Every effective protest requires a handful of good reasons to refrain from ordinary obedience. If a man is going to risk the disapproval of his peers, he needs a sense of conviction. But the heavy-handed reaction of violent suppression inevitably leads to revolt, which then pushes its views and demands further, even beyond the ability of reforms to ameliorate. And in the heat of thus repudiating authority, the expression of our views can overstate and oversimplify our position. Thus we see how in our day we get excessive personalization and an obstinate relativism of faith, which demands a hand-off aversion even to the preaching of the gospel, and especially to any hint of authority to impose right beliefs.
But there were good reasons to try and reform the Church, to allow valid expressions of faith, and also a few times when rejection went further than it had to.
Positive aspects: Reforms
*1. Sola Fide
- Salvation is by faith alone.
- Faith counts as righteousness.
- Works come after faith.
- Salvation is God's gift of grace.
*2. Sola Scriptura
- Scripture is the only infallible Truth
- Maintain the early simplicity.
- Tradition & Councils can be biased
- We must reject Papal infallibility.
*3. Church discipline
- "Speak to your brother in love."
- Virtue is required for leadership.
- Confession & penance is optional.
- Repentance invokes forgiveness.
*4. Priesthood of all believers
- God hears all our prayers.
- Any may act as priest if needed.
- We need vernacular scriptures.
- All may preach the Gospel.
*5. Married clergy
- Celibacy doesn't confer holiness.
- Permission prevents secret abuse.
- It's an extra hurdle for vocations.
- Celibacy wasn't originally required.
*6. Rejects the doctrine of purgatory
- Restitution & charity, not indulgences.
- Purity & righteousness are imputed.
- There is no "treasury of merit."
- Christ meets us with mercy.
*7. Seek personal relations with God
- We can confess to Jesus directly.
- We can allow some variety of faith.
- Everyone can study Scripture.
- Works are a response of love.
If you're talking about purgatory, you are asserting that we can be saved, but still attached to old habits of sin. Yet, so long as we hold onto sin, resisting being cleansed, we cannot enter Heaven. In truth, we must question whether we will be given further opportunity to release them, or will we be relegated to walk through eternal flames. The time for us to be concerned for our sanctification, to bear the fruits of faith, is now. We must not presume on grace.
When we stand before Jesus, on the day of our death, and bow to beg mercy for our souls, we must be willing to leave every sin behind and rise to follow Him without any hesitation. That is the day of our complete regeneration. If, instead, we cling to our old habits, we are choosing to be left behind in self-exile. Sadly, even those who should be saved retain the freedom to choose whether to wander and be lost or to follow the Good Shepherd. That is why we should seek to be sanctified as much as possible in this life. Jesus will not use force and drag us to follow. Rather, He calls us by name, and we know that we must follow his voice if we want the gift of eternal life.
Our salvation, however, is separate from the evaluation of our heavenly rewards. Our works will be tested with fire, to burn away the chaff and reveal the treasure (I Cor. 3:13-15). But once the chaff of useless works is gone, then we can triumphantly join the saints and Jesus forever. The duration of this time of suffering is not described, however, but is likely to be as short as we allow it to be. We are not the ones who will declare the value of any of our works in Christ's service. Only his mercy will see whether our desires are primarily for Him or merely for the rewards of Heaven.
Most, if not all, of these reforms would have been recognized as valid professions by the Fathers of the Early Church.
Negative aspects: Protests
-1. Believes in fewer sacraments
- Signs of grace, not means.
- Baptism & Eucharist recognized.
- Others are neglected or devalued.
- Overlooks call to other ministries.
- Doesn't recognize holy orders.
-2. Disbelief in priestly miracles
- Doubts literal presence of Body & Blood.
- Questions ritual effectiveness.
- Miracles are the works of God.
- Leads to cessationist ecclesiology
-3. Forgets the communion of saints
- Does not venerate, or pray to Mary
- Does not pray to saints for help
- Does not intercede for the dead
- Ignores angels as mythology
-4. Disregards monastic tradition
- Does not pray for the world
- Does not withdraw from culture
- Rejects ascetic practices
- Disapproves of strenuous piety
-5. No physical objects of devotion
- no veneration of relics or icons
- no personal sacramentals
- crosses worn as jewelry
- infrequent expressions of piety
-6. Shorter OT canon
- abandons Septuagint early canon
- chooses Masoretic late canon
- limits scriptural pool of teaching
- anti-judaism relativizes ethics
-7. Narrow Focus on Preaching & Worship
- neglects confession & penance
- preacher fails to act as mediator
- idiosyncratic symbolic ceremonies
- ad hoc prayer services
In some ways, the Reformation went too far. It was, however, a necessary reaction to the abuse of authority and tradition to develop and extrapolate Church doctrines. Perhaps, some teachings should have been left to the individual's intellectual freedom. The Church needs only to offer guidance to limit the range of speculation so as to avoid heretical wandering. If Protestant reformers depart from Catholic conventions and yet remain faithful to the creeds, traditions and councils that were authoritative before the Great Schism of 1054, there should be no reason to scorn them. Then, if they do choose to follow some Catholic, or even Orthodox, teachings or practices, there can be no grounds for serious complaints.
Catholic & Orthodox Sacraments:
1. Baptism - rebirth into kingdom
2. Confirmation - receive Holy Spirit
3. Eucharist - communion
4. Penance - reconciliation
5. Anointing Sick - healing
6. Marriage - stability & family
7. Holy Orders - ordination & vows
As things continue to stand, however, it seems a shame that so many of the sacraments were left to atrophy from disuse, when an infusion of some flexibility might have kept them in currency. Moreover, there are a few other traditions and institutions that suffer summary excision for political reasons, or democratic ignorance. Some of these might be of real value if gently modified and respectfully preserved.
