Do Protestants believe Protestants of other denominations are saved?

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if so, why so much disagreements in theology since all lead to heaven?
if not, what’s exactly the prerequisite for “being saved” for a Protestant?
 
I think Protestants differ wildly from one sect to the next in their opinion on this.
 
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abcdefg:
if so, why so much disagreements in theology since all lead to heaven?
if not, what’s exactly the prerequisite for “being saved” for a Protestant?
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I am an evangeical and believe most demoninations have access to salvational truth (The exceptions being groups like JWS and Mormons, and to a lesser extent the liberal denominations which have lapsed into relativism). Basically there are two types of theological disagreements protestants usually have. They are salvational issues and non salvational issues. Example of clearly non-salvational issues would be wether the rapture will be pre-tribulation or post tribulation and wether drinking alcohol is moral (diversity of opinion within a congregation is usually toleratted on such matters). Clearly salvational issues generally have to do with the nature of God, particularly the trinity and Christ’s death and ressurection. Some issues are harder to classify. For example a church which shows a blatent disregard for scripture and practices gay marriage is definetley leading its flock astray and such scriptural relativism could lead to such perversion of truth as to make saving faith hard to come by in such a church.

However I think the heart of your question is as to why the diversity in congregations. Well most bible believing churches and evangelical churches consider each other to be united in terms of doctrine and theology and differences usually are style of worship service. Some people get more out of a more modern style of worship whereas others like more traditional worship and as far as most protestants are concerned the Christian should go were he or she feels they will grow closest to God (as long as the church is bible believing).
 
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Vincent1560:
I am an evangeical and believe most demoninations have access to salvational truth (The exceptions being groups like JWS and Mormons, and to a lesser extent the liberal denominations which have lapsed into relativism). Basically there are two types of theological disagreements protestants usually have. They are salvational issues and non salvational issues. Example of clearly non-salvational issues would be wether the rapture will be pre-tribulation or post tribulation and wether drinking alcohol is moral (diversity of opinion within a congregation is usually toleratted on such matters). Clearly salvational issues generally have to do with the nature of God, particularly the trinity and Christ’s death and ressurection. Some issues are harder to classify. For example a church which shows a blatent disregard for scripture and practices gay marriage is definetley leading its flock astray and such scriptural relativism could lead to such perversion of truth as to make saving faith hard to come by in such a church.

However I think the heart of your question is as to why the diversity in congregations. Well most bible believing churches and evangelical churches consider each other to be united in terms of doctrine and theology and differences usually are style of worship service. Some people get more out of a more modern style of worship whereas others like more traditional worship and as far as most protestants are concerned the Christian should go were he or she feels they will grow closest to God (as long as the church is bible believing).
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Nice post.
Thanks a lot!
 
happy to help, anything to distract from my Egyptian iconography paper… Could use some prayer in getting that done, it is slow going.

-God Bless
 
Aren’t all Christian Churches Bible believers? I have heard this often that you have to find a Bible believing church, yet have not found any that stand out that do not believe in the Bible as inerrant.
(maybe I should start a new thread)
God Bless
Scylla
 
There are theological points that most protestants would agree are what are required to be “Saved”, while other issues - they don’t believe are required for salvation.

In other words, it doesn’t matter if you believe in free will, predestination, or once saved always saved, it Does matter if you believe Jesus to be the Son of God and our way to salvation… (it gets a little deeper than this, but thats the general point)

Which is why I’ve never personally in my own experiences in the protestant church ever heard anyone say that Catholics were not going to heaven… according to our own discussions about what is “essential” - Catholics if they have a personal relationship with Christ would go to heaven in the Protestant view…(qualifying that with “who do have a personaly relationship with Christ” isn’t anything against Catholics, we’d say that about our own denomination, or any other denomination as well)
 
AmISearching?:
In other words, it doesn’t matter if you believe in free will, predestination, or once saved always saved, it Does matter if you believe Jesus to be the Son of God and our way to salvation… (it gets a little deeper than this, but thats the general point)

Which is why I’ve never personally in my own experiences in the protestant church ever heard anyone say that Catholics were not going to heaven… according to our own discussions about what is “essential” - Catholics if they have a personal relationship with Christ would go to heaven in the Protestant view…(qualifying that with “who do have a personaly relationship with Christ” isn’t anything against Catholics, we’d say that about our own denomination, or any other denomination as well)
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I agree with your description of the general salvation ‘relationship’ being the priority. The problem with this (being a former fundamentalist) is that the whole thing is confusing. People basically run around trying to stay saved. Yet all prots must realize that they are in one Church saying they are they are right and they have answers.

