How come Protestants are more emotional during their services, than Catholics who receive the Holy Eucharist?

[canne]

Protestant services and the Catholic Mass are like comparing apples and oranges. They are two different things entirely.

How come when I see them on tv, they are always yelling out praise, and lifting up their hands when a preacher says something exciting (why do they do that by the way?). They are really excited about the scriptures (and how it applies to them) and they have tears of joy

The Catholic Mass is the re-presentation in time and space of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At every Mass Jesus Christ himself becomes present on the altar and offers his very self to us. It is intended to be solemnly joyous because it makes present Calvary-Christ crucified.There is nothing that ever happens on the face of the earth that can equal what happens on that altar.

If our protestant brothers and sisters were standing with us at Calvary as our Lord hung on the cross, would their sentiments be the same as you described above? I doubt it.

 

[MH84]

I am not the one who thinks that yelling, waving arms in the air and rolling around on the ground equals higher levels of reverence and superior worship.

Strawman. I didn’t say that it means greater worship. Its just that they don’t have the Real Presence, yet they seem to be feeling more. Their actions seem to be a sign of this. Its probably not the actions themselves, but why they feel drawn to do that.

My emphasis on this thread is that Catholics don’t seem to believe in the Real Presence, or what it means.

If you saw Jesus in person, would you be silently praying, looking around maybe at other people, whispering something to another person maybe…or would you be excited, scared, emotional,etc?

 

[MH84]

Protestant services and the Catholic Mass are like comparing apples and oranges. They are two different things entirely.

The Catholic Mass is the re-presentation in time and space of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At every Mass Jesus Christ himself becomes present on the altar and offers his very self to us. It is intended to be solemnly joyous because it makes present Calvary-Christ crucified.There is nothing that ever happens on the face of the earth that can equal what happens on that altar.

You just said, “It is intended to be solemnly joyous”, yet the Protestants seem to be more “joyous” at their services. Some Catholics can’t wait to go home after Mass. 5 minutes after receiving the Eucharist, they are talking and acting like nothing happened.

If our protestant brothers and sisters were standing with us at Calvary as our Lord hung on the cross, would their sentiments be the same as you described above? I doubt it.

No it wouldn’t. But would ours be the same? No as well probably. We would be crying or upset at what’s happened.

 

[MH84]

There is nothing that ever happens on the face of the earth that can equal what happens on that altar.

Do you think that even half of Catholics believe this?

Do you? Honestly? Your life would be changed dramatically.

 

[J_C]

i have participated in many types of christian worship, so i know a bit about this.

so i once was hanging out with some pentecostals, hardcore pentecostals who said you can’t be “saved” unless you speak in tongues. their idea of true worship involved a lot of histrionics, not that all of them were false, but a lot of them were.

you had to getyourself worked up in those sessions. a person just standing by with folded hands wouldn’t be tolerated, someone would notice and stick his nose in her face and say, what’s wrong, sister?

i faked tongue speaking for acceptance, and I know from personal converstaions with others that many do the same thing. lots of fakery.

I find the relative calm that is normative at Mass to be much more genuine. I cry, sometimes I sob. sometimes I feel nothing, and every emotional thing in between. So what? my emotions have nothing to do with the worship of God. The Mass in unaffected by my response to it, and my response is a flavor of the day thing that does and will vary.

by far, the Catholic Mass is superior in every possible way. you mention christian rock concerts. I’ve been to those, too. whole buncha fakery going on at Carman concerts, I’ve been to five of them, and several others. I’m not criticising, mind you, people are worshipping, that that is OK no matter how you do it. But to have to pump yourself up into a fever every time you worship is not genuine. The need for social acceptance is strong. People will wave their arms even if they don’t really want to that day.

 

[J_C]

Do you think that even half of Catholics believe this?

Do you? Honestly? Your life would be changed dramatically.

friend what does it matter how many of who believe what?

the only thing that matters to ME is what I believe and practice. let others do what they do.

and yes I happen to believe that more than half of Catholics believe everything the Church teaches us. why wouldn’t I?

gosh but aren’t you in a bad mood, eh?

 

[MH84]

BTW, I have just looked at the title of the thread again.

How come Protestants are more emotional during their services, than Catholics who receive the Holy Eucharist?

Emotional does not mean that you need to be yelling, or raising arms, but its inner. However, when someone’s emotional, an outsider can normally see it. Can someone be so calm, perhaps unemotional, in the presence of God?

Do you cry at the movies but not at Mass?

Are you happier watching your children, than receiving the Eucharist?

They are not easy questions to ask oneself.

 

[MH84]

friend what does it matter how many of who believe what?

the only thing that matters to ME is what I believe and practice. let others do what they do.

and yes I happen to believe that more than half of Catholics believe everything the Church teaches us. why wouldn’t I?

gosh but aren’t you in a bad mood, eh?

