Evangelical Protestantism - A Force for Good?

[Nihilo]

Nihilo:

they’re a type of pagan or atheist, who believes in Christ like the Church does, but the similarity ends there; beyond that they’re heathen.

I think that’s a little much, personally.

That’s fair.

I’ve known many, many people throughout my life in Protestantism who truly have a heart for Jesus and are selfless people doing things for the glory of the Lord.

Me too. I used to be one. Nothing I wrote that’s been since expunged from the public record conflicts with that Protestants who believe in Christ are authentic Christians. They are, the Catechism unambiguously says so.

There’s a word game that many Protestants play, where they like to emphasize how you can be sincere, and yet also sincerely wrong. Protestants are that; sincere, and sincerely wrong.

I called them sheep not pejoratively at all, that proves that I believe they are as Christian as Catholics in full communion are also Christian. The Lord is our Shepherd, and we are all His sheep, all those who believe in Him, Protestants included.

And they are outside the fold, which is the Catholic Church that the Lord Himself built upon St. Peter the rock (and upon Peter’s confession that Jesus is God). Whatever sheep do in this most unnatural of states, being outside of the protective fold of their Shepherd, is not aligned with the fold, or else they would be in the fold.

I’m making the jump to the RCC in time

You won’t regret it.

, but there are many non-Catholic Christians I know and have known, my father (RIP) included, who I’ll see in heaven when He calls me home.

Absolutely. I never wrote anything that conflicts with this at all, the context of the thread and of my now-deleted response concerned life on this earth right now, and we are sheep, and there’s a fold, on the earth right now, for us all. Protestants are outside the fold, that doesn’t mean they’re not going to heaven.

 

[TNMan]

All fair points. Thanks for delving deeper. If I came across as attacking you, that wasn’t my intent and I apologize.

God bless.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

I was never that busy as a protestant Christian lol. You had a plate full.

 

[Peeps]

I was never that busy as a protestant Christian lol. You had a plate full.

Were you Evangelical Protestant?

Lately, it does seem that that Mainline Protestants are getting busier, as they devote a lot of their out-of-church time to ministries in the inner city, the poor, various at-risk women, children, etc.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

Evangelical

Yes – i did volunteer for the Church and later for a Christian ministry here in town.

But I must say the Church i attended when I first met the Lord was largely anti-Catholic. They certainly found the time to bash the Catholic Church quite often lol.

 

[Wannano]

Peeps:

Evangelical

Yes – i did volunteer for the Church and later for a Christian ministry here in town.

But I must say the Church i attended when I first met the Lord was largely anti-Catholic. They certainly found the time to bash the Catholic Church quite often lol.

If you don’t mind clarifying I would like to know if the ministry of that Church was instrumental in introducing you to Christ?

 

[Peeps]

But I must say the Church i attended when I first met the Lord was largely anti-Catholic. They certainly found the time to bash the Catholic Church quite often lol.

I was fortunate growing up in an Evangelical Protestant church (Baptist) in which the pastor was recruited into being a police chaplain–a program that was new to our city back in the 1970s. (Before that, the policemen were responsible for informing citizens about murders and accidents that killed loved ones, and the policemen were also responsible for comforting bystanders, children of the victims, etc.–not something that police were especially qualified for).

The “recruiter” was the man who started the police chaplaincy program in our city–a Catholic priest (who today is honored all over the city with street names, building names, etc.!).

Our Baptist pastor loved being a police chaplain (it was totally volunteer, BTW), and he got to know not only the priest who had invited him to serve, but also other Catholic priests who had been recruited into the program. He became close friends with several of those priests, and in his sermons in our church, let us all know that these priests were true Christians, and the Catholic Church was a true Christian church. There was no bashing of Catholicism in OUR Baptist church!

Oh, yes, we still had misconceptions about the Catholics–although Vatican II really really helped dispel the Protestant misconception that Catholics worship idols because most of the Catholic parishes (not all) in our city eliminated statues from their buildings. Yes, I know that hurt many Catholics, but it HELPED many Protestants to see Catholics as Christians who worshiped only GOD! Maybe that doesn’t mean much to cradle Catholics, but i suspect that it helped Catholic/Protestant relationships and paved the way for the two Christian groups to work together after Roe v. Wade was passed.

And I think it also paved the way for Protestants to at least be open to eventually converting to Catholicism. If we believed that Catholics worshipped idols–that would mean not even associating with them except as necessary, and certainly never reading their material or entering their buildings. Some Protestants are still like this, but many, like me and my husband, were ready to accept Catholics as fellow Christians, which made us more open to converting to Catholicism ourselves.

Anyway, I was fortunate to grow up in a “Catholic-friendly” Baptist church. That being said, a large percentage of our church (around 25%) was ex-Catholic.

 

[Wannano]

I really enjoy reading your about your experiences. On another active post, it is stated that non-Catholics are sheep wandering around outside the sheep fold and as such are basically heathen. Yet here, a priest invited a Baptist minister to help serve along other priests. He must have felt the leader of sheep outside the sheep fold had something genuine to offer to the world. What is wrong with us all??

 

[Lenten_ashes]

Nope, an evangelical pastor in another state, whom I had never met, introduced me to Jesus.

 

[mythbuster1]

Moving closer to Truth is good, moving away from Truth is evil. Evangelicals are a force for good when they preach to infidels, and a force for evil when they seek to convert Catholics and Orthodox to their errors.

 

[TULIPed]

Agreed.

Thank goodness “Love is patient, love is kind…it doesn’t insist on its own way…” is a two way street.