Newbie has question

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bejo

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I recently recieved the following memo from a friend, and now working on a good answer. The first part has me a bit befuddley–protestant faiths don’t sanctify-- What could she mean? There is no sanctification in the protestant faiths? What does anyone see in this? Thought I would get some other (name removed by moderator)ut. Thanks~~

"Protestant faiths don’t sanctify, or have saints whom they worship or pray
to. We do believe in Mary’s immaculate conception, and that she was a
wonderful woman of God, as were many other individuals who served God,
i.e., Stephen, the first martyr for his faith in Christ.

I respect the Catholic faith and believe that Catholics can attain
salvation just as I believe Baptists and Presbyterians and Methodists can,
that Christ died for the sins of all of us, and that God hears and answers
your prayers just as He does mine. I appreciate your faith and am
thankful for it and for the fact that you instilled Christian beliefs in
your children as well.
I know you are a Christian, and I am a Christian, although we come to our
saving relationship with Christ believing differently about some things. I
think there are different faiths because people go along different paths to
their salvation - not making anyone more than or less than another."
 
bejo said:
"Protestant faiths don’t sanctify, or have saints whom they worship or pray to.
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  1. Protestants believe that God sanctifies because they have faith in him. Shorthand would be that their faith does sanctify.
And of course she is mistaken in her belief that we worship saints.
We do believe in Mary’s immaculate conception, and that she was a wonderful woman of God, as were many other individuals who served God, i.e., Stephen, the first martyr for his faith in Christ.
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Most protestant denominations (e.g. baptists, methodists, and presbyterians) do not believe in the immaculate conception because it is not explicitly stated in the Bible.
I respect the Catholic faith and believe that Catholics can attain salvation just as I believe Baptists and Presbyterians and Methodists can, that Christ died for the sins of all of us, and that God hears and answers your prayers just as He does mine. I appreciate your faith and am thankful for it and for the fact that you instilled Christian beliefs in your children as well.
I know you are a Christian, and I am a Christian, although we come to our saving relationship with Christ believing differently about some things. I think there are different faiths because people go along different paths to their salvation - not making anyone more than or less than another."
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I think she is trying to be charitable by acknowledging that you are a Christian too. Maybe this is an offer of friendship?

I am curious what tradition she follows. She indicates she is a protestant but implies that baptists, presbyterians, and methodists are not. In fact, they are.
 
Thanks semper, she is a Methodist. I did not get some of the implications that you did. Another turn on it --thanks
 
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SemperJase:
Most protestant denominations (e.g. baptists, methodists, and presbyterians) do not believe in the immaculate conception because it is not explicitly stated in the Bible.
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I think that SHE may be making a common mistake that other protestants I have run into make. The mistake is what the Immaculate Conception is. Many non-Catholics believe that it is when Mary conceived Jesus without knowing a man. So, they THINK they believe in the Immaculate Conception because this is in the Bible. However, the fact is that the Immaculate Conception concerns Mary being preserved and exempt from all stain of original sin from the first moment of her animation (in her mother’s womb), and sanctifying grace was given to her before sin could have taken effect in her soul. When they (protestants) understand the definition of Immaculate Conception, they usually reject it. God bless.
 
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Tietjen:
I think that SHE may be making a common mistake that other protestants I have run into make. The mistake is what the Immaculate Conception is.
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LOL, I can’t believe I didn’t recognize this. You are right. I thought the IC was about Jesus until I was half-way through RCIA. I’ve been Catholic less than a year and I’m assuming she must know this because she used the term.

And, she is Methodist. They don’t believe in the IC of Mary but they do believe in the divine conception and virgin birth of Jesus.
 
When she says “Protestant faiths don’t sanctify,” she may have in mind a basic difference in Catholic vs Protestant views of justification, always a difficult term in itself.

Protestants, if I understand correctly, generally believe that God the Father accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as a total atonement for the sins of mankind, and on the basis of that sacrifice, the Father “declares” man justfied. We are justified legally. It is like a judicial pardon, freeing a truly guilty criminal from all punishment; the crime is no longer even imputed to him.

Catholic belief, conversely, takes the position, that through the sacrifice of Jesus, the guilt of sin is actually removed and grace is put into our souls in its place (initially at Baptism.) Catholics consider this grace to be a real thing–an actual participation in the life of God. We further believe that Christ established sacraments as conduits of that grace, most especially the Eucharist by which the sacrifice of the cross is made present in every time and place.

So, maybe she is talking about justfication as “imputed” to man in the legal sense (Protestant) vs infused grace resulting in sanctification (Catholic.)
 
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bejo:
“Protestant faiths don’t sanctify…”
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I think what your friend meant was simply that Protestant faiths don’t canonize saints…
 
Todd Easton:
I think what your friend meant was simply that Protestant faiths don’t canonize saints…
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That sounds reasonable. You’re probably right. I’m probably reading too much into her comments.
 
Thanks for the (name removed by moderator)ut, it has helped. Think I will just ask her what she meant by it and get back to you. 👍
 
On the answer to “Protestant faiths don’t sanctify” she says–

I meant do not
award “Sainthood” to any human beings. Like, if I could think of anyone in
recent history who should be award Sainthood, it would be Mother Theresa,
or Billy Graham. In the bible, Christians are referred to as “Saints”.

Mary is the daughter of the eternal Father. Do you mean, like we are all
“children of God”? She did have an earthly father.

The word, “Catholic” means
“universal”, and “the church” is said in the bible to be “the Bride” of
God, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, correct?

On Mary-- I guess this is a point where we
differ, because once Christ was born, the “veil” in the temple was “broken”
or “rent in two”, and we were given the ability to pray directly to God, no
longer needing to go through the temple priests. We can pray for others
intercessory prayers, which we both do.

The Holy Bible, King James Version, on the internet, www.holybible.com,
gives “Answers to Questions”, Prayer,
directed to God not to saints or angels, III-156. Describes how I think
most Protestants, if not all, believe about prayer.
 
wow… talk about a loaded letter…

Yes, christians are saints, but those who dont make it in heaven obviously werent faithful enough saints. souls in heaven are those of saints who were faithful enough, and we could see they were, and can be sure they are in heaven. we do not award sainthood, we declare what God awarded to them.

Um… yupp… she was /we are all children of God… but yupp… she was also the Mother of God… and the bride of God (HS)…

Yes, catholic means universal, yes the church is the bride of the trinity… i dont konw why she argues when we have the same position… but… there are parts of the church which can be separated and have parts wrong… the body will always be the body, and the heart still holds the truth… the heart was alwasy there, is there, and will be forever there… that is the Roman Catholic Church (inclusive of the other rites of Catholicism)

See, the last part “On Mary” Kinda makes me laugh… cuz well… we dont differ… everything she says is true…
nope, we dont Need the priests, but yet God gave them,and gave them power, and the tools of salvation. we can pray directly to God, adn we do… I assume she means the mass and reconcilliation… Mass, we have someone that leads and ministers through Gods will to the people… all of us pray during the mass… theres nothing really bad there… and reconcilliation… well… thats almost a whole nother topic…God instituted that to a small group of men, and gave them the power to forgive sins… and to transfer it, they layed hands with that purpose… it was not to be given to just anyone (the power, not the gift)…
 
Oh, and on the prayer part, why is it so hard to beleive taht God would allow souls of those who have been perfected to hear our prayers and intercede for us… “praying” to saints is asking their aid in prayer… its not like they can do anythign for us without Gods power…i wish these people would actually find out what theyre really arguing about before they start a fight… grr…
St. Jude, pray for us/them
 
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