altar; another places another world between the present one and the
day of judgment; some teach that Jesus Christ is not God. There is
not an individual, however clownish he may be, who does not claim
to be inspired by the Holy Ghost, and who does not put forth as
prophecies his ravings and dreams.”¹
“It is indeed important that posterity should not know of our
differences; for it is indescribably ridiculous that we, who are in
opposition to the whole world, should be, at the very beginning of
the Reformation, at issue among ourselves.”²
From these quotes it is clearly evident that the Reformers restored no true
doctrine but rather caused much of Christendom to be “tossed to and fro
and blown about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).
Third objection: “Infallibility is a failure. It has not prevented
schisms and heresies among Christians.”
The Church was not endowed with infallibility to prevent schisms and
heresies, but rather to ensure that she would always remain a fountain of
truth and beacon of light among the tempests of error: “A city built on a hill
cannot be hid” (St. Matt. 5:14). The existence of a Church protected from
error takes away all justification for schism and heresy. However, men
remain free to disrupt the unity of faith in the same way they are free to
reject any of the teachings or commandments of Christ.
The Fathers
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3, 4, 1 (c. 180 AD)
“When, therefore, we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek among
others the truth which is easily obtained from the Church. For the Apostles,
like a rich man in a bank, deposited with her most copiously everything
1
Leslie Rumble MSC, Bible Quizzes to a Street Preacher, Rockford, Ill.: TAN
Books and Publishers, 1976, p. 22.
2
Patrick F. O’Hare, The Facts About Luther, rev. ed., Rockford, Ill.: TAN Books
and Publishers, 1987, p. 293.
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