Protestant's own 2nd Vatican Council

[waxwing]

Hello

Lately I have been thinking about our Protestant brother and sisters, as many of you know they are many denominations within Protestanism and from each branch of the denomination they are further smaller branches. If history repeats itself Protestanism will look more like a Oak tree versus a Palm tree, many would argue we are at that point already. Does any one think that its is possible that all the Protestant churches come together for a serious council, ala 2nd Vatican, to discuss the doctrine, theology, church structure, leadership etc etc. In this council they would basically say this splintering has to stop and they come to an agreement which gives Protestantism a united, stable, strong and from their point of view theologically sound front. Perhaps even amalgamate many of the denominations. I’m Catholic but have a history in the Protestant church and I don’t believe all their scattering of beliefs, people, demoninations etc does anyone any good, Protestant or Catholic.

Any ideas

 

[JonNC]

Hello

Lately I have been thinking about our Protestant brother and sisters, as many of you know they are many denominations within Protestanism and from each branch of the denomination they are further smaller branches. If history repeats itself Protestanism will look more like a Oak tree versus a Palm tree, many would argue we are at that point already. Does any one think that its is possible that all the Protestant churches come together for a serious council, ala 2nd Vatican, to discuss the doctrine, theology, church structure, leadership etc etc. In this council they would basically say this splintering has to stop and they come to an agreement which gives Protestantism a united, stable, strong and from their point of view theologically sound front. Perhaps even amalgamate many of the denominations. I’m Catholic but have a history in the Protestant church and I don’t believe all their scattering of beliefs, people, demoninations etc does anyone any good, Protestant or Catholic.

Any ideas

Well, I wouldn’t expect it pan-denominational. There are, however, numerous bilateral dialogues: Lutherans/Anglicans, etc.
The difficulty is that, while we have a perception of Protestants as a monolith that has spintered over time, the fact is that the various groups, even those from the reformation era, have different beginnings. Probably the only true common roots is the Catholic Church.
As a Lutheran, it is easier to see us dialogue with other sacramental Churches, such as Anglicans (and Catholics, frankly), than those communions that reject the sacraments. This is also apparent in the dialogues between OCA (Orthodox Church in American) and ACNA (Anglican Church in North America).

Of greater benefit in my view, would be an Ecumenical Council which includes Catholics and Orthodox, and perahps representatives of other interested communions: Lutheran, Anglican, PNCC, etc.

Just my thoughts.
Jon

 

[wisdomseeker]

Hello

Lately I have been thinking about our Protestant brother and sisters, as many of you know they are many denominations within Protestanism and from each branch of the denomination they are further smaller branches. If history repeats itself Protestanism will look more like a Oak tree versus a Palm tree, many would argue we are at that point already. Does any one think that its is possible that all the Protestant churches come together for a serious council, ala 2nd Vatican, to discuss the doctrine, theology, church structure, leadership etc etc. In this council they would basically say this splintering has to stop and they come to an agreement which gives Protestantism a united, stable, strong and from their point of view theologically sound front. Perhaps even amalgamate many of the denominations. I’m Catholic but have a history in the Protestant church and I don’t believe all their scattering of beliefs, people, demoninations etc does anyone any good, Protestant or Catholic.

Any ideas

and just who would the one to call this council?

 

[CalCatholic]

Well, I wouldn’t expect it pan-denominational. There are, however, numerous bilateral dialogues: Lutherans/Anglicans, etc.
The difficulty is that, while we have a perception of Protestants as a monolith that has spintered over time, the fact is that the various groups, even those from the reformation era, have different beginnings. Probably the only true common roots is the Catholic Church.
As a Lutheran, it is easier to see us dialogue with other sacramental Churches, such as Anglicans (and Catholics, frankly), than those communions that reject the sacraments. This is also apparent in the dialogues between OCA (Orthodox Church in American) and ACNA (Anglican Church in North America).

Of greater benefit in my view, would be an Ecumenical Council which includes Catholics and Orthodox, and perahps representatives of other interested communions: Lutheran, Anglican, PNCC, etc.

Just my thoughts.
Jon

I agree, this would be the very first stage in bringing The Body of Christ back together again (in some form of communion). There are so many forces out there there that would love to see Christianity remain the way it is (broken and fighting against each other). If we can rally around what we believe in common rather than argue about our differences, we will be a lot more effective in spreading the message of the Gospel for the whole world to hear

 

[mark_a]

I don’t know about a Protestant V2, but I have read an article that made a case for a Protestant “pope”.

 

[JonNC]

I agree, this would be the very first stage in bringing The Body of Christ back together again (in some form of communion). There are so many forces out there there that would love to see Christianity remain the way it is (broken and fighting against each other). If we can rally around what we believe in common rather than argue about our differences, we will be a lot more effective in spreading the message of the Gospel for the whole world to hear

I agree, though there should be an emphasis on resolving what our differences are. That, it seems to me, would be the very reason for having a council of that sort. Of course, it would not end division, as there would be significant numbers that would just refuse to participate. And for wisdomseeker’s benefit, a truly ecumenical council such as this ought rightly be called by the Bishop of Rome.
In honesty, I don’t see this happening, but it sure would be interesting.

