People are going to be confused with Protestants/Catholics

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Paris_Blues

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I have a question…

I know evangelical Protestants go out into the world to preach the gospel because Jesus commanded us to and I know there are Catholics out there too that do the same thing. The more I thought about it, the more it made me think, “people are going to be confused”. What do I mean by that?

For instance, let’s say Protestants travel to Antarctica (and let’s only pretend a lot of people live there!) and preach the gospel and all that and explain what Scripture means and that. Then Catholics come to Antarctica to do the same thing, yet their explanation is totally different from Protestants. THe people there in Ant (I don’t feel like writing the whole name!) will think, “wait a second, we just had people (Protestants) who told us something and now we have some more people (Catholics) that are telling us another thing! Who do I believe?” See what I mean?

Sure, I know it’s important to get the facts down to the people in Ant that Christ died for our sins, etc. but later on after hearing both sides of a certain Christianity, they’re going to be confused because both religions are Christian but who’s right?? Heck, both are different!

Can anyone see my point here?

I just think it’s pathetic to have two different teachings to people. You might as well have ONE!!! Why make life harder? Geez!😉
 
Paris Blues,

I agree with you wholeheartedly. We had–and have–exactly that situation in Liberia, where the different Protestant denominations were preaching. Finally they divided the country among themselves geographically so that most people would only get one set of teachings. But the people who lived on the borderlines did get confused, as did people who moved from one place to another.

It is indeed a scandal in Christianity that we have so many denominations. However, it is beyond my power to bring our separated brethren and sistren (?) back into the fold and God hasn’t seen fit to do it yet.
  • Liberian
 
Paris Blues,

This is very damaging indeed. Even sadder is that most of these “missonaries” are not very educated themselves so they just sow seeds of ignorance by misinterpreting the scriptures wherever they go. It really makes Christianity look stupid to people who haven’t heard of it before. I have heard that no one can quote scripture as quickly as the devil or a protestant.

It is clear by the knowledge of the Lord’s will as stated in John chapter 17 that the protestant philosophies have no power to do His will. They continually tear the Church apart on a daily basis. "When Sacred Scripture is taught without the light of the living Church it falls prey to the squabbling of the “experts.” The doctrine of sola scriptura is obviously not from God, who is Truth. If it was there would be no divisions among those who held it as their guide to the Truth. But it is demonstrated that there are divisions among those who hold it. There are about 20,000 different belief systems created by the original heresy.
 
Why do you think that Protestants are going to countries that are already predominantly Catholic to do missionary work/ I read a conversion story of a couple that were Evangelical missionaries and they were taught to go to Mexico and other “Catholic” countries because these poor people didn’t even know they weren’t saved. I would think that it would be more important to send missionaries to atheist countries but…Nooooooo…they need to save the Catholics from themselves. So sad that they base their doctrine on what they perceive is wrong with the Catholic Church!
 
BlestOne,

Right. I have Baptist family members who went on "mission trips to Mexico when they were teenagers. They went to mexico because their church thought it was wickedly catholic and that the poor mexicans needed to be saved. Most Evangelicals believe that The Catholic Church isn’t a Christian religion at all. They rank it with the pagan religions.

Here is a link from christian answers.net:

Check out the left hand side of the page under Religions! Catholocism isn’t even in their Christian catagory. Beware this is a very evil anti-catholic site.

christiananswers.net/menu-at1.html
 
Dave,
My local Christian Radio station used to have a link to this site until I wrote to them and complained. They promptly removed the link from their website…I was appalled!
 
The denominational confusion has been a source of conversion to Catholicism for some protestant missionaries, who have realized that they and all the other denominations were just confusing people. I read of this happening to a couple in Guatemala, a small
country with lots of missionaries. Wish I had the link.

People who are really on the ball realize that all the different denoms can’t be right, and that this points to the Catholic church as the one Christ started, since it’s the only one that’s remained the same for 2000 years.
 
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Viki59:
The denominational confusion has been a source of conversion to Catholicism for some protestant missionaries, who have realized that they and all the other denominations were just confusing people. I read of this happening to a couple in Guatemala, a small
country with lots of missionaries. Wish I had the link.

People who are really on the ball realize that all the different denoms can’t be right, and that this points to the Catholic church as the one Christ started, since it’s the only one that’s remained the same for 2000 years.
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:clapping:

Very good Viki,

Could you find us the information on the converts? This sounds like an outstanding story.
 
In the early days of Christianity, things were a little confused too…
There were eloquent Christian missionaries, like Apollos, who didn’t know about Christian baptism.(Acts 18:24-26) There were Christians at Ephesus who had never heard of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 19:2) There were Christians from Judea who taught that Gentile converts had to be circumcised in order to be saved. (Acts 15:1)
 
I’m not trying to be mean or anything but take a good look at the Billy Graham Association! The people are out there looking for people who don’t know the Lord a lot, which makes me wonder if perhaps most evangelical Protestants are trying to compete with Catholics? I wouldn’t be surprised!😦

I keep getting this BG stuff from the association and this newsletter had a picture on the front with about as many people as you would see at a football game that were praying…I was thinking, um, too bad they weren’t all Catholic to believe in the FULLNESS OF TRUTH!

