Should Christians Reunite?

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Hi

There is no harm if the Christians unite and form one United Christendum with peaceful dialogue. What is the hindrance anyway?

Thanks
 
originally posted by Roy5
Believe my generalizations were correct. These differences are major. I find it interesting that so many Catholics who go to mass faithfully more and more think like liberal Protestants. They retain some of their traditions while denying some of its central doctrines. There are others who seem to find the enthusiasm and free worship of pentecostal-style Protestantism attractive. That appears especially true among Latino Catholics, who soon will be 1/2 of all American Catholics, now about 1/3.
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The people you describe are not true Catholics. They do not represent the One Holy Apostolic Church led by the Holy Spirit and founded by Jesus Christ.

Peace of Christ,
Shiphrae 🙂
 
My husband and his family is Catholic and they say that I am Protestant. They say any Christian who is not Catholic is a Protestant.
Roy5 said:
AWANTZ
Code: 
  If you believe in transubstantiation and pray to Mary, I would be very hesitant to call you a Protestant. Perhaps you are a non-Catholic Christian - fine. But Protestant? Not by any definition I have ever read, 

   Rejection of transubstantiation and prayers to Mary and the saints were two pillars of the Protestant Reformation. True, a few high-church Anglicans are very close to Roman Catholicism. but they always have indicated to me that they are not Protestant.

   Just curious? What makes you a Protestant?
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Roy5 said:
We should aim at unity but not union. Roman Catholics and Protestants will never agree on several things. Let me enumerate five of them.
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     1. The Pope. A minority of Protestants might accept the Pope as the historic Bishop of Rome, but the notion that he is a divine-right vicar of Christ, infallible in faith and morals, will never find acceptance. Some Popes have been very popular among Protestants - certainly John XXIII - but the basic concept conflicts with Protestant emphasis on democracy within the church.
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Just to your #1:

“Democracy within the church?”
The church is NOT a democracy, but a THEOCRACY. God’s will does not change according to the whims of “the people”, as democracies do.
I’m pretty sure all the catholics inhere had a field day over THAT description, and rightfully so. Thank God it isn’t true.

Democracy should be the form of government of the outside world - and keep its hands off the affairs of the church.
 
According to the Bible all faiths will unite to join the Anti-Christ and war against Jesus the true Messiah.
The multitude of faiths we see on earth today are varied and many are departed from the true faith once delivered to the saints.
The truth is not decided by who can draw the largest numbers.
Many are called but few are chosen.
 
MawmawRae said:
According to the Bible all faiths will unite to join the Anti-Christ and war against Jesus the true Messiah.
The multitude of faiths we see on earth today are varied and many are departed from the true faith once delivered to the saints.
The truth is not decided by who can draw the largest numbers.
Many are called but few are chosen.
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Are you receiving revelations that no one knows about it? please enlighten us.
 
dumspirospero said:
I believe in unity, however…it must be the Protestants and Orthodox that convert to Roman Catholicism. In other words, we must not water down or alter our Dogma, Doctrine, or Tradition in order to appease our separated bretheren, because then…we become protestants like them…I want unity more than anything, and as a convert from the Southern Baptist…I think it is possible for all to see the light and convert. I pray for the Church to be unified once again…JPII is extending his hand to these people…it is their choice to either grab it or slap it away. There are just some tenants of our faith, such as True Presence and Apostolic Succession, etc., we can not and will not change in order to please them and they need to come to truly believe in these things…until that time, they will remain separated. Furthermore…I pray even more for our brothers and sisters who are involved in schismatic groups such as the SSPX…It hurts even more to have members of your own family separated from you. Let us pray for the fast unification of all of our separated Christian bretheren.
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I agree with you…we need to be sure to defend our key beliefs and traditions which are based on Apostolic teaching as documented in Sacred Scripture…the Roman Communion (and the Orthodox in most cases) is the most faithful to the Sacred Scripture in its entirety (i.e, the Seven Sacraments, Apostolic Succession, the Trinity, etc). However, before we get too carried away, let’s look at history. When the West changed the Nicene-Constantinople Creed of 381AD in 589AD and added the filioque in the attempt to further dispell a heresy (Arianism) prevelent in Spain among the Visigoths, the West did it outside of a catholic council of the whole chuch (it was done in a local council in Toledo, Spain) and did it contrary to Scripture which is what the East was so upset about. Read John 15:26: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.” The Creed was written in the Nicene Council based on the teaching of the Apostles as documented in the Sacred Scriptures. Although the reasons may have been honorable, it caused a serious issue with our Eastern churches who refused to acknowlege the new insertion and maintained the original to this day…calling the new form “heretical” as a result. It took over 300 years before Rome actually started using the filioque in the Creed since its adoption in 589AD in Spain. I’ve never been able to understand why this has never been corrected especially since it was a key factor in the East/West schism. The action of the Toledo Council to add this statement was to refute the Arian belief that denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ…that He and the Father were not of the same Nature, that is Divine. However, in the Creed it is clear that Jesus is “of one Being with the Father” and that the Spirit “with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,” hence Divine. The addition of “and the Son” to the original and catholicly-approved “who proceeds from the Father” was in an attempt to reinforce the Father and Jesus as “one Being.” However, the Creed was first developed and modified until it was finally adopted in 381AD catholicly (and stated that no further changes or creeds could be adopted) in response to Arianism. My point to all this is that I agree we should make sure to maintain our core beliefs but there are still questions and issues out there to resolve which I don’t understand why they have never been resolved with the evidence being what it is. Let’s make sure we all see each others’ perspectives in light of Sacred Scripture in its entirety and not get Essentials (ie., Faith in Christ, the Trinity, the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, Faith/Hope/Love, etc.) mixed up with non-Essentials (ie, customs, practices, expressions, perspectives, etc.). The Holy Spirit is at work in all believers of the Savior and Son of God, Jesus Christ…I have seen it live and in person throughout my life. In His Peace!
 
