Catholics accepting the good in protestantism

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debate? what debate?

I thought the thread was about seeing the good in other christians! Ther eis alot of good btw…
 
Singinbeauty said:
I am really impressed in seeing this thread. But am not hopeful this thread will become anything more than SOME catholics saying there is nothing good that comes from protestants. And those catholics are often the loudest… Maybe I have been on this forum too long and there are some very loud anti-protestants on here but I am just losing hope faster and faster. I have met some WONDERFUL catholics on this board too, but it seems (more and more) that they are the minority. *sigh…

Hopefully I will be proven wrong… 😊
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Most of the good Christians I know are Protestants.
 
JonNC said:
Mark,
If you live in Bob Jones country (Upstate SC), most all the Christians you know are protestant. I know. I live not far from there! 😃
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True. And they are excellent examples of Christianity, except maybe for those couple of hang-ups they can’t seem to shake.
 
Flame_of_Christ said:
debate? what debate?

I thought the thread was about seeing the good in other christians! Ther eis alot of good btw…
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Protestantism is the set of religious groups that originally protested against Catholic doctrine and acts.

As I don’t believe you have to belong to a particular religion to be evil, I assumed that the discussion should be about the good in Protestant beliefs.

We could name, discuss or debate these - I believe that is within the scope of the thread.
 
mark_a said:
Most of the good Christians I know are Protestants.
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Now if this was the type of post that predominates this place, perhaps your claims of superiority with respect to my faith might have some credibility.👍

But when I read “Protestants are hell bound trash”…
 
  1. Are there good Protestants? Yes. Are there evil Protestants? Yes. Are there well-meaning but mis-guided Protestants who feel that everyone who is not like them needs to be converted? Yes. Are there poorly educated Protestants who have no idea what the Catholic Church teaches or the history of their own faith? Yes.
  2. Can Catholics learn anything of importance to salvation from Protestants? Yes. How about an appriciation of the Bible? How about the importance of adult faith education? How about increased community in the parish?
  3. Are these Protestant goods without risk to the poorly formed Catholic? No. A Catholic may read the Bible and, since he does not know the Faith, “find” a new way to God without the Church. A Catholic parish may increase the attendance at and offer more adult classes only to find that people are either using them as social clubs or not attending Mass (I went to “church” already). The Mass is the ultimate expression of community, so if people begin to use the time to talk and “fellowship,” the true Community of the Church is destroyed.
  4. Can we as Catholics stand side by side with Protestants? Yes. Would Mother Teresa have passed on help from anyone just because of faith?
  5. Would the answers be different if Catholics on the outside knew thir faith as well as many of us in here?
 
My observation in South Africa are as follows:

Many Catholic parishes consist of parishioners that barely attend Mass before rushing off elsewhere.

Many Catholics tend to leave their exposure to Holy Scripture to the weekly Gospel.

Non-Catholic churches have a vibrant community spirit.
Their adherents are often well-versed in the contents of the Bible, but they were often indoctrinated to be anti-Catholic.
 
wow, this thread was last posted on almost exactly a year ago.

My question, as the author of this thread, is this:

After one year, have you come to realize more of the good in protestants? In other words are you less anti-protestant-Christian now? (the scary part is to be so is to be partly anti-christian!)

:eek:
 
JonNC said:
Mark,
If you live in Bob Jones country (Upstate SC), most all the Christians you know are protestant. I know. I live not far from there! 😃
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I laughed when I read this comment because I suppose I’m in the same situation … just the other way round : most of the Christians ( good or …not so good ) I know are Catholics, anyway I’m bound to know more Catholics than Protestants although I’m a Protestant : I’m French, in my country Catholics represent about 80% of the population and Protestants about … 2% !!!👍
We feel a bit lonely sometimes … especially in some regions …
 
Interesting thread 🙂

I used to be a Protestant and many of my good friends are Protestants. They are good Christians and clearly love the Lord. I see a lot of good in them. I also believe that true unity would only be achieved when those who are separated from the Church would come back into full communion. I love Protestants and that’s why I want them to also know about the Sacraments and to receive Jesus in the Eucharist… I don’t know why God lead me to the Church when many of my Protestant friends are better Christians, but He did, and I hope He leads them here too. Even though I know that many Protestants love God, it’s very sad that they are being taught incorrect theology and doctrines. I hope that doesn’t sound condescending lol. It’s just that I believe that the Catholic Church doesn’t contain any incorrect teachings. I wish all Christians were united as one in the Church, as Christ prayed for us to be.

But what I see good in Protestants is that God is working in their hearts too to bring them closer to Him, and they want the whole world to know about Jesus.

God bless
 
hey Monica, nice to see you posting here!

You said some good things about protestants and I know that you love your friends dearly, me being one of them (although I am catholic ! lol).

Many blessings to you!
 
SteveLohr said:
I don’t believe that is Catholic doctrine. Can you back that up with citations to the catchism?
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it is still Catholic teaching, and always was. The Catechism further clarifies that there are different ways of being ‘in’ the Church. Catholics are in the Church and in full communion with it. Protestants are united to the Church through their baptism and faith, but they’re imperfectly united, and not in communion. So it’s true that there’s no “salvation outside the Church”, all Christians are somehow tied to the Catholic Church, even if distantly… it’s not so black and white. It doesn’t mean that only Catholics will be in Heaven. But it does mean that Catholics have more graces given to them to persevere and reach Heaven: such as the Sacraments, Church teachings, etc.

does that make sense?
 
Monica4316 said:
it is still Catholic teaching, and always was. The Catechism further clarifies that there are different ways of being ‘in’ the Church. Catholics are in the Church and in full communion with it. Protestants are united to the Church through their baptism and faith, but they’re imperfectly united, and not in communion. So it’s true that there’s no “salvation outside the Church”, all Christians are somehow tied to the Catholic Church, even if distantly… it’s not so black and white. It doesn’t mean that only Catholics will be in Heaven. But it does mean that Catholics have more graces given to them to persevere and reach Heaven: such as the Sacraments, Church teachings, etc.

does that make sense?
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The context of this thread, by its very title, is “Catholics accepting the good in protestantism.” i.e., the thread is drawing a distiction between Catholism and Protestantism. My response is within that context. I am not questioning the salavation of the universal church. Rather, my statement for a citation from the CC is limitted to the issue as framed by this thread. Specifically, is it the contention of the Roman Catholic Church that only members of that church are saved. I don’t believe that is Catholic doctrine.
 
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