Do you know why you are called a Protestant?

The word itself is a big clue. . . . Protestant. Sister Mary Martha explains this in one of her latest posts. I love her down to earth, "tell it like it is" style. She is loving and very easy to understand!! I have included much of her post here. To read the whole post go to her blog - Ask Sister Mary Martha. Her post covered "purgatory" to some extent, also.
But as to that question, "Do you know why you are called a Protestant?" .... this is how she explains it .
Here's what happened:
In the early 16th century the Catholic Church was rife with corruption. (Don't worry. We've straightened out the problems and the corrupt clergy that caused the problem are probably still in the lowest rungs of Purgatory...or worse...) The really big problem for a man named Martin Luther was the fact that the Church was selling indulgences.

Indulgences are prayers and penances that the Church has the authority to give to get people out of Purgatory early. They are like Purgatory parole. We don't have a problem with indulgences or the Church's ability to grant them. But selling them? That's bad.

We can all agree on that.

So Father Luther -- a Catholic priest-- had a legitimate beef. He tacked a list of grievances up on the church door about all the things he was mad about. He wasn't trying to quit the Church. That's how you called for a debate back then. He was Protesting.

But the Church got mad and booted him out all together. So he started the Lutheran Church, which is why he was called and you are called a Protestant. He was so mad at the Church and the clergy that he decided to just cut them out of the picture. He decided we didn't need the clergy to understand the New Testament and all the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. He cut out the "middle man".

Could Martin Luther have been wrong about not needing a road map through the Bible? Hmmmmm.....

Anyhow, ex-Father Luther was so mad about Purgatory and the indulgences, he decided there was no such place. I wish I could solve all my problems so easily. Car broken? I'll just stay home. Children fighting with each other? What children?

Call me crazy, I follow the Church that was founded by Jesus while he was alive on earth, not the church founded on the teachings of a 16th century priest, or the next group who just wanted to change of couple of things from what Luther thought, like Calvin, and the next group who just wanted to change a couple of things from what Calvin thought until there were literally thousands of factions. I also don't follow the guy who wanted to get divorced but the Church wouldn't let him so he started his own church which is curiously similar to the Catholic church. But that's just me (and a few million other people.)