Protestants and Catholic Miracles

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Matariel

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Protestants, what is your opinion on Catholic miracles. Paricularly, miracles of Catholic saints, most notablely stigmatists like Padre Pio that have been well-documented and examined, and others such as St. Francis of Assissi, the Eucharistic Miracles, apparitions (not just Marian, but of St. Joseph, St. Michael, and of Christ, etc.) and other such miracles. And well-documented episodes of exorcism and such by the Church’s ordained ministers. While we’re at it, what do you also think of such great evangelists that converted hundreds of thousands, such as St. Francis Xavier (my patron) and St. Francis de Sales?

What do these miracles mean to you, how do you view them, and do they change your view of Catholicism, or what? Just wanted a general consensus on Protestants’ thoughts on Catholic miracles.

🤷
 
Matariel said:
Protestants, what is your opinion on Catholic miracles. Paricularly, miracles of Catholic saints, most notablely stigmatists like Padre Pio that have been well-documented and examined, and others such as St. Francis of Assissi, the Eucharistic Miracles, apparitions (not just Marian, but of St. Joseph, St. Michael, and of Christ, etc.) and other such miracles. And well-documented episodes of exorcism and such by the Church’s ordained ministers. While we’re at it, what do you also think of such great evangelists that converted hundreds of thousands, such as St. Francis Xavier (my patron) and St. Francis de Sales?

What do these miracles mean to you, how do you view them, and do they change your view of Catholicism, or what? Just wanted a general consensus on Protestants’ thoughts on Catholic miracles.

🤷
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My opinion is no different than that of well documented non Roman Catholic miracles. That GOD will reach out to us many different ways and HIS grace extends way beyond any denominational titles.
 
NDfan said:
My opinion is no different than that of well documented non Roman Catholic miracles. That GOD will reach out to us many different ways and HIS grace extends way beyond any denominational titles.
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I would think that there would be more respondants to this… :confused:
 
JonNC said:
I think NDfan made a fine statement. That God would use the largest communion in Christianity ought to be expected.

Jon
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I see. By the way, I love your Pope quote. 👍

I was hoping to get some other views and then discuss this in-depth then. But I guess noöne’s interested. 🤷
 
JonNC said:
Thanks! I see the cardinal’s quote as a sign of the Holy Spirit moving within our communions. I like Pope Benedict, and pray for him.

Jon
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Hey, a little off-topic… but, do Lutherans acknowledge the Pope at least as the Patriarch of the West?
 
Matariel said:
Hey, a little off-topic… but, do Lutherans acknowledge the Pope at least as the Patriarch of the West?
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He’s obviously the Patriarch of the West, the Bishop of Rome, and the leader of the largest Christian communion. Lutherans (should) consider themselves part of the western catholic Church. We would have trouble with “Vicar of Christ”.
Jon
 
Well, back when I was Protestant, (I’m kind of in between RC and Protestant now) I regarded any Marian apparitions, Eucharistic miracles and the like as satanic. Obviously there were demons trying to destroy my faith in Christ by telling us to constantly pray, to love God and to love our neighbors :D!

But seriously, many (Not all, I do like the responses from protestants in this thread.) protestants, especially fundamentalists, go to long lengths to show that any Catholic miracles contradict the Bible. (There’s an “article”, more like a rant, on www.jesus-is-savior.com on the Fatima apparitions, and how they’re so satanic.)

God Bless.
 
Matariel said:
Hey, a little off-topic… but, do Lutherans acknowledge the Pope at least as the Patriarch of the West?
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I agree with JonNC’s response, and would add this - at least some of the original Lutheran reformers were prepared to acknowledge the primacy of the papacy, with the caveat that papal primacy was by human right for good church order and not divinely mandated.

As to your original question, I do believe that miracles exist wherever God wants them to, including the miracles within the Catholic church that you referred to.

By the way, Fr. Groeschel on EWTN recently interviewed a Lutheran pastor who wrote one of the leading books on Padre Pio - check out the 2/15/09 podcast here:

podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/9543

You can view a preview of the book here, as well as get links to buy it:

books.google.com/books?id=8bfyRG0EePIC&dq=bernard+ruffin+pio&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=I-syebsgvb&sig=qjRpNFm3dhWoCHizhJ_JdAtKcUI&hl=en&ei=aXXJSeDNPKr1nQe2vOmMAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1
 
JJ59 said:
Well, back when I was Protestant, (I’m kind of in between RC and Protestant now) I regarded any Marian apparitions, Eucharistic miracles and the like as satanic. Obviously there were demons trying to destroy my faith in Christ by telling us to constantly pray, to love God and to love our neighbors :D!

