How The Reformation Changed The Church

frontline.org ^ | Dr. Peter Hammond

[Gamecock]

In the book of Judges we read about another generation which arose, which knew neither the Lord nor what He had done (Judges 2:10). Today, it appears that a generation has arisen, which like Israel under the Judges, knows little of either the Lord nor of what He did during the time of the Protestant exodus and the struggles in the wilderness, which followed in the 16th and 17th century. Sometimes this is from a cowardly dislike of controversy and confrontation. But few people seem to understand either the evils from which the Reformation delivered us or the blessings which the Reformation won for us.

The Reformation delivered the Church from gross ignorance and spiritual darkness The church, before the Reformation, was a church without the Bible. And a church without a Bible is as useless as a lighthouse without light, a candlestick without a candle, or a motor vehicle without an engine. The priests and people knew scarcely anything about God’s Word or the way of salvation in Christ.

Bishop J.C. Ryle described the situation: “The immense majority of the clergy did little more than say masses and offer up pretended sacrifices, repeat Latin prayers and chant Latin hymns (which of course most of the people could not understand), hear confessions, grant absolutions, give extreme unction, and take money to get dead people out of purgatory.”

Bishop Latimer observed: “When the devil gets influence in a church, up go candles and down goes preaching.”

Quarterly sermons (that is, once every three months) were prescribed to the clergy, but not insisted upon. Latimer noted that while the mass was never left unsaid for a single Sunday, sermons might be omitted for 20 Sundays in succession. Indeed, to preach much was to incur the suspicion of being a heretic.

Bishop Hooper, who along with Bishop Latimer was burned alive at the stake under Queen Mary, did a survey in 1551 and found that out of 311 clergy in his Diocese, 168 were unable to repeat the Ten Commandments, 31 of those 168 could not even say in which part of the Scripture the Ten Commandments were to be found, 40 could not tell where the Lord’s Prayer was written, and 31 of the 40 did not even know who the author of the Lord’s Prayer was!

Bishop Ryle summarized the situation: “Before the Reformation was a religion without knowledge, without faith and without lively hope – a religion without justification, regeneration and sanctification – a religion without any clear views of Christ and the Holy Ghost. Except in rare instances, it was little better than an organized system of Mary worship, saint worship, image worship, relic worship, pilgrimages, alms giving, formalism, ceremonialism, processions, penances, absolutions, masses and blind obedience to the priests. It was a huge higgledy-piggledy of ignorance and idolatry, and serving an unknown God by deputy. The only practical result was that the priests took the people’s money and undertook to secure their salvation. And the people flattered themselves that the more they gave to the priests, the more sure they were to go to Heaven!”

The Reformation delivered the church from childish superstitions The Roman Catholic church, before the Reformation, taught its members to seek spiritual benefit from so-called relics of dead saints and to treat them with divine honor. Calvin’s “Inventory of Relics” and Hobart Seymour’s “Pilgrimage to Rome” catalog some of the ludicrous swindles which were perpetrated by the church of Rome. This included pieces of wood “of the true cross” enough to load a large ship, thorns professing to be part of the Saviour’s crown of thorns, enough to make a huge faggot, at least 14 nails said to have been used at the Crucifixion, four spearheads – each purporting to be the one which pierced our Lord’s side, at least three seamless coats of Christ, for which the soldiers cast lots, Saint James’s hand, bones of Mary Magdalene, toenails from Saint Edmund, some bread, purported to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper, a girdle of the Virgin Mary and milk from the Virgin Mary! The Royal Commissioners of Henry VIII examined a vial at the Abbey in Gloucestershire, which was said to contain the blood of Christ! The Commissioners found that it contained the blood of a duck.

There were literally thousands of profane and vile inventions, fabrications and deceptions, which Roman priests imposed on the people before the Reformation. They must have known that they were deceiving the people, yet they persisted in presenting these lies and requiring that the ignorant laity believe them. Sometimes the priests induced dying sinners to give vast tracts of lands to abbeys and monasteries, in order to atone for their bad lives. In one way or another, they were continually separating sinners from their money and accumulating property and wealth in the hands of the Roman church.

The power of the priests was practically despotic and was used for every purpose except the advancement of the Christian faith. It seemed that their primary object was power. To them confession had to be made. Without their absolution and extreme unction no professing Christian could be saved. Without their masses no soul could be redeemed from purgatory. In short, they were, to all intents and purposes, the mediators between Christ and man. To please and honor the Roman church was a devout Christian’s first duty. To injure them was the greatest of sins. One of the indulgences issued in 1498, with the authority of the Pope, claimed: “To absolve people from usury, theft, manslaughter, fornication and all crime whatsoever, except smiting the clergy and conspiring against the Pope!”