Deep down every protestant be it Baptist or whatever are aware of the deepest truth. That is that if Christ made his Church on Earth then we should be united. So why are there so many choices for Christ that contradict one another?

As a former prot I looked at the Catholic Church like it was just another choice out of the thousands. The only thing that will bring Protestants home to the true Church is the Eucharist. Once they realize that Christ’s new covenant is in the Eucharist they will see the Churches validity. Only Christ can unite Christians and Christ is the Eucharist. The greatest deception from hell that I see is the fact that Protestants out of loyalty to Jesus deny his presence for the sake of being loyal to Christ.

I would submit these questions to any protestant considering the Catholic Church. Did Jesus say this is my body and blood? Did he say do this in remembrance of me? Or did he say this a symbolic ritual that I want you to do in remberance of me maybe on a monthly basis?

Why would he instruct us to just remember him in ritual that is without substance? Would this not imply that God has worry that we would forget him? The instruction from God to do this and realize the truth that it is his body and blood is carried out exclusively by the CC in every single Catholic Mass. This is obviously his church. Go and pray at a perpetual adoration chapel and ask him yourself. It is not idolatry to have faith in Christ’s own words.

The protestant Church is deceived into believing that God established his new and everlasting covenant in spirit only with no tangible interaction between heaven and earth beyond prayer and opinion. He never left us high and dry with 30,000 options and the luck of the draw. These are the works of men, it is so simple a blind man can see it. Who was first and why? God would never leave us hanging in a covenant that is without clear instructions and clear system in place. The old Covenant with the Jews was totaly comprised of structure. The apostles Paul and Peter provided stucture and instruction.

So here we are 2000 years later totaly divided with tens of thousands of Churches to confuse us all. This is obviously not the work of our heavenly Father. If you want the right answer just trace back to the first Church and there is the truth right in your face with a resounding boom.

-D
 
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abcdefg:
if so, why so much disagreements in theology since all lead to heaven?
if not, what’s exactly the prerequisite for “being saved” for a Protestant?
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It depends significantly on which Protestant church one is referring to.
 
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Vincent1560:
happy to help, anything to distract from my Egyptian iconography paper… Could use some prayer in getting that done, it is slow going.

-God Bless
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At risk of going off topic,

You have my prayers as well as asking Saint Thomas Aquinas, patron saint of students to pray for you also;) catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2530

God Bless,
Maria
 
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scylla:
Aren’t all Christian Churches Bible believers? I have heard this often that you have to find a Bible believing church, yet have not found any that stand out that do not believe in the Bible as inerrant.
(maybe I should start a new thread)
God Bless
Scylla
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A bible believing church is one in which the bible is considered inerrant and sacred, not something that can be edited so as to make it “relevant” for today’s modern world. For exampe a church that allows gay marriage, or says that Jesus is just a way to ultimate truth would not be considered bible believing by most protestants.
 
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Vincent1560:
A bible believing church is one in which the bible is considered inerrant and sacred, not something that can be edited so as to make it “relevant” for today’s modern world. For exampe a church that allows gay marriage, or says that Jesus is just a way to ultimate truth would not be considered bible believing by most protestants.
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:hmmm: And Bible believing churchs respect and trust in the Catholic Church for…

**It was the Catholic Church that defined the Blessed Trinity, the hypostatic union of divinity and humanity in the one person of Jesus, salvation, baptism, the Eucharist, and all the other doctrines that have been the bedrock of the Christian faith. It is also the Catholic Church that gave birth to the New Testament—collecting, canonizing, preserving, distributing, and interpreting the books therein. **

