IMO... It's better to be Protestant, but tell me why it's better to be Catholic

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One_in_Christ_1

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IMO…it’s better to be Protestant, but tell me why it’s better to be Catholic. But remember, Catholics and Protestants are one in Christ for those who actually are known by God through Christ. Please try to keep your responses grounded in official Catholic teaching. I’ll start:
  1. It’s better to be Protestant because historic Protestant theology rest in the finished work of Christ for our eternal standing before God, We are justified by the person and work of Jesus Christ who earned our complete forgiveness and reconciliation for us, We are saved from God to God, and for God on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, historic Protestant theology teaches that we have eternal peace with God because of the merit of Jesus Christ.
 
Hiyas:)

It’s better to be Catholic, for me because I am Catholic :clapping::dancing::extrahappy:

I don’t believe Catholicism needed reformation - and you can’t prove it did 😃

As always, just my thoughts
 
kimmielittle said:
Hiyas:)

It’s better to be Catholic, for me because I am Catholic :clapping::dancing::extrahappy:

I don’t believe Catholicism needed reformation - and you can’t prove it did 😃

As always, just my thoughts
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What he said.
 
kimmielittle said:
Hiyas:)

It’s better to be Catholic, for me because I am Catholic :clapping::dancing::extrahappy:

I don’t believe Catholicism needed reformation - and you can’t prove it did 😃

As always, just my thoughts
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I’m glad you’re rejoicing in being a Catholic Christian! All Christians regardless of being Catholic or Protestant need continual reforming or continual transformation. And all Christians should always be rejoicing over being adopted into the family of God because of Christ. So, I rejoice with you for being a Catholic Christian, because it is an amazing thing to be a Christian.
 
One_in_Christ said:
I’m glad you’re rejoicing in being a Catholic Christian! All Christians regardless of being Catholic or Protestant need continual reforming or continual transformation. And all Christians should always be rejoicing over being adopted into the family of God because of Christ. So, I rejoice with you for being a Catholic Christian, because it is an amazing thing to be a Christian.
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👍👍

And I rejoice with you 🙂
 
For me, it’s better to be Catholic because, while Protestantism teaches salvation through Jesus Christ, it doesn’t always provide as clear a path for a practicing Christian.

Here’s the way I look at it:
The Bible is inerrant, but very complicated. More time spent reading it would be better than less. It would be extremely dangerous to claim that by reading the Bible only a little, one could gain all its wisdom.
If someone were to spend 20 minutes reading the Bible, they would be wiser than they were before they started
If someone were to spend 2 years reading the Bible, the wisdom they would gain would be greater

I think it’s a similar comparison when you think of thousands of years of Catholic religious dedicating their whole lives to the reading and the studying of the Bible and Christianity, and working together to interpret it for the faithful. This greater sense of unity, as well as the greater collective period of time spent on study, yields different results than each individual having full responsibility to arrive at their own conclusion, even though the materials used (the Bible) are equal.

I also think that this is why there are so many Protestant sects. To me, it’s just a whole bunch of slightly differing but incomplete understandings of what is there.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts!
 
Because Catholics are in the Church founded by Jesus Christ him self, which is guided by the holy spirit and has never taught error. We worship God as instructed by Christ and the Apstoles, and we observe Christ’s Sacraments (all of them) with full Apistolic Authority

Protistants can’t make all of those claims.
 
I can’t disagree with much stated by the original poster. I think that it is better to be Catholic for a few reasons. You can start with St. Paul and the original apostles and see that their intention was for one heirarchal Church. Paul exercised authority with his letters offering correction to local churches. You see in Acts the apostles meeting in Jerusalem to decide on the necessity for new Christians to follow Jewish practices. Since these guys knew Christ I think you can infer that they were carrying out his mission. The Catholic Church remains true to this model.

Another reason I offer is Church teaching on what could be called gradualism. The Church teaches that we are called to holiness by following the teaching of Christ. For this reason all of our actions either bring us closer to God or move us away.