A starving man in a famine may be reduced to eating rats and rubbish, rather than die of hunger. Similarly, a conscience-stricken soul, deprived of God’s Word, should not be judged too harshly by us, if they struggled to find comfort in the most debasing superstition. However, we must never forget that it was from such superstitions which the Reformation delivered us.

The Reformation delivered the church from blatant immorality Before the Reformation, the lives of the clergy were simply scandalous. There were brothels in the Vatican. The Popes, Cardinals and Bishops openly consorted with prostitutes and engaged in the most debauched orgies. The local priests became notorious for gluttony, drunkenness and gambling. As Bishop Ryle pointed out: “To expect the huge roots of ignorance and superstition, which filled our land, to bear any but corrupt fruit, would be unreasonable and absurd.”

Contemporary art depicted friars as foxes preaching with the neck of a stolen goose peeping out of the hood behind; as wolves giving absolution, with the sheep partly concealed under their cloaks; or as apes sitting on a sick man’s bed with a crucifix in one hand and with the other hand in the suffering person’s pocket! Such public contempt in art reflects the scorn with which the clergy were held at the time.

Bishop Ryle pointed out: “But the blackest spot on the character of our pre-Reformation clergy in England is one of which it is painful to speak … their horrible contempt of the 7th Commandment … the consequences of shutting up herds of men and women in the prime of life, in monasteries and nunneries, were such that I will not defile my paper by dwelling upon them … if ever there was a plausible theory weighed in the balance and found utterly wanting, it is the favorite theory that celibacy and monasticism promote holiness … monasteries and nunneries were frequently sinks of iniquity.”

The report of the Royal Commissioners, under Henry VIII, declared: “That manifest sin, vicious, carnal and abominable living, is daily used and committed in abbeys, priories, and other religious houses of monks, cannons and nuns, and that albeit many continual visitations have been had, by the space of 200 years or more, for an honest and charitable reformation of such unthrifty, carnal and abominable living, yet that nevertheless, little or none amendment was hitherto had, but that their vicious living shamefully increased and augmented.”

It was observed that: “There is no surer recipe for promoting immorality than fullness of bread and abundance of idleness.” (Ezekiel 16:49) It is from such superstition, corruption, immorality, ignorance and idolatry that the Reformation freed the church.

The Reformation gave the church back the Bible In 1519, six men and a woman were burned at Coventry for teaching their children the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed in English. Nothing seems to have alarmed and enraged the Roman priesthood as much as the spread of Bibles in the local language. It was for the crime of translating the Bible into English that the Reformer, William Tyndale, was burned at the stake. Of all the aspects which combined to make up the Reformation, no other aspect received such bitter opposition as the translation and circulation of the Scriptures. The translation of the Bible struck a blow at the root of the whole Roman Catholic system. The Bible, as the only rule of faith and conduct, freely available in the local languages, was a threat to all the superstitions and abuses of the medieval Roman popery. With the Bible in every parish church, every thoughtful man soon saw that the religion of the priests had no basis in Holy Scripture.

The Reformation opened the road to the throne of Grace The way of salvation had become blocked up and made impassible by heaps of superstitious rubble. “He who desired to obtain forgiveness had to seek it through a jungle of priests, saints, Mary worship, masses, penances, confession, absolution and the like, so that there might as well have been no throne of Grace at all.” J.C. Ryle

The Reformers hacked their way through this huge jungle of papal obstruction and cleared the way for every heavy-laden sinner to go straight to the Lord Jesus Christ for remission of sins.

The Reformation restored Biblical simplicity to worship Before the Reformation, the laity were only present at church services as passive, ignorant spectators. The elaborate, theatrical presentations of the sacraments were a solemn farce because the ceremonies and prayers were in Latin. The laity could bring their bodies to the services, but their minds, understanding, reason and spirit could take no part at all. For this reason, the 24th Article of the Church of England declared: “It is a thing totally repugnant to the Word of God and the custom of the primitive church to have public prayer in the church or to minister the sacraments in a tongue not understood of the people.”

The Reformation gave a Biblical understanding of the office of a minister Before the Reformation, the concept of the Christian ministry was sacerdotal. That is – it was understood that every clergyman was a sacrificing priest. The clergy were understood to hold the keys of Heaven and to be practically the mediators between God and man.

