Dear ronin,
Thank you for a nice response, from the heart
First though, I am a female
, just wanted to clear that up!
you state
The bottom line; Pride of the Catholic Church refuses to accept Protestants as equals in Christ becuase they believe they are the one true church because they were the first Christian Church and Pride on the Protestant side refuses to bow down to Catholic Doctrine that doesn’t always go stricly by the scripture (Protestants still don’t get the excessive elevation of Mother Mary and some of the other practices). So how do we fix it my fellow man in Christ??? Keep the division or come to a ageement as long as the truth of the scripture is preached, per the Holy Bible?
That which I bolded is an opinion, and cannot be proven.
Second, there is NO pride in the Catholic Church when stated that it is the ONE true Church. Yes, of course that sounds prideful, my friend and I always discuss this and think, the last thing we want to sound like is prideful! Yikes!
I think it is just the opposite, it is humility that one needs to truly say to someone that the Catholic Church is the one true Church. The FULNESS of Truth lies within the Catholic Church. That is the difference. Yes, some Protestant denominations hold truths, but we have the fullness.
Third, the Catholic Church does not NOT accept Protestants and their belief and love for Christ. Infact, many times it is said how passionate Protestants are for their love of Him. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, Christianity. But, we cannot, CANNOT be equal in that Protestants MISS the important and CENTER of the faith which is the Eucharist, as well as the sacrament of confession, Mary the Mother of God (which this to me always baffles my mind, she is His mother, the closest person to a Son is the mother! She is an intermediary, not God, but what a nice gift God gave us to go to her to seek extra help!)
Anyway, Just like we need food to live and be heathy physically, we NEED food-the Bread of Life, to nourish us spiritually. No food for the soul = a soul that slowly dies.
Christ didnt institute the Eucharist as a symbol, otherwise He would have said to all those who ran away at the thought “Hey wait! Im just kidding, its only a symbol!”
In John 6:53 Jesus said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will not have life in you.” Of course, He did not mean to cut off salvation from those who through no fault of their own do not know or grasp this truth. It is like the case of Baptism: one must receive it if one knows.
In John 6:47-67 Jesus did not soften His words about His presence even when so many no longer went with Him: had He meant only that bread and wine would signify Him, He could have so easily explained that, and they would not have left.
The Church has always understood a Real Presence. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was eaten by the beasts in Rome around 107 A.D., wrote: “The Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ” (To Smyrna 7:1). St. Justin the martyr wrote around 145 A. D: “We have been taught that the food is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh” (Apology 1. 66. 2). The Council of Trent in 1551 defined that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, body and blood, soul and divinity.
But yes, this is not the topic, the topic is salvation, and yes, we do not know, and will never know who will truly be saved outside of the Catholic Church. Heck, we have so many lukewarm Catholics that are going to have problems receiving Eternal Salvation.
However, the division lies in that Protestants do not believe anything outside of Scripture, which is very hard to swallow for us Catholics. Especially since God can do anything, Faith and the Holy Spirit, I mean, you have to have faith my friend to believe in tradition, Apostolic Succession, The Eucharist, Our beloved Mother of Christ, and Confession.
Us Catholics, deep in the faith, do not hold all of this just as a MEANS for salvation, above that is Love. All of this IS LOVE. A Road Map to Eternal Life.
All of this, all that we believe Christ left us and taught us is Love, to better ourselves, to journey though this world to our eternal home.
To receive the Lord in the Eucharist, is THE SOURCE of life for us, so yes, we will have to have division.
Christ has only One Church, and there cannot be 2 ronin, yes the same Bible and scripture may be used, BUT each Protestant church has its own
interpretation. There is NO order, there is division. Yes there is love, of course, and full of people who mean well, of course! praise God. But tell me ronin, who leads the Protestant church? Where can I find the “way” in the Protestant church? I dont want the Baptist way, or the Evangelical Way, or the Presbyterian way, I want the one solid, specific way.
The Protestant church does not have that. Each 30000+ my friend, has something different from the next, that is why there are so many.
Christ did not come to unite, but to divide. Mother against daughter, father against son, all for Him, to follow his ways and repent and convert.
Praying and confessing our sins to God in our homes, and leading 'good lives (which who by the way says it is good, according to what?) and believing in Scripture is not enough.
Christ would not have come for that, everyone was doing that before Christ came!
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Mathew 7:13-15
Good dialogue ronin, I appreciate this discussion!
have a wonderful afternoon,
God bless
