John wrote:

Joseph Geloso wrote:

Carl Walther wrote:

CaptainCatechism wrote:

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PS If you are speaking of your church in terms of left/right
wings, you are more of a political organization. Lutherans
speak in terms of "Orthodoxy" and "heterodoxy".

Agreed. Too many people try to pigeon-hole Lutherans. We are
NOT protestant and we are not Roman Catholic.
We are Catholic in Form and Evangelical in principle.

Seeing that Martin Luther is more or less the founder of the
Protestant rebellion,

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It sounds like you don't really understand what the call
toward Reformation was all about. Please remember that
because the Roman Catholic Church was so corrupt, the
Church indeed needed to be "Re-Formed." It wasn't a
rebellion as you put it, but it was a call for the Church
to get rid of the abuses. Today, the calls be be tamer
than fellow priests posting their objection to other
priests raping little boys in the local newspaper. The
intent of the Reformation was simply to get back to the
intent of scriptures. Also, you might do well to remember
that Martin Luther was a Christian theologian and Augustinian
monk, not the often stereotyped "Right Wing Fundamentalist
Baptist Fanatic." When he nailed his 95 Theses of
Contention to the Wittenberg Church door, this wasn't a
notice of rebellion, this was a common means of bringing
a matter forward for a discussion.

The 95 Theses was not the last thing Martin Luther ever did.
Afterwards, he renounced the Papacy (along with the Sacraments except
for Baptism) and he rounded up the nobility of Germany to support him,
which they did, beginning the Protestant Rebellion. There were also at
that time reformers who remained faithful to God's Church. Luther did
not. So nowadays, we have literally thousands of Protestant sects, each
one asserting that they are the closest to the true Scriptural Church.
The reality is that the true Scriptural Church is the Catholic Church,

according to Christ's promise that "the gates of hell shall never
prevail against her."

It would be similar
to sending a memo to your colleagues to request a meeting.
It may seem like a rebellion to you, but the Reformation
was a breath of fresh air to the multitudes.

Of course. People do not generally like being told what they can and
cannot do. Like the indissolubility of Christian Marriage, for example.
Our Lord warned that marriage was not for everyone, but only those to
whom it was given - i.e. a vocation to Matrimony. I'm sure the concept
of the primacy of the individual Christian, instead of the Pope, with
reagrd to the correct interpretation of Scripture, was very appealing
to the common man.

IMHO, the
ones that are "rebelling" are those who rebel against
Yeshua, the Word of God.

But did not this selfsame Yeshua appoint Simon,
changing his name to Peter, as the visible leader
of His Church?

The "rebellious" ones are those
that continue to push the unscriptural heresies upon the
multitudes because they think that somehow a long standing
traditional heresy trumps scripture.

If you are talking about long-standing traditional heresies like Sola
Scriptura and Sola Fide, I would agree with you. But something tells me
that's not what you're talking about.

Finally, I really wish that people would do more research
of the pioneers that went before Martin Luther. Consider
some of the martyrs like John Wycliffe (born 1330, martyred
1384) and John Hus (born 1371, martyred 1415). Between
these two and Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) was a long
movement towards reform of the RCC. I would also ask
people to consider the great work that took place long
afterwards. Specifically I would point them to look at
Charles Wesley and see how he helped bring the Gospel to
the common person.

I am not asserting that there was no need for reform.

There certainly was, and there still is.
But reform is done within the Church, not
against her.

And when Luther rebelled,

and took Germany with him, he
very definitely did a lot more harm than good.

This is not even to say
that God could not bring good out of that evil,
because He certainly can.

But the Church is still the Church, and there is still only, and
there can ever be only, one.