The Reformers brought the office of the clergy down to its Scriptural level. They stripped it entirely of any sacerdotal character. They cast out the words “sacrifice” and “altar”. They taught that the clergy were pastors, ambassadors, messengers, witnesses, evangelists, teachers and ministers of the Word and sacraments. The Reformers taught that the chief business of every Christian minister is to preach the Word and to be diligent in prayer and the reading of the Scriptures. The Reformers taught the immense superiority of the pulpit to the confessional. For this reason, where the altar used to be, the Lord’s table was placed with an open Bible, or a pulpit, showing the centrality of God’s Word in the worship of Protestant churches.

The Reformation restored a Biblical understanding of holiness Before the Reformation, it was believed that a monastic life and vows of celibacy were the only ways to escape sin and to attain sanctification. Multitudes of men and women poured into the monasteries and convents under the vain idea that this would please God and ensure their eternal salvation.

The Reformers struck at the root of this fallacy by establishing the great Scriptural principle that true religion was not to be found in retiring into convents and monasteries and fleeing from the difficulties of daily life, but in manfully facing up to our difficulties and doing our duty diligently - in every position to which God calls us. It is not by running away from the world, that we fulfill God’s call, but by courageously resisting the devil, the flesh and the world and overcoming them in daily life. That is how true holiness is to be exhibited. For this reason, the Reformers dissolved the monasteries and convents in their areas and freed the inmates to be reintegrated into normal life.

The Reformers also ordered that the Ten Commandments be set up in every parish church and taught to every child, and that our duty towards God and our neighbor be set forth in the Catechism. They insisted that you cannot become saints by shirking your duties in society.

A Heritage of Faith and Freedom We must continually thank God for the Reformation. It lit the flames of knowledge and freedom which we must ensure are never allowed to be extinguished or to grow dim. We need to continually remember that the Reformation was won for us by the blood of many tens of thousands of martyrs. It was not only by their preaching and praying, and writing and legislation, but by their sacrifices that our religious liberty, freedom of conscience and Christian heritage was won.

The Reformation found church members steeped in ignorance and left them in possession of knowledge. It found them without Bibles and left them with the Bible in every parish. It found them in darkness and left them in light. It found them bound in fear and left them enjoying the liberty and peace which only Christ can give. It found them strangers to the blood of Christ’s atonement, to faith, grace and holiness and left them with the key of all those blessings in their hands. It found them blind and left them with spiritual eyes to see. It found them slaves to superstition and set them free to serve Christ.

As Bishop Ryle declared: “Are we to return to a church which boasts that she is infallible and never changes – to a church which has never repented her pre-Reformation superstitions and abominations – to a church which has never confessed and abjured her countless corruptions? Are we to go back to gross ignorance of true religion? Shame on us, I say, if we entertain the idea for a moment! Let the Israelite return to Egypt, if he will. Let the prodigal go back to his husks among the swine. Let the dog return to his vomit. But let no Englishman with brains in his head, ever listen to the idea of exchanging Protestantism for Popery, or returning to the bondage of the church of Rome. No, indeed! … God forbid! The man who counsels such base apostasy and suicidal folly, must be judicially blind. The iron collar has been broken; let us not put it on again. The prison has been thrown open; let us not resume the yoke and return to our chains … Let us not go back to ignorance, superstition, priestcraft and immorality.”

If you have a Bible in your own language, and enjoy to read and study God’s Word, never forget that you owe that Bible to the Reformation. Brave men and women died that you could have the freedom to delight in God’s Word.

If you know the joy of sins forgiven and new life in Christ, if you are walking by faith and enjoying peace with God, never forget that you owe this priceless privilege to the Reformation.

If you enjoy Church services, Scripture choruses, Hymns, prayers and sermons in your own language, remember that for this you are also indebted to the Reformation.

If you appreciate the Biblical and practical sermons of your pastor, and his counsel, never forget that for this you are indebted to the Reformation. The Reformation is the source of many blessings. We need to ask if we are on the side of the Reformers, or of those who burned them and the Bible. “… Contend earnestly for the Faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude 3

[IrishCatholic]

Can’t even get those facts straight. Why am I surprised?

[IrishCatholic]

Well, now I have your picture to go along with what you post. Thanks, it explains a lot.

[Quix]

BTW its been a long time since non-Catholics shook in their boots from an arrogant papist overlord. They don’t do it now. Save your imperium for one that cares.

very well put.