For example:
A. Confession and Penance - This could be a relief for souls tormented by guilt when private prayers seem too weak of faith to trust that we are not deceiving ourselves. Some valid conventions for confession should be instituted, as a parallel to the Catholic modes, for the recourse of those who would be sincerely faithful. Thus, we might seek reconciliation and a return to a state of purity and grace, without implying submission to the autocratic authority of the Roman Papacy. We could likewise assert the seal of confidentiality, so that the complete unburdening of conscience would be possible, without the risk of betrayal or forced disclosure.
B. Communion of Saints - We need some kind of solace when bereft of our beloved relatives, when we might benefit ourselves and them through prayers, for their peaceful ascension and for our aid by their petitions. Moreover, we may gain confidence by our petitions to the saints, and to our Saviour's Mother, when we need extra help in our prayers to God. We may assume the efficacy of the prayers of those blessed in Heaven. Such a return to the visible prayers of saintly communion would allow the pious practices of unceasing prayer, and the Holy Rosary to become popular again, at least among the clergy. And perhaps it would bring the additional benefits of character formation, as well as the graces promised by Our Holy Mother.
C. Monastic and Eremitical ideals - Not every believer is cut out for the competitive consumer culture of the world. Always, the Church has had a strained relationship with the outside world. We need to stand against the abuses of freedom and/or autocratic authority that drown the fallen world in vice, crime, violence and arbitrary oppression. It was not without good reasons that Christians retreated to the desert, or banded together in community, to attempt to live by the standards of God's Kingdom. Nor was it coincidence that such were more often successful to become saints than those who remained caught up in the values of the secular world. If the world can be transformed by prayer and faithful examples, why should we neglect our strongest practitioners?
D. The Canon of Scripture - The rejection of the long Catholic canon and slightly longer Orthodox canon, in favor of the Jewish Masoretic text, was probably a mistake. After the Roman diaspora, the Pharisaic Jews had reformed and redefined their faith as a reaction to Christianity so as to deny the validity of Jesus' mission and divinity. Why should we accept their limits? On at least one occasion, the Jews chose a corruption of the text to obscure an obvious reference to the Messiah (Psalm 22). Now, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we can see what they originally said.
E. Marriage Vows - The purposes of marriage being threefold, it seems our society is ill served by the ease of civil divorce. First, the sanctification of sexuality offers a subordination of our sexual desires into their proper relationship to the love of God. Sexual relations serve to promote the bonding of husband and wife as a family in accord with God's will that we need not live alone. Secondly, it follows that the family is the proper setting for procreation and the raising of children. A child who lacks loving relationships with two parents, who love each other, comes up with an emotional disadvantage, and may find it difficult to establish a right relationship with their own spouse. And third, the relationship between partners is meant for a commitment to aid each other's spiritual growth. The inevitable friction will rub off the rough edges of their personalities, and teach them the value of thinking of the partner's well-being as well as their own.This is learned most easily when both are oriented toward loving and serving God. We often fail to see how we fall short in our daily lives, but our partner has no such lack of clarity, and may feel our faults and shortcomings acutely. It is in the home that we need to practice the command to "speak to one another in love" when we perceive flaws, and to "first take the log out of your own eye, and you will see how to remove the speck from your friend's." We need to remember to rightly value marriage in this light. Then we will see why we should try to avoid quick entry into this covenant, as well as any angry or hasty dissolution by divorce.
Conclusion:
A Repudiation of Unnecessary Innovation.
Convinced by the testimony and example of the Scriptures and by clear reason and humble conscience, I see no other choice than to repudiate the hubris of the Church in its accumulation of pseudo-traditional innovation and its failure of moral example and guidance. If a clear case for doctrine cannot be made from the Scriptures bound together by logic and reason, there can be no justice in compelling belief. Such stands squarely on the demand to submit to the authority of men. We grant too much flexibility when we allow the opinions of uneducated folk to dictate conformity by consensus, followed after the fact by the authorization of the Church to create doctrine, so that to demur on the basis of conscience is viewed as schism.
If the Apostolic deposit is to be deemed insufficient, how can we be sure that our inspiration comes from the Holy Spirit, and not some foul impostor? We have but one infallible source of true authority and doctrine, and that is Scripture. We must depend on the documents the first century Apostles have left for us, and the wisdom of the Holy Fathers who agreed on the canon, to determine what the Church can declare as valid faith.
So this is what I mean when I refer to the Whole Holy Christian Church, I believe in all of the credal statements and doctrines that the whole Church agreed upon up until the Great Schism of 1054, and after that time, I believe that the only infallible authority that can guide doctrine has been the Scriptures themselves. If we are to accept any developments of new teachings, they must be supported by the Scriptures and not in contradiction to Reason. We cannot let doctrine be dictated by popular traditions, nor led by private mystical experiences. Moreover, if there is development, we must demand that it stay secondary to Scripture, and not allow more development to stand on its shoulders rather than on the foundation of Scripture itself.
Scripture and Reason, and then whatever traditions that have been kept from the Early Church Fathers which serve for worship and discipline, those are our foundations for the whole Church. If there have been changes, let them stand for the convenience of teaching, longstanding practice and statements of consensus, and not for the accumulation of doctrines placing unnecessary demands upon belief.
