private money quarrel between himself and the local hierarchy was the main driving force of Calvin's attack. He was already on the revolutionary side in religion; he would perhaps have been in any case a chief figure among those who were for the destruction of the old religion. But whatever his motive, he was certainly the founder of a new religion. For John Calvin it was who set up a counter-Church.
He proved, if ever any man did, the power of logic_the triumph of reason, even when abused, and the victory of intelligence over mere instinct and feeling. He framed a complete new theology, strict and consistent, wherein there was no room for priesthood or sacraments; he launched an attack not anti-clerical, not of a negative kind, but positive, just as Mohammed had done nine hundred years before. He was a true heresiarch, and though his effect in the actual imposition of dogma has not had a much longer life than that of Arianism yet the spiritual mood he created has lasted on into our day. All that is lively and effective in the Protestant temper still derives from John Calvin.
You know, I would never even consider posting something that demonstrated the decay, demise, and incorrectness of the Catholic Church, because I know that millions of good Americans happen to embrace that faith and that’s their business. But, when I’m subjected to this hateful and insulting anti-protestant filth just by viewing the news threads, I have to say something. I’ll pray for you, I know that you and the writer of this crap are only the product of an indoctrination that doesn’t allow free thought, only the worship of a man-made system rather than G-d. I suggest you read “Windswept House”, by Father Malachi Martin, a Catholic priest. He said that every event he depicts in the book is real, including the Satanic ceremony conducted in the Vatican during which a child was raped on an altar. Remember that, and then you might understand the true source of the pedophile “problem” currently being experienced by the “Church”.
Go back and read Justin the Martyr, Ireanaeus, Athenagoras, Tertullian. Then tell me whether the Catholic Church of 1700 or the Protestants of 1700 were closer to the truth, as written by people who actually knew the 12 Apostles or were schooled in the Christian faith by their closest students.
True faith is the assurance of salvation.
Those who assert they can never have assurance of salvation, testify to their lack of faith.
LOL
“You, there! Unscrambled that egg! Quickly, now!”
"You MUST be born again"- Jesus..
God has put me on the bench in terms of carrying the flag in such arguments.
However, folks who fail to understand that
HE HIMSELF will be dealing with such wholesale balderdash
are in for some serious surprises.
for later
May this humble Protestant beg your indulgence for our transgressions? Er, ... In round dollars, how much is that going to cost me?
Thanks for the post, albeit a lengthy one. I could comment on many portions of the text, but this very early statement caught my attention.
The Reformation started off as a particular movement when Martin Luther posted his 95 Thesis Against the Papal Use of Indulgences. Luther desparately wanted a debate, but the Church would not allow one. It was only when the Church, with the help of the Emperor, tried to silence Luther, did it become a very wide general movement. And to Luther's credit, he often times had to reign in those who used the general movement to their own religious and political ends. As such, Luther did everything he could to keep the Reformation as a specific movement.
It is true that there were other reformers that came later who tried to make the movement a general one -- the Anabaptists being one.
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
bumpus ad summum