Orthodox Catholic Protestant

[EssentialsUnity]

You can’t use Protestant in the universal term you use Catholic.

Someone can say “Catholics believe xyz,” because there is a dogma the Catholic church believes in. I can say factually say, “Catholics do not believe in birth control or abortion.” It doesn’t matter of there are people who consider themselves Catholics that do not believe BC or abortion is a mortal sin…the Church believes it.

However, like someone said earlier, there are tens of thousands of denominations who would be catagorized as “protestant.” It is impossible to use a blanket label like protestant when it comes to a belief. One protestant church may say that its members must be fully submersed in baptism and another may say a sprinkling is all they need. One may say that anything between a man and his wife in the privacy of their bedrooms is permitted and a matter that is between them and God. Another may say that anything beyond the missionary position is carnal and perverted and therefore a sin. SO, to say “Protestants believe this…” and “Protestants do that…” is incredibly misleading and impossible to hold as a standard, unless its “Protestants love Jesus.”

I would be considered protestant (although I would consider myself a faithful servant and follower of Christ). I believe my Catholic brothers and sisters are with me in the body of Christ. I do not believe they are “almost there” or “good enough” or anything like that. I believe, as is, the Catholic church is apart of the Holy body of the Christian body (regardless of what the Catholic church thinks about me and my faith). I also this about the Orthodox church (also, regardless of what the Orthodox church thinks about me and my faith). I believe there are essentials to salvation and Jesus Christ spells them out very clearly. My church, the Catholic church, the Orthodox church, and many other Protestant churches hold true to the essentials of salvation and as such are apart of the total Body and Bride of Christ our Saviour.

Jehova’s Witnesses and Mormons are among the few that I do not believe to hold true to the essentials that Jesus spells out in the way to salvation.

 

[EssentialsUnity]

Indeed, and Protestants typically overlook that all too Catholic sounding epistle from 107 A.D.(just 80 years after Christ’s death), the Church couldn’t of apostasized that quickly couldn’t it? Or they merely contend it was a post-Constantine papist forgery, in which case where is the evidence?

I’ve already stated before what I believe about the Catholic church, but I’ll say this is a weak argument. To quote what someone wrote as truth because of its age is faulty since in the New Testament we have many letters to churches that were already being led astray and teaching incorrect doctrine. There were churches in biblical times that had erected statues of what they believed God was in mixture of their Christian teachings. So yes, there are churches that could have apostasized that quickly…

 

[Sixtus]

Some Fundamentalist Protestants I know think Gregory The Great was the first Pope who asserted the claim of papal primacy, and that it was the Roman Church that broke from Orthodoxy in 1054 A.D.

My education was that Orthodox broke with Catholicism. I suspect the parting was by mutual consent…they were glad to see the back of each other!!

 

[Catholic29]

I’ve already stated before what I believe about the Catholic church, but I’ll say this is a weak argument. To quote what someone wrote as truth because of its age is faulty since in the New Testament we have many letters to churches that were already being led astray and teaching incorrect doctrine. There were churches in biblical times that had erected statues of what they believed God was in mixture of their Christian teachings. So yes, there are churches that could have apostasized that quickly…

I respect your opinion, and by looking at it it seems plausible.
I will have to read the particular verses myself to find out for sure.

 

[Mannyfit75]

EssentialsUnity:

I’ve already stated before what I believe about the Catholic church, but I’ll say this is a weak argument. To quote what someone wrote as truth because of its age is faulty since in the New Testament we have many letters to churches that were already being led astray and teaching incorrect doctrine. There were churches in biblical times that had erected statues of what they believed God was in mixture of their Christian teachings. So yes, there are churches that could have apostasized that quickly…

The churches in the New Testament were lead astray doesn’t prove that the Church was lead into apostacy. Apostocy is the act of abandonment, refuting, or giving up your religious beliefs and leaving a religion rejecting those beliefs often in favor of opposing beliefs; a departure from the faith.

In the NT there were Churches particularly in Corinth that there were Christians who eat and drink because they were thirsty, and hungry and ate and drink in the Lord’s Supper.

Paul said, that you cannot received the bread and wine, which is the Body and Blood of Our Lord is not ordinary bread. Paul warns that some have been ill, and people who must eat and drink must do so in their home, not in the Church.

The Catholic Church maintains the teachings of Jesus Christ. To apostasize the Catholic Church would abandon Jesus completely, or reject all of his teachings.

In today’s world, the general public has become completely secularly, and in the courts, people want God out of the public service. This in my opinion is an apostacy, abandoning God completely.

The Catholic Church and the faithful must maintain the teachings of the Lord, and this is clearly so that Paul and others Apostles have told the believers. How often did Paul said that we must persevere to the end? Why did he tell us to persevere? Because some of us in the begining embraces God’s and in time many will lose interest, and some are distracted in worldly material things and completely take God out of their life.

The Church my friend cannot be apostacize, and Jesus said that he will be with us until the end of time. We must maintain what God has taught us, and the Catholic Church. If indeed the Church is apostacize, the Catholic Church would not be here today.

The Bible speaks of apostasies, but only of partial apostasies (see I Tim. 4:1, II Tim. 3:1-5). A partial apostasy (some, or a group of people turning from the faith) would not mean the church ceased to exist; it would only mean its size diminished. There isn’t a single verse in the Bible that speaks (in context) of a total apostasy of the Church at any stage of its existence.