? For Protestants and disunity

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Adamski said:
When I have shared the gospel with the completely unchurched one of their first complaints goes something like

" Christianity is to confusing with all the different options"

“Christianity can’t be true because there are so many options”

For evangelizing it would seem unity would be much better
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I read all the posts to date, so I’m not line-jumping. 😃

The problem with this as an argument is that it doesn’t say where we should all join - one church is as good as another.

Unity should be real unity. Our differences are real. How do you propose we work towards unity?
 
In any Catholic parish…you have unity in diversity…we have belief in one baptism, one creed, the Mass and Eucharist, the 7 sacraments, our doctrines in the Catechism…

And for every parish…you have just as many opinions.

The only perfect unity Catholics can have is our profession of faith in the Creed.

Nevertheless, One Faith, One Baptism, One Bread, One Body.

Our communion is not found in each other.

Our communion is found in the Holy Trinity…that is our vocation…and from there, we are to serve our neighbor, and the poor in need…our second vocation.

The fruit of communion in the Holy Trinity is unity…

You cannot ever find any perfect unity in people, as well as Catholics.
 
Tomyris said:
I read all the posts to date, so I’m not line-jumping. 😃

The problem with this as an argument is that it doesn’t say where we should all join - one church is as good as another.

Unity should be real unity. Our differences are real. How do you propose we work towards unity?
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I hear you. Least we neglect unity isn’t disunity. Amen, one step for mankind and Jesus Christ.

By building a hypothetical Church of Jesus Christ ground up. So we can understand unity better. Where to start?🙂
 
Jon_Mallory said:
Unity isn’t something that Catholics have either. In Catholicism, you have factions verbally warring against each other over important issues like the mass. The “unity” of Catholicism is a front that hides a divided house. The Church needs to advertise differently.

Here are just a few of the factions: liberal catholics, traditional catholics, ultramontanists, charismatic Catholics and folk Catholics who blend pagan traditions with the Catholic one.
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If one sways from the teachings of the Catholic faith, one is no longer following Catholic teaching but Protestantism.
 
My thoughts are all over the place on this thread. Yes, I do wish we were one, of one doctrine as I believe was the founder’s intent. However, I can’t imagine it ever being one. Even the communions that are similar, are still so far apart that the only way it could happen is with intervention of the Holy Spirit. I don’t expect to see the last days or the Church uniting in my life.

As to the different factions in Catholicism, that is indeed true. You can see two different people that are on opposite ends of the spectrum as far as belief goes and both think they have the truth. Maybe they both do to an extent but there are not two truths. You can see these disagreements among two very good people that are striving for the truth but have a different vision of it. Then there are those that are absolutely clueless about what the Church teaches and believes and think their opinion should rule over the Church’s opinion without ever understanding what the Church is doing or why.

I’m with those that think the hypothetical person in the original post is using the differences as an excuse. Looking back at my life and the lives of my friends, we all used our various excuses to run from God. That didn’t make the excuses right but they were excuses. Like so many other successful conversion stories, when the spirit is ready, they will convert.

I can pray for unity but it isn’t something that will haunt my thoughts. There is too much energy wasted over the fact that we aren’t one and that energy could be utilized elsewhere. Unless God intervenes, we won’t be one (as in united) on this side of heaven.
 
Tomyris said:
I read all the posts to date, so I’m not line-jumping. 😃

The problem with this as an argument is that it doesn’t say where we should all join - one church is as good as another.

Unity should be real unity. Our differences are real. How do you propose we work towards unity?
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How do we work out our differences big question I guess the first step is realizing they are worth working out and unity is a good idea

I can see people like Rick warren, all the Popes, billy graham, the Lutheran church in Germany, the orthodox and Coptic churches are all working towards Christian unity.
 
aidanbradypop said:
Gary,

Unity for you is every Christian under the Pope correct? That is what the Catholics I know believe. We, Christians, will be united when everyone believes what the Catholic Church teaches. That is what I hear from Catholics. So if that is unity then no I do not feel that unity is needed and I am completely satisfied with my disunity. Now if by unity you mean that we are all Christians because we believe in the saving Grace from God by way of the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins so that we can all be apart of the Kingdom of God then I am all for that unity. We are united in Christ, not a church.

