As Promised...

[Singinbeauty]

Ok, in another thread I was ranting and doing a little whining about how this division between catholics and protestants annoys me and how much better we would be if we could lay down the childishness and come together for God.

So here it is…

Do you think we could lay down the weapons and the sarcastic remarks long enough to brainstorm how to come together to fight for Christ?

 

[Cat]

Try Chuck Colson’s “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.” Read his book, Being The Body. I recommend this for Catholics and Protestants and everybody else.

Singinbeauty, I know you mean well. You have a kind heart and God bless you for trying.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to see our daughter in a concert (she lives in a different state). I had surgery a few months ago and am still recovering. My husband is doing a lot of my care plus working and housekeeping and cooking, and because of my disability check, we’re not bringing in as much money…anyway, you get the idea that he’s had a tough schedule and a lot on his mind.

Plus our 2-year old nephew was diagnosed with cancer a week before Mother’s Day. Pray for him.

My husband took a few days to drive his dad, who has a bad back, out of state for a business trip, on the Mother’s Day weekend.

They got back on Monday night, the day after Mother’s Day.

His dad (my FIL) asked my husband if he had bought mom anything for Mother’s Day.

My husband said, “No, I forgot all about it. Been kind of busy.”

My FIL told him that he should be ashamed. He said, “Your own mother is as important as Mother Mary, isn’t she?”

That hateful anti-Catholic remark came from my husband’s own father, after my husband dropped him off at his house after driving him over 2000 miles to help him out.

If a father can have that much hatred for the Catholic Church and that much resentment for his own son, who sacrifices a great deal to be a good husband, father, and son, then HOW do you think that Catholics and Protestants who don’t even know each other will ever get along and be able to work together?

I pray that what you wish will happen. I fear that the only way it will happen is massive and horrific persecution, with great loss of life, from evil anti-Christian forces. It’s already happened–the scourge of abortion that has taken over 40 million lives–yet Catholics and Protestants are still not getting along or working together much-a little, perhaps. This forum is a step in the right direction.

Oh, BTW, there’s a sequel–my 50th Birthday was the week after Mother’s Day. I still haven’t received a card, a phone call, a gift, or a dinner invitation–nada!–from my parents-in-law. So I guess my poor husband isn’t the only one who lets Hallmark holidays slip out of his memory. I’m praying to have the strength and kindness NOT to make a sarcastic remark about Mother’s Day when they finally remember my 50th birthday! I want them to see that Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is love, not sarcasm. But I will need a LOT of strength. I don’t take it well when someone insults both the Virgin Mary and my hard-working husband, especially when that someone is his own father.

 

[Singinbeauty]

Try Chuck Colson’s “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.” Read his book, Being The Body. I recommend this for Catholics and Protestants and everybody else.

Singinbeauty, I know you mean well. You have a kind heart and God bless you for trying.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to see our daughter in a concert (she lives in a different state). I had surgery a few months ago and am still recovering. My husband is doing a lot of my care plus working and housekeeping and cooking, and because of my disability check, we’re not bringing in as much money…anyway, you get the idea that he’s had a tough schedule and a lot on his mind.

Plus our 2-year old nephew was diagnosed with cancer a week before Mother’s Day. Pray for him.

My husband took a few days to drive his dad, who has a bad back, out of state for a business trip, on the Mother’s Day weekend.

They got back on Monday night, the day after Mother’s Day.

His dad (my FIL) asked my husband if he had bought mom anything for Mother’s Day.

My husband said, “No, I forgot all about it. Been kind of busy.”

My FIL told him that he should be ashamed. He said, “Your own mother is as important as Mother Mary, isn’t she?”

That hateful anti-Catholic remark came from my husband’s own father, after my husband dropped him off at his house after driving him over 2000 miles to help him out.

If a father can have that much hatred for the Catholic Church and that much resentment for his own son, who sacrifices a great deal to be a good husband, father, and son, then HOW do you think that Catholics and Protestants who don’t even know each other will ever get along and be able to work together?

I pray that what you wish will happen. I fear that the only way it will happen is massive and horrific persecution, with great loss of life, from evil anti-Christian forces. It’s already happened–the scourge of abortion that has taken over 40 million lives–yet Catholics and Protestants are still not getting along or working together much-a little, perhaps. This forum is a step in the right direction.