As a Protestant, I was quite willing to accept unknowingly the Catholic Church’s teaching on the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the closed canon of the New Testament, etc., but I willfully rejected the full teaching of the Catholic Church. I now realize that it is in the Catholic Church that we find the fullness of the faith and the visible, universal body of Christ.
catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0501fea4.asp
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what I have gotten from going sometimes with my husband to his LCMS church for various activities, the LCMS believe that Catholics can go to Heaven but that we are all caught up with “works” they say, we need to just accept that Jesus died for our sins and stop trying to gain our way to Heaven through our good works and deeds. So, they believe we are very misinformed and when you try to tell them actually we are not, they don’t buy into it, believe me, I’ve had my fair share of discussions with them and they just don’t want to hear anything, because, they might just have to admit that they are not all right and that is just too much.
My mom gave me an Awesome book, it is called “there we stood, here we stand” it is all these true personal stories of protestant ministers who left their churches (basically gave up A Lot ) and became Catholic, it is soooooooo Cool, I have read it so many times, I love it!!! 😃
 
Catherine S. said:
:hmmm: And Bible believing churchs respect and trust in the Catholic Church for…

It was the Catholic Church that defined the Blessed Trinity, the hypostatic union of divinity and humanity in the one person of Jesus, salvation, baptism, the Eucharist, and all the other doctrines that have been the bedrock of the Christian faith. It is also the Catholic Church that gave birth to the New Testament—collecting, canonizing, preserving, distributing, and interpreting the books therein.

As a Protestant, I was quite willing to accept unknowingly the Catholic Church’s teaching on the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the closed canon of the New Testament, etc., but I willfully rejected the full teaching of the Catholic Church. I now realize that it is in the Catholic Church that we find the fullness of the faith and the visible, universal body of Christ.
catholic.com/thisrock/2005/0501fea4.asp****
.
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I believe that the Catholic Church would fall into the category of bible believing, but I think that over time, starting with the rise of Constantinte the Catholic Church developed many traditions and views that deviated from the practices of the first century churches. For example: forcible taxation of the peasantry, indulgences, veneration of saints, papal infallbility, celibate clergy etc. That said I do believe that all Christians are called toward untiy of belief, doctrine and community and this is something I hope both Catholics and Protestants will make significant progress towards in the coming decades. The election of Pope Benedict gives me hope that this will happen; I was very afraid that the cardinals would elect a scriptural relativist which it appears they did not do.
 
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kamz:
what I have gotten from going sometimes with my husband to his LCMS church for various activities, the LCMS believe that Catholics can go to Heaven but that we are all caught up with “works” they say, we need to just accept that Jesus died for our sins and stop trying to gain our way to Heaven through our good works and deeds. So, they believe we are very misinformed and when you try to tell them actually we are not, they don’t buy into it, believe me, I’ve had my fair share of discussions with them and they just don’t want to hear anything, because, they might just have to admit that they are not all right and that is just too much.
My mom gave me an Awesome book, it is called “there we stood, here we stand” it is all these true personal stories of protestant ministers who left their churches (basically gave up A Lot ) and became Catholic, it is soooooooo Cool, I have read it so many times, I love it!!! 😃
Click to expand...
👋
Many many more…beautiful, inspirational stories all from faithfilled folks who love Jesus Christ deeply and found their way…some after a long journey of faith… to the Catholic Church. You will need to download a free Real Player to listen to them!
God Bless You,
Shalom,
Catherine
ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/seriessearchprog.asp?pgnu=1&SeriesID=-6892289
 
Each Protestant has wildly varying beliefs regarding salvation. Some are extremely inclusivistic, and maintain that even non Christains can be saved. Others are entirely exclusivistic, stating that one must be a Christian who has had a one time salvation experience that their church believes in. Others believe that basically everyone will be saved. So, beliefs about salvation really vary and you can’t generalize about Protestants.

The one thing they all probably agree on is that the Catholic Church is not the one true church. Some of them think all Catholics will go the Hell, others think that Catholics can be saved.
 
abcdefg said:
** Do Protestants believe Protestants of other denominations are saved**?
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I’ve found it usually depends on whether the other Protestant is in the room or not!😃

Ironic, but true (at least for me it has been).

