Baptist Amen. Used many of his teachings in Sunday School class. His desire was to move toward the Church in Acts, even to the point of bringing all things together in common and selling/using the churches wealth to feed the needy.
The Catholic Church is the biggest provider of help to the poor. Selling precious relics so some idiot can hang it in his mansion is ludicrous. As the saying goes, the poor will always be among us. We do more for the local poor and homeless than any other religion in our area. I am not look8ng to debate you, but it is a fact. Cheers friend
“His desire was to move toward the Church in Acts, even to the point of bringing all things together in common and selling/using the churches wealth to feed the needy.”
Acts was a spontaneous event. I have never seen ONE attempt at that become successful. The only thing it does is frustrate grace by prodding believers into a fruitless adventure. God is not doing miracles like He did then (delusional people aside). His miraculous gifts were in full operation, even among the unruly Corinthians (proving it had nothing to do with “works”).
I’ve never understood why believers want to recreate the Acts era. You want Acts, you get sudden deaths for lying and not properly discerning the Lord’s body, too! You get transition instead of the full stability found in Ephesians.
Doctrine for us is in Paul’s letters, not Acts (or the Gospels). The Catholic Church has never gotten this right, regardless of the Pope, because doing so would destroy it’s carefully built Labyrinth. Paul is anathema to every works religion on the planet...because JESUS sent him to be so!
Have you read Ratzinger’s books on Jesus? The theology is brilliant, and would be unexceptionable in a Bapyist setting, I think. Every page is filled with fresh insights that make you pause and say “I never realized that.” What an extraordinary mind.
He also warned us about the Muslim incursion.