The sixteenth century Roman Catholic system of churches and their administrative organization was a precious cart of apples in the eyes of the papacy.
From Rome’s perspective, what wasn’t there to like about it?
They funded their opulent palace-like cathedrals on the backs of guilt-ridden fearful parishioners through the selling of indulgences. They ruled through iron-fisted bishops in cahoots with secular leaders. They kept parishioners ignorant of Scripture through the lack of Bible study. (Indeed, Bibles were generally unavailable and were not translated into the current language of the common people.) If the Word was an impediment to their schemes, the Pope had free reign to overrule the authority of Scripture. Centuries of tradition helped to discourage any changes or corrections. It was a perfect extortion-like system shrouded in the guise of religion.
Through diligent Bible study, a Catholic named Martin Luther (and other reformers) rediscovered the pure doctrine of God’s Word and realized that many of the precious apples of the papacy were rotten to the core. The Reformers tried to work within the church to make changes and realign it with pure doctrine. Luther translated the Bible into the current language of the common people, and through the advent of the printing press made it widely available. The Pope resisted changes to his precious system, citing tradition and centuries of precedent as the rule and norm for the church. For the love of the Church the Reformers upset the apple cart[1] of the papacy. In response,[2] the Pope implemented overt legal actions against the resistant Lutherans. The rest of the story is Protestant Reformation history.
Does history include other examples where the preciousness of the status quo is upset by God’s Word and His grace?
Does history ever repeat itself in today’s church, if not overtly at least in subtle ways?
Is the church leadership open to answering the “hard questions” or do they keep you in fear of losing your salvation if you don’t toe the majority party line? Is the church led by qualified competent leaders, elders, and ministers with openness and transparency, or through opaque iron-fisted unqualified unofficial internal factions? Does the church promote, encourage, and conduct Bible studies for the people (including adults) using a reliable modern language translation, or is the study of Scripture considered wrong? Does the church base its doctrine on the solid foundational[3] authority of Scripture, or through an elusive practice of spiritual Enthusiasm?[4] Does the church accept corrections rooted in the Word, or does it resist correction based on historical traditions of men?[5] Are faithful reformers in the church given due consideration, or are they treated as heretics and outcasts? Is the church today considered a cart of apples too precious[6] to upset through the faithful application of God’s Word and pure doctrine?
Please reply, I’d love to hear your perspective.
[1] For a biblical example of overturning tradition and returning to pure doctrine see 2 Chronicles 34.
[2] Grimm, Harold J. (1957) Luther’s Works: Volume 31, Career of the Reformer: I. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Published by Fortress Press. ISBN: 0-8006-0331-1, 216, Proceedings at Augsburg: “[The pope demanded that] first, I come to my senses and retract my errors; second, that I promise to abstain from them in the future; and third, that I abstain from doing anything which might disturb the church.” Martin Luther
[3] 1 Corinthians 3:11
[4] Enthusiasm is a heresy that subverts the Word of God with the claim that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a higher authority that can overrule any and all Holy Scripture at will. See also Gnosticism and how it is partly based on a heretical internal spiritual experience above that of pure teachings.
[5] Mark 7:8
[6] Sonntag, Holger (2008). Only the Decalogue is Eternal: Martin Luther’s Complete Antinomian Theses and Disputations. Minneapolis, MN: Published by Lutheran Press, ISBN: 978-0-9748529-6-6, 140-141: “…the Church in this life is mixed with evil people and hypocrites; that it can never [completely] purify itself, let alone that they always appear to be the most precious and best part of the Church.”