NotWorthy
 
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Vincent1560:
I believe that the Catholic Church would fall into the category of bible believing, but I think that over time, starting with the rise of Constantinte the Catholic Church developed many traditions and views that deviated from the practices of the first century churches. For example: forcible taxation of the peasantry, indulgences, veneration of saints, papal infallbility, celibate clergy etc. That said I do believe that all Christians are called toward untiy of belief, doctrine and community and this is something I hope both Catholics and Protestants will make significant progress towards in the coming decades. The election of Pope Benedict gives me hope that this will happen; I was very afraid that the cardinals would elect a scriptural relativist which it appears they did not do.
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**Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.)
**Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any institution in history.
**Even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy, and the churches that send out door-to-door missionaries are young compared to the Catholic Church. Many of these churches began as recently as the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. Some even began during your own lifetime. None of them can claim to be the Church Jesus established.
**The Catholic Church has existed for nearly 2,000 years, despite constant opposition from the world. This is testimony to the Church’s divine origin. It must be more than a merely human organization, especially considering that its human members— even some of its leaders—have been unwise, corrupt, or prone to heresy.
Any merely human organization with such members would have collapsed early on. The Catholic Church is today the most vigorous church in the world (and the largest, with a billion members: one sixth of the human race), and that is testimony not to the cleverness of the Church’s leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit.

**The Church Is One (Rom. 12:5, 1 Cor. 10:17, 12:13, CCC 813–822) **

The Church Is Holy (Eph. 5:25–27, Rev. 19:7–8, CCC 823–829

The Church Is Catholic (Matt. 28:19–20, Rev. 5:9–10, CCC 830–856)

The Church Is Apostolic (Eph. 2:19–20, CCC 857–865)

catholic.com/library/Pillar.asp

**PS…You can find articles on any of the subjects that you have mentioned at this website.
 
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Kobieta:
Each Protestant has wildly varying beliefs regarding salvation. Some are extremely inclusivistic, and maintain that even non Christains can be saved. Others are entirely exclusivistic, stating that one must be a Christian who has had a one time salvation experience that their church believes in. Others believe that basically everyone will be saved. **So, beliefs about salvation really vary and you can’t generalize about Protestants. **

The one thing they all probably agree on is that the Catholic Church is not the one true church. Some of them think all Catholics will go the Hell, others think that Catholics can be saved.
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**Simply stated, the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura (“Scripture alone”) holds that every point of Christian theology-everything pertaining to “faith and practice”-must be verifiable from the Bible alone.

An essential part of this doctrine, as it has been historically articulated by Protestants, is that theology must be done without allowing Tradition or a Magisterium (teaching authority) to have binding authority in how Scripture is to be interpreted. If Tradition or a Magisterium could bind the conscience of the believer as to what he was to believe, then the believer would not be looking to Scripture alone as his authority.

**A necessarily corollary of the doctrine of *sola scriptura *is an absolute right of private judgment in the interpretation of the Scriptures. Each individual has the final prerogative to decide for himself what the correct interpretation of a given passage of Scripture is, regardless of what anyone or everyone else says. Thus, according to *sola scriptura, *any role that Tradition, a Magisterium, Bible commentaries, or anything else may play in theology should do no more than suggest interpretations and evidence to the believer as he makes his decision. Each individual is put in the position of being his own theologian. **

Of course, the average Christian does not exercise this role in any consistent way. (There are many godly grannies who are very devout in their faith in Jesus, but who are in no way inclined to become theologians.) Not only is the average Christian disinclined to fulfill the role of theologian, if he tries to do so and arrives at conclusions different than those of his church’s leadership, he will quickly discover that his right to private judgment amounts to a right to shut up or leave the congregation.

**Protestant pastors from the time of Luther and Calvin have realized that, although they must preach the doctrine of private judgment to ensure their own right to interpret Scripture, they must prohibit the exercise of this right to others, lest their group be torn apart by strife. It is the failure to prohibit the right of private judgment that has resulted in the over twenty thousand ( much higher now 30,000 )Christian Protestant denominations listed in the Oxford University Press *World Christian Encyclopedia. ***

**The **disintegration of Protestantism into so many competing **factions, each teaching different doctrines on key theological issues, is itself an important indicator of the practical failure of the doctrine of sola scriptura. **
catholic.com/thisrock/1999/9904fea4.asp

catholic.com/thisrock/1995/9506vbv.asp
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