Protestants: Could you please do us all a favor??

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Singinbeauty said:
What did you mean by the following then?

If he didn’t listen to TRUTH then where would he be? Simple logic says Hell. So by you saying he didn’t listen what does logic dictate? I am not trying to put words in your mind. Just trying to show what you say leads me to believe where you are going with the thought. Maybe more information would not lead to someone misinterpreting what you are trying to say…🤷

You make the assertion, show the proof. I don’t have to go looking for it. Burden of proof lies with you my dear since you are the person who states it as a fact.

By the way, you are taking this ‘information’ from people who have LEFT being protestant to being catholic. I would like this info from a protestant source. Please provide. Otherwise, stop spreading this around please…

All you need to do is go to the Traditional Catholic forum on THIS site to see the varying beliefs. The Church is made up of its members, if they can’t agree how can it be ‘one’?

Wanna know the answer? Because the Body of Christ (protestant and catholic) are the Church. As a body we each perform a different function to move the Body through this broken world. Do hands do the same as the tongue? Does the liver do the same thing as a knee? No, each has another purpose and way of moving the Body. It is one, just performing different tasks but all moving in the same direction. To God… THIS is how we are ONE. 🙂
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You really need to stop jumping to the wrong conclusions. I was talking about how the many denominations of protestantism, do not agree on what the truth is. They are asking, (like Pilot did), 'what is truth." Seems they haven’t found it or they wouldn’t be disagreeing with each other so very much. YOUR the one that said, “Simple logic says Hell.” There is only ONE TRUTH, Jesus Christ and wither you believe it or not HE did found ONE Church and that is the Catholic Church. And that Church fulfills everything HE said HIS Church would. Granted there are many weak and sinful members in that Church, (as there are in any other gathering of human beings) but the Church itself is ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC. You can talk for the rest of your life and you cannot change that. The Catholic Church teaches the same Doctrine given Her by Jesus Christ and always will. IF someone doesn’t believe that truth and live as Jesus wants us too, that is their choice. I don’t judge anyone, not even Pilot, that is in Gods hands. The bible does tell us that Pilot and Herod became good friends and Pilot turned Jesus over to be Crucified even tho he knew HE was innocent. We ALL have the obligation to search for the TRUTH. Jesus said, “I AM the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.” “Come follow ME.” HE didn’t say make your own path. He warned us that the Path to Heaven is narrow and difficult. And that not everyone who says, “Lord. Lord, will enter in.”

As far as the source of the 40,000, why don’t you watch “Journey Home” for yourself. They gave the name of the book before but I don’t remember it so ask them yourself. I have not heard any of the ex-protestants bad mouth their former faith. They usually explain it as a growth in faith and TRUTH when they become Catholic. They understand MORE clearly what the Bible really means.
Jesus prayed for UNITY in HIS Church There is no unity among protestants, and they have said that themselves, resulting in 40,000 different denominations. When Jesus was talking about the body having different gifts, HE was talking about holy gifts, talents to be used to strengthen ’ the BODY of CHRIST’. Not misunderstandings and misinterpretations that tear the body apart. God Bless, Memaw
 
Quote from Wikipedia:

The actual number of distinct denominations is hard to calculate, but has been estimated to be over thirty thousand.
 
Sometimes we need to focus on the bigger pitcure.

Author Samuel Huntington disagrees: “The percentage of Christians in the world peaked at about 30 % in the 1980s, leveled off, is now declining, and will probably approximate to about 25% of the world’s population by 2025. As a result of their extremely high rates of population growth, the proportion of Muslims in the world will continue to increase dramatically, amounting to 20 percent of the world’s population about the turn of the century, surpassing the number of Christians some years later, and probably accounting for about 30 percent of the world’s population by 2025.”
 
PerryJ said:
Quote from Wikipedia:

The actual number of distinct denominations is hard to calculate, but has been estimated to be over thirty thousand.
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The source on wikipedia is the World Christian Encyclopedia written by David A. Barrett. A close examination of his work will show that there are many miscalcualtions and faulty logic as to how he comes up with the 30,000 denominations idea. You will also see how he notes the 242 catholic denominations. While I am not suggesting his work is right or wrong, I am suggesting a.) read the work for yourself, and b.) don’t use wikipedia as a bedrock source. Even in college, and even with my high school students, wikipedia is not accepted since anyone can post whatever they want.

