My friend do not let one’s poor view and misunderstanding of others faith and convinctions give you a poor view of all Catholics.
I have never said or have called Protestants non-Christians. I am not out to convert anyone because that happens within. Conversion is as a life-long process for all Christians (Catholic,Protestant,Orthodox,etc).
I am sorry someone had to clump all Protestants in the same basket.
…And this is that
someone you refer to. No, I don’t have a misunderstanding of Protestant faiths, and no, I do not have a poor view. I like sometimes like using generalities and jabs to Protestants to see them scramble and try to defend sola scriptura. They break away, then break apart, then outright contradict each other. All the while trying to defend themselves with this Council of Trent stuff. …No, not all Protestants have the same beliefs, they don’t all watch 700 Club or Joel Osteen, and they don’t all pray for money. I mean, the Quakers don’t even have televisions.
…But it’s interesting, with all of your academic discussion on all these technicalities, you just ignore the elephant in the middle of the room: that Luther was a fallible man, and, because of his beliefs, whatever other beliefs they were based on, does not matter, interfered with the Canon. He did his part, and subsequent Protestants did their part, in marginalizing, and ommitting Scripture. Protestants like to get caught up in these psuedo-intellectual discussions and feel like they can justify Scripture tampering. You can’t.
Isn’t it funny what sola scriptura has led to? A shattered arm of Christianity? I mean, look at the Seventh Day Adventists, look at the Lutherans, look at the Quakers, look at the Amana Colonies, look at the Baptists, all codifying there own little interpretation of Scripture they swear to be the true interpretation, and that they alone will be most favored on Judgement Day. What a mess. And you defend your little branch of this mess saying, “We don’t pray for money,” “We have the image of Jesus in our Church,” “We still take the Host four times a year,” “We don’t have Jumbotrons.” Yes, but your Protestant brothers do. These are your religious brothers/ancestors. Don’t you have any will to defend them? Do you just turn your back on them and say, “We don’t care about them, I’m referring to Episcopalians. My own little world.”
See, you broke off, and then you turned into a spiritual mess. It’s no wonder you want so bad to attack and disprove our True Faith. It’s contempt. You feel the same thing that the Muslims feel: You want to identify loosely with Catholicism, but only enough to gain credibility and look legit. But then of course, you want to destroy us, make us illegal, persecute us. Just like Muslims.
Now you can say, “When did I want to make Catholicism Illegal?” Doesn’t matter. Your religious ancestors did, a couple of times. And , truth never changes through time. What was true then, is true now. And only the thin veneer of civilized restraint keeps that sentiment in check in this day and age. -And of course that much of the New World is Catholic and Britain would look silly trying to make it illegal in 2012, much less the American eastern seaboard.
You know why I don’t argue your little Council of Trent puzzles? Because it doesn’t matter. It’s a rabbit hole of Protestant logic. Who cares! I’d rather pray, enjoy the day, and live in the warm glow of Jesus’ True Church He founded. The True Church.
Now as for these comments about me trying to recruit you to convert to Catholicism. Please don’t be offended by my self-amusing remark. You just keep being whatever you are. --To be Catholic, you have to love Jesus and the Almighty with all your heart, your soul, your whole being. You have to cherish that Communion with the Eucharist like nothing else matters. You have to think so highly about all the Saints past that you would do anything to meet them in person. You have to love all of the Catholic traditions handed down for thousands of years. You have to love our liturgical calender with all of it’s special days and intricacies. You have to love the way we fought to free The Holy Land. You have to love the way we get special thanks from Judaism, the very oldest Faith, as brothers in the eyes of the Alpha and Omega. You have to feel thankful for all this to embrace Catholicsim.
And you’re a long way from it.