[one Lord one faith one baptism]

LOL! I am not questioning God’s Word, you are! Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church, Jesus said He would be with us always, even to the end of the world. Now the fact you can’t detect what you would call the Church before the 16th century, tells me you might not know what the true Church looks like. hint: it is the Body of Christ on earth. hint #2: it has set the canon of Scripture based on the Faith received from the Apostles. hint #3: it is not a man made institution, but rather it is a Divine Institution. hint #4: it is 2,000 years old, not 500 years old.

[HossB86]

“I am offending Catholic hating bigots.”

Actually, er... no. You’re not. What you’re doing is making yourself look like the southbound end of a northbound horse.

And to boot, you’re acting like you have a paper head.

Sorry, dude — but them’s the facts.

Hoss

[CynicalBear]

>> i am sure you can point to the Roman dogma that backs this up?<<

I’ll help RuMomof7 out here. The Pople obviously knows, right? Let’s see who he prays to.
Prayer of Pope Pius XII
In Honor of the Immaculate Conception

http://catholicism.about.com/od/tothevirginmary/qt/Honor_Immacula.htm

Prayer of Pope Pius XII

Enraptured by the splendor of your heavenly beauty, and impelled by the anxieties of the world, we cast ourselves into your arms, O Immaculate Mother of Jesus and our Mother, Mary, confident of finding in your most loving heart appeasement of our ardent desires, and a safe harbor from the tempests which beset us on every side.

Though degraded by our faults and overwhelmed by infinite misery, we admire and praise the peerless richness of sublime gifts with which God has filled you, above every other mere creature, from the first moment of your conception until the day on which, after your assumption into heaven, He crowned you Queen of the Universe.

O crystal fountain of faith, bathe our minds with the eternal truths! O fragrant Lily of all holiness, captivate our hearts with your heavenly perfume! O Conqueress of evil and death, inspire in us a deep horror of sin, which makes the soul detestable to God and a slave of hell!

O well-beloved of God, hear the ardent cry which rises up from every heart. Bend tenderly over our aching wounds. Convert the wicked, dry the tears of the afflicted and oppressed, comfort the poor and humble, quench hatreds, sweeten harshness, safeguard the flower of purity in youth, protect the holy Church, make all men feel the attraction of Christian goodness. In your name, resounding harmoniously in heaven, may they recognize that they are brothers, and that the nations are members of one family, upon which may there shine forth the sun of a universal and sincere peace.

Receive, O most sweet Mother, our humble supplications, and above all obtain for us that, one day, happy with you, we may repeat before your throne that hymn which today is sung on earth around your altars: You are all-beautiful, O Mary! You are the glory, you are the joy, you are the honor of our people! Amen.

I would call that worship and praying directly to Mary.

[Quix]

NOT by a loooooonnnnnnnnnnnng shot!

Proddys just think your posts are absurdly
inaccurate
false
wrong
UnBiblical
untrue
historically INaccurate
DECEPTIVE
HOGWASH,
DAMNABLE
DESTRUCTIVE to authentic Christianity
silly
pathetic
shallow
hypocritical
heretical
. . .


HOWEVER,
certainly nothing to take personal offense over.

That would be like being offended by a burping drunken lobotomized gnat.

What a waste of energy & emotion that would be!

I suggest that it would be arrogant presumption to assume that anything you post could rise to the level of offending a thick-skinned Proddy.

We're not the ones running around with such thin-skins that monkeys in wheel barrows have to follow along behind stuffing our organs back in.

[metmom]

Right, but you forgot to add celibate priests, popes, and nuns, who have been forbidden to marry, and Lent, Marti Gras “fat tuesdays,” can’t eat fish on fridays, etc., to your list. The apostle Paul said these things are identifiers of what became the Papacy:

1Tim. 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

The Papacy claims to be the original church, according to this passage they are an institution that has departed from the original faith. The apostate church, in other words, not Apostolic, apostate.

That passage follows chapter three which outlines the qualifications for deacon and elder. Paul then goes on to warn about the signs of cults. Since deacons and overseers are to be the husband of one wife, then the warning sign of a cult or false teaching is the demand to abstain from marriage.

Therefore, the interpretation is most accurately dealing with the signs of cults and being led astray, as you pointed out. The Catholic church demands abstinence from marriage for its clergy and forbids the eating of foods.

Here are chapters three and four.

1 Timothy 3 1The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

14I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 15if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 16Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

1 Timothy 4 1Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

11Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

[Quix]

Well put.

Though the horse’s union may rise up in protest.

[one Lord one faith one baptism]

“I would call that worship and praying directly to Mary”

that would make you 50% correct, it is praying to Mary, it is not worshipping Mary.

The Catholic Church teaches worship is due God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I know you don’t believe in the Trinity, so you have other issues to work on without worrying about Mary.

