The protestants are actually members of the Catholic Church !?

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Good points, Steve.

The bottom line is that the Catholic Church has the full deposit of faith in Jesus Christ. We even name Christology a science.

The Church teaches us and nurtures us to grow deeper into the life of Christ, because Jesus Christ…not the ecclesiastics running it or the faithful of believers…Jesus Christ is the Life Source of the Church, not man.

One of the biggest hurdles for Protestants to overcome is to look beyond man, and interpretation, and to come to Christ…through those chosen by Him…but they are not an end in themselves.

We keep our eyes on Christ, we keep our heart and soul grounded in Him. We are always advised not to look too much on a person, even a priest…because all are human and all fail. Instead we are to come to the Church for Jesus Christ, to know the Truth of HIm, and to be nurtured in Him through the sacraments and enjoy and learn from the communion of saints who lived in many different eras and times and charisms…but always bearing the true fruit of Jesus Christ.
Sorry I missed this post, Kathleen. Very well said. This is something that I think a lot of people gloss over; the divine nature of the Church. It all comes down to the fact that this Church belongs to Jesus and there is not any man or woman, from within or from without, that can destroy it. Not even the gates of hell. This is something completely ignored by those who claim the Church went off the rails at some point and lost the truth.

We believe in infallibility because of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, not because of some great man. We believe that priests can forgive our sins because Jesus gave them that power, very specifically. We believe in the real presence because when God speaks it happens; God said let there be light and there was light and God said this is my body… this is my blood, and it is, regardless of one’s lack of faith in believing his words. We believe it because of the one who told us and when Christ asks if we will also leave we reply, with the Apostles, “to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life”.
 
=SteveVH;10248990]Sorry I missed this post, Kathleen. Very well said. This is something that I think a lot of people gloss over; the divine nature of the Church. It all comes down to the fact that this Church belongs to Jesus and there is not any man or woman, from within or from without, that can destroy it. Not even the gates of hell. This is something completely ignored by those who claim the Church went off the rails at some point and lost the truth.
We believe in infallibility because of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, not because of some great man. We believe that priests can forgive our sins because Jesus gave them that power, very specifically. We believe in the real presence because when God speaks it happens; God said let there be light and there was light and God said this is my body… this is my blood, and it is, regardless of one’s lack of faith in believing his words. We believe it because of the one who told us and when Christ asks if we will also leave we reply, with the Apostles, “to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life”.
I agree; well done both of you:thumbsup:
 
No, we are not. But catholics can become protestants, As Martin Luther gave an example in his commentary to Galathians (Section 4:30):
"So did Bernhard (of Clairvaux), man who was righteous, holy and chaste to such extent, that I think he can with good reason be called better than all the other monastics. Once, when he was very ill, and had lost all the hope of recovery, he did not base his hope on his celibacy, which he had kept with very pure mind, not on his good works, and the righteously fulfilled duties, which he had had many, but removed all this very far from his sight, embraced with Faith the Christ’s mediation and said: “Miserably I have lived, but You, Christ the Lord have the Kingdom of Heaven by double right: firstly because you are the Son of God, and secondly, because you have earned it by your passion and death. The first is yours as your bithright, the second you donate to me, not becuse of my works but by grace”
 
=Attejohannes;10300918]No, we are not. But catholics can become protestants, As Martin Luther gave an example in his commentary to Galathians (Section 4:30):
"So did Bernhard (of Clairvaux), man who was righteous, holy and chaste to such extent, that I think he can with good reason be called better than all the other monastics. Once, when he was very ill, and had lost all the hope of recovery, he did not base his hope on his celibacy, which he had kept with very pure mind, not on his good works, and the righteously fulfilled duties, which he had had many, but removed all this very far from his sight, embraced with Faith the Christ’s mediation and said: “Miserably I have lived, but You, Christ the Lord have the Kingdom of Heaven by double right: firstly because you are the Son of God, and secondly, because you have earned it by your passion and death. The first is yours as your bithright, the second you donate to me, not becuse of my works but by grace”
My friend,

WELCOME TO CAF!

What keeps being missed in this discussion is that there is NO; None’ Zip; Zerro thing after Baptism and mans sin that ALONE will merit ones salvation.

