Protestant Theology

[The_Way]

I find Protestant theology a little confusing…

I understand how Protestants disagree with the Catholic Church regarding some doctrines but what I find strange is that Protestants can’t even agree with each other hence the tens of thousands of divisions. So who’s to say who is right and who is wrong among yourselves if you can’t even agree with each other? For example Mary is either the Mother of God or is not because God made her, so there’s no personal opinion about what God has created…

God bless,

 

[Nominefili]

I find Protestant theology a little confusing…

I understand how Protestants disagree with the Catholic Church regarding some doctrines but what I find strange is that Protestants can’t even agree with each other hence the tens of thousands of divisions. So who’s to say who is right and who is wrong among yourselves if you can’t even agree with each other? For example Mary is either the Mother of God or is not because God made her, so there’s no personal opinion about what God has created…

God bless,

Maybe when the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches are reunited we can talk.

Casting stones, etc.

 

[gmcbroom]

Here’s another question. Why should they agree? Technically according to what I just read in John 17 the Prayer Of Jesus, when you get around to line 20-26 Jesus states he prays not only for them but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

perhaps I’m mistaken I’m simply a Catachumen after all, but that may imply that there isn’t just the catholic church way or the highway. So the different protestant theologies are valid ways to get to Christ as well. Thoughts?

 

[Nominefili]

There are ways to gauge truth. One way, for instance, is the ability of a church body to profess the Nicene, Apostles’, and Athanasian creeds. If you cut out all the ‘protestant’ church bodies that have completely abandoned the ancient faith, you will fine a number quite a bit smaller than the oft-quoted (and misleading) “30,000 denominations” statistic.

 

[The_Way]

Maybe when the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches are reunited we can talk.

Casting stones, etc.

The Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Church was not right. Please do not turn the question around to me. I’m asking Protestants how their theology is meant to work if they can’t even agree with one another.

God bless,

 

[Nominefili]

The Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Church was not right. Please do not turn the question around to me. I’m asking Protestants how their theology is meant to work if they can’t even agree with one another.

God bless,

You weren’t asking a sincere question, you were implicitly insulting millions of baptized, believing Christians.

 

[MrZetterlund]

We babtists just stay away from this controversy and preach the word of God.

 

[Justy90]

I find Protestant theology a little confusing…

I understand how Protestants disagree with the Catholic Church regarding some doctrines but what I find strange is that Protestants can’t even agree with each other hence the tens of thousands of divisions. So who’s to say who is right and who is wrong among yourselves if you can’t even agree with each other? For example Mary is either the Mother of God or is not because God made her, so there’s no personal opinion about what God has created…

God bless,

You question is much too broad and misleading. First of all, if there are are supposedly tens of thousands of different Protestants, can you tell us what they all are? And secondly, who are you referring to when you say Protestant theology? An Anglican’s theology is completely different from most Baptist’s theology, so I have no clue who you are talking about when you merely say Protestants.

 

[The_Way]

You weren’t asking a sincere question, you were implicitly insulting millions of baptized, believing Christians.

It wasn’t meant to come across that way, my apologies to you and anybody else who felt insulted.

Would somebody be kind enough to answer my question?

God bless,

 

[agiosotheos]

I find Protestant theology a little confusing…

I understand how Protestants disagree with the Catholic Church regarding some doctrines but what I find strange is that Protestants can’t even agree with each other hence the tens of thousands of divisions. So who’s to say who is right and who is wrong among yourselves if you can’t even agree with each other? For example Mary is either the Mother of God or is not because God made her, so there’s no personal opinion about what God has created…

God bless,

Are you somehow under the impression that Christianity was doctrinally united before the Protestant Reformation?

 

[MrZetterlund]

Are multiple denominations really a bad thing? I mean think about it, there’s a church on every street corner now because some dude didn’t agree with the Catholic church. If there was only Catholosism then it’d take some people hours to get to church. When’s the last time you’ve driven past a Mosque? Or a Jewish Temple? The idea of a protestant church is to preach it straight from the Bible. We don’t really have an organized theology accept “what the Bible says.” (unless you’re in a cult or something.)

