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SPH1
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And from my vantage point, I don’t see any real major issues between Islamic groups. I guess one has to be there.
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Cat
Guest
SPH1, I agree, they should be able to take it. But they’re not able to take it. We have to work with reality, not with “shoulds.”
Think about a baby. He cries, he screams, he flails, he poops, he pees, he spits up, he turns red in the face, sometimes he even bites.
But no one would say that a baby should be able to take what he dishes out, right? Would you ever dream of screaming back in your baby’s face? Or spitting up on him? Or biting him? Of course not.
Next time you see a “fussy” Protestant, think of them as a baby. Protestants have only been around for about five centuries, so they are younger than Catholics. And we Catholics say that our Church has the “fullness of the faith,” while the Protestants only have a portion of the faith. If a baby is fed only a portion of food, he will not grow as quickly as a baby fed a complete diet, right?
So in a way, Protestants are “babes” in the faith. No wonder they fuss back at us.
I believe it was in this thread that someone said to stick with it. I absolutely agree. Give Protestants at least ten years before you write them off as “impossible.” Then give them another 50 years. It took me and my husband two years.
A lot of times that fussy exterior is just the “show” (like a cat spitting and yowling). But when the Protestant is alone, they will be studying everything they can get their hands on, especially the Bible (which is good, because the Bible supports Catholicism much more than it does Protestantism!) and talking it over with their spouse or some other close confidante, and of course, praying like mad!
If they truly are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, God will fill them! It just takes time. Don’t give up.
Think about a baby. He cries, he screams, he flails, he poops, he pees, he spits up, he turns red in the face, sometimes he even bites.
But no one would say that a baby should be able to take what he dishes out, right? Would you ever dream of screaming back in your baby’s face? Or spitting up on him? Or biting him? Of course not.
Next time you see a “fussy” Protestant, think of them as a baby. Protestants have only been around for about five centuries, so they are younger than Catholics. And we Catholics say that our Church has the “fullness of the faith,” while the Protestants only have a portion of the faith. If a baby is fed only a portion of food, he will not grow as quickly as a baby fed a complete diet, right?
So in a way, Protestants are “babes” in the faith. No wonder they fuss back at us.
I believe it was in this thread that someone said to stick with it. I absolutely agree. Give Protestants at least ten years before you write them off as “impossible.” Then give them another 50 years. It took me and my husband two years.
A lot of times that fussy exterior is just the “show” (like a cat spitting and yowling). But when the Protestant is alone, they will be studying everything they can get their hands on, especially the Bible (which is good, because the Bible supports Catholicism much more than it does Protestantism!) and talking it over with their spouse or some other close confidante, and of course, praying like mad!
If they truly are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, God will fill them! It just takes time. Don’t give up.
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Curious
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Oh, very nice. In one post Protestants have been reduced to cornered cats, and in other, screaming babies. 
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Hellisreal
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Interesting sig line curious. Your sincerity/concern seems, well unconvincing.Oh, very nice. In one post Protestants have been reduced to cornered cats, and in other, screaming babies.
If you can have a sig line like you do, it makes it so much harder to imagine you taking humbrage.
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Renton405
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The Shias and Sunnis are at civil war with each other,…
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SPH1
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My point was just as Catholics and Protestants look alike to the Muslim poster, all Muslims look alike - religiously speaking - to me.
Inter-Muslim warfare proves my point: I don’t see any significant issues worth fighting over. But they apparently do. And within Christendom, we can see the dividing issues, even though outsiders might not.
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Cat
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Curious, I was evangelical Protestant for over 40 years.
I am making analogies that described ME. And since I was a typical evangelical Protestant, an “evangelical Protestant of evangelical Protestants,” I am bold enough to say that my analogy is a fair description of other evangelical Protestants.
If it doesn’t describe you and your circle of friends, that’s great.
I am making analogies that described ME. And since I was a typical evangelical Protestant, an “evangelical Protestant of evangelical Protestants,” I am bold enough to say that my analogy is a fair description of other evangelical Protestants.
If it doesn’t describe you and your circle of friends, that’s great.