The CC; the Bible and Christ Himself teach that Salvation is a Process in which minimally; EACH of th following are absolutely essential.

Baptism John 3:5
[true; that is Christ taught and permitted]Faith Though Grace Eph. 2:8
Full and complete Obedience to All of the Commandments Mt. 19:17
“Good works” MEANING acts of charity

Use this site for easy look-up http://www.drbo.org/

1st. Cor.13: 1-14
Eph. 3:19
2nd. Thess.3:5
1st. Tim.1:5
Heb. 10:24
1st. Peter 4:8
1st. John 4:7
Rev.2:19

It’s an “all or noting sum deal”👍

God’s continued Blessings

weclcome!

pat/PJM
 
My friend,

WELCOME TO CAF!

What keeps being missed in this discussion is that there is NO; None’ Zip; Zerro thing after Baptism and mans sin that ALONE will merit ones salvation.

The CC; the Bible and Christ Himself teach that Salvation is a Process in which minimally; EACH of th following are absolutely essential.

Baptism John 3:5
[true; that is Christ taught and permitted]Faith Though Grace Eph. 2:8
Full and complete Obedience to All of the Commandments Mt. 19:17
“Good works” MEANING acts of charity

Use this site for easy look-up http://www.drbo.org/

1st. Cor.13: 1-14
Eph. 3:19
2nd. Thess.3:5
1st. Tim.1:5
Heb. 10:24
1st. Peter 4:8
1st. John 4:7
Rev.2:19

It’s an “all or noting sum deal”👍

God’s continued Blessings

weclcome!

pat/PJM
I remember having done in my whole life a single " good work", and that I then lost in one nanosecond.

I was doing my military service and by a stroke of luck got an easy and clean office job. One weekend, the whole company was ordered into a rather nasty outdoor drill. After giving the ordered, the Master Sargeant said to me: Well, you probably have so much to do in the office that you cannot atted. No Sir, I instinctively declared. I am completely free to atted the drill. The Sargeant looked at me astonished and said: Well, for that kind of honesty I ought to reward you, but by your own admission, into the detail you go. I had answered instinctively, and for a second, I congratulated myself: I am honest, what a fine chap I am!.And then I lost the good work and any eventual merit.

This was to illustrated the Lutheran view of works. They are a result of the Holy Spirit in a justified Person changing his Nature, making a bad tree a good tree producing good fruit. A tree does not decide or strive to make fruit, it does it because it is part of its nature. it cannot do anything else. Any work done on human initiative and with an intention to earn merit or contribute to one’s sanctification/salvation is actually a sin, however superficially good it looks.

I am quite certain that on the Day of Judgement the righteous are sincerely surprised, when they ask: Lord, when did we see You see hungry etc…? They cannot remember anything special. And vice versa, the damned are probably able to memorise many acts of charity that they did to make themselves ready for Heaven…
 
I remember having done in my whole life a single " good work", and that I then lost in one nanosecond.

I was doing my military service and by a stroke of luck got an easy and clean office job. One weekend, the whole company was ordered into a rather nasty outdoor drill. After giving the ordered, the Master Sargeant said to me: Well, you probably have so much to do in the office that you cannot atted. No Sir, I instinctively declared. I am completely free to atted the drill. The Sargeant looked at me astonished and said: Well, for that kind of honesty I ought to reward you, but by your own admission, into the detail you go. I had answered instinctively, and for a second, I congratulated myself: I am honest, what a fine chap I am!.And then I lost the good work and any eventual merit.

This was to illustrated the Lutheran view of works. They are a result of the Holy Spirit in a justified Person changing his Nature, making a bad tree a good tree producing good fruit. A tree does not decide or strive to make fruit, it does it because it is part of its nature. it cannot do anything else. Any work done on human initiative and with an intention to earn merit or contribute to one’s sanctification/salvation is actually a sin, however superficially good it looks.

I am quite certain that on the Day of Judgement the righteous are sincerely surprised, when they ask: Lord, when did we see You see hungry etc…? They cannot remember anything special. And vice versa, the damned are probably able to memorise many acts of charity that they did to make themselves ready for Heaven…
👍

Jon
 
. . .

