I'm gone for 3 mos. and look what happens!!!

[mango_2003]

So much misunderstanding of Protestants. Tsk tsk tsk, silly Roman Catholics, when will you ever learn!

Just checking in and saying “Hi”. It’s been a while since I’ve been around these parts? How has everyone been?

For those who care, I’ve been working almost full time and going to school full time, which explains my sudden leave of absence. I’m still not a member of any “church” but, I, like before, am still attending an E-free church and a Catholic Student Center regularly while here at school, and when at home, I still go to a Reformed Church and visit St. Iraneus as well. Good times.

~mango~

 

[puzzleannie]

St Irenaus, that’s a good sign, one of the greatest early Church fathers, he should be a good influence on someone with your inquiring mind, welcome back.

 

[PaulDupre]

Hey, Mango! Welcome back. Kinda wondered where you’d misappeared to.
Paul

 

[hlgomez]

So much misunderstanding of Protestants. Tsk tsk tsk, silly Roman Catholics, when will you ever learn!

Mango,

It’s true we catholics are getting silly because we don’t know who to believe among the 30k Protestant denominations! They don’t agree on a particular doctrine. Whew, when we ever learn…??

Pio

 

[Katholikos]

So much misunderstanding of Protestants. Tsk tsk tsk, silly Roman Catholics, when will you ever learn!

Hey, mango, many of us on this forum are ex-Protestants. I understand the basic fallacies of Protestantism only too well. But neither I nor any Protestant knows the teachings of all of the thousands upon thousands of Protestant churches. All Protestant denominations are based on Martin Luther’s 66-book cut version of the Bible, but they each teach one or more doctrines that differ from every other denomination. And each claims to teach absolute truth. :whacky:

There’s a sign at the entrance that says “Splitsville. Welcome to Protestantland.”

Peace be with you,

JMJ Jay

 

[mango_2003]

Katholikos:

Hey, mango, many of us on this forum are ex-Protestants. I understand the basic fallacies of Protestantism only too well. But neither I nor any Protestant knows the teachings of all of the thousands upon thousands of Protestant churches. All Protestant denominations are based on Martin Luther’s 66-book cut version of the Bible, but they each teach one or more doctrines that differ from every other denomination. And each claims to teach absolute truth. :whacky:

I need to head to work…but for now, we’ll start here. This last tidbit of information is an out and out misrepresentation of the majority of Protestant groups. There are, I will admit, SOME groups out there that will claim to have absolute truth. AFIAK, these groups are the minority. Most mainstream groups will claim that they have the absolute truth of “Christ dying for our sins” and then admit to the idea that we are constantly working towards perfection in doctrine, and that, at any given time, noone has it completely right.

Peace be with you,
~mango~

 

[StubbleSpark]

Query:

Please tell me how one comes to the whole truth with an un-whole Bible? How little of a Bible can you get by with? Minus 11 books? Minus 40 books? Maybe you only need a few verses. Is distillation the only process for finding truth or can it also serve as a foundation for building?

 

[twf]

As a former Protestant myself I would agree with Mango that some of you are misrepresenting Protestantism somewhat. Sure, they is much division and many schools of thought…but not all of the thousands of denominations disagree with every other denomination on a certain point of doctrine. This is a common misconception. There are many denominations that may belong to a larger para-church or denominational conference in which several denominations share viritually the same doctrine and traditions. (For example, the World Lutheran Federation, which is composed of several Lutheran denominations, that have viritually identical doctrine, if not completely identical). Generally speaking, Protestants have very few doctrines that are as officially defined and specified as Catholics; Protestants, especially today, often think little of certain doctrinal differences.

As well, like Mango pointed out, it is rare (at least today), I would think, for a Protestant denomination to claim to have an infallible set of doctrines. Some Fundamentalists may, but Evangelicals do not believe in the infallibility of the Church, generally speaking.

 

[ahimsaman72]

StubbleSpark:

Query:

Please tell me how one comes to the whole truth with an un-whole Bible? How little of a Bible can you get by with? Minus 11 books? Minus 40 books? Maybe you only need a few verses. Is distillation the only process for finding truth or can it also serve as a foundation for building?