Thanx Cat. You are right. We have to have a focus to bring us together and it is SO sad that Christ just isn’t it anymore… *sigh

 

[Singinbeauty]

Oh, BTW, there’s a sequel–my 50th Birthday was the week after Mother’s Day. I still haven’t received a card, a phone call, a gift, or a dinner invitation–nada!–from my parents-in-law. So I guess my poor husband isn’t the only one who lets Hallmark holidays slip out of his memory. I’m praying to have the strength and kindness NOT to make a sarcastic remark about Mother’s Day when they finally remember my 50th birthday! I want them to see that Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is love, not sarcasm. But I will need a LOT of strength. I don’t take it well when someone insults both the Virgin Mary and my hard-working husband, especially when that someone is his own father.

That’s horrible. I am so sorry. I will pray that they swallow that bitterness and rely on Christ to show their love.

 

[Cat]

I’m the one that needs the prayer against bitterness, singinbeauty! At least my PIL have the excuse of age and infirmity. Pray for me, to have a kind heart. I really don’t care about birthdays anyway–Hallmark holidays, as far as I’m concerned.

I agree, Christ should bring us together.

But most Protestants are not willing to at least respect the Catholic belief in and devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. It is extremely upsetting to Catholics when Protestants sneer at our Lord. Before I was Catholic, I always showed deep respect for the Blessed Sacrament (at weddings, funerals, etc.) and I never criticized this teaching (I actually believed it because I felt that the Bible taught this doctrine).

And unfortunately, I think a lot of Catholics are not willing to accept that Protestants do have a portion of the Gospel and can know Jesus Christ. The Catechism says so! But there seem to be Catholics who don’t want to go along with the Catechism. I only know personally a few Catholics who feel this way about Protestants; most of the Catholics I know embrace Protestants as brothers and sisters in the Lord. But if you go by what you see on this Board, there are quite a few Catholics who give you a slim-to-none chance of making it to heaven!

I have a suggestion for you, if you haven’t already done so. Make some Catholic friends offline. A good way to do this is to get involved with pro-life work. You’ll see then how Catholics and Protestants CAN work together. I did a lot of work in the 1980s with Catholics in an organization called Bread for the World. It was great. And I had a lot of Catholic friends in North Carolina–they were a decided minority down there, but I loved them because of their pro-life work.

BTW, when I voted, I THOUGHT I had hit the “Unsure” box, but my vote came up as “never will happen.” I’m really sorry about that. I don’t know what happened. Hope it doesn’t keep happening to others who vote.

 

[Ravyn_Guiliani]

a Protestant is a protester of the Catholic faith. The only way Protestantism can be right is if Catholicism is wrong. I don’t see how that can be resolved.
Ravyn

 

[Singinbeauty]

a Protestant is a protester of the Catholic faith. The only way Protestantism can be right is if Catholicism is wrong. I don’t see how that can be resolved.
Ravyn

So in your opinion the catechism is wrong in saying that protestants are separated bretheren? You believe we totally have it wrong and will not make it to Heaven… Do I have this right?

 

[Randy_Carson]

Ok, in another thread I was ranting and doing a little whining about how this division between catholics and protestants annoys me and how much better we would be if we could lay down the childishness and come together for God.

So here it is…

Do you think we could lay down the weapons and the sarcastic remarks long enough to brainstorm how to come together to fight for Christ?

In the thread entitled something like “A Question…Not Meant to Inflame”, one of your Protestant brothers wrote the following about Catholicism:

“I do not deny that the Catholic church makes converts. I just don’t see any relationship between recruitment and soulwinning. The latter is when a soul passes from death unto life and from the power of Satan unto God.”

In scripture, “to believe” means true faith, not mere joining or going through the motions of a religion. True salvation produces holiness of heart and life, and that standard applies to evangelicals as well as to Catholics. “Faith” that doesn’t do that is the faith of demons: it does not save.

When the Lord prayed for unity that the world may believe, he wasn’t talking about the belief of demons; he was talking about true faith.

When I see Central and South Americans walking in holiness, I’ll say that their souls were won. But as long as they act like North Americans, I will say that their religion has made them twofold more the children of hell.

---

Kevan C. Barley
FLOW: a plumber’s weblog
barleyservices.biz/wordpress

What do you recommend Catholics do in the face of such obvious hatred and ignorance?

This is demonic - yet, these folks believe they are doing the will of God by opposing the Church that Jesus built upon the Rock, Peter and his successors.

Sadly, I never read a post in which a Protestant takes another Protestant to task for such bigotry…why the silence?

 

[Singinbeauty]

In the thread entitled something like …Not Meant to Inflame", one of your Protestant brothers wrote the following about Catholicism:

What do you recommend Catholics do in the face of such obvious hatred and ignorance?

Turn the other cheek. This is HIS/HER problem not yours. Shake your head, calmly state that you disagree and say why, and if they decide that they still stand by their belief then walk away. This is between them and God. Doesn’t the bible say that you are to tell the town of their sins and if they choose to continue to turn away and never return? I will have to look for that passage… I think this also goes for when someone chooses to hate your beliefs.