It just seems to me that from this perspective no one should attempt to evangelize, not even Protestants, because there may be those that will reject it and therefore condemn themselves. Christ never avoided truth. He allowed 5,000 people to walk away from him after telling them that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. He did not run after them. He told the Apostles, concerning those who rejected them, to shake the dust from their sandals and move on. They did not have to first accept and then reject the Gospel.

If the Catholic Church is the one, true Church and does indeed possess the fulness of truth and those who hear this truth reject it, then it seems to me that they are in spiritual danger to the degree that they reject it.
Steve,
That would mean my salvation is at serious risk and I have condemned myself, since I know what the Catholic Church teaches.

Anna
 
Y It would apply to those Protestants today who were raised in a non-Catholic faith tradition and, through no fault of their own are ignorant of the Catholic faith. I’m not sure how it would apply to those on this forum who become well aquianted with the Catholic faith yet still reject it.
I believe its called being disobedient. In which, they would be purified in purgatory of such sin…
 
Open to helpful information. Can handle constructive insights. Our issue below
My husband and I have always been Catholic. We were married in the Catholic Church, our children were baptized and we raised them as Catholics. When my grandson was born 8 years ago, I pushed to have him baptized in the Catholic Church.

I was raised in California, my husband was raised in Wisconsin. We meet in California when I was 18 and he was twenty three. We stayed in California for the first 10 years of our marriage and since 1985 we have lived just north of Nashville TN. Our children are each in there 30’s.

My husband and I have been attending a wonderful, productive, stimulating Baptist Church. We both like the preacher, the fellow parishioners, the eagerness to help the community we live in, the music, the preaching, and I have got so much out of one small group that discussed being a Godly wife.

Last Sunday my husband went up when they asked who would like to accept Christ as your Savior. I was taken back and then I realized that my husband had done all he was told to do, but no one, including me, realized he had not developed the best part of being a Christian, a deep relationship with Jesus. And then I realized that we are not the only Catholics looking more. We are not the only Catholics needing more. We have attended Marriage Encounter, twice. We have both been on a criseo, and retreats. I listen only to Christian music. My husband leads us each day in our daily devotional, prayer both in the morning and night.

And than the church we grew up in has changed. Not from the Pope down but from the parishioners up. We now have married priests, we have less times for confession and we have less personal involvement with the parish as a whole. I have never believed I need anyone but Jesus to get me home, but in California, I always had a good relationship with the priests of our parish. When we moved to Tennessee we knew the Catholic population was less. I got to work for our church, but soon saw that church people can behave terribly.

We went to several different churches but we have not found one that we can be eager to attend.

My husband stated that he is going to ask specific question, but he does not want to lose his redemption, if he were to chose to attend the Baptist church.
 
Open to helpful information. Can handle constructive insights. Our issue below
My husband and I have always been Catholic. We were married in the Catholic Church, our children were baptized and we raised them as Catholics. When my grandson was born 8 years ago, I pushed to have him baptized in the Catholic Church.

Last Sunday my husband went up when they asked who would like to accept Christ as your Savior. I was taken back and then I realized that my husband had done all he was told to do, but no one, including me, realized he had not developed the best part of being a Christian, a deep relationship with Jesus. And then I realized that we are not the only Catholics looking more. We are not the only Catholics needing more. We have attended Marriage Encounter, twice. We have both been on a criseo, and retreats. I listen only to Christian music. My husband leads us each day in our daily devotional, prayer both in the morning and night.

And than the church we grew up in has changed. Not from the Pope down but from the parishioners up. We now have married priests, we have less times for confession and we have less personal involvement with the parish as a whole. I have never believed I need anyone but Jesus to get me home, but in California, I always had a good relationship with the priests of our parish. When we moved to Tennessee we knew the Catholic population was less. I got to work for our church, but soon saw that church people can behave terribly.

We went to several different churches but we have not found one that we can be eager to attend.

My husband stated that he is going to ask specific question, but he does not want to lose his redemption, if he were to chose to attend the Baptist church.
Riley,

Ask yourself several questions.

What is it you are leaving?

What is it you are getting?

What is it you want?

