The Protestant Church When Martin Luther tacked his 95 thesis on the church door at Wittemburg he didn't plan on creating a new, he just wanted to "clean up" the old one. He never thought of creating a church of his own and named after him. That all happened later, after attemps to take his life, and after his exile at Wartburg Castle. His exile at Wartburg saved his life for the Catholics could not get to him there and kill him. All Luther wanted was to get rid of all the non-biblical things that had crept into the Catholic church over the centuries. That is what the Protestants did. They took all these things below out of the the new church. Mass: There is nothing in the bible about mass and praying for the souls of dead men (and women). Mass is a Catholic creation. Henry VIII of England, when on his death bed, gave enough golden English sovereigns to the Catholic church at Rome to say 10,000 masses for him. They may still be saying mass for him today. There is no mass in the Protestant churches. If you did not have faith in God when you were living, nothing will help you after you die. Rosary: There is nothing in the bible that warrants holding beads and saying the "Hail Marys" The rosary came into the Catholic church from one of the pagan countries conquered by the Romans. They do not use the rosary in the Protestant churches. The Diety of Mary: There is nothing in the bible about praying to - or through - Mary. Mary was blessed among women as the mother of Christ but she died just as we will die. She didn't rise from the dead. How can you pray to a women who is dead? Jesus said among man born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist. Luke Chapter 7 Verse 28 and Matthew Chapter 11 Verse 10. You would do better to pray to John, wouldn't you? Protestants do not pray to Mary. We pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ.. Purgatory: There is nothing in the bible about a purgatory. Purgatory was created by the Catholic church for the churches benefit. In fact indulgenses were used by the Catholic church to make money. If you gave a certain amount of money to your priest he could pray you out of purgatory after your death and get into Christ's arms much quicker. And the more money you gave the priest, the sooner you would get out of purgatory. This is what set off Martin Luther. He believed that you will get to heaven on your own faith and not by a priest bribing our Saviour. The Protestant church has no system of praying you into heaven. The Bible: Before Martin Luther the common folk did not have a bible they could read. This was a grand advantage for the Catholic Church and they would not allow the bible to be translated in the common language of the people. Translating the bible in any other than Latin would get you burned at the stake. Luther translated the bible in common German for the lay people to read and today bibles are available for anyone and everyone to read. Celibacy: In the beginning priests in the Catholic church were permitted to marry. Peter the disciple was married. After a time the Catholic church noticed that wealty priests were leaving rich estates to their families and the church lost valuable property that the priests had accumulated. We can all see what evil this turned out to be. The Catholic church became a sanctuary for priests with homosexual tendancies. Everyone remembers the last decade with pedophile priests infecting the church. This was nothing new in the Catholic Church. The Catholic church was infected with homosexuals for hundreds of years. It's a pretty well known fact that Pope Leo Xth who was a contemporary of Martin Luther was a confirmed homosexual. |