Protestants: What would Christianity look like if the Catholic Church were to disappear tomorrow?

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Asked this question four years ago during NCRs “wild west” days. 😃
I’d like the get the newbies answers now.

Would it be powerful or insignificant?
 
JustaServant said:
Asked this question four years ago during NCRs “wild west” days. 😃
I’d like the get the newbies answers now.

Would it be powerful or insignificant?
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This question is far too vague.

Economically - where would the money go? Who would look after it?

Are all the Catholics disappearing or just the Pope and Cardinals or something?

Would all the evidence of Catholicism disappear in your scenario too?

I don’t get your question.
 
dronald said:
This question is far too vague.

Economically - where would the money go? Who would look after it?

Are all the Catholics disappearing or just the Pope and Cardinals or something?

Would all the evidence of Catholicism disappear in your scenario too?

I don’t get your question.
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Agreed.

Question clarification please!
 
If the entire Roman Catholic church were to completely “vanish”, other than the number of Christians decreasing dramatically, there really wouldn’t be much of a change. The Gospel would still be preached, the lost would still be reached, God’s Work would not stop just cause a billion people disappeared. And that would be the case even if all of catholicism vanished (i.e. Orthodox, Anglicans, and Evangelical Catholics a.k.a. Lutherans). The downside would be of course no awesome liturgy.😦

Crud., I can’t make another post.
 
Assuming you mean the Roman Catholic Communion:

Other than the fact that it would be hilarious to watch all the fundamentalists and their ilk freak out about how only Roman Catholics had been ‘raptured’ and they were all ‘left behind’ I don’t see how anything would change.
 
JustaServant said:
Asked this question four years ago during NCRs “wild west” days. 😃
I’d like the get the newbies answers now.

Would it be powerful or insignificant?
Click to expand...
Don’t worry about it, the Church isn’t going anywhere till the end of the world. God Bless, Memaw
 
batman1973 said:
If the entire Roman Catholic church were to completely “vanish”, other than the number of Christians decreasing dramatically, there really wouldn’t be much of a change. The Gospel would still be preached, the lost would still be reached, God’s Work would not stop just cause a billion people disappeared. And that would be the case even if all of catholicism vanished (i.e. Orthodox, Anglicans, and Evangelical Catholics a.k.a. Lutherans). The downside would be of course no awesome liturgy.😦

Crud., I can’t make another post.
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Christianity would fade off the earth with nothing to hold it together and not only that, it would take all the fun out of protestants telling great whoppers about the Catholic Church even tho they know there not true. Wonder what they’d do then?? God Bless, Memaw
 
Rawb said:
Assuming you mean the Roman Catholic Communion:

Other than the fact that it would be hilarious to watch all the fundamentalists and their ilk freak out about how only Roman Catholics had been ‘raptured’ and they were all ‘left behind’ I don’t see how anything would change.
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Rawb,
No figure in history has been the source of more disunity in Christianity than the pope of Rome.

Don’t know where you got that idea!!!
Really, I thought it was the Protestant Reformation!! We haven’t divided, they have!! The Catholic Church under the Pope has been here for over 2,000 years. It has outlived all kingdoms, dictators, nations, governments and will continue to do soo. Just wait and see!!! God Bless, Memaw
 
JustaServant said:
Asked this question four years ago during NCRs “wild west” days. 😃
I’d like the get the newbies answers now.

Would it be powerful or insignificant?
Click to expand...
I don’t understand “vanish”. Is there a difference between Catholicism and Christianity?:confused:
 
I think I get it. I think the OP is not concerned with disappearance of people or anything, but whether Protestantism’s centripetal tendencies would be so strong as to cause it to devolve into ever more bizarre manifestations.

That devolution would be my view of it. Protestantism is extremely derivative. When one says one is “Protestant” one is saying, in effect, “I accept some of the tenets of historical Christianity (Catholicism) but not all. To know more, you must inquire.”

Even some Protestants will admit that their religion always has an eye on the Catholic Church, because, in Christianity, it’s the only thing that is inherently stable. Protestantism is inherently unstable, because one you take the position that personal interpretation is valid, there are no limits to where you can go with it.

In short, then, I believe Protestantism’s fragmentation would accelerate, and would devolve into ever more bizarre manifestations.
 
