wow… a lot has happened since I last looked… But I’m talking about Purgatory (decreed in the 14-15 hundreds?), Infallibility of the Pope, Assumption of Mary, salvation in all faiths, and I’m sure there are plenty of others which were “decreed”, “thought up”, or “inspired” long after the Bible was written/put-together. Were the early Christians martyred for a faith different to ours? No! Our faith is that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for our sins and risen again, and He alone will save us.
What Protestant teachings are there? We don’t have anything other than the Bible. We have interpretations of the Bible in various books we may choose to read, but if you’ve ever been to a Protestant church sermon, you’ll find you’re only learning straight out of the Bible.
I see a lot of Catholic mis-understanding of Protestant beliefs on this forum already. I’m in no way very knowledgeable about Catholicism; don’t take this the wrong way that I’m being hypocritical. I’m here to learn about Catholicism.
Jibb
I’m glad to hear you’re open to learn about Catholicism. It’s always good to keep an open mind. However, make no mistake, there are as many or more preconceived notions about Catholicism that are based in ignorance of it by our Protestant brethren than there are Catholics who have similiar predujices against Protestantism. You mentioned one: All those decrees and doctrines made up centuries after the start of the early Church. That is not at all true. These made up decrees and doctrines were in fact in response to the need to put a tradition into doctrine.
From the very start, doctrine was needed to keep the faithful true to the new religion established by Jesus. For proof of this, look to the Acts of the Apostles and the various letters of Paul, Peter, James and John. From the start there were those who tried to make the teachings of Jesus their own by their own interpretations and agenda.
Mostly, the defining doctrines had to do either with the Church or with Jesus Himself since there were heresies to be dealt with such as Arianism, Nesetorianism, Monanticism etc. Later doctrine such as the Marian, papal infallibility, etc. were dealt with because of challenges to the accepted traditions. These traditions were held under the scrutiny of the Scriptures, early tradition from the Church fathers, and past Magesterium teachings. In short, if the tradition can not be backed up as sound and complete then it remains tradition and does not become doctrine. Tradition that would be proved to go against accepted doctrine would be banned as heresy. Tradition that can not be backed up yet does not go specifically against doctrine is acceptable for Catholics to believe in but it is not required. There are many legends and traditions that Catholics believe in that are not doctrine but they are acceptable because they do not go against doctrine.
As far as our Mass goes, obviously you have never attended a Catholic Mass. The entire Mass is Scripture in some form. The entrance antiphon is generally from Isaiah although it can be from any source in the Bible depending on the season of the year or the feast celebrated. The prayers and hymns are scripturally based. The Our Father is said at every Mass. There are three readings from the Bible every Sunday and two in the daily Mass. One of those readings must be from the Gospels. Each year has one of the synoptic Gospels that is assigned to it with the Gospel of John used each year interspersed as needed. Specifically, John is used every year for the Bread of Life Discourse. Sermons are also based on the readings. One thing our priests will do though is to many times apply those teachings to our present day daily lives in situations of 21st century living. IOW, how does a teaching that is 2000 years old apply to us today.
The consecration of the Eucharist is straight out of both the Last Supper and Revelations. We’re not waiting for the day when we can sing praises to God with the Heavenly hosts above. We already have that at each and every Mass when the Eucharist is consecrated. That is the most beautiful part of our Faith yet it is the one that comes under the most fire from many Protestants except for maybe the Marian doctrines or praying to the saints.
Take care
Dennis