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lak611
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This is not really accurate. Yes, it is the Holy Spirit who brings a person to faith. However, reading the Bible is not the cause of an unbeliever becoming Protestant, nor will anybody who reads the Bible turn Protestant. The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it is not something that is the exclusive property of Protestants. This post is insulting to those of us who are Catholic and read the Bible.
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KofC660
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Reading the Bible without the fullness of the Catholic Faith is an error. If you have the resources of the Magisterium to interpret Sacred Scripture, then, by all means, read the Bible.
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lak611
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The Catholic Church grants indulgences for reading the Bible. This would not be the case if Bible reading was forbidden or discouraged.
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Hellisreal
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How many scriptures has the CC interpreted in total that can not be disagreed with by the faithful Catholics?
You make it sound so ominous.
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Curious
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Well, I suppose you got me there.
But seriously, I don’t know which is worse, seeing Prots completely ripped up one side and down the other, or seeing them/us patted on the head like we’re/they’re well-meaning yet misbehaving children.
And Cat, I know a little bit of your story just from reading your posts, which are awesome, btw. I know you’ve got the experience to be making statements like that. But still, it seems a little condescending.
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Grace_Seeker
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You were doing so well and, I thought, making wonderful sense. Then you got to “thus saith Peter”. If I remember Acts 15, it was more like thus saith James. And Peter and Paul both made reference to the work of the Holy Spirit, which we might consider scripture itself to also be.
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Cat
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Curious, have you ever read any of Gary Smalley’s books?
He was my pastor while I was growing up (Conference Baptist).
He talks about using “word pictures” to try to facilitate understanding. He advocates the use of word pictures between husbands and wives and also parents and children.
That’s what I’m trying to do here, use word pictures. When someone says that having their religion challenged is “scary,” that doesn’t convey much meaning. But when I say, “it’s like being hanged and feeling that floor dropping out…” THAT is a visceral picture that helps Catholics understand how Protestants feel when their life-long faith is challenged.
What’s offensive about cats and babies? They are good word pictures that almost everyone is familiar with. I’m not saying that Protetestants ARE hissing cats or fussing babies.
I’m merely saying that Catholics, e.g, the OP, need to stop thinking of Catholics as crabby, mean-spirited, stubborn grownups, and start remembering WHY they are resistant to Catholic apologetics and testimonies. They feel cornered, like a cat, so they hiss. And when they get “crabby”, we shouldn’t get crabby back at them, just as an adult shouldn’t get crabby at a crabby baby.
He was my pastor while I was growing up (Conference Baptist).
He talks about using “word pictures” to try to facilitate understanding. He advocates the use of word pictures between husbands and wives and also parents and children.
That’s what I’m trying to do here, use word pictures. When someone says that having their religion challenged is “scary,” that doesn’t convey much meaning. But when I say, “it’s like being hanged and feeling that floor dropping out…” THAT is a visceral picture that helps Catholics understand how Protestants feel when their life-long faith is challenged.
What’s offensive about cats and babies? They are good word pictures that almost everyone is familiar with. I’m not saying that Protetestants ARE hissing cats or fussing babies.
I’m merely saying that Catholics, e.g, the OP, need to stop thinking of Catholics as crabby, mean-spirited, stubborn grownups, and start remembering WHY they are resistant to Catholic apologetics and testimonies. They feel cornered, like a cat, so they hiss. And when they get “crabby”, we shouldn’t get crabby back at them, just as an adult shouldn’t get crabby at a crabby baby.
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Dianne2us
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I am Baptist and very comfortable with my religious choice. I didn’t read the original post because one sentence in already had me bristle slightly, but would rather respond to the topic title.
Don’t argue! Jesus would have you smile, say thank you for your opinion and walk away. Talk about defusing a situation. Its unChristian to stand and argue a point. Nothing you will say will change my mind and nothing I can say will change your mind. I would rather agree to disagree.
There is a bible passage and I do not know it word for word but I will summorize it, and if someone wants to look it up they can, I’m just being lazy. It states if you try to tell someone your beliefs in faith and they disagree and dig their heals in it is better to wipe the dust from your feet on their mat and move on.
Don’t argue! Jesus would have you smile, say thank you for your opinion and walk away. Talk about defusing a situation. Its unChristian to stand and argue a point. Nothing you will say will change my mind and nothing I can say will change your mind. I would rather agree to disagree.