Here is a link examining his work. Note: I am NOT suggesting that Barrett has any sort of beef with any and all Christians. Nor am I attacking catholics (I do not do that sort of thing) by noting his other research. It would just seem to me that it would be wise if we all took a long hard look at what some people are saying.

ntrmin.org/30000denominations.htm
 
According to David Barrett et al, editors of the “World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions - AD 30 to 2200,” there are 34,000 separate Christian groups in the world today. “Over half of them are independent churches that are not interested in linking with the big denominations.” 1

Differences among Christian faith groups are so great that some observers have suggested that a useful way of classifying Christian groups is to view them as a number of separate religions with different beliefs and practices, who share:

The name “Christianity,”
The text of the Bible, and
Not a great deal else.

This is from Religious Tolerance.com.

I would like to see the basis for the challenge to “World Christian Encyclopedia”. Just because someone challenges the numbers does not mean the numbers are not a reliable estimate.

I; however, do not see the point of debating if their are thirty thousand, twenty thousand or two thousand denominations. The point is the same. Sola Scriputra doesn’t work. You also see this in Catholics that only read the Bible and not the teachings of the Church in the Catechism. They do not understand the theology of the Church. The beliefs between Protestant denominations are very wide. Protestants tend to group together on this site to challenge Catholics. As a former Protestant I can affirm outside this web site Protestants do not agree about major theological beliefs. I have found many Protestants that do not know if their denomination believes in free will or not. They do not know if they believe in TULIP etc. (Catholics that do not read the Catechism have the same issue) As such they think they have one belief; but, they do not.

I would like to go back to my previous post though and state that sometimes we need to focus on the world and the declining percentage of Christians in the world. Isn’t that where Christ would want us to focus?
 
LutheranDK said:
1: I have absolutely no idea what an “RCIA”-class is.
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classes to understand Catholicism (history/teachings, etc.)
2: If you think that the RCs on this forum have studied “various protestant theologies” - then you are sorely mistaken. The utter lack of actual knowledge displayed in the baiting-posts (which are about 90+ percent of the posts on this forum) clearly shows this.
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some have, some haven’t…

Like i said before, once a person knows the truth, they are not all that interested in half- truth intermixed with “lies”… and that is one reason why Catholics don’t study Protestant religions… unless it is part of their academic curriculum…
 
PerryJ said:
I do not argue with the concept that Protestants and Catholics may make up the body of Christ. I would like to understand the analogy of the body parts better. As we have some Protestant denominations that believe in Total Depravity and some don’t. Some believe in free will and some don’t. Some support homosexual marriage and some don’t. Some believe in woman pastors and some don’t. The list goes on and on; however, I think you get my point. Even now we see churches splitting apart over doctrinal issues. Do you believe that there is one truth? Can God have many truths? I do not believe God has many truths. Your analogy sounds very positive; however, how does it work in the world if each Church supports it’s own truth?
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Take the hand, each finger looks different and has different roles to work the hand. But is connected to the body all the same. Tie that to a protestant group that are from the same sect (i.e. baptist for instance) but have slight differences in their beliefs. Their core (i.e. connection to the body) is that Christ is Lord and He is the Ultimate Sacrifice.

Consider also, there are several different ‘types’ of catholics. Take Traditional Catholics, their beliefs differ from the not-so-traditional but they are considered catholics all the same.
 
Memaw said:
Why does it sound that way to you??
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I can’t say for sure. But Peter J sounds like he believes that there is no salvation outside of one particular church. Historically you’re correct up to a point. The later councils (after the first 7 ecumminical councils - why does that sound like Peter J may not have attended these had he been a bishop then?- the later councils especially in the middleages the Orthodox would not agree with entirely.) The Orthodox do have the Eucharist and other sacraments.
 