redeemedcelt said:
My point to all this is that I agree we should make sure to maintain our core beliefs but there are still questions and issues out there to resolve which I don’t understand why they have never been resolved with the evidence being what it is. Let’s make sure we all see each others’ perspectives in light of Sacred Scripture in its entirety and not get Essentials (ie., Faith in Christ, the Trinity, the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, Faith/Hope/Love, etc.) mixed up with non-Essentials (ie, customs, practices, expressions, perspectives, etc.). The Holy Spirit is at work in all believers of the Savior and Son of God, Jesus Christ…I have seen it live and in person throughout my life. In His Peace!
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well said:clapping: if we focus on the Essentials (if we can agree on what those are) then I believe unity can happen.
However the issues that caused the reformation in the frist place must be addressed. should they be addressed, well the “protest” should end.
 
JTBT said:
well said:clapping: if we focus on the Essentials (if we can agree on what those are) then I believe unity can happen.
However the issues that caused the reformation in the frist place must be addressed. should they be addressed, well the “protest” should end.
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What do you see as still outstanding from the original “protest?” Having been a Protestant myself for the first 23 years of my life (Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran, Ev. Presbyterian, and Ev. Non-denominational), I’m not sure what the Roman Church is teaching or doing that still creates the stir…from my perspective Martin Luther’s 98 Points have been largely addressed and the Church has come along way since the 1500’s. Note this Joint Statement between the Roman Catholic and Luthern Churches as an example of the growing relationship and understanding of each other’s perspectives from the Sacred Scripture: vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html

In addition, the outcomes of the most recent Council, Vatican II, in the 1960’s gave me great encouragement as I was lead by the Lord into the Roman communion in the 1990’s…particularly by the Eucharist and its direct links from Sacred Scripture (not to mention the other Sacraments that are also directly out of Sacred Scripture).

In His Peace!
 
redeemedcelt said:
What do you see as still outstanding from the original “protest?” Having been a Protestant myself for the first 23 years of my life (Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran, Ev. Presbyterian, and Ev. Non-denominational), I’m not sure what the Roman Church is teaching or doing that still creates the stir…from my perspective Martin Luther’s 98 Points have been largely addressed and the Church has come along way since the 1500’s. Note this Joint Statement between the Roman Catholic and Luthern Churches as an example of the growing relationship and understanding of each other’s perspectives from the Sacred Scripture: vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html

In addition, the outcomes of the most recent Council, Vatican II, in the 1960’s gave me great encouragement as I was lead by the Lord into the Roman communion in the 1990’s…particularly by the Eucharist and its direct links from Sacred Scripture (not to mention the other Sacraments that are also directly out of Sacred Scripture).

In His Peace!
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I do not accept
Transubstantion
Confession the way it is practiced in the Roman Church
the authority of the Pope,
I also don’t accept that souls in purgatory (if there is such a place, I’m not convinced) can be influenced by indulgences.

that is all that I can come up with off the top of my head.
 
When Jesus comes back all Christians will unite! Until that time I think that all the different demominations will disagree about doctrines and dogma. St. Paul says that we don’t see things cleary now, but when Christ comes we will see things clearly. I look forward to that time, because frankly, I have a lot of questions. I’m a member of the RCC, but I have a simple faith in Jesus, and I’m probably not in the mainstream of Roman Catholic theology. Jesus said to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and to do unto others as you would want them to do to you. Jesus said that those two things pretty much wrap it all up. I think all Christians believe in Jesus and what he said, so I don’t know if Christians are all that divided. I do know that whoever hates his brother has no part in the Kingdom of Heaven. I think that labels that are placed on Christians are really devisive in the long run. I think labels breed pride, and the more prideful a person becomes, the farther away from God he goes. If a person really loves his brother or sister in Christ, then why would a person ridicule and debase them? What spirit says answer an insult with an insult? I don’t believe that it is the Spirit of Christ. Maybe the people who do that are not Christians at all, but rather children of the devil, still trying to divide the Body of Christ. I don’t know how to tell the difference, except by their actions.
 
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