'Bible believing' church communities and their differences

[CopticChristian]

Wow! That’s a lot of good stuff for me to read here Coptic C.

So you were evangelised by protestans but were never a protestant yourself? Good for you, for sticking to the truth.

I also wonder if there is much point in discussing these things with her. She has been with her community for the last 10 years and is very passionate about her faith. I’m sure she wouldn’t be open to anything I say. She doesn’t understand Catholicism at all. Her problem with the mass, for example, was that is was just automatic, robotic prayer that doesn’t flow from the heart. I guess having a personal relationship with Jesus suited her emotional needs well. But I now feel like it is time for me to suggest things, to ask questions, to ask her to explain to me why she believes what she believes. I don’t want a full blown boxing match since I don’t want to lose a friend. Maybe she would see my questions as an opportunity to evangelise me (again) and in this way I can make her think about her beliefs from a different perspective. If you have any advice on what questions to ask and what not to say, I would appreciate it.

Contra,

In the course of being evangelized by Protestants what you discover is that what they think they know about what you believe is not what you believe and to express a genuine interest and knowledge of what they believe is setting an example. I thought you said she used to be Catholic. Having a personal relationship is a good start and every Catholic should have one as well…how much of a relationship is the Eucharist? There is more and that relationship is not just personal it is corporate.

Concerning the mass…you agree that some may see it as robotic…you have to agree and then you have to say something like “I know that not understanding the mass can lead to these thoughts”…There is a book on the Scriptural basis of the mass…and Jimmy Akins did a book on mass revision…Point out that you hear the Bible preached every 3 years which means you have a complete Bible study every 3 years…There is an order to the readings and those readings are organized with intention…You can point out that Protestants are no different, the Church had Liturgy of the Word and then Liturgy of the Eucharist…and now most Protestants that are distant from the denominations have one long Liturgy of the Word…and no liturgy of the Eucharist…this is a point of discussion.

Be prepared to be invited to her services…more on that.