...hundreds of Catholic priests...
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Any institution run by men who are given absolute authority WILL fall. That is not just Biblical, that has been known since pre-Christ times. And it includes churches.
When an institution becomes more important than the people whom it serves, when it becomes your master, then it has become corrupt. This is the fundamental point of Luther; the Catholic Church at that time existed not for the benefit of the Christians, but for the benefit of the priesthood. That lesson, alas, still has not been learned.
***If that were even remotely true, how do you explain Swaggart and Baker and Roberts and Osteen and Hagee and....
...hundreds of Catholic priests...
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Any institution run by men who are given absolute authority WILL fall. That is not just Biblical, that has been known since pre-Christ times. And it includes churches.***
That is why we consider the Catholic (including Orthodox) Churches to be apart from this statement. They are not given absolutely authority. The Pope, for instance, is considered the steward; he does not have absolutely authority.
***When an institution becomes more important than the people whom it serves, when it becomes your master, then it has become corrupt. This is the fundamental point of Luther; the Catholic Church at that time existed not for the benefit of the Christians, but for the benefit of the priesthood. That lesson, alas, still has not been learned.***
Well, not by most of the people that consider themselves followers or those who consider themselves influenced by Luther.
Some of those in Germany in the Church were corrupt; they were rooted out. Did Luther contribute to it? Certainly, he did. But, given the damage that he has caused to Christianity, was it worth the evil he did?