 

[rev_kevin]

I find Protestant theology a little confusing…

I understand how Protestants disagree with the Catholic Church regarding some doctrines but what I find strange is that Protestants can’t even agree with each other hence the tens of thousands of divisions. So who’s to say who is right and who is wrong among yourselves if you can’t even agree with each other? For example Mary is either the Mother of God or is not because God made her, so there’s no personal opinion about what God has created…

God bless,

I agree with you that there are many divisions among the Prostestants but that don’t mean they love God any less then the Catholics do. As far as the Mary thing you are talking about I never heard that from any Prostestant. As far as my religion goes we believe that Mary is the Mother of Jesus and that God created us in his image. We believe that God created us as one {not one single religion} but one in faith, no matter how you chose to worship him. There are different divisions among the Catholic faith, althought you may not call them divisions because they have the word Catholic in it. I personally don’t understand why some, not all, but some Catholics are against other religions. They say that its because Paul is the Rock and started the true religion which is the Catholic religion. I agree with the Rock part but as far as the him saying the Catholic is the only true religion I find no evidence of this even after many discussions of this here in the Catholic Answers. To me when you, meaning Catholic, say that it is the one true religion and want everyone to convert to Catholic, to me it kinda sounds like the Islam faith as for as they say that Islam is the only true religion and that they want everyone to convert to Islam. Why can’t we all be satisfied that we believe in the one true God and how you worship him is how you worship him.If your not Catholic you are not committing a sin as some think you are if you are not Catholic. If the Prostestants don’t believe in all the Catholic doctrine then so be it. Its no different then the Catholics not believing what the Prostestants believe. Its tit for tat. I guess what I’m saying is we all have faith in God, we all believe in God, we all trust in God, we all love God, we all believe that Jesus died for our sins and that he rose from the dead. You can say that we, meaning Catholics have been around for 2000 years and thats proof enough. Jesus started Christianity and to say that Paul is the rock and started the true religion which is the Catholic religion is contradicting what Jesus started. In otherwords did Jesus tell Paul that the Christianity I started is not good enough and I want you to start another one and call it the true religion, the Catholic religion. Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church, and that church is Christianity and its the rock of all religions. You are a Christian first then you belong to a certian group and call it what you may, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Luthen and so on.
Jesus said believe in me and you shall have eternal life, he didn’t say believe in a certain religion and you shall have eternal life. The one true church is Jesus who lives in all of us.
We are the temple of God, no matter what you choose to call it, the church is within us.

 

[Hisalone]

The Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Church was not right. Please do not turn the question around to me. I’m asking Protestants how their theology is meant to work if they can’t even agree with one another.

God bless,

And who died and left you pope?

 

[Discerning2]

Are multiple denominations really a bad thing? I mean think about it, there’s a church on every street corner now because some dude didn’t agree with the Catholic church. If there was only Catholosism then it’d take some people hours to get to church. When’s the last time you’ve driven past a Mosque? Or a Jewish Temple? The idea of a protestant church is to preach it straight from the Bible. We don’t really have an organized theology accept “what the Bible says.” (unless you’re in a cult or something.)

Okay, the “cult” thing is a slur. The Magisterium existed long before Dabny (sp?) in the 1870’s & since the reformation, about 33,000 groups would like to call themselves, “Christian.” The Catholic Church in many ways is much more ecumenical than those 33,000 sects. My point? The Catholic Church, historically, and today expresses the constant and central Christian theology. Everything you know about our Savior, you borrowed from us. God Bless.

 

[BrianH]

Simple answer: Different groups developed in different places with different circumstances. In some cases, they develop with little formal influence from other places. It was invevitable I believe.

 

[Dettingen]

Okay, going back to the OP:

The RCC insists that its official teachings are the only true teachings. But isn’t it possible that the Divine is so much more profound than our weak little human brains can understand? I think it’s fair to say that God doesn’t communicate to anyone in any earthly language.

So we start off trying to understand fully the Divine, something as humans we cannot fully do.

Then, we try to discuss our inherently flawed understanding using a woefully deficient instrument–human language.

When I read scripture, my understanding is informed by my knowledge of the times and conditions in which it was written, and interpretation is guided by the Holy Spirit. This is consistent with Protestant theology.

Some difference of opinion may arise from people who are not truly led by the Spirit in their understanding, or who have let their sin stand in the way of their understanding.

There also may appear to be different interpretations when in fact no differences may exist. This could be due to human inability to understand the Divine and our limited forms of communication.

An over-simplified example: we know the God is a spirit without form or gender, yet in English we personify the Divine Being as “Father” and use the masculine pronoun “He.”

“Now we see as through a glass, darkly, but then we will see face-to-face.” When that joyful day arrives, I sometimes wonder if we will not then see that we’d all been thinking pretty close to one another after all.

These are very complicated issues and difficult enough for the most educated, erudite scholars–for us, how much more so?

Another explanation for the varying beliefs can be found, by way of analogy, to the old story about the blind men and the elephant. nature.com/ki/journal/v62/n5/fig_tab/4493262f1.html

If, as in the story, there can be so much difference of understanding when it comes to describing a physical being, how much more misunderstanding can there be when trying to contemplate the spiritual realm?

