Not a Protestant

[dominicsavio]

peace be with you! i have heard the “i’m not Protestant…I am Christian” response many times. what i have come to realize from speaking to many Protestants is that they don’t like that label because they don’t believe that they are protesting against anything. in the early days of protestantism they certainly were protesting against the Church…but for many non-Catholic Christians now they have just come to believe in Jesus through being raised in a certain church, their friends, etc. so they don’t think the term Protestant actually fits them. they prefer just to be called a Christian. that is the explanation i have been given by several protestant friends.

 

[Matt16_18]

*Sometimes in dealing with certain fundamentalists (often Church of Christ types) they will say “I am not a Protestant. I am a Christian”. *

Ask them what evidence they can provide that proves that they are Christians.

 

[boppysbud]

I think that most of the fundamentalist Protestants who use the “I am just a Christian” line think they are the only Christians.

They do use the term Christian as only reffering to themselves, what are really fundie schools, radio and television stations, and bookstores, are referrered to regularly as merely Christian, implying that they do consider themselves the only Christians.

It all boils down to thier “gettin saved” philosophy, if one doen’t “get saved” then one is not a Christian to the fundie. It does not matter that one has been baptised (baptism is strictly symbolic to the fundie), one believes in Christ as their savior, one recieves the body and blood of Christ every Sunday (also strictly symbolic to the fundie), the only thing that matters is “gettin saved” without that you are not a Christian according to the fundie.

 

[Apologia100]

Curious:

I don’t consider Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic to be 3 separate “religions.” They are one religion which is Christianity. So if someone asks me what “religion” I am I do say “Christian.” If they go further and ask me what kind? I’d say Protestant. And if they pressed further and said what kind again…I’d say whatever denomination.

It’s not that hard.

If someone asks me, I tell them that I am Evangelical, but not Protestant.

 

[TennMark38016]

Don’t forget the “be all, end all” verse for them

Romans 10: 9

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

 

[cestusdei]

The count gave a good reply. Just saying you are something doesn’t make you one. You may be, but then again you many not. Gracias.

 

[Steven_Merten]

We Catholics allow Jesus to judge all people on Judgment Day. We do not (should not) verbally force our way into heaven.

The Protestants use the terms “Christian” and “saved” to separate themselves out as the “chosen few” who will inherit eternal life. The Pharisees did the same thing.

The Jewish term “Pharisee” means “the separated”. The Pharisees used circumcision, the law of Abraham (ACT 15:1) and baptism to verbally force their way into the kingdom that John the Baptist spoke of. The Pharisees ruthlessly exalted and separated themselves from other men as God’s chosen sons in possession of eternal life. It is this lust for worldly exaltation as God’s sons in possession of God’s kingdom that the Pharisees violently crucified the Son of Man to protect.

**NAB MAT 3:8 **

(John the Baptist speaks)

They were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. When he saw that many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were stepping forward for this bath, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who told you to flee from the wrath to come? Give some evidence that you mean to reform. Do not pride yourselves on the claim, ‘Abraham is our father.’ I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these very stones.”

**NAB LUK **16:16

"The law and the prophets were in force** until John. From his time on, the good news of God’s kingdom has been proclaimed, and people of every sort are forcing their way in.**

**NAB MAT **21:37

"Finally he sent his son to them, thinking, “They will respect my son.’ When they saw the son, the tenants said to one another, 'Here is the one who will inherit everything. Let us kill him and then we shall have his inheritance!” With that they seized him, dragged him outside the vineyard, and killed him."

**NAB MAT **12:14

When the Pharisees were outside they began to plot against him to find a way to destroy him.

Peace in Christ,
Steven Merten
ILOVEYOUGOD.com