[hopefulpilgrim]

Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Seventh Day Adventism, Moonies, Mormons, the old Worldwide Church of God, Oneness Pentecostalism, Snake-handling Pentecostalism, Jim Jones, Christadelphianism, Swedenborgianism, and Branch Davidianism are all descendants of the Protestant Reformation, and late ones at that.

So there were no heretical teachings prior to 1517? All cults, etc. came on the scene only AFTER the Protestant Reformation? That is not true. But that is what you are insinuating....that until that time, Christianity was pure, and that when Protestantism reared its ugly head, all sorts of error resulted. Not true. Error and cults have always existed---of course there is more right now than ever before with all the passage of time. But it's not due to Protestantism....It's due to the pride of man not wiling to subject itself to the rule of God in the heart.

[Conservative til I die]

Nope, I am not saying cults or heretics never existed. What I am saying, is that the Catholic Church moved quickly to refute, excommunicate, and declare these groups anathema. Almost none of them exist in any form today, and if they do, they are universally laughed at. This is because of the authority of the Church.

Under Protestantism, these groups have managed to flourish and multiply exponentially, spiritually harming people by the millions. This is directly due to Protestantism having no final arbiter. One lunatic's (like Mary Baker Eddy) ideas are as valid as another's (Martin Luther), since both of them have appealed to the Scriptures, meditated, prayed, and decided that their beliefs are the TRUTH .

That was my point all along.