Evangelical vs Protestant

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I must be missing something here. Are you saying an atheist is going to end up on the right side where the Lord will put “the sheep”, per Matthew 25:31, just because he’s been philanthropic by giving away half his fortune to the needy, not committed murder or disobeyed any of the Commandments, etc.? This I find hard to swallow. If you believe this to be true, then of what value is it for us to attend Mass regularly if someone like the atheist will be standing next to us when the Lord is separating the “sheep and goats”? As far as I’m concerned, if someone leaves this earthly realm and is alienated and separated from God at the time of death, there is no “make good” following death. Sorry, but I have to rush off to Mass right now. I look forward to your comments/insight.
 
usemelord said:
I must be missing something here. Are you saying an atheist is going to end up on the right side where the Lord will put “the sheep”, per Matthew 25:31, just because he’s been philanthropic by giving away half his fortune to the needy, not committed murder or disobeyed any of the Commandments, etc.? This I find hard to swallow. If you believe this to be true, then of what value is it for us to attend Mass regularly if someone like the atheist will be standing next to us when the Lord is separating the “sheep and goats”? As far as I’m concerned, if someone leaves this earthly realm and is alienated and separated from God at the time of death, there is no “make good” following death. Sorry, but I have to rush off to Mass right now. I look forward to your comments/insight.
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No I am not saying that at all!

Nobody is good through his own efforts - it is through the grace of God that a human being manifests goodness. Our God is a merciful God and his ways are not our ways. So I was reflecting on the reasons for some good people who love humanity and contribute and even sacrifice themselves for the common good do not recive the gift of Faith. The man I mentioned who said that he has tried to believe is a very good man and he still gives and does good. He looks after the Parish’s website and donates and attends talks and reads books on the Faith - his wife is a faithful and ardent parishioner. So I wonder about this… That’s all. I cannot see God condemning such a person to Hell. It would not make sense - not from a merciful God.

🙂
 
usemelord said:
I must be missing something here. Are you saying an atheist is going to end up on the right side where the Lord will put “the sheep”, per Matthew 25:31, just because he’s been philanthropic by giving away half his fortune to the needy, not committed murder or disobeyed any of the Commandments, etc.? This I find hard to swallow. If you believe this to be true, then of what value is it for us to attend Mass regularly if someone like the atheist will be standing next to us when the Lord is separating the “sheep and goats”? As far as I’m concerned, if someone leaves this earthly realm and is alienated and separated from God at the time of death, there is no “make good” following death. Sorry, but I have to rush off to Mass right now. I look forward to your comments/insight.
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I always come from a premise of God is LOVE. If this is true and the Bible says it is true, then how can people who have not been given the chance to hear the gospel be held responsible for not believing. Would that not make God unjust? I mean think about it, there are millions our there who has died and will die not hearing about Christ. Do they get condemned for not believing something they never had a chance to either believe or not believe?
 
benedictus2 said:
Oh come on Cinnette. You know why. If they admit that Christ changed Simon’s name to Peter then they would have to admit that we are right and they wrong. THAT is scary.

This is where their reasoning always fails. So when you given them good logical answers they exit.🙂 But the Spirit is always stronger than our determination to remain in darkness if we truly love Christ.😃
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Almost all the time, it comes down to upbringing. You’re used to seeing things a certain way, so you stick with that. In some cases, it’s anger, though. I think anger was the reason of a lot of the original Reformers. This can happen when someone reacts against the faith because of having had a negative experience.

A lot of times, it’s prejudice. Sometimes, just plain ignorance. Or sometimes people have had a good experience with God in Protestantism and never experienced God in a way they could recognize in Catholicism, so they buy into the false doctrines because they’ve had a real spiritual experience. There is a vast array of other possible reasons. I think upbringing is the single most significant one, though.

