Catholic Rehab #4 – Martin Luther Saved Christianity

By John Ceccon

It has been said that if the United States had not defeated the Germans in World War 2, we would all be speaking German today. Keeping the same stream of thought, it could be said that Martin Luther saved Christianity because if he had not nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the Schlosskirche church in Wittenburg, thereby creating the protestant movement, we would all be Catholic today. I don’t like either of those possibilities. I don’t care to speak German, and Catholicism is a false religion.

I grew up Catholic in a predominately Catholic neighborhood, and we looked at protestants with contempt. Actually, we didn’t know anything about protestants, or Martin Luther. All we knew was they were not Catholic, and that makes them bad. Well, Martin Luther is one of my Christian heroes. He was the Catholic priest who called out the Church on some of their shenanigans, which created a rift in the church resulting in a reformation and creation of a new movement – the Protestant Church. Anybody who calls the Pope out on his BS is OK by me. I love a rebel and just like a good rebel, Martin Luther was excommunicated from the church for his beliefs.

Everybody has issues and here are some of the issues Martin Luther had with the Catholic Church. I don’t think it is a coincidence that I along with the entire protestant denomination have many of the same issues. Maybe it’s us – I don’t think so. These are just a few of my favorites. There are actually 95 of them, hence the name 95 Thesis (duhhhh).

• Purgatory. He said, “Purgatory is the greatest falsehood because it is based on ungodliness and unbelief.” Then you have the fact that there is not one single verse in the Bible that even remotely mentions purgatory – so, there’s that.
• Indulgences. Paying the church to keep you out of purgatory. Yes, purgatory – that make-believe place the Catholic Church created to scare you into giving money to the church. (see my rant on purgatory). Most of the money that was collected through indulgences was used for the rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
• The Bible. Only Catholic priests were allowed to read, interpret, and teach the Bible. It didn’t help that the Catholic Church forbid the translation of the Bible from Latin into English until the mid-1500s. Even if you wanted to read the Bible, you couldn’t, unless you could speak Latin.
• The Bible. The Pope established the only correct way to interpret the scripture. Translation – it’s the pope’s way or the highway.
• God. Believers could have a relationship with God only through the church. Apparently, you couldn’t have a relationship with God before the church.
• The pope. He was considered to be infallible. This one is easy to debunk. THERE ARE NO HUMANS WHO ARE INFALLIBLE – NONE! This includes the pope, every human that has ever been, the 12 apostles, the Virgin Mary, and everybody else in the Bible – except Jesus.
• Baptizing of babies. Martin said, “Now if we cannot prove that infants believe for themselves and have faith, then my honest judgment and advice is straightway to cease, the sooner the better, and nevermore baptize an infant, that we may not mock and blaspheme the high majesty of God with such foolish and fraudulent work which would be nothing but empty show.” WOW! I love this guy.

……. AND THERE ARE 89 MORE. (see the whole list here) Clearly, Martin Luther was not happy with the goings on in the Catholic church and I think it’s safe to say that he wasn’t buddy-buddy with the pope either. The 95 Theses, would later become the foundation of the Protestant Reformation and the beginning of the Protestant church.

If you were raised Catholic and are having some issues with the way they have misrepresented scripture and God, you are not alone. The guilt you are feeling about leaving the Catholic Church is a side effect of the lies they have been feeding you for years.

If you are a recovering Catholic, I’d love to hear from you. I have worked in church ministry for the last 10 years dealing with people who are in all forms of recovery, especially recovering Catholics. You don’t have to live with Catholic guilt anymore. You don’t have to confess to a priest ever again – go straight to Jesus. He is listening and He wants to hear from you. With every step you take toward Him, He will take two steps toward you. No Catholic priest, archbishop, or pope can compare. Do it, take that step.

Copyright 2023 John Ceccon. All rights reserved.