But seriously, many (Not all, I do like the responses from protestants in this thread.) protestants, especially fundamentalists, go to long lengths to show that any Catholic miracles contradict the Bible. (There’s an “article”, more like a rant, on www.jesus-is-savior.com on the Fatima apparitions, and how they’re so satanic.)

God Bless.
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I’ve been to that site a couple of times in the past few years, and it is really satanic. It spews evil and lies about the Church. It makes you sick to your stomach to read the ugly lies that are said about us, like that “over 50% of priests are pedophiles” and we “kill Jesus at every Mass.” Anyway, back on topic…
 
JJ59 said:
Well, back when I was Protestant, (I’m kind of in between RC and Protestant now) I regarded any Marian apparitions, Eucharistic miracles and the like as satanic. **Obviously there were demons trying to destroy my faith in Christ by telling us to constantly pray, to love God and to love our neighbors **:D!

But seriously, many (Not all, I do like the responses from protestants in this thread.) protestants, especially fundamentalists, go to long lengths to show that any Catholic miracles contradict the Bible. (There’s an “article”, more like a rant, on www.jesus-is-savior.com on the Fatima apparitions, and how they’re so satanic.)

God Bless.
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I love that line. IT is so funny to me that people are so quick to denounce the message that they do not read what it was. 👍
 
RainDown said:
I’ve been to that site a couple of times in the past few years, and it is really satanic. It spews evil and lies about the Church. It makes you sick to your stomach to read the ugly lies that are said about us, like that “over 50% of priests are pedophiles” and we “kill Jesus at every Mass.” Anyway, back on topic…
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Blech! :eek:

I remember that vile site. You can tell the person who made it has no desire for the truth, but purposefully deceives. :eek:

Just like the other day someone on here said that “Catholics worship a different God than Protestants.”

I said, “Since when did Protestants stop worshipping God the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?” :rolleyes:
 
Do the well-documented Eucharistic miracles have any effect on people from other denominations of Christianity? Do they not back up the Catholic and Orthodox belief in the Real Presence?

Just wondering…a Catholic friend of mine tried to bring these miracles up to some Protestants and they shut him off…

I’ve never heard of any miracles during Communion in other denominations

– just wondering how Protestants explain them…
 
Speaking as a former evangelical Protestant–we had no idea that these miracles ever happened and we never knew that most of those saints existed.

I knew about some saints because I have two copies of the Catholic editions of *Streets and Roads for Young Readers * that my parents bought me at a garage sale when I was little. These books told me stories about St. Christopher, St. Catherine, St. Rose of Lima, St. Stanislaus, and St. John Bosco.

I was always “cool” at evangelical meetings because I knew about these saints and their stories, so everyone assumed that I was very knowledgeable about the Catholic Church. (ha ha)

But other than St. Francis (the guy with the animals!), those are about the only saints I knew about while I was Protestant.

How would we as evangelicals learn about any of this “Catholic stuff”?! We read evangelical books and magazines and listened to evangelical speakers and musicians (except for John Michael Talbot). Until very recently, there was no Internet–heck, I’ve only been online for about ten years.

No evangelical writes articles or gives sermons about St. Teresa The Little Flower or about St. Anthony of Padua. Ha. Ha ha! No evangelical uses the term “Eucharist,” and many don’t even know what that word refers to.

It was only through a fluke (miracle?) that I had those Streets and Roads readers.

We truly had no idea that miracles were happening in Catholic churches. The first time I ever heard the word “stigmata” was on the Simpsons (Milhouse has the stigmata).

So in answer to your question–most evangelical Protestants wouldn’t know what you are talking about, just like you probably don’t know what I’m talking about when I say, “Good luck to Haydenettes and Miami Varsity at Synchronized Skating Worlds!”
 
Matariel said:
I remember that vile site. You can tell the person who made it has no desire for the truth, but purposefully deceives.
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Anyone can put anything in a book, on TV, in the newspaper or on a website. You always need to consider the source of information when evaluating if it is valid or not. I think something on a Vatican web site would be more valid then something put up by a wiki site.

