“Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ.” —Martin Luther
I didn't know Luther preached one sentence sermons. I'm sure that you take Paul the same way? Thought not, but as a Catholic I guess you might.
“If he will not listen to the church, treat him as a pagan or tax collector.” —Jesus
Jesus, acknowledging that the Rome claim of 'Church' is false. Where did Jesus add issues requiring belief to be saved that are not recorded in scripture? The Word of God is a sure defense in issues of church discipline, unless you are Catholic.
Of course, that quote by Jesus from Matthew 18 is also taken out of context.
It was part of His discourse on dealing with an unrepentant brother, not to give any church absolute, totalitarian authority over every believer on the planet.
However, since Catholics like to quote that so much as non_Catholics, one has to wonder why they don’t actually enforce that within their own ranks. Between the liberal pro-abortion and pro-homosexual marriage politicians and the homosexual minor molesting clergy, they have plenty of opportunity to practice what they preach.
Instead they are too busy pointing out other’s shortcomings.
Jesus also had something to say about motes and beams.
St Thomas, you are by far and away one of the most courteous and reasonable Catholic posters and I appreciate that we can dialog without it degenerating into a spitting contest. However, it appears that you have a blind spot, as do many Catholics, to the shortcomings of your denomination.
I’ve never seen a group of people so reluctant to admit error by the leadership within their church.
IMO, ANY church is fair game. Find me a non-Catholic church that is off in morals or teaching and I will point that out too, and I have. If you’ve ever seen my posts regarding the charismatic movement, you’ll know that that is true.
Every time they treat Luther as if we held him as a pope by invoking some obscure quote or support for something of Rome, or as if he was a maverick in doubting or rejecting apocryphal books, it reveal their desperation or carelessness in parroting polemics.
Luther actually said enough things that we disagree with to exclude him being our pope, while RCs are too willing to be like atheists who invoke such things as the Lord commending the unjust steward or calling a seeker a dog, or Paul saying the Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies, (Titus 1:12) in order to misconstrue what was meant. And Luther engaged in much hyperbole and highly polemical language. Not that i agree with it all.
I have recommended that they search Swan's collection for such quotes, so at least they would understand the polemical context of such. But that would leave them more desperate.