why,during the 16th century, did many christians leave the catholic church to join a protestant one?
also what were the basic religious beliefs taught by the protestant churches?
One person replied: "Mostly because their entire countries were forced to convert."
Now for the full story.
In western europe there had been literally hundreds and hundreds of years of repression and totalitarian reign by regemes kowtowing to the authority of the Catholic Church. There had been literally 500 years of the Inquisition and other malicious practices of the Catholic Church. Hundreds of thousands of "heretics" were executed and even entire towns were wiped out. (And this does not even include the Crucades, some of which wiped out entire CHRISTIAN cities in eastern Europe at the instigation of the reigning pope because they balked at the pope's authority).
Let us also indeed look at England. Just one minor example: the first person there who translated the Bible from Latin into English was imprisoned for the act.
Sure there were a few "martyrs for the faith" but the very overwhelming vast majority were just quite happy to get out from under the repression and horrific policies and deliberate pain and suffering inflicted upon the poeple by the Catholic Church and those operating under their imprimator.
In some later centuries it was in part the 300 years of witch-hunting, the burning and incarceration of heretics, and other practices which R.H. Robbins called "the shocking nightmare, the foulest crime and deepest shame of western civilization," that ensured the european abandonment of the belief in magic. And the authority of the Catholic Church. In part, the Church created the elaborate concept of devil worship and then used the persecution of it to wipe out dissent, subordinate the individual to authoritarian control, and openly denigrate women. All through the ages the Catholic Church and its adherents spoke of women as barely human. Even Thomas Acquinas stated that woman was a "mistake of creation."
And witch-hunting was only a part of the story. Please read some history which is rampent with the totalitarian barbarisms off the Catholic Church.
Both Protestants and Catholics are very good at rewriting history to suit their purposes, but in main it was just a ripe time for countries and the people in those countries to finally wrest authority (expecially temporal authority) away from a weakening Catholic Church.
To give a modern day equivalent to what happened. Look at what happened in most of the countries in Eastern Europe during the fall of the Soviate dominance of that area of the world. No one today would even pretend to contend that all these poor people were "FORCED TO RENOUNCE COMMUNISM." The situation during the Reformation (and counter Reformation) was drawn out over a much greater time but the motivation of the people was similar.
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January 30 2009 05:40 am | Protestant
Phylicia on 30 Jan 2009 at 10:48 am #
…why cant you just google it??
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CJ on 30 Jan 2009 at 11:02 am #
Catholicism teaches a false gospel of works ("sacraments") that leads to eternal hell (Galatians 1:6-9). Catholicism is not Christian.
Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with you. Catholicism cannot give you this.
Catholicism = faith + works = no salvation and eternal torment in hell
Christian = faith alone in Jesus for salvation, without our own works added = salvation and eternity in heaven with Jesus!
Only faith alone in Jesus saves! Salvation is a FREE GIFT that happens in a split second when you believe in Jesus! It is impossible to lose or "leave" salvation.
The truth about Jesus is that the only way to be saved and to get into heaven and avoid being sent to eternal hell, is by believing in faith alone that Jesus, who is God, died for our sins on the cross and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Believe this and you will be in heaven, no matter what!
Please pray now: "Jesus, please forgive me of my sins. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and You rose from the dead. Thank You for eternal life!" You will be in heaven with Him forever when you die.
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I'm not a "protestant". I'm a saved believer in Jesus
NTrouble on 30 Jan 2009 at 11:46 am #
Much was due to Martin Luther's influence.
Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority[7] and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a universal priesthood.[8] According to Luther, salvation is a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church.
At the Diet of Worms assembly over freedom of conscience in 1521, Luther's confrontation with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and his refusal to submit to the authority of the Emperor resulted in his being excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church and being declared an outlaw of the state as a consequence.
His translation of the Bible into the vernacular of the people made the Scriptures more accessible to them, and had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation,[9] and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible.