I ask you to get hold of the Audio Catechism USA for adults and listen to it. A small $42 investment before you make any decisions. Ask your husband to listen to it as well.

Did you know that the Catechism is divided into 4 parts?

**Profession of Faith. ** What we believe. There is a history behind this and the resultant Creed came by way of other than just a Sunday or Wednesday Bible study. These Bible studies take for granted what was professed and believed and how it came about.
We believe (I believe ) in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begottenSon of God, and born of the Father before all ages. (God of God ) light of light, true God of true God. Begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for usmen and for our salvation came down from heaven. And was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary and was made man ; was crucified also for us underPontius Pilate, suffered and wasburied ; and the third day rose again according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose Kingdom there shall be no end. And (I believe ) in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father (and the Son ), who together with the Father and the Son is to be adored and glorified, who spoke by theProphets. And one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We confess (I confess) one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for (I look for) theresurrection of the dead and thelife of the world to come. Amen."
Every Sunday we recite this and when you go to a Baptist ecclesial community you will renounce the belief in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and the baptism for the remission of sins, because Baptists sprang from the Anglicans, that departed from the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church, so in effect you are distancing yourself from the truths of the Faith.

Next

**Sacramental Life. ** We believe in living this Sacramental life and you will be giving this up as part of your denouncing that you believe in One Holy Catholic Apostolic Faith. There is no grace to be had in grape juice and bread via an ordinance of the lords supper. You will be distancing yourself from the grace of God and if that is what you want then that is what you should do.

Life in Christ. We are to model Christ and follow the commandments and you should realize that historically Protestants including Baptists have a checkered past concerning Pro life and Pro choice forces. If you believe that the Baptist history on abortion represents the Pilar and Foundation of Truth then by all means go Baptist. Whose responsibility is it to Model Christ? Is it based on ministries, bible studies, women’s groups, or any other organization? I always thought it was my responsibility and if you find that you and your husband lack something, is it perhaps recognition and understanding combined with effort? Monks in cloister, and people like John of the Cross find Christ, why can we not do the same?

**Prayer. ** We are to pray, in fact pray without ceasing. Do you find that Baptists have learned to pray in ways you have not explored, if so, learn to pray as you ought.

So, recall I asked you to question yourself…

What is it you are leaving?

What is it you are getting?

What is it you want?

Only you know…🙂
 
I remember having done in my whole life a single " good work", and that I then lost in one nanosecond.

I was doing my military service and by a stroke of luck got an easy and clean office job. One weekend, the whole company was ordered into a rather nasty outdoor drill. After giving the ordered, the Master Sargeant said to me: Well, you probably have so much to do in the office that you cannot atted. No Sir, I instinctively declared. I am completely free to atted the drill. The Sargeant looked at me astonished and said: Well, for that kind of honesty I ought to reward you, but by your own admission, into the detail you go. I had answered instinctively, and for a second, I congratulated myself: I am honest, what a fine chap I am!.And then I lost the good work and any eventual merit.

This was to illustrated the Lutheran view of works. They are a result of the Holy Spirit in a justified Person changing his Nature, making a bad tree a good tree producing good fruit. A tree does not decide or strive to make fruit, it does it because it is part of its nature. it cannot do anything else. Any work done on human initiative and with an intention to earn merit or contribute to one’s sanctification/salvation is actually a sin, however superficially good it looks.

I am quite certain that on the Day of Judgement the righteous are sincerely surprised, when they ask: Lord, when did we see You see hungry etc…? They cannot remember anything special. And vice versa, the damned are probably able to memorise many acts of charity that they did to make themselves ready for Heaven…
Jones,

I often do good works, I often am pleased with them. In maturity when I realize that I am doing something that is pleasing to God and that I get rewarded for it, tears well up in my eyes sometimes and I think…wow…look what I am allowed to do by the grace of God and look how loving the Father is who bestows his Fatherly joy in his child He is giving the ability to please Him…knowing that whatever I do, I do not do, and whatever I earn I have not earned without the grace needed to do it and with that in mind an understanding that on my own I can do nothning.