khutcheson said:
Several thoughts come to mind.
  1. I would take this post more seriously if the obligation you suggest to study Catholic theology were similarly imposed on Catholics.
  2. I don’t “attack” Catholic theology–ever. I do point out things I disagree with or don’t understand. Far more often I point out errors about, or misrepresentations of the Protestant faith.
  3. The level of knowledge of Protestant theology on here varies greatly, I do on occasion respond to posts by Catholics (my mistake perhaps) that clearly misrepresent Protestant theology (I’m ready to swear off this board for good if I see one more post complaining about “30,000 versions of the Protestant religion, or words to that effect”).
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First thing DONT swear off the board. However lets talk about the 30,000 thing. There are not 30,000 differing protestant theologies. But there are perhaps hundreds. When the non-denominational boom hit hard in the early 90s everyone wanted to be a pastor. Mostly because(I think) they could start there own Church, no school needed, no set of rules to abide by (but there own) all they needed was a Bible and…there own interpratation of it. That is where all these crazy ideas of Christianity are coming from. That is why you here Catholics say “30.000 differing protestant theologies” because every pastors personal interpration is his own “theology” and it then filters down to his congragation and subsiquently into society. God Bless.
 
thecoach said:
Hmm, well lets see…you folks state that you are the original church, and that as time went on, the others, such as Orthodox split from you…therefore…who is it that got itself divided? Hmm?
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Just because a person leaves a group to do his own thing does not mean the original group is divided. it means somebody left the group. Were the Apostles divided when Judas left? Hmmm?:hmmm: 🤷 :hmmm:
 
sambos671 said:
I can’t say for sure. But Peter J sounds like he believes that there is no salvation outside of one particular church. Historically you’re correct up to a point. The later councils (after the first 7 ecumminical councils - why does that sound like Peter J may not have attended these had he been a bishop then?- the later councils especially in the middleages the Orthodox would not agree with entirely.) The Orthodox do have the Eucharist and other sacraments.
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sambo, it seems everyone forgets that there was only ONE Christian Church before the Protestant Reformation and that is the Catholic Church, including the Orthodox Church. The Catholic Church has ALWAYS considered the Orthodox to be fully Catholic, but in schism. All others were heretical and in grave danger of loosing their soul because of it. Even today, those that are heretical and know it and still refuse to seek the truth, are in grave danger of loosing their soul. To refuse to listen to Christ because of our pride is seriously wrong. I truly believe that anyone that opens their heart to Jesus Christ, and asks HIM to show them the way to HIS truth, and is willing to follow the guidance of the HOLY SPIRIT, they will be brought to the fullness of truth in the Catholic Faith. BUT first one has to set pride aside and not turn their back on TRUTH.
 
Richard_1 said:
First thing DONT swear off the board. However lets talk about the 30,000 thing. There are not 30,000 differing protestant theologies. But there are perhaps hundreds. When the non-denominational boom hit hard in the early 90s everyone wanted to be a pastor. Mostly because(I think) they could start there own Church, no school needed, no set of rules to abide by (but there own) all they needed was a Bible and…there own interpratation of it. That is where all these crazy ideas of Christianity are coming from. That is why you here Catholics say “30.000 differing protestant theologies” because every pastors personal interpration is his own “theology” and it then filters down to his congragation and subsiquently into society. God Bless.
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Without trying to split hairs, just what does it take to start a new protestant denomination??? If they are tax-exempt, they are registered as a denomination. Your right, all one needs is a Bible, (which they originally took from the Catholic Church) and a mail ordered certificate to be a minister. Khutcheson may not like it but its not our fault, you have to blame that one on the protestants themselves. I understand the source was from a protestant book. Can’t blame that on us either. Don’t know the name of it tho.
 
Richard_1 said:
Just because a person leaves a group to do his own thing does not mean the original group is divided. it means somebody left the group. Were the Apostles divided when Judas left? Hmmm?:hmmm: 🤷 :hmmm:
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Non-argument…if the original suffers a loss, it is split…period!
 
sambos671 said:
The later councils (after the first 7 ecumminical councils - why does that sound like Peter J may not have attended these had he been a bishop then?
[snip]
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I like to think that if I had been a bishop at the time of Vatican I, I would have attended it but would have left it when Patriarch Gregory II left.
 
thecoach said:
Non-argument…if the original suffers a loss, it is split…period!
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But you have to admit, it wasn’t the Catholic Church that did the splitting. If someone leaves, its their decision to go. The Catholic Church is willing to welcome them back and that is being worked on as we speak.
 
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