I like to look at a glass as half full not half empty so I prefer to look at what all Christians have in common.
 
It is a shame that Christians feel the need to put a brand name on The Church. Divisions in The Church is a result of mankind letting sin guide them and leading them from the truth. When we put up a wall against the Holy Spirit through sinful actions we prevent the receiving of God’s Holy Word and His Grace to guide us. Christ’s Church for the last 2000 years has had many scandals and trials as well as many individuals in The Church who made some very poor personal choices. These scandals, heresy and schisms were and are localized events occurring at different times in history. Just as today The Church is faced with the scandal of children having been abused in the United States. In today’s world media coverage is almost instantaneous. In effect making the world smaller and the scandal seem to be less of a localized event.

The simple truth of the matter is there has been and always will be individuals in The Church who through their sinful action will do great harm to The Church. Those of us who are a part of The Church should recognize this and be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to shine forth from us and be saints for The Church to help guide and direct what we humbly can to help those in The Church who cause harm through their actions. This includes demanding in some cases that that help be in the form of excommunication or a removal from ministry of those scandalous individuals. Saints in ages pass have stayed with The Church, they did not leave to begin a new brand name, in some cases those saints suffered greatly and paid a very high price for their belief in a one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Those that chose to leave her and abandon her did just that, they left. The Church never abandon them. They could have stayed to help, to let the Holy Spirit shine forth but they did not, Christ commands us to take up our Cross. I thank God that there were and are saints in The Church who have and will take up the cross.

The Church was given a promise from Jesus that He would be with her till the end of ages. The Church is not something that man has made, it is God’s creation through His Son. Christ’s Body is The Church, He was present in the beginning and is today. I don’t feel the need to “prove” anything, there is only His Church. Jesus insures me of this. 🙂
 
phoooiee said:
For me, it’s better to be Catholic because, while Protestantism teaches salvation through Jesus Christ, it doesn’t always provide as clear a path for a practicing Christian.

Here’s the way I look at it:
The Bible is inerrant, but very complicated. More time spent reading it would be better than less. It would be extremely dangerous to claim that by reading the Bible only a little, one could gain all its wisdom.
If someone were to spend 20 minutes reading the Bible, they would be wiser than they were before they started
If someone were to spend 2 years reading the Bible, the wisdom they would gain would be greater

I think it’s a similar comparison when you think of thousands of years of Catholic religious dedicating their whole lives to the reading and the studying of the Bible and Christianity, and working together to interpret it for the faithful. This greater sense of unity, as well as the greater collective period of time spent on study, yields different results than each individual having full responsibility to arrive at their own conclusion, even though the materials used (the Bible) are equal.

I also think that this is why there are so many Protestant sects. To me, it’s just a whole bunch of slightly differing but incomplete understandings of what is there.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts!
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I don’t know why I can’t figure out how to edit my post, but I can’t. 🤷
Anyway, I reread my original post and I realized that the end of it seems a little derogatory towards Protestants when that’s not at all what I intended to express. In reality, I’ve known so many wonderful Protestant people who have a wonderful understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

I feel that it is one’s intent that makes a Christian more than one’s particular denomination, but that it helps to consider the thoughts of others as well as one’s own perspective. I view the whole history of Catholic thought as a very valuable tool to aid me in my own journey.
 
One_in_Christ said:
IMO…it’s better to be Protestant, but tell me why it’s better to be Catholic. But remember, Catholics and Protestants are one in Christ for those who actually are known by God through Christ. Please try to keep your responses grounded in official Catholic teaching. I’ll start:

1. It’s better to be Protestant because historic Protestant theology rest in the finished work of Christ for our eternal standing before God, We are justified by the person and work of Jesus Christ who earned our complete forgiveness and reconciliation for us, We are saved from God to God, and for God on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, historic Protestant theology teaches that we have eternal peace with God because of the merit of Jesus Christ.
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Just curious, but does this not assert that we dirty Catholics DON’T trust in the finished work of Christ?
 
