I have only been n CA for a short time but I have noticed a pattern of behavior that bothers me greatly. It seems that most of our protestants friends that come here do so in an arrogant and hostile way. The threads sometimes start in a friendly manner but quickly deteriorate into a “I am smarter than you and you need to listen to me” tone. The idea that they look down upon us Catholics is very evident and there is no attempt to hide it.
Am I the only one that sees this or is this the pattern? If it is the pattern, how do you all get past this attitude and have productive and God honoring discussions? I am finding it very difficult.
I have a good friend who is a Reformed Baptist. He is a very good friend, and I credit him with being one of the reasons I returned to Christ - if God had not worked through him, I would probably be worshiping a false faith at this moment. When I returned to Christ and told him I was heading into the Orthodox Church, he was hesitant. However, he did much research (including links I provided on my blog) and came to realize I was as Christian as he was. We get along perfectly fine, and rarely argue about anything. So to answer the question you pose in the title: not all Protestants do that.
I think we should remember that most non-Catholics who come here do so for two main reasons: 1) because they want to become Catholic and want to do more research; 2) because they want to engage Catholics in some form of discussion, whether it be to “win souls” or argue a point. Due to the fact many will fall into the second category, we have to realize most members of a group who come to this forum will be performing that deed. As such, it will seem like most of them do that very thing.
I have to also confess that at times I’ve seen Catholics be just as arrogant and condescending to Protestants. I understand that tempers flare and things can sometimes get personal, especially when speaking about what we hold dear, but both sides should remember that we do not belong to a club or political party. Rather, we belong to the community that worships the true God. We should therefore do everything in his name and to his credit.
It saddens me when I see a thread title that suggests a topic on the Reformation or some doctrine of Protestantism, and when I click on it and read the responses all I see are trolling between the two sides. The forum would be much more progressive if we engaged in more discussion than insulting.