[HossB86]

Ooohhhh.... witty. AND mature...

How old are you? 3? 4?

“I am rubber, you are glue — whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you... nyah, nyah, nayh, nyah, nyaaaaaaah.”

Sheesh. Last time I saw a display of maturity like this was when I was in third grade.

Hoss

[IrishCatholic]

I guess I am offending Catholic Hating Bigots.

[presently no screen name]

And we now find Catholics bragging about the very things existing in their church that Luther was ex-communicated for advocating.

Exactly!!! And ex-communicating him was the least of it.

It would be nice to see some Catholic actually condemn the Inquisition for the abomination that it was,

They can't, they aren't allow to go against their manipulative church. These wimps are afraid of being condemned by the church and go to hell or something. Then can go against The Word but not their church. That's why Luther stands out - he did what he could in that environment for THE TRUTH! What a testimony he and Tyndale left with us.

[MarkBsnr]

OK, RC'S start your ENGINES . . . errr start your WEASEL WORDS AND RATIONALIZATIONS!

Wow, you really like this peacebyjesus website.

Just remember that they are against you all that have smooth crosses: http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/BewareTheSmoothCross.html. You guys are all smooth cross types, right? What else do they tell us? http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/BIBLE-PRAYERS.html tells us of (gasp) prayers to Jesus. You'd better get out your handy dandy antiCatholic exorcism kit, but wait - these guys aren't Catholic by a long shot.

But we have the righteous Benny Hinn to fall back on, right? Oh noes. http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/Hinn-trueorfalse.html tells us that: Not the least of such teachers is Benny Hinn, whose TV show, This Is Your Day! aired in 132 countries in 2004, making it the most widely disseminated program in the world. However his doctrines are not all Heavenly as too often they are clearly contrary to the established revelation of God (the Bible), while his prophecies make a mockery of a Biblical prophet. Though we are commanded to “Prove all things” by that proven source, the Bible, and are shown that discernment thereby is a mark of maturity (Mal. 3:16-18; Heb. 5:14), multitudes (many of which are sincerely in need of a miracle or who may be basically sign seekers) uncritically accept his words and the doctrines he promotes.

Consistent with their laxity as disciples, many followers of Mr. Hinn, when confronted with Biblical criticism of him by qualified men of God (2Tim. 4:2; Titus 1:10-13), seek to invoke Psalm 105:15: “Touch not mine anointed, and do MY prophets no harm.” This indeed is to be avoided in it's true application - that of a warning to those who would do evil to His people or harm a true man of God for speaking and working consistent with the Word of God. Yet the same Word of God reveals that even leaders can be disciplined (1Tim. 5:19; 20), and commands them to warn heretics and reject those that will not repent (Titus 3:10), and for believers to correct a brother who is rebellious (2Ths. 3:14, 15); and enjoins us not to fear those whose predictions fail (Dt. 18:22), and to turn away from those who live disorderly, and not after the Scriptures (2Ths. 3:6;), and from teachers like unto those who suppose “gain is Godliness” (1Tim. 6:5). Benny Hinn is guilty of the above, yet has overall shown that he thinks himself to be above Biblical correction.

Whatever shall we do, Quix? The very site that you have been trumpeting for weeks trashes the Pentecostals. I don't know what to suggest other than to embrace God and the Jesus of Scripture rather than the snake handlers of recent memory.

[HossB86]

“I guess I am offending Catholic Hating Bigots.”

Nope.

Just looking silly. And childish.

But, please — DO continue. It proves the points that are being made...

Every. Time. You. Post.

Hoss

[metmom]

I am offending Catholic hating bigots.

No you're not.

What you are doing is reinforcing the decision of many to leave the Catholic church. If this kind of speech to *outsiders*, or heretics if you will, is still prevalent in Catholicism today, (and nothing posted on FR by FRoman Catholics or other Catholic rites indicates otherwise) it just goes to show that NOTHING has changed in the decades since I left the church.

Two hundred posts and counting and STILL waiting for some Catholic to address the topic of the thread.

[presently no screen name]

If you feel vile and dirty after reading my posts, maybe you are developing a conscience.

According to you - in order to develop a conscience one needs to fill it with vileness? More RCC teachings?

Let's see what God's Word says..
"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean."

Good night.

[MarkBsnr]

That’s right. You had problems with your dentures, I recall. Are you better now?

[HossB86]

“I would call that worship and praying directly to Mary.”

Yup. Without a doubt. But, just wait for the ‘explanation’ — it’s gonna be a doozy.

Hoss