Christian Truths are Christian Truths! Most Christians are Catholic and they don’t realize it.

[DL82]

There are and will always be major obstacles to unity, particularly if unity is defined as union with the RCC.

The main one is the alleged infallibility of the pope.

I think this has been addressed in much detail already.

The nature of the mass is another. The nature of ‘transubstantiation’. Whereas high Anglicans believe in this dogma and maybe some Lutherans, the vast majority of Protestants do not. In addition, Anglicans believe that Jesus redeemed once and for all by his sacrifice.

I’ve always been amazed by Evangelical protestants who will argue for the literal truth of every single word of Scripture, including a literal 6-day creation, except for the 4 words where Christ says “this is my body”. Catholics also believe that Jesus redeemed once and for all by His sacrifice. The mass is not a re-sacrificing of Jesus. The mass is a making present, really present, that sacrifice once for all, that eternal sacrifice, here, in time and space, for us to benefit from. What does it matter if Jesus was sacrificed in 33AD if His sacrifice isn’t here for me now too. Worthy is the lamb that was slain from the beginning of the world. He says He will be with us always, until the end of the age, not just that the Spirit will be with us, but He, Jesus, His body, blood, soul and divinity. His sacrifice is now and forever and unto the ages of ages.

The doctrines re Mary are another. The dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption were promulgated after Luther, and there’s no way to predict what he would have thought about them. The vast majority of Protestants do not believe in these doctrines.

The Marian doctrines are really not about Mary but about Jesus. They are supported by many of the Early Church Fathers. Calling Mary the Mother of God follows logically from the Christological statements made at the Council of Chalcedon in the 4th century, and affirmed in the creed by Protestants and Catholics alike.

Christians had always agreed that Mary was sinless throughout her life, the doctrine of the immaculate conception just said that the moment her life began was at her conception. The doctrine was more about us than it was about her. It says that the moment human life begins, the moment a human soul, with its’ capacities for sin and righteousness and salvation, is created is at conception.

The doctrines re ‘artificial’ birth control and the absolute condemnation of abortion and prohibition of divorce are other doctrines which most Protestants do not support at all.

I know many Protestants who are deeply opposed to abortion and divorce. The doctrines regarding birth control come down to the theology of the body, which is one of the riches of the Catholic Church. Without these doctrines, Protestants are left with an empty “God says so” when teaching abstinence before marriage. This is why that message rings so hollow for so many young people today.

I don’t know how a married Protestant and Anglican clergy could be inducted into the RCC, so to speak, without creating great resentment among the RC clergy. And Protestant and Anglican denominations would never support celibacy of the clergy, particularly in view of the pedophile and vocation crises afflicting the RCC clergy.

Priestly celebacy is a discipline, not a doctrine. The Catholic Church already has married Anglican clergy ordained as priests, as well as entire rites (the Eastern rites) where married priests are the norm.

In addition, the vast majority of Catholics I know aren’t Catholic, they’re cafeteria Catholics. They don’t support celibacy, proscription against ‘artificial’ contraception and many other doctrines. I doubt if they strongly support the doctrines about Mary or the mass or infallibility, for that matter.

I think that the RCC would be best served in re-converting its own members, and in this, I wish them luck.

Many of these ‘cafeteria Catholics’ have adopted a Protestant understanding of faith, that says that faith is whatever you can agree with with your own limited understanding. Catholic faith has always taught that our faith is the faith of Christ, the author and perfector of our faith, and that our understanding of that faith is only in a glass darkly at present, yet we trust Him, and that’s faith in faith. Faith is the hope of what is unseen, not only the limited things we can see with our own eyes and intellect at this present moment.

 

[Jimmy_B]

I…"Many of these ‘cafeteria Catholics’ have adopted a Protestant understanding of faith, that says that faith is whatever you can agree with with your own limited understanding…

Hello DL82,

Yes, I agree and I call this “belonging to the religion of ones own intellect”… It appears to be an epidemic…:doh2:

Many would rather have God on their terms, instead of on His terms.

Peace