I told a couple Protestants about my concern on this and their reply was, “well, it comes down to THEIR CHOICE, what works best for them!” They don’t get it! Their choice? People are only going to choose what the truth is and that depends on how it’s preached (whether correctly interpreted or not!)…for example…I’m sure people would want to know the TRUTH but the way evangelical Protestants preach and teach and interpret, maybe they’re gonna tempt people to think that theirs is correct and they might say something like, “oh, ignore those darn Catholics because their religion is no religion and is false! Listen to us!” Then when Catholics come along, they’re (people who listened to Protestants)going to think, “what the heck is this about? What Eucharist? The Protestants NEVER told us about that! These Catholics are wrong!”

See?

I’m not trying to bad mouth Protestants or anything but I’m just making a serious point here!
 
Todd Easton:
In the early days of Christianity, things were a little confused too…
There were eloquent Christian missionaries, like Apollos, who didn’t know about Christian baptism.(Acts 18:24-26) There were Christians at Ephesus who had never heard of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 19:2) There were Christians from Judea who taught that Gentile converts had to be circumcised in order to be saved. (Acts 15:1)
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Yes Todd which is why the Holy Spirit worked through the Apostle Paul and the Council of Jerusalem to correct these “confused” people. Not to mention the Church was in it’s early stages of development.
 
Todd Easton:
In the early days of Christianity, things were a little confused too…
There were eloquent Christian missionaries, like Apollos, who didn’t know about Christian baptism.(Acts 18:24-26) There were Christians at Ephesus who had never heard of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 19:2) There were Christians from Judea who taught that Gentile converts had to be circumcised in order to be saved. (Acts 15:1)
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Good point Todd. However in the early Church the growing pains were soon fixed due to the unity that came from the Apostolic authority.

Acts 18:24-26: Apollos was corrected by Pricilla and Aquilla and in verse 27 he gets a mandate from to Church to conduct missionary work in Greece.

Acts 19:2: Paul quickly fixed this problem by baptizing and confirming them.

Acts 15:1: This culminated in the Council of Jerusalem and the Concillar Document that resulted. 15:6-29

The missionaries that Paris Blues is questioning are the ones who go around the world and tell everyone that the Catholic Church is a Cult like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Moonies, or something. I saw a book in a “Christian” bookstore today (one that actually stocks some Catholic items) called correcting the cults, or correcting the scripture twisters or something like that, which had the Roman Catholic Church as one of the worlds worst cults. These are the evangelical missionaries that are spreading the “gospel” around the world! They of course denounce the Catholic Church all over the world as quickly as they can find a strategic way to do so. This is totally different from someone teaching errors who is fully honest and willing to be corrected by the legitimate Church.
 
I told a couple Protestants about my concern on this and their reply was, “well, it comes down to THEIR CHOICE, what works best for them!”
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:rotfl: I know this is going to sound mean, but this makes them all sound like a bunch of car salesman, each grinning big and shining up their inventory. :rolleyes:
They don’t get it! Their choice? People are only going to choose what the truth is and that depends on how it’s preached (whether correctly interpreted or not!)…for example…I’m sure people would want to know the TRUTH but the way evangelical Protestants preach and teach and interpret, maybe they’re gonna tempt people to think that theirs is correct and they might say something like, “oh, ignore those darn Catholics because their religion is no religion and is false! Listen to us!” Then when Catholics come along, they’re (people who listened to Protestants)going to think, “what the heck is this about? What Eucharist? The Protestants NEVER told us about that! These Catholics are wrong!”
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I can understand your concern. It is truly sad that we are not united as Jesus prayed we would be. But, pray that one day that will be the case. Never give up!
I’m not trying to bad mouth Protestants or anything but I’m just making a serious point here!
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Neither am I. I was poking fun about the car salesmen, but I know that most Protestants have good intentions, they just don’t know the Truth. Again, pray for unity. And learn your faith so that you can share it with others. Maybe one day you’ll find yourself overseas teaching your faith.
 
Paris Blues:
I know evangelical Protestants go out into the world to preach the gospel because Jesus commanded us to . . . . . .
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The “world” is pagan and most serious Protestants, deep inside, consider Catholics to be pagans.

I believe the Church is right to agressively defend herslf. And also right not to seek conversions from other Christian groups, rather urge Christians to seek the truth.

In Scott Hahn’s conversion story, he tells about a priest from whom he sought council. The priest told him in no uncertain terms that the best thing he could do was to become the Presbyterian minister he had studied to become.

That worked out really well for us!
 
mark a:
In Scott Hahn’s conversion story, he tells about a priest from whom he sought council. The priest told him in no uncertain terms that the best thing he could do was to become the Presbyterian minister he had studied to become.

That worked out really well for us!
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:tiphat:

Mark,

That was insightful! Maybe that priest wasn’t such a terrible example of a minister! I always thought bad things about that priest. Perhaps he wasn’t not caring after all? Maybe he was wise? Hmmmmmm.
 
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DaveD:
Here is a link from christian answers.net:

Check out the left hand side of the page under Religions! Catholocism isn’t even in their Christian catagory. Beware this is a very evil anti-catholic site.

christiananswers.net/menu-at1.html
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I looked at that site and had to laugh. The stuff they say about the CC is so off base. And they didn’t even mention the Orthodox Church - they didn’t even rate a blimp on the radar, though did notice a picture of either an EC or EO priest on one page. I wonder if the folks who run that site have even read church history or actually examined the two historical churches? (doubt it though) . Sometimes I think the OC has it easy - at least here in the US, as they aren’t the target of such vile hatred as the CC seems to be.

But yes, the confusion that is made between Prots and Catholic to those who don’t know about Christianity is daunting.
 
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