It does matter

 

[MH84]

i have participated in many types of christian worship, so i know a bit about this.

so i once was hanging out with some pentecostals, hardcore pentecostals who said you can’t be “saved” unless you speak in tongues. their idea of true worship involved a lot of histrionics, not that all of them were false, but a lot of them were.

you had to getyourself worked up in those sessions. a person just standing by with folded hands wouldn’t be tolerated, someone would notice and stick his nose in her face and say, what’s wrong, sister?

i faked tongue speaking for acceptance, and I know from personal converstaions with others that many do the same thing. lots of fakery.

I find the relative calm that is normative at Mass to be much more genuine. I cry, sometimes I sob. sometimes I feel nothing, and every emotional thing in between. So what? my emotions have nothing to do with the worship of God. The Mass in unaffected by my response to it, and my response is a flavor of the day thing that does and will vary.

by far, the Catholic Mass is superior in every possible way. you mention christian rock concerts. I’ve been to those, too. whole buncha fakery going on at Carman concerts, I’ve been to five of them, and several others. I’m not criticising, mind you, people are worshipping, that that is OK no matter how you do it. But to have to pump yourself up into a fever every time you worship is not genuine. The need for social acceptance is strong. People will wave their arms even if they don’t really want to that day.

so now you stand with arms folded?

I have to say, I appreciate your honesty in this post.

 

[canne]

Do you? Honestly? Your life would be changed dramatically.

YES, without hesitation, and your right ones life is changed dramatically when one is aware of what really takes place at the Mass.

When we see His blood on the altar, separated from His body, it’s enough to break one’s heart if we are able to let it sink in. Yet this is what the Mass is.

 

[MH84]

and yes I happen to believe that more than half of Catholics believe everything the Church teaches us. why wouldn’t I?

You’re a recent convert, right?

 

[ibkc]

Strawman. I didn’t say that it means greater worship. Its just that they don’t have the Real Presence, yet they seem to be feeling more.

It is not a strawman, because you are clearly assigning value judgments to each extreme of worship style: loud, physical demonstrations “seem” to indicate that the worshipper is “feeling more” than the reserved liturgical worshiper.

Their actions seem to be a sign of this.

The important word here is “seems.” As a couple of people mentioned upthread, peer pressure and mob mentality are highly likely to be playing roles in this type of worship, just like at a rock concert. Certainly plenty of those worshipers really are filled with spirit, but I see no reason to believe that outer manifestations can be a truly accurate gauge of who is “feeling more” or feeling less, or what exactly it is that worshipers are feeling, and that goes for any church.

I have cried at Mass. Often, and recently. Of course, I am a new convert who is rather on-fire for the Eucharist. It just isn’t my personality to call attention to myself if I cry or feel very moved. Conversely, whenever the music director sticks a folky, Protestant-y, “happy-clappy” hymn into the Mass, I nearly always experience an unpleasant jolt. My real and true preferences are for solemn and reverent worship.

As I said in my very first post, different people are attracted to different worship styles. I think it’s wrong to make broad generalizations about the worshipers beyond this - for instance, the little girl in the “Jesus Camp” movie who proclaimed with great certainty that God does not live in liturgical churches (I am paraphrasing - she didn’t use the word ‘liturgical’ but that was clearly what she meant). She was only nine years old, but some adult definitely taught her that, and it made me very sad.

 

[deb1]

The thing is many people are quiet in church because that’s what “you should be doing”. People seem to act the same before Mass, and after they have received the Eucharist.

Its as though, if one doesn’t bring forth their own emotion, Jesus won’t present Himself to the communicant in a way that will bring out change foe the individual. So perhaps the effects and gifts of Communion are different for each person depending upon their faith, preparation etc.

You are not in the hearts and minds of the various Catholics that you observe during Mass. Neither am I, so I can only speak about my individual experiences.

I do feel a deep and sometimes overwhelming awe when receiving the Eucharist. For me, my expression of reverence isn’t simply going along with others. And I would never presume to judge my other church members.

When I was a Protestant, I picked up the behaviors of those around me. If they waved their hands in the air, I did so because I knew that someone would ask why I wasn’t allowing myself to feel the Holy Spirit(it did happened) As for my fellow Church members at the time, again, I will not try and read their minds to determine if they were faking their emotions or sincerely feeling the Holy Spirit.

I have to say that I have too much respect for both Protestant Church Services and Catholic Mass to try and judge who expresses the most love for God.

 

[deb1]

You just said, “It is intended to be solemnly joyous”, yet the Protestants seem to be more “joyous” at their services. Some Catholics can’t wait to go home after Mass. 5 minutes after receiving the Eucharist, they are talking and acting like nothing happened.

.

