A Reforming Reformer

I was raised Catholic but have spent most, maybe technically all, of my adult life being a Protestant of some form.  I have never been as pathologically anti Catholic as many Protestants, especially ones who were formerly Catholics, but I did used to have conspiracy theory tendencies that have waned over the last couple of years.

I'd have to say I'm probably still a Protestant, on most of the core issues upon which the Reformation was based I still side with the Protestant position.  The very title of this Blog references a Pillar of the Reformation and I haven't changed my mind on that, it's only gotten stronger the more unconventional interpretations of Scripture I accept.  And in terms of Church hierarchy I'm to a Catholic or Orthodox POV worse then mainline Protestants, I'm even more Anarchical then the Independent Baptists and even more Democratic then the Presbyterians.  And I recently made a post on how I don't regard the Ecumenical Councils even if I do think some of them were right on some things.

However I no longer believe in accusing people of not being true Christians no matter how wrong I think their views are.  1 John 4:15, 1 Corinthians 12:3 and Romans 10:9 tell me all Christians are true Christians.

Sometimes when Protestants, Evangelicals, Baptists and Torah Observant Christians are arguing with each other they will use a view being like a doctrine Catholics have been associated with as an inherent argument against it.  Like when someone tries to explain a view on the After Life or the Coming Judgment that has even the vaguest similarity to Purgatory they'll get shouted down with "That's Purgatory, a Catholic doctrine".

And I've come to realize that is also a violation of Sola Sciprtura, saying "if the Catholics taught it, it must be wrong" is adding to Scripture just as much as blindly following their tradition does.

The Catholic Church also Believes Jesus is The Son of God, and The Word Made Flesh, and born of a Virgin, and was Crucified and died for our Sins and rose again on the third day, and contrary to what you may expect the Catholic Encyclopedia even stresses that the General Resurrection of The Dead is of the Flesh.  And they believe in The Trinity.  Heck most issues behind the 1054 Great Schism are ones mainline Protestants still take the Western Position on,  (as for me I understand the Orthodox issue with the Filioque but have to raise my eyebrow at saying it's "Jewish" to use unleavened bread in communion).

So when you start saying the Pope must be wrong on everything you're opening a pretty awkward can of worms.

The problem with the Medieval Purgatory doctrine was how it was a form of Spiritual Extortion, the Church getting Peasants to pay them money to do special masses to shorten their loved ones time there.  Obviously I'm not arguing anything like that is valid.  And even what the modern Catholic Church teaches on the issue isn't really the same as anything I believe.  However there are Bible verses they cite in support of the doctrine that are also verses I have cited in support of my ideas throughout the history of this blog.  It's the simplistic idea that "good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell" that comes from Plato and Zoroastrianism not The Bible.

I still mostly hold a Baptist position on Baptism.  However contrary to popular assumption the Catholic Church does not officially definitively state that all babies who die unbaptized go to Hell.  Support for the idea of doing something like an Infant Baptism comes from the comparison of it to Circumcision in Collisions 2:11-12, and Acts 2:38-39 implying a link between Baptism and vowing to raise your children to be Believers, and undetailed references to entire households being Baptized.

The thing is, there are two Water Baptisms in the New Testament.  There is the Baptism of John that was for Repentance, and then the Baptism Apollos still hadn't had when he joined The Church at Ephesus.  For someone raised a Christian the Baptism of Repentance is what happens second, that is only for adults.  If you join the Church as an adult normally one Baptism covers both.  But people who came out of John's movement were in a unique position.

I've noticed that Protestantism is more susceptible to Nationalism, a product of seeing Spiritual Allegiance to someone who's technically a foreign head of state as potentially treasonous.  In Italy it's different since The Pope isn't so far away, yet in the 19th Century the Popes still opposed Italian Unification.  The history of Religion in Nazi Germany is complicated but generally the Lutherans were more willing to work with Hitler then the Catholics.  And it's mostly among Protestants you'll find people who try to make whatever tribe they were born into a Lost Tribe of Israel.  Catholics are a lot less susceptible to forgetting that The Gospel is not Ethno-Centric.

I agree with the Catholic view that The Church is the real Nation we should be loyal to.  But I disagree that that means we need a highly organized Church institution. The Holy Spirit and The Bible should be the source of our Unity not a man made hierarchy.

But what about my Soterology?  Am I still Sola Fide?  Well I now believe in Universal Salvation, and there are supporters of some form of that Soterology among Protestants and Evangelicals and Catholics and the Orthodox and Nestorians.  No major denomination is willing to label Gregory of Nyssa a heretic, so there is room for the True Gospel everywhere.