Yes, I am sure many of you have heard of Martin Luther's posting of his thesis on the Cathedral door. But there is much people didn't realize.
Martin Luther was obsessed with Hell. He did so many penances, all in the hope of being able to reach the Pearly Gates. He wore hairshirts, crawled up church steps, chastised the flesh in many, many ways.
And yet, despite it all, Martin was afraid of Hell. He knew he was a sinner, and knowing how angry and vengeful God was, he was filled with mortal terror at the idea God would fling his damned soul into the eternal pit of Hell.
If Mr. Luther lived today, we would have diagnosed him with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. You see, my Protestant friend, Luther was compelled to do do these debasing acts because of the fear of Hell. Using the form of mental Terrorism that passess in many Evangelican and Orthodox churches, he was fixated on the notion of Hell. There seemed no escape.
One day, when Martin Luther was sitting on the throne, it came to him just as he was able to go. All he had to do was confess his sins, like it said in Romans, and he was free and clear. (I doubt he confessed the sin of Anti-Semitism, though) At least the troubled mind could rest in the securtity of having repented and being saved.
What's the point of this story? The poinbt is that the Protestant revolution was sparked by a mentally ill man. Not a bad man, not an evil man, but a man who would be receiving proper care nowadays. And yet, despite this fact, what he spawned has seemed to entrap others. Others, with similar unsound minds-people like me.
I used to be trapped by the fear of Hell. I was convinced at 16 that I was going to burn in Hell forever. But I didn't start a new sect, wear a hairshirt or do penance. No, I went to a doctor that helped me. Isn't it strange a whole sect of Christianity got started because of one man and his mental illness?