 

[RedBert]

re: the many protestant denominations:

It seems it is a case of many different beliefs under one roof vs. many different beliefs under different roofs.

You keep bring up the disagreement among Protestant

what about he disagreements among Catholics?

The reality is
Survey after survey show Protestants are more likely to believe in the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection of Christ, etc, than do Catholics.

One of many polls here at ( there are other similar polls)
harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=982

see table 2

Eighty-five percent (85%) of Catholics believe Jesus rose from the dead along with 86% of Protestants and 97% of Evangelical Christians.
Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Catholics also think Jesus was the son of God. That view is shared by 90% of Protestants and 97% of Evangelical Christians.
Finally, 87% of Catholics, 95% of Protestants and all Evangelical Christians surveyed believe that Jesus Christ walked the earth.

rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/holidays/april_2009/79_believe_jesus_christ_rose_from_the_dead

The pollsters reported that:
“Despite the Roman Catholic Church’s historical emphasis on the theological importance of Mary, **Catholics in the poll were somewhat less likely than Protestants to believe in the virgin birth. **Theologians attributed this to the doctrine in many Protestant churches that the Bible must be accepted as literal truth.”

read it again it case you missed it.

religioustolerance.org/virgin_b7.htm

from a conservative Catholic April 2009

" Church-going Catholics are far more likely that Church-going non-Catholics (almost all Protestant) to accept immoral behavior.

I do not find this surprising. Other polls I have seen over the years reveal similar patterns.
Why?
The failure of catechesis over the past two generations is one of the principal reasons. Making felt banners does not help produce a reverence for God and the moral law. Catechesis may have improved in the schools, but fewer Catholic children are going to Catholics schools or to religious education classes. Instead they are picking up their attitudes from their poorly-catechized parents, among whom are prominent politicians.
But this still does not fully explain the difference. Why are Church-going Protestants better able to resist accepting prevalent secular attitudes to morality? Catholics once submitted to the teaching authority of the Church; many Catholics, even those who regularly attend church, have clearly rejected that, and have nothing to replace it except the standards of American society. Perhaps Protestantism, built upon a veneration of the Bible, has been better able to resist the moral acids of secularism. Catholics claim that the living authority of the magisterium is better able to meet moral challenges, but this does not in fact seem to be the case. Roma locuta est, but very few Catholics are listening. When the Bible speaks, (and it does speak clearly on many issues) many Protestants listen.
Lee Podles

podles.org/dialogue/183-183.htm

In EVERY survey or poll a protestant is more like to belive in a Biblical truth than a Catholic

**
So on some of the most important doctrines, the protestant people are more likely to agree the the teaching of the RCC than do their own people.**

 

[Justy90]

re: the many protestant denominations:

It seems it is a case of many different beliefs under one roof vs. many different beliefs under different roofs.

You keep bring up the disagreement among Protestant

what about he disagreements among Catholics?

The reality is
Survey after survey show Protestants are more likely to believe in the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection of Christ, etc, than do Catholics.

One of many polls here at ( there are other similar polls)
harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=982

see table 2

Eighty-five percent (85%) of Catholics believe Jesus rose from the dead along with 86% of Protestants and 97% of Evangelical Christians.
Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Catholics also think Jesus was the son of God. That view is shared by 90% of Protestants and 97% of Evangelical Christians.
Finally, 87% of Catholics, 95% of Protestants and all Evangelical Christians surveyed believe that Jesus Christ walked the earth.

rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/holidays/april_2009/79_believe_jesus_christ_rose_from_the_dead

The pollsters reported that:
“Despite the Roman Catholic Church’s historical emphasis on the theological importance of Mary, **Catholics in the poll were somewhat less likely than Protestants to believe in the virgin birth. **Theologians attributed this to the doctrine in many Protestant churches that the Bible must be accepted as literal truth.”

read it again it case you missed it.

religioustolerance.org/virgin_b7.htm

from a conservative Catholic April 2009

" Church-going Catholics are far more likely that Church-going non-Catholics (almost all Protestant) to accept immoral behavior.

