Authentic Church Episode III: Nailing stuff to a church door!

Been a while since I last blogged and Episode III has been playing on my mind. Whether the account of Luther nailing his 95 thesis to the door of the church in Wittenberg is legend or fact, I personally (and I emphasis the "personally") believe that Luther was not trying to create a split in the church or a spin-off of denominations. No! He was merely trying to get the Church to reform, to get it to act against power and money-mad priests, bishops and Popes who were using their position of almost absolute authority to line their own pockets and solidify their own position of power, which in turn allowed them to line their own pockets ever more so. If he was around today I believe he would be horrified at the consumer nature of the church, that people are able to pick and choose what type of church they would like to be a part of (serious, happy-clappy, spirit-filled carpet-junkies), or that blended religion was also available (Buddhist Christian Mother-Earth anyone?).  As I go on this personal journey of mine, casting a critical eye over what the Church, the Bride of Christ, has become I am beginning to get bolder in my own deliberations. In this blog I am asking a question (and failing to answer it) is the Catholic Church the one and only true Church? A question supplemented further by the issue, is the Vicar of Christ really descended from an unbroken line which began with Peter, who Christ said he would build his Church (Matthew 16:18), and continues to this day with the amazing Pope Francis and is his authority on earth absolute?

When someone thinks of the Catholic Church it is likely the thoughts that come to mind are of 'paedophile priests' and the complicity of the Catholic Church in that. Or the ridiculous abuse of "indulgences" of Catholic clergy in the middle-ages that gave rise to Luther's frustration and desire for reform. Or maybe its the efforts of Pope Lucius III who in 1184 issued a decree commanding bishops to challenge heresy in their area of jurisdiction that led to the heinous acts of the Inquisition? Further, perhaps it is the Catholics seeming deification of Mary, the mother of Jesus that grabs you, especially if you are from another denomination? There are many ways that we can look at the Catholic Church and cast a critical eye, making excuses for our own vilification of Catholics and all they stand for, whilst rejecting what the church did for the first 1,000 years of its existence. That it spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the known world, that it brought the Good News to millions upon millions of lost souls, that it provided an unshakeable platform, a rock on which the faith of the world could flourish. It's a little different when you put that spin on it! 

For a moment I'd like to pause, because thinking about the first 1,000 years of the Church's existence and then the millennium that followed lights an intriguing light-bulb in my mind. In Revelation 20:1-3 we read, 

"And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended." 

Surely that has caused you to stop and think? After a 1,000 years of its existence the wheels started to come off of the Church and it all started to go wrong. Perhaps, just perhaps it was the folly of man that caused all the problems, but it was the work of the devil that eventually led to the deceit that either 'my denomination is the true church' or that 'denominations don't matter, we are all, in the end, the Church.  This is not a scholarly look at this topic, I simply don't have the time at the moment, but it does raise a number of questions! It also adds some credence to the statement that the Catholic Church is the only true church.

So to keep this short and to not get into an intellectual exposition I will leave you with this thought: Should the churches, denominations, sects and non-churched Christians around the world stop 'celebrating our differences' at one end of the spectrum, and stop fragmenting to create 'authentic church', and start to reunite, to heal it's divisions, to reject denominationalism and begin acting like the Bride of Christ in thought, deed and word! And I know a deeply spiritual, humble, loving and Christ-like former Jesuit priest who would lead the way: Pope Francis.