Jon

 

[Ahimsa]

You would have better luck herding cats.

 

[JonNC]

You would have better luck herding cats.

No doubt.
Jon

 

[JonNC]

I don’t know about a Protestant V2, but I have read an article that made a case for a Protestant “pope”.

Got a link, Mark? I’d love to see that. Let’s see, “Pope” Kenneth Copeland. :bigyikes:

EDIT: No, wait!! In honor of upstate SC, “Pope” Bob Jones.
Jon

 

[waxwing]

I agree, this would be the very first stage in bringing The Body of Christ back together again (in some form of communion). There are so many forces out there there that would love to see Christianity remain the way it is (broken and fighting against each other). If we can rally around what we believe in common rather than argue about our differences, we will be a lot more effective in spreading the message of the Gospel for the whole world to hear

I agree, But as JonNC noted I don’t see it happening either. I suppose if Ego’s and Agenda’s were set aside there may be chance of coming together with a more focused and cohesive approach to Protestantism. Just seems like it would be benefical to have everyone on same team preaching the same message - I mean right now if someone were to be introduced to Christianity on television, I don’t think, for the most part, thats a presentation I’m comfortable with or is does provided a accurate reflection of Protestantism, . That just my own editorial comment/hang up on the current crop of preacher/speakers on TV

 

[ferreus]

Even if someone would manage to get them all together it would still be useless. The protestants have two authorities, the bible and themselves. Some are closer to the bible and some are closer to themselves.
There’s almost nothing they could agree on (for instance, in the Church of Sweden, a fraction is proposing to abolish baptism, since there’s no original sin (this wont happen though, since this church is all about empty ceremony (even though this one is not empty at all by accident))), and the individual could disregard it anyway.

Isn’t the universal invisible church enough?

 

[marty30]

This is some food for thought. If there were not so much corruption and luke warmness in the Catholic Church there might not be so many protestants or denominations. Just imagine if most Catholics understood there faith and really put it in to practice we would be more atrractive to others. Unfortunatly there is so much luke warmness and heresy going around in the Church, it makes it very difficult to convince and/or impact others. Any thoughts?

 

[mark_a]

Got a link, Mark? I’d love to see that. Let’s see, “Pope” Kenneth Copeland. :bigyikes:

EDIT: No, wait!! In honor of upstate SC, “Pope” Bob Jones.
Jon

Before I posted, I was thinking it was from Christianity Today. I searched their site and could not find it.

I did find this, though: religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3208

 

[Rightlydivide]

If I wanted to waste my time doing that, I would join the SBC

 

[mark_a]

This is some food for thought. If there were not so much corruption and luke warmness in the Catholic Church there might not be so many protestants or denominations. Just imagine if most Catholics understood there faith and really put it in to practice we would be more atrractive to others. Unfortunatly there is so much luke warmness and heresy going around in the Church, it makes it very difficult to convince and/or impact others. Any thoughts?

We could surely improve, but we have no monopoly on corruption, luke-warmness, hippocracy, heresy, or any other negative adjectives you might want to throw out there.

 

[Roman_Catholic_1]

Got a link, Mark? I’d love to see that. Let’s see, “Pope” Kenneth Copeland. :bigyikes:

EDIT: No, wait!! In honor of upstate SC, “Pope” Bob Jones.
Jon

I believe John MacArthur is referred to as the “Evangelical Pope”.

God bless

 

[Roman_Catholic_1]

If I wanted to waste my time doing that, I would join the SBC

I am curious as to why you feel it would be a waste of time? Do you feel that ultimately nothing would get done? Or do you not wish unity with different denominations?

God bless you

 

[marty30]

We could surely improve, but we have no monopoly on corruption, luke-warmness, hippocracy, heresy, or any other negative adjectives you might want to throw out there.

Your right. However we are held to a higher standard. If we can’t do a good job evangilizing within the church how will we ever hope to evangilize out of the Church? My mission is to help catholics become better catholics. Problem is we have to many catholics who think and act like protestants. No offense guys..

I really think the answer to uniting the Catholic Church with our other christian brothers and sisters is to take a look at ourselves as catholics, admit our weaknesses and failings and do every thing we can to learn and live our faith as catholics as best we can, teaching our families and those in our parrishes how to live out their faith by our example. There is a reason why God does not like lukewarm christians, especially lukewarm catholics…

As Patrick Coffin would say; “Lets be saints, what else is there!”

 

[4Squarebaby]

I am curious as to why you feel it would be a waste of time? Do you feel that ultimately nothing would get done? Or do you not wish unity with different denominations?

God bless you

A different definition of unity exist. There is unity between the different denominations. Some Christian groups demand an overall authority figure, others don’t:shrug:

 

[Berean2]

Some Christian groups demand an overall authority figure, others don’t.

Precisely. Not only that, a lot of Christian groups think that the “overall authority figure” is Jesus Christ Himself.

To the OP: you are assuming that the differences that caused the Reformation (as it was later called) to happen in the first place, somehow have evaporated. That, unfortunately, is a mistaken notion. (No, I don’t care to debate that. This site already has scores of threads treating the various aspects of that issue. I’m merely addressing your idea, and why I don’t think it’s feasible—even if your underlying desire for the “unity” is commendable.)