For me, it was upbringing. Which is perfectly understandable. It’s hard to abandon what seems “tried and true,” if you’ve grown up with it all your life. You may have had a personal, real relationship with God growing in your life in Protestantism, you feel secure because you know Jesus and have strong reason to believe He is the way to salvation, and then you see a lot of foreign things in Catholicism. A lot that you don’t have and that you instinctively distrust because your own path with Christ has been so different. So you assume Catholicism is wrong, even while not understanding it. And often you don’t care that much to really understand it because you feel secure in your own faith and feel that everything’s fine and just as it should be, so why bother wasting time sifting through other people’s mistakes?

It’s pretty interesting :).
 
Lief_Erikson said:
Almost all the time, it comes down to upbringing. You’re used to seeing things a certain way, so you stick with that. In some cases, it’s anger, though. I think anger was the reason of a lot of the original Reformers. This can happen when someone reacts against the faith because of having had a negative experience.

A lot of times, it’s prejudice. Sometimes, just plain ignorance. Or sometimes people have had a good experience with God in Protestantism and never experienced God in a way they could recognize in Catholicism, so they buy into the false doctrines because they’ve had a real spiritual experience. There is a vast array of other possible reasons. I think upbringing is the single most significant one, though.

For me, it was upbringing. Which is perfectly understandable. It’s hard to abandon what seems “tried and true,” if you’ve grown up with it all your life. You may have had a personal, real relationship with God growing in your life in Protestantism, you feel secure because you know Jesus and have strong reason to believe He is the way to salvation, and then you see a lot of foreign things in Catholicism. A lot that you don’t have and that you instinctively distrust because your own path with Christ has been so different. So you assume Catholicism is wrong, even while not understanding it. And often you don’t care that much to really understand it because you feel secure in your own faith and feel that everything’s fine and just as it should be, so why bother wasting time sifting through other people’s mistakes?

It’s pretty interesting :).
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You make a very good point.

Some people take the line of least resistance. Some people feel comfortable with what is familiar. For others it is the friends, youth club, etc. And, of course, Catholicism is so “foreign”. I must say that I have often considered converts to be very courageous, especially when the stakes are high ie Pastors from other Religions. Have you seen the numbers who have converted on the EWTN show every week? People who were very prominent and they have to give up so much.

I remember a Southern Baptist who had been a pastor for quite a number of years and he converted but his family did not and for the time being he was working as a truck driver. In his case he quite enjoyed it because as he travelled around the country he met so many people at the different parishes he attended. I thought he was so cool.

One Pastor had enough savings to take care of him and his wife for 4 years but he soon became a Deacon in the CC and wrote a book and went around the country giving talks and teachings. Others are teaching at Universities and Seminaries or even High Schools. Look at Steve Ray - he is making movies in the Holy Land and has a business arranging tours to the Holy Land. It must be fun visiting the Holy Land with him as guide because he simply knows everything! You should visit his website - it has so much information. Oh and he has written a number of interesting books.

Catholicism is interesting, absorbing and great fun.

Am I off topic? I think so.

cheers
Cinette:)
 
I firmly believe that we would just listen to Jesus and do as he says, we would succeed in all the important things in our lives.

I was thinking of these threads and the discussions we have with Protestants - how they are interesting some of them but how much better if we could just begin by loving one another. I have learned so much from the discussions.

Think about it, Jesus told us to love God and one another - if we do that we will automatically follow all the other commandments. So that means that Love is BIG.

I have been on threads where Protestants have been simply wonderful. Sometimes we get excited and lock horns but things get sorted out. There are some threads where some Protestants are really awful and there is real hatred and ugliness. I have also come across Catholics whom I would like to hit over the head! On the other hand there is one Protestant who has said awful things (I won’t say who) but somehow I think he is a very good man!!

I am always sad when some are banned because I feel we have failed.

I am going to try not to let myself get mad at anyone. I am going to LISTEN harder and try to understand the other person even though I don’t agree and maybe, maybe, I might come up with better answers. Surely understanding can help in this respect.

As for my Catholic faith I have both Protestants and Catholics to thank for for teaching me so much. Tension I think is important for growth - in everything!

Cinette:)
 
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