 

[Singinbeauty]

Sadly, I never read a post in which a Protestant takes another Protestant to task for such bigotry…why the silence?

I know that there have been instances when a protestant will let another know if they have gone too far… You can’t say it has NEVER happened. I have seen it happen.

 

[Fidelis]

You must be aware of the countless anti-Catholic ministries and websites dedicated to the proposition that Catholicism is wrong, wrong, wrong, and targeting Catholics for “conversion.” At their most charitable, they say we’re deceived, then it slides down to stupid, enslaved, and satanic and the whore of Babylon. Any Catholic apologetics site pales in comparison to the hate and ignorance these people spew out.

When Protestants can clean their own houses of this bigotry and as a whole marginalize and disavow these hate-mongers, then we can talk. I see tiny glimmers of hope here and there, now and again, but it continues to rear it’s ugly head all too often.

 

[Fidelis]

I know that there have been instances when a protestant will let another know if they have gone too far… You can’t say it has NEVER happened. I have seen it happen.

I’m not from Missouri, but…:

 

[Singinbeauty]

You must be aware of the countless anti-Catholic ministries and websites dedicated to the proposition that Catholicism is wrong, wrong, wrong, and targeting Catholics for “conversion.” At their most charitable, they say we’re deceived, then it slides down to stupid, enslaved, and satanic and the whore of Babylon. Any Catholic apologetics site pales in comparison to the hate and ignorance these people spew out.

When Protestants can clean their own houses of this bigotry and as a whole marginalize and disavow these hate-mongers, then we can talk. I see tiny glimmers of hope here and there, now and again, but it continues to rear it’s ugly head all too often.

You act like this is the common consensus with protestants. Your sweeping generalization is part of the problem.

 

[Singinbeauty]

I’m not from Missouri, but…:

??? ???

 

[Fidelis]

You act like this is the common consensus with protestants. Your sweeping generalization is part of the problem.

Nope, I never said **all **or even most, I just pointed out the source of the problem. Anti-Catholics are found in Protestant churches. If they were not tolerated there, they wouldn’t exist.

Most Protestants that I run into on a daily basis are as nice as pie. But like I always say, if there were no anti-Catholics, there would be no need for Catholic apologetics.

You advised Catholics on another thread to “toughen up.” You may want to take your own good advice.

 

[Fidelis]

??? ???

Sorry – I’m dating myself.

President Harry Truman had a saying, “I’m from Missouri–you’ll have to show me.”

Thus, the nickname of Missouri is “The Show Me State.”

 

[Singinbeauty]

Nope, I never said **all **or even most, I just pointed out the source of the problem. Anti-Catholics are found in Protestant churches. If they were not tolerated there, they wouldn’t exist.

Most Protestants that I run into on a daily basis are as nice as pie. But like I always say, if there were no anti-Catholics, there would be no need for Catholic apologetics.

You advised Catholics on another thread to “toughen up.” You may want to take your own good advice.

Oh, believe me. I know I can take things wrong but the thing is… this thread is about putting the weapons DOWN. Just because there are SOME anti-catholics (just as there are SOME anti-protestants) doesn’t mean we can’t work together…

For the most part I figure I am pretty tough. I am not complaining about people attacking ME or my beliefs I am just saying we need to get together and stop arguing because this is futile…

 

[Singinbeauty]

I guess the reason for this thread is this…

What should we do, as a group who wants to see this happen (so for those of you who do NOT want to see it happen please do not respond), WHAT do we do? How do we begin the chain of bringing catholics and protestants together for Christ?

 

[mark_a]

My FIL told him that he should be ashamed. He said, “Your own mother is as important as Mother Mary, isn’t she?”

That hateful anti-Catholic remark came from my husband’s own father, after my husband dropped him off at his house after driving him over 2000 miles to help him out.

If your fil is a devout anything and raised his son that way, fil probably feels a certain amount of pain and rejection from your husband’s conversion.

I am already trying to prepare myself for the day one or more of my kids rejects Catholicism. I already know I will take it personnally.

I am extremely sorry for your family’s physical problems. I will remember you during my prayer time.

 

[mark_a]

I guess the reason for this thread is this…

What should we do, as a group who wants to see this happen (so for those of you who do NOT want to see it happen please do not respond), WHAT do we do? How do we begin the chain of bringing catholics and protestants together for Christ?

We’ll all have to try harder than we have for the past 490 years.

Looking at my own problems, I must keep in mind that face-to-face interaction with people certainly brings out a better Christian from me.