Assembly of God/Pentecostal not Protestant?

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duskyjewel

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While having a discussion with my step-mom, I called her church, which is an Assembly of God church, Protestant. She got a little upset and corrected me, saying they are not Protestant, but Assembly of God.

I am left thinking, okay, so you may be second or third-degree Protestant, but they are still Protestant, right? I mean, what else would they be called? They are an outgrowth of previous Protestant traditions, but just because they are now a few schisms removed from the original beef, does that make them not Protestant anymore?

I am confused… I tend not to discuss anything but the most vanilla of religious matters with her and my dad, and they are respectful of the fact that we are Catholics. They have attended baptisms and even my daughter’s First Communion last year, and participated to the extent they could. They respect us, and I try to be respectful of them. This was an innocent comment in the midst of an otherwise unrelated conversation. I didn’t mean to offend, and didn’t realize I said anything incorrect.
 
You are not incorrect to characterize the Assemblies of God as Protestant. 🙂 But they don’t want to admit it.

It’s the latest thing amongst Evangelical/Pentecostalist/Fundamentalists to claim they aren’t protesting anything, so the name Protestant doesn’t apply to them. IOW, they consider themselves 1st century Christians, to whom the Catholic Church was but an aberration of history. To them they are directly connected to Jesus and the Apostles through the Bible, which is all they need. It’s really dodging the issue, a BIG stretch, and bit of fantasy all rolled into one, but they have convinced themselves that their version of the facts are the correct ones and won’t let a little thing like the truth get in the way. It’s sad, really. And as a former AoG member who used to proudly call herself a Protestant, I also think it just a bit silly.

I wouldn’t make a thing out of it with your parents. They are far from being open to listening to the true facts of history. If/when they come around to asking if the Catholic Church actually is the one established by Christ, then you might be able to help them with this issue. Until then you’re better off just living your Catholic faith before them as true Christians so they can see for themselves that the Catholic Church isn’t a “cult” or the “whore of Babylon” or whatever their particular congregation thinks it is.
 
👍 Maybe you could ask her what she ment by that comment some time.Just say you are curious what she meant by that comment and that most outsiders like,Lutherans,Baptists,might consider them part of the protestant faith.Got me curious what she meant by that.
 
If you go to the AG website ag.org/ and search on the word protestant, you will see over 300 references to protestant in their own documents there.

I have heard pentecostals claim that their church was founded in Acts 2 at pentecost.
 
Duskyjewel,

On the one hand I commend you for your gentle approach. Just pray for them.

On the other hand I affirm your doctrinal correctness. Della’s post says about all there is to say.

John Cardinal Newman said it right when he observed that the deeper one goes into history the more they will reject protestantism. The average protestant knows almost nothing beyond his own lifetime. They are cut off from history. If you asked the average non-Catholic/non-Orthodox to recount their spiritual anscestory from the first Apostles until today they could not do it. They might not even understand the question.

I don’t blame the average lay person for this ignorance but most of the preachers know better. They are just afraid to do anything about it. Besides, it’s alot more fun to have a religion that puts the individual front and center instead of Jesus and His Body…at least it is more fun now.

CDL
 
If they are not Catholic, Jewish or Muslim, they are protestants.
Whether they like it or not.
If they don’t want to be protestant, then let them come home to Rome.
 
catsrus, better make that a small c catholic or the eastern orthodox enforcers will eat your lunch! They get really testy when you call them protestants. Besides that, they really aren’t!
 
originally posted by manuelman
catsrus, better make that a small c catholic or the eastern orthodox enforcers will eat your lunch! They get really testy when you call them protestants. Besides that, they really aren’t!
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I will hand them a menu!
If ANYONE (claiming Christianity) is not in communion with Rome and The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, then they are in protest against the Church that Christ established.
Let them ALL come home to Rome where Christianity was established by Christ’s hand picked Apostle, Peter.
 
Hey, guys! Not to be the enforcer here, but let’s not take the thread off topic. I’m sure our OP would like to have responses that answer her questions. How about starting a new thread to talk about who is and who isn’t a part of the Church? 😉
 
duskyjewel said:
While having a discussion with my step-mom, I called her church, which is an Assembly of God church, Protestant. She got a little upset and corrected me, saying they are not Protestant, but Assembly of God.

I am left thinking, okay, so you may be second or third-degree Protestant, but they are still Protestant, right? I mean, what else would they be called? They are an outgrowth of previous Protestant traditions, but just because they are now a few schisms removed from the original beef, does that make them not Protestant anymore?

I am confused… I tend not to discuss anything but the most vanilla of religious matters with her and my dad, and they are respectful of the fact that we are Catholics. They have attended baptisms and even my daughter’s First Communion last year, and participated to the extent they could. They respect us, and I try to be respectful of them. This was an innocent comment in the midst of an otherwise unrelated conversation. I didn’t mean to offend, and didn’t realize I said anything incorrect.
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I consider all denominations that are away from the Catholic Church Protestant. But I don’t think any of them will admit that they are Protestants either. If it offends her, just don’t call them that anymore. If I am talking to one of my Protestant friends who happen to be AoG or UPC, I simply call them “Charismatic denominations”. Don’t know if that’s politically correct but they haven’t been offended by it!
 
