Do some non-Catholic Christians want the Church to remain steadfast in Morals???

[slinky1882]

Hey,
I was thinking about this recently after the passing of John Paul the Great and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Do some non-Catholic Christians want the Catholic Church to remain steadfast in Her teachings in Morality??? I am curious as I saw live conservative Protestant pastors complimenting the Pope(s) in this area, and I have seen in areas like abortion and homosexual marriage Protestant pastors talking about the Catholi Church’s stance. Thanks and God Bless.

 

[Zooey]

I have seen the same thing. Rev Jack Van Impe comes to mind; he greatly admired JP2, & he spoke last night about how pleased he is that the Catholic Church has another strong conservative pope…This was specifically in regards to morals & ethics.

And I can tell you that, :yup: in my United Methodist Church, at least, there were public prayers offered for the cardinals during the conclave…

 

[JimG]

Sure they do. If the Catholic Church were to abandon traditional morality, all Christians would implicity realize that the last bastion had fallen, and the game is lost. That won’t happen. Satan can’t ultimately win.

 

[flameburns623]

I think Jim G. overstates the case. Protestants in general assume the RCC has apostatized on many theological matters–which was what the Reformation is about. Protestants don’t assume that the RCC is their only ally on public policy matters touching issues of faith and morals. If nothing else Jim G. overlooks the Eastern Orthodox Catholics who if anything are even more steadfast than the RCC. For much of the period immediately following the Vatican II Council, conservative Protestants were not certain at all that the Catholic Church wasn’t going to defect into liberalism, generally. To this day, many Evangelical Protestants see the ‘official’ public policies of the Catholic Church involving economic issues in much the way Cardinal Ratzinger viewed Liberation Theology in the 1980’s. (I don’t feel this way but know that a number of Protestants have denounced papal pronouncements on economic issues to be nought more than ‘communism’). Protestants are often appalled at the modern-day opposition of the RCC to the death penalty.

All of this aside–the Roman Catholic Church is the biggest single denomination in most Western countries, and being able to forge alliances with it on most of the hot-button issues of the hour pleases Evangelicals. It helps us to keep pressure on our political leaders, who otherwise feel little compunction about abandoning Evangelicals when the chips are down. Most of us liked Pope John Paul II’s conservativism and like Ratzingers as well. Moreover-- the fact that the RCC is seen as an apostate charicature of the Christian faith scarcely means that it is as bad an institution as it could possibly become. The whole point of the “Left Behind” novels was that the RCC could become an even worse instrument for terror if ever it were again fully yielded over to Satan’s purposes as once it was in the days of the Inquisition. (Please note that I am not expressing my OWN view of the RCC–which is rather much more positive–but views I have seen bandied about in various and sundry forms among many Protestants).

 

[Starsweeper]

You said that the Eastern Orthodox are more conservative than the Catholics and coming from a former Orthodox this simply isn’t true. Yes they are mostly conservative on doctrinal issues, but in recent years they have sadly bowed to worldly pressures and have removed the ban on contraception, something that the early Patriarchs wholly condemned. They also allow remarriage after divorce with up to three marriages while the Catholics believe a truly sacramental marriage is indissolvable. I also recently read that the Greek Orthodox Church have begun to allow abortion in hard cases like rape while the Catholic Church does not.

flameburns623:

I think Jim G. overstates the case. Protestants in general assume the RCC has apostatized on many theological matters–which was what the Reformation is about. Protestants don’t assume that the RCC is their only ally on public policy matters touching issues of faith and morals. If** nothing else Jim G. overlooks the Eastern Orthodox Catholics who if anything are even more steadfast than the RCC.** For much of the period immediately following the Vatican II Council, conservative Protestants were not certain at all that the Catholic Church wasn’t going to defect into liberalism, generally. To this day, many Evangelical Protestants see the ‘official’ public policies of the Catholic Church involving economic issues in much the way Cardinal Ratzinger viewed Liberation Theology in the 1980’s. (I don’t feel this way but know that a number of Protestants have denounced papal pronouncements on economic issues to be nought more than ‘communism’). Protestants are often appalled at the modern-day opposition of the RCC to the death penalty.

All of this aside–the Roman Catholic Church is the biggest single denomination in most Western countries, and being able to forge alliances with it on most of the hot-button issues of the hour pleases Evangelicals. It helps us to keep pressure on our political leaders, who otherwise feel little compunction about abandoning Evangelicals when the chips are down. Most of us liked Pope John Paul II’s conservativism and like Ratzingers as well. Moreover-- the fact that the RCC is seen as an apostate charicature of the Christian faith scarcely means that it is as bad an institution as it could possibly become. The whole point of the “Left Behind” novels was that the RCC could become an even worse instrument for terror if ever it were again fully yielded over to Satan’s purposes as once it was in the days of the Inquisition. (Please note that I am not expressing my OWN view of the RCC–which is rather much more positive–but views I have seen bandied about in various and sundry forms among many Protestants).

 

[Timothy888]

slinky1882:

Hey,
I was thinking about this recently after the passing of John Paul the Great and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Do some non-Catholic Christians want the Catholic Church to remain steadfast in Her teachings in Morality??? I am curious as I saw live conservative Protestant pastors complimenting the Pope(s) in this area, and I have seen in areas like abortion and homosexual marriage Protestant pastors talking about the Catholi Church’s stance. Thanks and God Bless.

Sure they do, as do i!
Look at what the bible has to say about it, then what the Roman church has to say about it!
Well near biblical don’t you think!!!
Anything that is true is loved by Christians the world over.

 

[Milliardo]

Timothy888:

Sure they do, as do i!
Look at what the bible has to say about it, then what the Roman church has to say about it!
Well near biblical don’t you think!!!
Anything that is true is loved by Christians the world over.

And yet Protestantism, by and large, still goes its merry way of advocating divorce, abortion, contraception, and at least in some denominations, the ordination of female ministers/pastors. And then they bandy it around as if those are the “truth”.