I know Protestants who act like they are anxious to get home also. You have people in all religions who just go through the motions.

 

[water]

How can one type of people get excited about what a preacher is saying, and another who are receiving the living Body and Blood of Jesus act like nothing has happened?

Your thinking and guessing people’s feelings are based on the emotion that they show up outside?

There are times when God allows people to experience some emotion when receiving Eucharist. This will strengthen their faith. But if their faith is solely relied on this emotion, their faith is still immature.

A deep feeling is deeply rooted inside one soul’s. Knowing and having faith in the Eucharist is much more than the emotion shown on the outside.

 

[ralphinal]

I just want to note that some people seem to think I am talking about Christian rock concerts. I am talking about the average evangelical services were there is just a preacher speaking, but people seem to be really there, clinging to his words, even though as a Catholic Im not too impressed by most of them.

Also, silence doesn’t mean that someone is being prayerful or in awe of the Presence of God. They could just being respectful.

That was not the way I read to OP. I thought you were talking about the yelling and high-energy type of congragation, not just some that responded to a preacher. If I misunderstood, I am sorry for derailing the post.

Once Jesus was taken out of the service, something had to hold attention. A good speaker would do that. Just because people have an emotional responce does not indicate anything spiritual. I cry when I hear the theme for Old Yeller, and let’s not get into movies that have that effect. The lack of emotion or the presence of it does not prove spiritual worth

 

[zaffiroborant]

friend what does it matter how many of who believe what?

the only thing that matters to ME is what I believe and practice. let others do what they do.

and yes I happen to believe that more than half of Catholics believe everything the Church teaches us. why wouldn’t I?

gosh but aren’t you in a bad mood, eh?

It does matter

Why does it matter to you what your fellow church goers believe?

 

[Huguenot]

How come when I see them on tv, they are always yelling out praise, and lifting up their hands when a preacher says something exciting (why do they do that by the way?). They are really excited about the scriptures (and how it applies to them) and they have tears of joy.

But Catholics don’t seem to have this same feeling. If they are hiding their emotion, they are doing a very good job!

How can one type of people get excited about what a preacher is saying, and another who are receiving the living Body and Blood of Jesus act like nothing has happened?

1. Either the Eucharist is not the Real Presence; or
2. People are not realising Who they are recieving; or
3. They are spiritually immature; or
4. Their thoughts are wondering during Mass or they are sort of going through the motions; or
5. Something else.

I don’t think it is always true ; first, some people are more emotional than others, it depends on their character, not their religion ; second, charismatic Catholics are very emotional too, it’s a bit like in a Pentecostal church, and as far as I know they ARE Catholics, I mean, the Vatican “recognizes” them as members of the Roman Catholic Church …
And some Protestant services are not emotional at all, it depends, for example, the Reformed Protestants do not use very emotional expressions of their faith, at least in France …
but it doesn’t mean that their faith is not deep or that they are spiritually immature, and I think it is the same for the Catholics …

 

[Calliope]

The reason I was always quiet in the Catholic Mass was because my mother raised us such that if we looked to the right or left, sniffled our noses or cleared our throats we’d be taken out to the car and spanked.

Culture!

The way, in the Catholic culture I was raised in, one showed reverence was to wear our nicest clothing and to be quiet and look ahead when something was going on up front, and bow our head and be quiet after communion.

Sometimes that was very difficult, not just because I was young, but because it was contrary to what I was feeling or experiencing, but it was “the way things were done”, so I did it.

Over the years I have attended many types of Protestant services. Some were very similar in the sense of expecting quiet reverence. Others were more open to individual expression of experience. I liked to be able to laugh, cry, exclaim, nod, etc even though I’ve never been a jump up on the pew and dance type.

Personally I felt more at ease to express what was going on inside, in the more emotive atmosphere of many Protestant services. I don’t thing I tended to go to the type of churches where people were doing a great deal of shouting, etc. And in the churches I attended, I never felt pressured to put on more than I felt. I believe that happens in some places, but I wouldn’t say it is universal.

I grew up in an area with a large Eastern European immigrant population, and they can be a pretty austere lot.

I’ve seen some Hispanic Catholic Masses and services that were very spirited.

I recently attended a SDA church and found it nearly impossible to stay awake. I have never been at so dull a service in my life.

So…I really do think it boils down to culture, not merely ethnic culture, but how, over the years a group of believers has gotten into the habit of expressing themselves.

As far as people really believing the Real Presence, I have wondered the same, not because they are silent at Mass, but because it does seem to not make much of a difference in many people’s lives. Maybe they are just keeping that quiet reverence 24/7 and not comfortable advertising that they have Jesus inside them.

Calliope

 

[zaffiroborant]

How come when I see them on tv, they are always yelling out praise, and lifting up their hands when a preacher says something exciting.

Maybe because they’re on tv.