Rawb said:
it would be hilarious to watch all the fundamentalists and their ilk freak out about how only Roman Catholics had been ‘raptured’ and they were all ‘left behind’
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:clapping:
 
bgfischer said:
I don’t understand “vanish”. Is there a difference between Catholicism and Christianity?:confused:
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Hey BG – great remark! Catholic = Christian = Catholic. I was LCMS when I started poking around on this Catholic Answers forum stuff. Look what it did to me – I eventually came to the Church! Watch out for yourself! 👍
 
trevorhall said:
Hey BG – great remark! Catholic = Christian = Catholic. I was LCMS when I started poking around on this Catholic Answers forum stuff. Look what it did to me – I eventually came to the Church! Watch out for yourself! 👍
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Half of my family is Catholic. They are the go to chuch on Sunday folks so they dont really know much about doctrine. Thats why Im here.

I dont see too many differences with LCMS and Catholic and being lumped in with other Protestant religions isnt really fair. I do see the Catholic point of view and I try to keep an open mind. Since we are there though. Do you think the reformation was also a good thing for the Church because of what was going on during that period?
 
Randy_Carson said:
:clapping:
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Hi Randy, here’s the answer you gave four years ago: 😉
In the movie, The Pelican Brief, starring Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts, there is a scene in which someone is assasinated in a crowded plaza. After the sound of the gunshot, panic ensues with people wildly running in all directions until the camera pulls back to reveal a large empty concourse with a single body lying in a pool of blood.
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That’s what Christianity would look like without the Catholic Church.
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If there were no Catholic Church, and caos ensued, what would that look like? If the Church’s influence in the world would be no more, who would:
Build hospitials and take care of the sick and infirmed?
Stand up for pro-life issues?
Stand up for moral issues?
In a world rapidly heading back to barbarism, the Church stands, many times alone in the face of opposition world-wide.
Robert E Howard wrote once: ‘Barbarism is the natural state of man, civilization is unnatural’.
The Church civilized a pagan world, brought order to it.
Without that order it falls into caos.
 
Ridgerunner said:
I think I get it. I think the OP is not concerned with disappearance of people or anything, but whether Protestantism’s centripetal tendencies would be so strong as to cause it to devolve into ever more bizarre manifestations.

That devolution would be my view of it. Protestantism is extremely derivative. When one says one is “Protestant” one is saying, in effect, “I accept some of the tenets of historical Christianity (Catholicism) but not all. To know more, you must inquire.”

Even some Protestants will admit that their religion always has an eye on the Catholic Church, because, in Christianity, it’s the only thing that is inherently stable. Protestantism is inherently unstable, because one you take the position that personal interpretation is valid, there are no limits to where you can go with it.

In short, then, I believe Protestantism’s fragmentation would accelerate, and would devolve into ever more bizarre manifestations.
Click to expand...
👍
 
bgfischer said:
I don’t understand “vanish”. Is there a difference between Catholicism and Christianity?:confused:
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If you don’t know, it may be a little late for us to try to tell you if we’re about to vanish!. Stick around, you may learn the difference. God Bless. Memaw
 
Ridgerunner said:
I think I get it. I think the OP is not concerned with disappearance of people or anything, but whether Protestantism’s centripetal tendencies would be so strong as to cause it to devolve into ever more bizarre manifestations.

That devolution would be my view of it. Protestantism is extremely derivative. When one says one is “Protestant” one is saying, in effect, “I accept some of the tenets of historical Christianity (Catholicism) but not all. To know more, you must inquire.”

Even some Protestants will admit that their religion always has an eye on the Catholic Church, because, in Christianity, it’s the only thing that is inherently stable. Protestantism is inherently unstable, because one you take the position that personal interpretation is valid, there are no limits to where you can go with it.

In short, then, I believe Protestantism’s fragmentation would accelerate, and would devolve into ever more bizarre manifestations.
Click to expand...
I think you are right. Without the Catholic Church there wouldn’t have be a stable Christian Church. Especially most Protestant Churches. I think we are seeing more fragmentation due to most of these churches catering to what feels good or is politically correct. I don’t think of a lot of these churches as Protestant in the original sense.
 
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