You can get the whole truth by reading John 3:16. People make Christianity too complicated. It’s really not. You don’t need even one book. But, thanks be to God He gave us at least 66 to deal with. Maybe He should’ve only given us one book. Maybe more unity would be possible.

 

[Malachi4U]

Katholikos:

Hey, mango, many of us on this forum are ex-Protestants. I understand the basic fallacies of Protestantism only too well. But neither I nor any Protestant knows the teachings of all of the thousands upon thousands of Protestant churches. All Protestant denominations are based on Martin Luther’s 66-book cut version of the Bible, but they each teach one or more doctrines that differ from every other denomination. And each claims to teach absolute truth. :whacky:

There’s a sign at the entrance that says “Splitsville. Welcome to Protestantland.”

Peace be with you,

JMJ Jay

Katholikos,

BRAVO! Well said!

Just one note though, good’ole martin tried to cut more books from Sacred Scripture then just the ones that the English publishers cut out in the late 1800’s leaving them with only 66 books.

I must also note too that the Bible is just a tool of the Church. We do not need a Bible to get to heaven or to know Jesus, that is why Jesus gave us the Church and then she gave us the Bible (inspired of course). It is a good aid but salvation can be attained without ever hearing or reading Sacred Scripture, complete or not. The first Christians had no Bible till given to them by the 'K’atholic () Church 400 years after Christ rose from the dead. Many more years to write and distribute it too. (No printing presses for those who forget history and prefer to rewrite it.)

Christ is in us and in His body, His Catholic Church. The Bible is nice but the Church is vital.

PS, food for thought: Did the Bible cause the ‘re’-formation of His Church? Did people loose sight of the Church Christ founded and focus too much on a book and not enough on Christ and His Church that He founded? Is the Bible the pillar and foundation and not the Church? Can we all interpret the teachings of Jesus to our own fancy and whim and still be united in Christ? (EX. Mormons, JW’s, Baptists, SDA’s, etc…) Will everyone who uses the Bible go to heaven like JW’s, Mormons, Baptists, SDA’s, Catholics, etc… Perhaps food for another thread?

PPS, The best Bible is the one you read whether 66, 73 or 75 books.

PPPS, Did you get the ‘JMJ’ from watching Bishop Sheen?

A prisoner of Christ,

 

[StubbleSpark]

ahimsaman72:

You can get the whole truth by reading John 3:16. People make Christianity too complicated. It’s really not. You don’t need even one book. But, thanks be to God He gave us at least 66 to deal with. Maybe He should’ve only given us one book. Maybe more unity would be possible.

Thank you for proving my point!

 

[cestusdei]

I don’t misunderstand Protestants at all. I was once one of their ministers. Now I am a Catholic priest.

 

[StubbleSpark]

Do you honestly think that if Christendom were run then like the Protestants try to run it now, that we would have only ONE Bible? If the explosion of Protestant denominations after Luther INSTANTLY gave us hundreds of different denominations, how many would be in existence today if they had split a milenium and a half earlier?

Answer: none. The heresies and the Muslim invaders would have swallowed them whole.

Good thing Jesus was not lying in Matthew 16:18. And very good thing that the Bible does in fact contain more than one verse!

 

[MParedon]

twf:

As well, like Mango pointed out, it is rare (at least today), I would think, for a Protestant denomination to claim to have an infallible set of doctrines. Some Fundamentalists may, but Evangelicals do not believe in the infallibility of the Church, generally speaking.

I haven’t read all of this thread yet, but I wanted to respond to this statement. I agree with the statement about Evangelicals, but I would have to disagree with the rarity of Fundamentalists or Independents that believe their church has claim on infallible set of doctrines. I can see how people might think it’s rare b/c they might not come into contact with these groups, usually because they keep to themselves, but these groups are NOT rare and I find that they are more numurous than many suppose. Also their manner of conversation with people of other faiths (or even the same faith but different preacher) is not what a person typically imagines, they aren’t usually or always in-your-face about the subject until there is a serious discussion about it, and even then they aren’t mean or angry…they just adhere to their ideas with tenacity. Also, most people assume that the people that believe their specific church is The Truth above all others, are usually encamped in rural areas…true, but there are many more than most people think in suburban and urban areas.