From what I understand the Catholic church had become unrecognizable as a christian church which is what prompted Martin Luther to make such an extreme stand. It wasn't just a branch of the cult, but a complete prune back to the bare wood.
The church had become way too powerful to want to give any of their possessions up, just like the Bible condemns is the bad thing to do. This is exactly what the church had become. The antithesis of itself. The Catholic church by collaboration, in the mould of the Roman model, possessed & operated between 1/4 & 1/3 of the total land mass of Western Europe tax free. (J.B.Russel, A History of Medieval Christianity P92).
Yes there have been some amazing people who've contributed as much as anyone working inside the Catholic church. Funny how it's usually a small minority that actually follow what we recognise to be right and good.
So what we have left in the present is a strange Catholic church, still clinging on to bad habits and wanting to believe itself a 'split' from mainstream Christianity at best, and 'The One True Church' at worst.
Like Islam, Catholicism claims membership through birth and association alone. Ignoring the real deal which is following what the Bible actually says rather than adopting blindly the hypocrisies of some of it's teaching. Superstition is widespread and importantly, officially sanctioned.
For these reasons I believe that the Catholic church is a Christian church only by loose association. Yes it's completely possible and does happen that Catholics are actually Christians as well. But for the reasons pointed out very clearly by Martin Luther, Catholicism no longer equals Christianity.
The church had become way too powerful to want to give any of their possessions up, just like the Bible condemns is the bad thing to do. This is exactly what the church had become. The antithesis of itself. The Catholic church by collaboration, in the mould of the Roman model, possessed & operated between 1/4 & 1/3 of the total land mass of Western Europe tax free. (J.B.Russel, A History of Medieval Christianity P92).
Yes there have been some amazing people who've contributed as much as anyone working inside the Catholic church. Funny how it's usually a small minority that actually follow what we recognise to be right and good.
So what we have left in the present is a strange Catholic church, still clinging on to bad habits and wanting to believe itself a 'split' from mainstream Christianity at best, and 'The One True Church' at worst.
Like Islam, Catholicism claims membership through birth and association alone. Ignoring the real deal which is following what the Bible actually says rather than adopting blindly the hypocrisies of some of it's teaching. Superstition is widespread and importantly, officially sanctioned.
For these reasons I believe that the Catholic church is a Christian church only by loose association. Yes it's completely possible and does happen that Catholics are actually Christians as well. But for the reasons pointed out very clearly by Martin Luther, Catholicism no longer equals Christianity.
