Hey this is good therapy. But you got to be careful of the concept. People come together to condemn what they do not understand. Fellowship in things they do not understand. This is actually something that the Catholic Church use to do back in the day. People get together and condemn, all riled up, then drag them out through the streets and throw nasty things at them and burn them at the stake.
Historically there is a good side and a bad side of the Catholic Church. The intent of the Catholic Church was to keep Christ's Church whole and the Gospel consistent. Did Christ intend for there to be 30,000 interpretations of the Bible? Honestly I am not sure, it gives variety for people to pick from. Then we have the freedom to interpret the scriptures ourselves so there can be millions of interpretations of scriptures...."The church of one" I am on the fence on that because I see some good in that, except I believe there was a reason that the Apostles felt that it was a good thing to "go to church" Important enough to assemble in catacombs to worship together. Congregations the body of Christ.
The evils of the Catholic administrations can fill books. Evils that the Church even today cannot resolve. The Church is its own culture where certain evils occur and are still protected, in effect they are their own worst enemy. There path is going to lead them to there own demise. I can see the Vatican falling into ill repute and the Church reorganizing.
As far as condemning differing beliefs....isn't it the pot calling the kettle black....really Protestants. The distain for the Church has condemned a lot of Christian history...2000 years of God's interaction with Man in the form of miracles and visitations. I understand the Protestant concerns with Mary but since she has paid me a visit a few times, I know she is real. Thousands of visitations throughout history. What does it do to a lady to conceive a God? My testimonials about Mary and Angels, I do not expect Protestants to believe...
Part of it is the Fundamentalist approach to Christian understanding...Bible only. The history of Mary occurs after the texts for the Bible were written. 2000 years of a very active God, is not going to be recorded in the Bible. They are held captive to the first 65 years of Christian history, Christian understanding. Many Protestant do not know that it was the Catholic Church that collected the texts to bind the first Bible and then preserved the scriptures. So much Christian history that has been denied by Protestants.
So the Church becomes opposing forces. I disagree with the ignorance that fuels this. I am multi-denominational, siding with the Christians in the pews, recognizing the reality of differing beliefs, coming together to worship the Trinity. It would be a good thing for some of you to look back on history and see how it repeats itself.
But in the meantime we can come together and enjoy a good Church bashing. Please pass the pop-corn. The Catholic Church is an easy target for sure, but it is not the smartest thing. We do have enemies and being divided does not make us stronger. A little humility would be a good thing. It is not like the Protestants have come up with a higher understanding of even the Bible, much less Christian history...You could drive yourself nuts trying to understand all the different denominations.
Myself I enjoy Christians and it does not matter to me if it is the Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Pentecostals, Moravians, Mormons, or the church of ones. I stand in fellowship and worship with many of them.