I
inJESUS
Guest
I am a Catholic, an Eastern Maronite Catholic so go figure how un-Protestant i am when it comes to Christian spirituality since Protestantism is a Western movement. Yet i am still able to give my objective assessment to the arguments i learnt on this forum, instead of all these “you Protestants” “you Catholics” kind of arguments. I understand perfectly well the Catholic disappointment with too many contradictory Protestant denoms yet attacking the Catholic belief, but i think it is time to reconcile ourselves as different branches to the same Tree. When we die, i highly doubt that Jesus will ask us about theology or doctrines, but rather about how we invested His commandmants of love in our daily life and how we treated whom He calls “my little brothers” in light of our belief in Him as God, Judge, Saviour and King of Kings. In this Spirit, allow me to give my objective view to Protestantism as a general movement, regardless of the too many differeing sub-denoms.
I understand by the Protestant argument of sola scriptura, that if the Bible does not teach something very clearly, there is no need to teach it as a doctrine to be a good Christian. I believe the Catholic teachings about Mary stem for a very high and pious honour given to Mary since the rise of Christianity, something the Protestants deem unnecessary in light of scripture, not because Mary is not honoured, but because she is not the focus point, Jesus is, even if the Marion doctrines are about Jesus. I believe the same applies to infant baptism or the reverence to icons/images which the Protestants deem unBiblical. Regarding infant baptism, it is true the Bible does not say “you must baptise infants”, but it is also true it doesn’t say we must not. When i have my own children God willing, i will get them baptised as infants as a sign of *my *personal commitment to Jesus and as a *promise *to raise them according to that commitment, something *they *will confirm later in their confirmation in the faith. As to reverence to icons/images, i personally have none, not because it is unbiblical, but because i personally have no need for any such thing; however, if some people need an image/icon to focus, why should i tell them not to do it, if the intention is getting closer to God by means of visual perception, after all, making icons/images is not unbiblical, what is unbiblical is worshipping them, and though i have none, i understand why other Catholics do it- when a Catholic kisses an image of Jesus, it is an attempt to kiss what at least could represent Him, after all, touch is one of our principal means of affection. And i believe the same applies to many other things were Catholic and Protestants disagree because of Sola Scriptura, which i think means “something is not explicit in the Bible”, even if the early Christians believed it, not because it is “wrong” but because it does not make you a better Christian.
So we can say Protestantism does not reflect the same spirituality of the earliest churches but we cannot say they are not good Christians. I see them as a movement to rid Christianity of what they deem unnecessary in light of scriptures, and in this light they do not follow the Catholic spirituality, yet still good Christians. So i think Catholics must not attack Protestants for what Protestants deem unnecessary, and Protestants should not attack the Catholics by saying “it is not Biblical” because even if something is unBiblical, it does not mean it was not believed in the ancient Catholic spirituality and it does not mean it is wrong.
If i wrote something wrong please correct me. Merry Chritmas to all
I understand by the Protestant argument of sola scriptura, that if the Bible does not teach something very clearly, there is no need to teach it as a doctrine to be a good Christian. I believe the Catholic teachings about Mary stem for a very high and pious honour given to Mary since the rise of Christianity, something the Protestants deem unnecessary in light of scripture, not because Mary is not honoured, but because she is not the focus point, Jesus is, even if the Marion doctrines are about Jesus. I believe the same applies to infant baptism or the reverence to icons/images which the Protestants deem unBiblical. Regarding infant baptism, it is true the Bible does not say “you must baptise infants”, but it is also true it doesn’t say we must not. When i have my own children God willing, i will get them baptised as infants as a sign of *my *personal commitment to Jesus and as a *promise *to raise them according to that commitment, something *they *will confirm later in their confirmation in the faith. As to reverence to icons/images, i personally have none, not because it is unbiblical, but because i personally have no need for any such thing; however, if some people need an image/icon to focus, why should i tell them not to do it, if the intention is getting closer to God by means of visual perception, after all, making icons/images is not unbiblical, what is unbiblical is worshipping them, and though i have none, i understand why other Catholics do it- when a Catholic kisses an image of Jesus, it is an attempt to kiss what at least could represent Him, after all, touch is one of our principal means of affection. And i believe the same applies to many other things were Catholic and Protestants disagree because of Sola Scriptura, which i think means “something is not explicit in the Bible”, even if the early Christians believed it, not because it is “wrong” but because it does not make you a better Christian.
So we can say Protestantism does not reflect the same spirituality of the earliest churches but we cannot say they are not good Christians. I see them as a movement to rid Christianity of what they deem unnecessary in light of scriptures, and in this light they do not follow the Catholic spirituality, yet still good Christians. So i think Catholics must not attack Protestants for what Protestants deem unnecessary, and Protestants should not attack the Catholics by saying “it is not Biblical” because even if something is unBiblical, it does not mean it was not believed in the ancient Catholic spirituality and it does not mean it is wrong.
If i wrote something wrong please correct me. Merry Chritmas to all