I think you have a gross misunderstanding of Catholicism and Christianity, CJ. You have simply provided "some" facts on either and backed them up with some horribly egregious assumptions and statements. You basically said that you only have to believe and you are saved, it can never be taken away regardless of your actions. This logic flies in the face of every legitimate denomination of the Protestant movement.
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Gene W on 30 Jan 2009 at 12:19 pm #
cause people found out that the cat-o-lic religion is a cult.
one of the biggest in the world.
References :
KJV Bible/history/study of cults
Shinigami (FAC) weeaboo on 30 Jan 2009 at 12:27 pm #
Those who were against the church policy at the time spoke eloquently about their stance, and many were convinced.
Also, leaders were seen as all-powerful, so if a king decided to leave the church, it was pretty much a given that all his subjects would follow suit, since to not do so would be treason, which is punishable by death.
The main complaint was about the pope.
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Who`d have known on 30 Jan 2009 at 1:10 pm #
Because Henry VIII wanted to marry again, read your history books
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toad on 30 Jan 2009 at 1:45 pm #
They became disillusioned with the catholic church's abuse of its powers. People like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry viii started up new religions to escape these abuses. Very few early differences in Luther's church less sacraments, mass in the vernacular and priests could marry. Calvin's church was similar to Luther's but also included belief that the church should not be rich and had much plainer churches. Henry viii pretty much wanted a divorce so started a new religion to escape the pope.
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christa on 30 Jan 2009 at 1:51 pm #
because of the catholic church's corruption. they would, lets just say, practice buying and selling church positions. They practised "false" doctrines. like saying that all your wrongs would be cleared in the eyes of the lord if you payed indulgences.
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lainiebsky on 30 Jan 2009 at 2:11 pm #
Because the Protestant churches served coffee and donuts after services.
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Queen Kira on 30 Jan 2009 at 2:31 pm #
The Protestant Churches returned to the teachings of the Bible. The Catholic Church had long since abandoned the Bible as the "only rule of Law". In fact, it was the Roman Catholic Church that was responsible for the Dark Ages, during which time they made it illegal to have even a page of Scripture on your person, under penalty of imprisonment, torture or death. They burned 50 million Bible-believing Christians at the stake as heretics during that time. This is why there was a move to Protestantism at the time of the Reformation, as soon as the Bible began being translated into the common languages so that people could read for themselves how far the Catholic Church had strayed from Christ's teachings.
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Ankaboot on 30 Jan 2009 at 2:43 pm #
Only a moron would believe a book that Jesus never wrote nor did Moses for them.
Those around Jesus where murdered less one, you want to know what it really said, then you have to go to Italy for that and face the mafia.
The bible you have is not the real book nor is it the meaning but it is a bias interpitation and that is all you have is a translation made out of hearsay and bias.
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Ankaboot
derius537 on 30 Jan 2009 at 2:48 pm #
You really could have saved yourself 5 points and simply used Goggle.
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/wittenberg-luther.html
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grobit625 on 30 Jan 2009 at 3:25 pm #
Mostly because of corruption going on in the Catholic church. Surely no Catholic would say that there wasn't corruption in their church unless they were in serious denial.
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Episcopalian
cristoiglesia on 30 Jan 2009 at 3:41 pm #
The explanation is too long for this forum but perhaps I can get you on the right track to research the background.
The Protestant movement was really a philosophical one, in that we were coming out of a period where the philosophical theories of scholasticism had been taught which led to secular Humanism of the sixteenth century.
The Protestant movement was primarily fueled by a desire of certain Humanist scholars to create a religion that had as its focus a god that serves man instead of the orthodox Christian faith where man served God. It was a "me" centered faith rather than a "God" centered faith. To accomplish this orthodox Christianity was syncretically blended with Humanism. That plus the encouragement of the secular princes using the movement for reasons of greed fueled and kept alive the rebellion against Christ's Church. God bless!
In Christ
Fr. Joseph
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imacatholic2 on 30 Jan 2009 at 3:50 pm #
Mostly because their entire countries were forced to convert.
Take England as an example: people who remained true to Catholicism were persecuted for generations and many were martyred.
With love in Christ.
