Protestants vs Catholics

There's a lot of catholic bashing out there. In fact, there are many religions that believe the papacy is the beast which Revelations speaks of. When it comes to stogee, tradition-mired churchianity Catholicism is an easy target for protestants; in the same way older generations are easy targets for teenagers who've learned different values.

I've been observing lots of young people choose the more liturgical churches of late and I think its an attempt to return to tradition. They are rebelling against the rebellion. Like all man-made things, religion is caught in a cycle of constantly leaving what didn't work for our parents.

Here's a post I wrote in response to some Catholic bashing on a blog site I frequent. I am of the radical opinion that the answers lay in turning to something that isn't man made--actual faith.
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I'd agree that it's the "Catholic system," but only technically and not in the truest sense. Until Emperor Constantine had his vision and decided to make Christianity the state religion, Christianity was an underground church. 300 years or so after Christ's death--200+ years after the death of the last person who knew Christ--state theocracy starts making a drastic shift from pantheism to monotheism. They convene the elders from around the empire to determine what real Christianity is; and to weed out false belief's.

They used both church tradition and the writings of predecessors to create the cannon of acceptable beliefs. They wrote the Nicaean creed and eventually decided what books should be considered scripture. We can fault Constantine for mixing a lot of Pagan Rome's traditions in his new state-sponsored Christianity, but it doesn't really matter. Many years later the protestants decided scripture only (solo scriptura) was the only way to go. But oddly they weren't very quick to rid themselves of all church tradition. In fact they've added some, like dressing up, calling it God's house, pews, lecterns, etc. NONE of which is in the BIBLE.

Catholicism is perhaps the first to make a Christian religion but its not the first religion. They stole lots of tradition from Pagan Rome. They did what the pharisees did with the children of Israel--turned a family relationship into a set of rules. Every religion has these things in common: sacred places, sacred people, sacred events or days, and sacred objects. In real Christianity all that is put into Christ. You follow Christ, not just his example.

The practice of giving a sermon comes from Pagan Greece. Should we then discount all sermons, or anyone who comes from a church that has preaching? I guess to make the whole thing shorter I'll end by saying that we don't need to fear some vast Catholic Sunday law conspiracy. Wherever men sit idly and tune out boring sermons instead of living life to the full, that's where the beast is worshiped.

PS In the last 2,000 years Christians have been trying to make a religion devoid of false belief's. That's how the inquisitions started. The desire to stamp out heresy and refine the canon is a sure sign that relationship is no longer a part of a Christian movement. Fear is worship so fear only God and watch the world fade away.

A. R. Bunch