I do not find this surprising. Other polls I have seen over the years reveal similar patterns.
Why?
The failure of catechesis over the past two generations is one of the principal reasons. Making felt banners does not help produce a reverence for God and the moral law. Catechesis may have improved in the schools, but fewer Catholic children are going to Catholics schools or to religious education classes. Instead they are picking up their attitudes from their poorly-catechized parents, among whom are prominent politicians.
But this still does not fully explain the difference. Why are Church-going Protestants better able to resist accepting prevalent secular attitudes to morality? Catholics once submitted to the teaching authority of the Church; many Catholics, even those who regularly attend church, have clearly rejected that, and have nothing to replace it except the standards of American society. Perhaps Protestantism, built upon a veneration of the Bible, has been better able to resist the moral acids of secularism. Catholics claim that the living authority of the magisterium is better able to meet moral challenges, but this does not in fact seem to be the case. Roma locuta est, but very few Catholics are listening. When the Bible speaks, (and it does speak clearly on many issues) many Protestants listen.
Lee Podles

podles.org/dialogue/183-183.htm

In EVERY survey or poll a protestant is more like to belive in a Biblical truth than a Catholic

**
So on some of the most important doctrines, the protestant people are more likely to agree the the teaching of the RCC than do their own people.**

Thank you for this insightful and extremely helpful post. Someone finally saw the elephant in the room. Many Protestants have been trying to say what you said, but you have said it so much better and more complete. So many Catholics are in deep denial over the fact that there are so many (probably tens of thousands) different beliefs amongst those in the pews.

 

[Discerning2]

Thank you for this insightful and extremely helpful post. Someone finally saw the elephant in the room. Many Protestants have been trying to say what you said, but you have said it so much better and more complete. So many Catholics are in deep denial over the fact that there are so many (probably tens of thousands) different beliefs amongst those in the pews.

Okay whatever. The bible is not the only authority. Our Church, the bride of Christ, spoke long before a degenerate king decided that a different theology was required to kill his wife. The bible is Jewish faith history that is meant to be understood by theology. Catholic theology.

 

[DOShea]

When I read scripture, my understanding is informed by my knowledge of the times and conditions in which it was written, and interpretation is guided by the Holy Spirit. This is consistent with Protestant theology.

Some difference of opinion may arise from people who are not truly led by the Spirit in their understanding, or who have let their sin stand in the way of their understanding.

Well here is a question: Two people, both believe they are led by the Holy Spirit, come up with two different doctrines. How do you know which one is right? Or, do you allow that the Holy Spirit would lead two people down two opposite paths to the truth? Why have differences over this very issue led to all those split-offs of additional denominations or churches? I don’t see how you can hold this equal to doctrines and teachings that trace back to the Apostles and Christ Himself.

Another explanation for the varying beliefs can be found, by way of analogy, to the old story about the blind men and the elephant.

This story, originally “The Sultan and the Elephant,” doesn’t make a fair comparison to Christianity. In this story, several blind men try on their own to figure out something that they have only their sense of touch to determine with. In Christianity, you had God taking human flesh and telling people who he was - there was no guess-who about it. His many miracles, profound teaching and preaching, death and resurrection all providing information to His followers, not them stumbling blindly around trying to figure out what piece they had in hand.

In EVERY survey or poll a protestant is more like to belive in a Biblical truth than a Catholic

Please note there is a difference between being Catholic and identifying yourself as Catholic on a survey. Surveys include “Catholics” that haven’t darkened the door of a church in decades, and it is hardly a fair comparison to use people like that as indicators of what the faithful do or believe. A fair survey would quantify them in some way - practicing Catholics, Catholics in name only, etc.

When the Bible speaks, (and it does speak clearly on many issues) many Protestants listen.

Well that depends on the verse and who interprets it. I certainly don’t know many Protestants who literally interpret James’ “faith without works is dead” as meaning works are required of us, even though we have a parable of the men with the talents and will be judged and rewarded according to our works. I’ve never met a single Protestant who interprets John 6, the “bread of life” speech in any way that resembles a Catholic interpretation of it. And moral behavior - are you kidding me??? What is “the” Protestant teaching on abortion? Oh, that’s right, there are so many and they are so diverse you can hardly find a single church let alone a denomination that stands against it doctrinally. And that teaching is straight out of the Didache, a document used for teaching and preaching by first century Christians. So perhaps a second question would be, “When did you change your doctrine and why did you change it?” You know, what Holy Spirit inspired interpretation of what verses led to that suddenly being acceptable one day? Why did all Protestants formerly teach divorce was wrong but now none of them have a problem with it? This is an example of high moral standards? C’mon!

If that is the faith you choose to believe in, fine. But as you believe it, you must also accept that to those outside it, it appears rather concocted when you cannot find any of the precepts of that faith for the first 1500 years of Christianity, which was Catholic and nothing but until the 16th century. Where is the Christian in 800 AD teaching or writing about the merits of Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, etc? There simply wasn’t any.

Now you’ve got a system where each person is his own authority, free to drag out of the bible whatever doctrine suits them and no other can truly claim they are in error without giving up the same tent stake that holds their own faith to the ground.

That strikes me as a very confusing system and one that is prone to errors and division with no authority to do anything but sit by and watch the splits go on forever.