That is what I would tell that unchurched person and I would pray that the Holy Ghost would take over from there
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Just a small point, We all are Christians, Catholic and Protestants alike. Sorry if I am misreading your intent but the statement appears to me to suggest that there is Christians and then there are Catholics.
 
wmscott said:
Just a small point, We all are Christians, Catholic and Protestants alike. Sorry if I am misreading your intent but the statement appears to me to suggest that there is Christians and then there are Catholics.
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Some Evangelicals do not consider Catholics Christians and that is sad.

Yes I mean we as (Catholics and non Catholics Christians)
 
Tomyris said:
…

The problem with this as an argument is that it doesn’t say where we should all join - one church is as good as another.

Unity should be real unity. Our differences are real. How do you propose we work towards unity?
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I used to think that too about the denominations, that one was as good as another but now I disagree with that. After years of searching and researching I found that there are some major differences in the Christian denominations and I think that is one thing someone looking for unity needs to do. To seek out what are the differences in the denominations and pray and ask God to guide them to the truth.

Maybe that is something we should do more often, pray for unity.
 
This is just my personal opinion, but I think that Christian unity is almost unattainable. It is because the Protestant faiths today are far removed from the Reformation because of time only, that they do not feel or see that they were the ones who separated themselves from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (For whatever reason).

I know they know the history and the reasons behind the Reformation, I just feel that today they see their faith traditions as always being there and they grew up in it. Again just my opinion.
 
wmscott said:
This is just my personal opinion, but I think that Christian unity is almost unattainable. It is because the Protestant faiths today are far removed from the Reformation because of time only, that they do not feel or see that they were the ones who separated themselves from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (For whatever reason).

I know they know the history and the reasons behind the Reformation, I just feel that today they see their faith traditions as always being there and they grew up in it. Again just my opinion.
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Fair view and I agree. Many do not feel the need to unite and are completely satisfied in their denomination.

We can unite in our love for Jesus and fellow man.
 
aidanbradypop said:
Fair view and I agree. Many do not feel the need to unite and are completely satisfied in their denomination.

We can unite in our love for Jesus and fellow man.
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I think the best we can do with Christian unity is if all of us can get on the same page regarding abortion, same sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, and others. I am afraid that is a huge request because society has done a really good job at desensitizing a lot of Christians to these that they are so deceived into being complacent and non-committal that they accept them and at best are lukewarm in being resistant.
 
wmscott said:
I think the best we can do with Christian unity is if all of us can get on the same page regarding abortion, same sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, and others. I am afraid that is a huge request because society has done a really good job at desensitizing a lot of Christians to these that they are so deceived into being complacent and non-committal that they accept them and at best are lukewarm in being resistant.
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100% agree
 
2 things; increasingly I see that the conservatives of any denomination seem to be much more similar despite their denominational differences (or titles/labels), and with events going on in the world… the world is pushing us together, because when we see atrocities happen against brothers and sisters, our souls cry out.
 
wmscott said:
This is just my personal opinion, but I think that Christian unity is almost unattainable. It is because the Protestant faiths today are far removed from the Reformation because of time only, that they do not feel or see that they were the ones who separated themselves from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church (For whatever reason).

I know they know the history and the reasons behind the Reformation, I just feel that today they see their faith traditions as always being there and they grew up in it. Again just my opinion.
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👍
 
Kliska said:
2 things; increasingly I see that the conservatives of any denomination seem to be much more similar despite their denominational differences (or titles/labels), and with events going on in the world… the world is pushing us together, because when we see atrocities happen against brothers and sisters, our souls cry out.
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God works in mysterious ways. 👍
 
aidanbradypop said:
Gary,
Unity for you is every Christian under the Pope correct? That is what the Catholics I know believe. We, Christians, will be united when everyone believes what the Catholic Church teaches. That is what I hear from Catholics. So if that is unity then no I do not feel that unity is needed and I am completely satisfied with my disunity
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What if Christ said we are united and He is happy with the way things are now?

Before the Reformation the Catholic church kept a lot of people in it by the sword and the fire. Do you want a return to THAT? As soon as they could they got out. There was not a whole lot of unity, now we are more honest about it.
 
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