There is a bible passage and I do not know it word for word but I will summorize it, and if someone wants to look it up they can, I’m just being lazy. It states if you try to tell someone your beliefs in faith and they disagree and dig their heals in it is better to wipe the dust from your feet on their mat and move on.
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lak611
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From the NASBI am Baptist and very comfortable with my religious choice. I didn’t read the original post because one sentence in already had me bristle slightly, but would rather respond to the topic title.
Don’t argue! Jesus would have you smile, say thank you for your opinion and walk away. Talk about defusing a situation. Its unChristian to stand and argue a point. Nothing you will say will change my mind and nothing I can say will change your mind. I would rather agree to disagree.
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Outback
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In reading most of these posts, I believe that most of our Protestant brothers and sisters want what we as Catholics want. Sure, there are a few who are argumentative just as a few of us are, but most people who venture to the “other side”, either way, are in search of the Truth. Much of what I’ve learned about my Catholic faith has come from Protestant challenges, and that is not a bad thing. I suspect it cuts both ways.
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Teflon93
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My wife and I are recent converts to RC.
When I met her, she was a staunch Pentecostal—sang in the choir, the whole nine yards. I was an ex-Episcopalian at the time and so we went to her church for some months before the fire-and-brimstone and corruption got to her.
What seemed most amusing to me was how the sola scriptura Pentecostals dealt with Communion—the pastor would actually substitute “juice” for wine in the appropriate passages since alcohol was a big no-no for Pentecostals.
Thus you had a pastor who constantly hammered home that only the Bible could be relied on, that you couldn’t even trust your own judgment nor that of tradition, explicitly editing Holy Scripture on the fly to bowdlerize Christ’s own words at the Last Supper simply because the Pentecostal Church was founded during Prohibition.
It seems there are at least some examples where Protestants elevate tradition above Scripture.
When I met her, she was a staunch Pentecostal—sang in the choir, the whole nine yards. I was an ex-Episcopalian at the time and so we went to her church for some months before the fire-and-brimstone and corruption got to her.
What seemed most amusing to me was how the sola scriptura Pentecostals dealt with Communion—the pastor would actually substitute “juice” for wine in the appropriate passages since alcohol was a big no-no for Pentecostals.
Thus you had a pastor who constantly hammered home that only the Bible could be relied on, that you couldn’t even trust your own judgment nor that of tradition, explicitly editing Holy Scripture on the fly to bowdlerize Christ’s own words at the Last Supper simply because the Pentecostal Church was founded during Prohibition.
It seems there are at least some examples where Protestants elevate tradition above Scripture.
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Curious
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Cat,
I understand what you’re saying. I really do. But can you understand what I mean when I say that the cats and babies pictures can also bring up more negative connotations than what you might intend?
Cats are of less intelligence than humans - they are animals. Babies are underdeveloped and can only communicate by squalling until they get a little older. It’s like saying that Catholics are the mature, developed adults and Protestants are squalling, underdeveloped, less intelligent children that can’t be blamed for their/our actions because we/they don’t know any better.
Now I am personally not offended by the analogies because I do understand what you mean, I’m just saying that they do carry a more negative picture than what you might think.
And to answer your question: there’s nothing “wrong” with cats and babies. I love them both.
Arguementatively yours,
Curious
I understand what you’re saying. I really do. But can you understand what I mean when I say that the cats and babies pictures can also bring up more negative connotations than what you might intend?
Cats are of less intelligence than humans - they are animals. Babies are underdeveloped and can only communicate by squalling until they get a little older. It’s like saying that Catholics are the mature, developed adults and Protestants are squalling, underdeveloped, less intelligent children that can’t be blamed for their/our actions because we/they don’t know any better.
Now I am personally not offended by the analogies because I do understand what you mean, I’m just saying that they do carry a more negative picture than what you might think.
And to answer your question: there’s nothing “wrong” with cats and babies. I love them both.
Arguementatively yours,
Curious
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Cat
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Yes, Curious, I can certainly understand the “negative” connotations. But I’ll stand by my word pictures if it helps Catholics to understand how to react to Protestants in a kinder, gentler way.
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