This article was already used as a comment to the following topic:
Should Protestants disown Luther in an Ecumenical Dialogue?
Hello,
the Christian Church has a most forceful weapon: to shut somebody up (German: “jemandem das Maul stopfen”). Currently I am reading the Acts (part of the Holy Scripture) and just today I have read about Apollonian, who was a very skilled defender of Christianity against fanatical Jews (by the way, I love the people of Israel, and every real Christian will love God’s chosen people; nevertheless, even Jesus Christ had some struggle with scribes, high priests, Pharisees, etc. because they rejected the Christian doctrine; these people I mean). In the same area (Asia Minor) where Apollonian teached St. Paul teached too. St. Paul had not solely some struggle with the Jews but also with some stubborn pagans. Once upon a time, Demetrius staged a revolt against the Christian doctrine, which was about to destroy the Diana-cult. The Diana-cult meant a lot of profit for Demetrius and others. The chancellor of Ephesos had to intervene and calmed the multitude by saying among other things that Christians had not defamed Diana. Probably, it was true what he has said. Also when St. Paul once came to Athen, he spoke to the people very prudent, and didn’t blame them for there idolatry but mentioned that they had a memorial for the God who has made heaven and earth and continued to preach the gospel.
A Protestant Christian may think in his heart that the pope is the Antichrist, but when he discusses with Catholics, he should be carefully not to use this label of the pope as expression of any hatred against Catholics. It is more advisable to remain objective and to judge the issue objectively. Nobody on earth (yes!) is able to reject an objective judgement about any matter. I have investigated the CCC (German: KKK, Katechismus der Katholischen Kirche, English: Catechism of the Catholic Church) and tried to be as objective as possible. By the way, the CCC was approved by John Paul II and worked out by Benedict XVI. The CCC is an official document of the Roman Catholic Church. The result of my investigation: every Catholic is required to believe in the pope in order to get saved. Boom! The RCC has not overcome her big problem of the Middle Ages. The problem is still relevant. Of course, the pope has refurbished his image by the mass media, but actually he is as dangerous as in former ages. My personal “nickname” for him is soulkiller. He is more dangerous than OBL because OBL caused just the death of the body, but the pope causes the eternal death of the whole human being (complete destruction).
To sum it up: Let us always be aware what the pope actually is, but let us love the single Catholics.
Every Catholic can become a Protestant any moment. I personally made this nice experience.
The sole Redeemer for everybody who believes: Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son.
Kind regards,
Rainer
P. S.: Forget ecumene! It is impossible.
Confessing Church 