Because the Catholic Church teaches the full revelation of Christ’s Truth. The Protestant denominations for the most part do not teach and accept the full deposit of the faith.
The most important one being Eucharist, the Body,Blood,Soul an Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ,and this is at the very center of our Catholic worship. Emmanuel, Christ with us.:)God bless us with his peace, Carlan
 
There are so many reasons why I think that being Catholic is better than being protestant. The biggest one is it’s easier to get to heaven. Here’s some reasons why:
  1. We have 7 sacraments where we can receive God’s grace. Can protestants receive God’s grace? Absolutely, but they don’t have 7 sacraments they can access frequently to obtain it. It has to happen more extraordinarily.
  2. We have the fullness of Truth. Do protestants have truth? Yes, they have some, but without the Authority of the Church, they don’t know how to interpret the Bible and that’s why there are 40,000 protestant denominations. They can’t all be right - Truth doesn’t contradict itself. Catholics have the Fullness of Truth.
  3. We have Mary and the saints praying for our intersession. Who wouldn’t want people we know are in heaven praying for you? These people are more alive than we are and they are in heaven. Can you pray straight to God? Absolutely, and you should. But the more people you have praying for you, the better.
Can protestants (or anyone for that matter) get to heaven? Absolutely. Its just harder. Are there Catholics that don’t make it there? Most likely, but it was because they didn’t use all the Church had to offer.

Are there things that protestant churches do better than the Catholic Church? I think so. But it has nothing to do with their theology.

Just my humble opinion.
 
For me it is better to be Catholic.
see John chapter 6.
Jesus said----unless you eat my body and drink my blood you will not have eternal life— my paraphrasing.

It is only in the Catholic church that we receive the Real Body and Blood of Christ. The Protestant churches do not have the Real Presence because their ministers are not of the apostolic succession.

Jeanne
 
One in Christ:
  1. Why do you think Catholics don’t believe in the finished work of Christ?
  2. Define what you mean by “better.”
I am not responding now because, at first glance, this question seems like a setup based upon a straw man of Catholicism.
 
One_in_Christ said:
I’m glad you’re rejoicing in being a Catholic Christian! All Christians regardless of being Catholic or Protestant need continual reforming or continual transformation. And all Christians should always be rejoicing over being adopted into the family of God because of Christ. So, I rejoice with you for being a Catholic Christian, because it is an amazing thing to be a Christian.
Click to expand...
The phrase “Catholic Christian” is redundant. Its like saying “Senator politician” the one mandates the other.

I am a Catholic because it is the Church founded by Christ himself upon Peter (who was the visible head of His invisible Church). We have the total teachings of all the apostles, doctors of the Church, saints, and the Magisterium. The way I put it is if you go to a protestant denomination you can receive some of the graces guaranteed by Christ through His Church (the graces you receive are equal to the amount/degree that that church is in communion with the one true Church, the CC). But if you are Catholic then you have the opportunity to receive ALL of the graces guaranteed by Christ to his followers. To reject one of the teachings of Christ willfully and in full knowledge is to reject it all, IMHO, and I cannot, couldnot, and will not do that.

FSC
 
Its better to be catholic, because the catholic church is the only church that hasn’t broken from another church, to teach something different. The Catholic Church being the original, and oldest, is a strong argument for it being the most authentic. Every other church has separated itself, willingly, from the unbroken line down from Christ, through Peter and his successors, to the present day and Pope Benedict. Are catholics human and imperfect. Yes, but so are the others. Only we have full authority passed directly down. To use a culinary metaphor, The catholic church allows you to have anything on the menu any time. All other churches are forced to allow you to order only certain parts of the menu.
 
Catholics receive Jesus in His Real True Presence - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, and there ain’t nothing better than that! 👍 **It’s Heaven on Earth!!! ** :extrahappy:
Some day, our Protestant brothers and sisters will know what we’re talking about. 🙂

God Bless 🙂
LFL
 
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