Do I have a great message for you! Please go to the following web site and please let me know what you think. The site is obviously not finished, but you’ll get the idea.

Please see: www.visionofeucharist.com

I think you’ll be able to show this to whoever you want
 
This is definitely a trend among “protestants”–to get upset when people call them Protestant. They just want to be called “Christians.”

I was raised to be proud of my Protestant heritage and Baptist history and traditions. (I’m now a Catholic).

But now they are teaching that all of this is “traditions of man” and that the world, indeed, Christianity, begins right now, at this moment, with ME ME ME! History is worthless, the only thing of worth is JESUS and ME, right now, in the present.

I think this is really, really scary. I don’t see how this kind of Christianity, with no historical basis and no doctrine except “personal experience and personal relationship with Christ”, can possibly stand up against the onslaught of Islam, the new age religions (which are actually just re-births of early heresies such as gnosticism), and atheism.

I fear for them, I really do. Poor misguided souls.
 
dusky

Speaking from a non catholic view I never used the term protestant much. The feeling I get from the word is negative, derogatory and a put down. So its no wonder she doesnt use it and she may not even have a actual beef with the Catholic Church other than she perfers hers. So the word makes even less sense.

Please keep being gentle, its not worth a family divide.
 
Call them “Restorationist”, which really is more of an insult than even “Protestant”.
 
MY AoG friend is always confused and unwilling to accept the word “Protestant”, too! In fact, she told me that before meeting me, she’d never heard the world applied to her before!

Odd, considering she was raised Methodist.

Anway, interesting thread! I’ll have to remember to avoid calling it the “Protestant Rebellion” around my non-Catholic, yet Christian friends. 😉

Cari
 
Daniel_Marsh said:
If you go to the AG website ag.org/ and search on the word protestant, you will see over 300 references to protestant in their own documents there.

I have heard pentecostals claim that their church was founded in Acts 2 at pentecost.
Click to expand...
I have never understood this issue of foundership.

If I found something, I am there in person, I set it up, I make future plans for how I want it to go, I write or tell others around me my plans, I tell people my aims and goals for founding this thing.

Then when I die, or leave, others carry it on, knowing I was founder, and copying the way I did things, and ensuring my aims and goals are met, as they believe in what I founded.

How can people like the Pentecostals say their church was founded in Acts, when people from their church, (as in past people) were not there???

This is the reason why Catholicism is the True church, as there is a direct line from it’s Founder, Jesus.

All, including the AOG are protesting this belief that the Catholic Church is the only church founded by Jesus.
 
Be very careful to continue, as much as possible, any dialogue that you have with AGs and Pentecostals. (That’s what the CCC says.) Don’t jeopardize it for the sake of a name.

My husband was born and raised AG. He says that it is very easy for AGers to become Catholic, as AGers are used to miracles and have no trouble accepting many of the miracles that occur in the Catholic Church, e.g., Eucharist and transubstantiation, the apparitions, the sacraments, etc.

In fact, the Pentecostals (or charismatics) actually LOOK for miracles and expect miracles. So they are not surprised when they see them, and they believe that God actually does miracles.

Pentecostals/charismatccis aren’t always looking for an “explanation” as the evangelicals/mainliners do. They just accept the good things that God does for them and praise Him for His miracles.

This makes them much more open to the teachings of the Catholic Church than other Protestants.

Case in point: Tim Staples, Michael Cumbie. Both excellent Catholic apologists, both converts from Pentecostal churches.
 
Cat said:
Be very careful to continue, as much as possible, any dialogue that you have with AGs and Pentecostals. (That’s what the CCC says.) Don’t jeopardize it for the sake of a name.

My husband was born and raised AG. He says that it is very easy for AGers to become Catholic, as AGers are used to miracles and have no trouble accepting many of the miracles that occur in the Catholic Church, e.g., Eucharist and transubstantiation, the apparitions, the sacraments, etc.

In fact, the Pentecostals (or charismatics) actually LOOK for miracles and expect miracles. So they are not surprised when they see them, and they believe that God actually does miracles.

Pentecostals/charismatccis aren’t always looking for an “explanation” as the evangelicals/mainliners do. They just accept the good things that God does for them and praise Him for His miracles.

This makes them much more open to the teachings of the Catholic Church than other Protestants.

Case in point: Tim Staples, Michael Cumbie. Both excellent Catholic apologists, both converts from Pentecostal churches.
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Cat,

Very good point. There were many pieces in the picture that brought me home. One of them was our involvement in the Charismatic movement of the United Methodist Church. We were looking for tangible evidence of God’s hand at work coupled with a solid theology. We found the former and a bit of the latter in the Charismatic movement. We found both in their fullness in the Eastern Catholic Church. If we hadn’t found the Eastern Catholics we would have probably found our way to a Church like St. John Cantius which has a high respect for reverence.

CDL
 
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