As far as miracles…they are not the sole property of the Catholic Church. It would be very vain to think the God’s miracles only are sent to a select group of people. It’s the recognition and treatment of the miracles that differ.

Have a blessed Lent and praise the miracle of Easter morning (which all Christians believe in).
 
:confused::confused::confused::confused:

IN MY COUNTRY BRAZIL , I SAW SOME SITUATIONS OF PROTESTANTS MAKING MIRACLES (?) . BUT THEY LOVE ASK MONEY AFTER MIRACLES !

I KNEW SOME CASES IN WHICH SOME PASTORS PAY ACTORS , POOR SOULS TO GIVE … MIRACLES TO THE SOULS IN PROTESTANT CHURCHES .

:confused::confused::confused::confused:
 
JJ59 said:
Well, back when I was Protestant, (I’m kind of in between RC and Protestant now) I regarded any Marian apparitions, Eucharistic miracles and the like as satanic. Obviously there were demons trying to destroy my faith in Christ by telling us to constantly pray, to love God and to love our neighbors :D!

But seriously, many (Not all, I do like the responses from protestants in this thread.) protestants, especially fundamentalists, go to long lengths to show that any Catholic miracles contradict the Bible. (There’s an “article”, more like a rant, on www.jesus-is-savior.com on the Fatima apparitions, and how they’re so satanic.)

God Bless.
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JJ good post. I’m guarded about many miracles but would never deny GOD’s will to reach us anyway HE sees fit. You never know how a miracle will impact a person. If an apparition of Mary brings several thousand people to Christ then Hallelujah. Likewise if a Eucharistic miracle serves the same purpose then again I say Hallelujah. What I’m careful about and often get concerned with is some of these apparitions lead more to worship of that individual then a pathway to Christ. In those cases I’m suspicious of Satan. If we look at the Fatima apparition it appears something was going on. But the message was that now the path of salvation is through Mary and requires praying the rosary everyday etc. etc. That message certainly is foreign to scripture and would align more with Satan taking us away from Christ.

I do think many Non-RCC Christians dismiss anything coming from the RCC because they have a stigma about them. They are “too” Catholic. Not sure what that means by the way but I’m sure you know what I am talking about 🙂

PEACE
 
NDfan said:
If we look at the Fatima apparition it appears something was going on. But the message was that now the path of salvation is through Mary and requires praying the rosary everyday etc. etc. That message certainly is foreign to scripture and would align more with Satan taking us away from Christ.
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The message wasn’t that the path of salvation was through Mary or that if you just prayed the Rosary every day you would go to heaven. And through the Rosary Catholics meditate on the mysteries of Christ!! - such as the Scourging of the Pillar and the Crucifixion -

i know that’s off topic, but i had to say something…
 
I used to be a Protestant (fundamentalist baptist), until after a lot of prayer, studying scriptures through a Catholic lens and reading the Church Fathers I became a Catholic and entered the Church last year. One thing that amazed me when studying the Catholic Church was all the miracles.
When I was a Baptist, every now and then you would hear about somebody being healed from a sickness or something like that, but nothing like you find in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church truly is the miracle church and God performs miracles through His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, which can be observed, witnessed to and tested by science. For example, the tulmit of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the miracles at Lourdes, all the incorruptible Saints, Fatima, the shroud of Turin, the list goes on and on and on.
You don’t find nothing even remotely close to this in the Protestant sects. I’ve searched and searched. I watched an interview of a man who used to work for Jack Chick and he converted to the Catholic Church. One of the reasons for his conversion was because of all the confirmed and documented miracles in the Catholic Church.
Now I’m not saying that the Holy Spirit doesn’t work miracles with Protestants on an individual level. I’m sure He does and praise God for it. What I’m saying is you have to test things like St. Paul says to do. In all of Salvation History, God has worked miracles with His people to validate and show His true Church. The entire Bible is loaded with public miracles that showed the truth of God’s covenants with Man-Kind. It only makes sense that we have all of these public miracles in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church truly is Gods plan for the salvation of Man-Kind and He has and probably will, continue to perform public miracles in His Church.
To all my Protestant brothers and sisters, I challenge you to seriously consider investigating the Catholic Church. Read the writings of the first Christians, read the Bible with a Catholic understanding and see how much more sense it makes, study the miracles God has performed through the Catholic Church and see how many people have been lead to Christ because of them. 🙂
 
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