Again: Once you are baptized Catholic, you do not have the choice of being a good Protestant. You can only be a more-faithful Catholic or a less-faithful Catholic.Can someone find the quote from the Saint who explained that it is better to be a bad Catholic than a good Protestant.
I had it bookmarked from Arturo Vasquez’ apologetics page but the website is gone.
Essentially said the Catholic is a member of the household
Yes, I know this won’t sit well with some
This makes me think of a very controversial Catholic Apologist in some debate, that he wished his bank account was calculated the same way. “What comes in, can never go out”. This was the 1 time I agreed with him.Again: Once you are baptized Catholic, you do not have the choice of being a good Protestant. You can only be a more-faithful Catholic or a less-faithful Catholic.
The only person who has to concern themselves whether they would be a “bad Catholic” instead of a “good Protestant” is someone contemplating being received into the Church from a different denomination. Even in that case, however, once a person has the grace to recognize that the Catholic Church teaches what is true, the person is bound to live according to that truth to the best of their ability, whether they like the truth or not, whether the truth is popular with their families or not, whether it is easy or not. If they have the opportunity to come into full communion with the Church, they would be bound to do it.
Therefore: The only person who has the choice between being a “bad Catholic” and a “good Protestant” is the person who is contemplating joining the Church is spite of honestly having to say he or she is incapable of accepting what the Church teaches as true and perhaps invincibly ignorant of that truth. You cannot lie in order to be received into the Church. In that sense, it would be preferable to be a good Protestant who is truthful about what truths he or she can sincerely accept rather than a bad Catholic who came into communion with the Church under false pretenses.
Who will God judge to be better, when the bad and the good are side by side on that Final Day? That is the Lord’s to judge and the Lord’s to be concerned with, not ours.
We know God is just, we know God is merciful and we know God is wildly generous.This makes me think of a very controversial Catholic Apologist in some debate, that he wished his bank account was calculated the same way. “What comes in, can never go out”. This was the 1 time I agreed with him.
St. Peter Julian Eymard - People often say, “It is better to be a good Protestant than a bad Catholic.” That is not true! That would mean that one could be saved without the true faith. No. A bad Catholic remains a child of the family, although a prodigal; and however great a sinner he may be, he still has a right to mercy. Through his faith, a bad Catholic is nearer to God than a Protestant, for he is a member of the household, whereas the heretic is not. And how hard it is to make him become one! (THE REAL PRESENCE, NY: Blessed Sacrament Fathers, 1938, p.245).
AMEN!!! Prayers for all, and God Bless, MemawYou can’t control what your family members are doing. The best thing is to pray for them and let it be in God’s hands. All they are doing is hurting themselves. Just continue to live your Catholic faith to your best, be kind to them and just pray for them.
Thank you. I was Anglican and we were taught very clearly indeed about sin. We did not “rank” sin as we do in RC either, Sin was sin. Every service had a General Confession and those words are still engraved on my heart. I saw more awareness of sin than I do now.Yes, more liberal Protestantism is accepting of same sex marriage etc and so on. But just because something isn’t call mortal sin in the same way as the Catholic Church doesn’t mean a number of Protestants don’t take moral sins seriously, because they do. You are making some bad assumption and generalizations here. If they are bad Catholics, they will not be better Protestants. Basically, if someone isn’t serious about following God, they are not going to be any better as a Protestant. Lack of Church attendance, immoral behavior etc are not accepted in a large number of Protestant groups. Personal piety, reading the Bible, attending Church not just on Sunday AM but may include Sunday Pm and Wednesday. A serious and devout Protestant puts to shame Catholics that don’t take their faith seriously. You are trying to make a point that they are a bad influence on others but our current culture does that very well already. A part time Catholic isn’t going to influence anyone in the Church because of their own attendance or lack there of.
Leaving the church does not mean leaving Jesus. Or vice versa … nor is such a person ignorant in any way.Again: Once you are baptized Catholic, you do not have the choice of being a good Protestant. You can only be a more-faithful Catholic or a less-faithful Catholic.
The only person who has to concern themselves whether they would be a “bad Catholic” instead of a “good Protestant” is someone contemplating being received into the Church from a different denomination. Even in that case, however, once a person has the grace to recognize that the Catholic Church teaches what is true, the person is bound to live according to that truth to the best of their ability, whether they like the truth or not, whether the truth is popular with their families or not, whether it is easy or not. If they have the opportunity to come into full communion with the Church, they would be bound to do it.
Therefore: The only person who has the choice between being a “bad Catholic” and a “good Protestant” is the person who is contemplating joining the Church is spite of honestly having to say he or she is incapable of accepting what the Church teaches as true and perhaps invincibly ignorant of that truth. You cannot lie in order to be received into the Church. In that sense, it would be preferable to be a good Protestant who is truthful about what truths he or she can sincerely accept rather than a bad Catholic who came into communion with the Church under false pretenses.
Who will God judge to be better, when the bad and the good are side by side on that Final Day? That is the Lord’s to judge and the Lord’s to be concerned with, not ours.
I agree with you … hope the poster takes your advice.Sorry, but this is a terrible idea.
No, you should not discourage anyone from being Catholic (noting, as EasterJoy explained, they are always Catholic anyway). What you are actually talking about is encouraging your family members to commit heresy. And you may carry guilt for the sin too, because you have directly encouraged their sin.
You can encourage them to be better Catholics. You can encourage them to know their faith better. Better yet - set a good example and pray for them.
But no, do not encourage them to leave the faith.
PS I don’t mean to be harsh. No doubt you have good motives. but I just want to make you aware of what you are actually proposing.
Not if being a good Protestant makes one a bad Catholic! (Protests are Catholic too, just less fully. It’s all clumsy shorthand for degree of communion within the only one Church that there is.)Is it better to be a good Protestant than a bad Catholic?