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roccopaperiello on 30 Jan 2009 at 4:10 pm #
One person replied: "Mostly because their entire countries were forced to convert."
Now for the full story.
In western europe there had been literally hundreds and hundreds of years of repression and totalitarian reign by regemes kowtowing to the authority of the Catholic Church. There had been literally 500 years of the Inquisition and other malicious practices of the Catholic Church. Hundreds of thousands of "heretics" were executed and even entire towns were wiped out. (And this does not even include the Crucades, some of which wiped out entire CHRISTIAN cities in eastern Europe at the instigation of the reigning pope because they balked at the pope's authority).
Let us also indeed look at England. Just one minor example: the first person there who translated the Bible from Latin into English was imprisoned for the act.
Sure there were a few "martyrs for the faith" but the very overwhelming vast majority were just quite happy to get out from under the repression and horrific policies and deliberate pain and suffering inflicted upon the poeple by the Catholic Church and those operating under their imprimator.
In some later centuries it was in part the 300 years of witch-hunting, the burning and incarceration of heretics, and other practices which R.H. Robbins called "the shocking nightmare, the foulest crime and deepest shame of western civilization," that ensured the european abandonment of the belief in magic. And the authority of the Catholic Church. In part, the Church created the elaborate concept of devil worship and then used the persecution of it to wipe out dissent, subordinate the individual to authoritarian control, and openly denigrate women. All through the ages the Catholic Church and its adherents spoke of women as barely human. Even Thomas Acquinas stated that woman was a "mistake of creation."
And witch-hunting was only a part of the story. Please read some history which is rampent with the totalitarian barbarisms off the Catholic Church.
Both Protestants and Catholics are very good at rewriting history to suit their purposes, but in main it was just a ripe time for countries and the people in those countries to finally wrest authority (expecially temporal authority) away from a weakening Catholic Church.
To give a modern day equivalent to what happened. Look at what happened in most of the countries in Eastern Europe during the fall of the Soviate dominance of that area of the world. No one today would even pretend to contend that all these poor people were "FORCED TO RENOUNCE COMMUNISM." The situation during the Reformation (and counter Reformation) was drawn out over a much greater time but the motivation of the people was similar.
References :
For example read: "The Dark Side of Christian Histroy" by Helen Ellerby
Der Roman Katholische knecht on 30 Jan 2009 at 5:00 pm #
The Protestant church started when a group of followers of the Roman Catholic Church was not satisfied with the Roman Catholic on my issues like Sola Scripture versus sola sola scrupture with works, The real prcense of the Holy Eucharist wheraes most Protestants belive in the memorial of the Holy Eucharist, the veneration fo Saints the believe in Purgatory as well as onedience to the Pope which Martin Luther a mad man was against the Pope a key point in the anglicans seperating from the Roman Catholic Church
Protestants think that Christanity is a buffett where you can pick and choose just like how you eat food
The truth and its entirety is contained in the Roman catholic Church with its sacrements and ancient doctrines being preserved under the leadrship of the Pope
By the way CJ you have to show through your actions that you want to have a frienmdship with Our God and Lord Jesus Christ You cannot say you believe and then dont any action or works
References :
Roman Catholic.Pray the Rosary
Apostolic Nuncio on 30 Jan 2009 at 5:24 pm #
If you would like more answers, consider asking around this site as well…
http://christianforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26
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cmhelp1 on 30 Jan 2009 at 6:13 pm #
The people believed that the Roman church wasn't interpreting the Scriptures accurately and many cases down right lying.
Those that refused to adhere to the false teachings of the Roman church were tortured, jailed and even murdered. The Roman church's persecution of the Church was severe.
The people that survived the Roman church's murderous persecution began new sects of the Church.
But, even though the group of mutiny-minded followers refused the majority of what the Roman church taught, they kept her pagan festivals, rituals, and symbolism.
Be Blessed:-)
References :
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments (elements) of the world, and not after Christ" – Colossians 2:8.
PenguinLover on 30 Jan 2009 at 6:53 pm #
I don't know but don't use wikipedia and you have the answer tell me
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