You may be missing out on some good works and the benefits God gives you. You should pay more attention to what you are doing…or rather whatever good you are doing by the grace of God…👍

or

You can keep thiniking you are a miserable wretch…your choice…🤷
 
Open to helpful information. Can handle constructive insights. Our issue below
My husband and I have always been Catholic. We were married in the Catholic Church, our children were baptized and we raised them as Catholics. When my grandson was born 8 years ago, I pushed to have him baptized in the Catholic Church.

I was raised in California, my husband was raised in Wisconsin. We meet in California when I was 18 and he was twenty three. We stayed in California for the first 10 years of our marriage and since 1985 we have lived just north of Nashville TN. Our children are each in there 30’s.

My husband and I have been attending a wonderful, productive, stimulating Baptist Church. We both like the preacher, the fellow parishioners, the eagerness to help the community we live in, the music, the preaching, and I have got so much out of one small group that discussed being a Godly wife.

Last Sunday my husband went up when they asked who would like to accept Christ as your Savior. I was taken back and then I realized that my husband had done all he was told to do, but no one, including me, realized he had not developed the best part of being a Christian, a deep relationship with Jesus. And then I realized that we are not the only Catholics looking more. We are not the only Catholics needing more. We have attended Marriage Encounter, twice. We have both been on a criseo, and retreats. I listen only to Christian music. My husband leads us each day in our daily devotional, prayer both in the morning and night.

And than the church we grew up in has changed. Not from the Pope down but from the parishioners up. We now have married priests, we have less times for confession and we have less personal involvement with the parish as a whole. I have never believed I need anyone but Jesus to get me home, but in California, I always had a good relationship with the priests of our parish. When we moved to Tennessee we knew the Catholic population was less. I got to work for our church, but soon saw that church people can behave terribly.

We went to several different churches but we have not found one that we can be eager to attend.

My husband stated that he is going to ask specific question, but he does not want to lose his redemption, if he were to chose to attend the Baptist church.
Riley, your question is simple.

Follow a Church established 2000 years ago by Jesus Christ with seven sacraments, including the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. A Church that holds the deposit of faith to be the bible …written by, for and about the same Catholic church and Tradition.

Or follow a Church established who knows when, led by a Pastor who will self interpret the bible…differently than the Pastor down the street…and likely will have only have two sacraments. One of which is baptism in which infant baptism is not practiced…contrary to scripture and Tradition.

Coptic is right. Why leave and what are you looking for?
 
Steve,
That would mean my salvation is at serious risk and I have condemned myself, since I know what the Catholic Church teaches.

Anna
Pen Name Anna,

Do you really and truly believe that the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ and is without doubt the one and only Church and that the OHCAC is composed of Orthodox, Catholic, and all baptized in the trinitarian formula?

Now that question requires that you accept all not just part…so can you answer…

I do believe all

or

I do believe part

let me know how you see this…🙂
 
Pen Name Anna,

Do you really and truly believe that the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ and is without doubt the one and only Church and that the OHCAC is composed of Orthodox, Catholic, and all baptized in the trinitarian formula?

Now that question requires that you accept all not just part…so can you answer…

I do believe all

or

I do believe part

let me know how you see this…🙂
Coptic, Coptic, Coptic,

No. If I truly believed all of that, I would swim the Tiber. :coolinoff:

Pen,
 
Coptic, Coptic, Coptic,

No. If I truly believed all of that, I would swim the Tiber. :coolinoff:

Pen,
Pen Name Anna,

Then I can conclude you know who I am for sure.

I can conclude that you believe part of what I posted.

I can conclude that you know where the Tiber is.

I can conclude you know how to swim.

I can conclude that you need to cool off as this may have caused distress and that in consideration of your question…
That would mean my salvation is at serious risk and I have condemned myself, since I know what the Catholic Church teaches.
knowing what I know and knowing what you know should cause us to think and believe to a greater or lesser extent what it is we know and in that regard the severity of your risk is less than you might imagine and perhaps no greater than mine and neither of us should consider condemnation as a personal act based on what you say.

Next I would ask you what do you think about your posting and if it causes you no distress then just smile…and I really don’t need you to tell me what you think about what you thought about your posting…🙂
 
Pen Name Anna,

Then I can conclude you know who I am for sure.

I can conclude that you believe part of what I posted.

I can conclude that you know where the Tiber is.

I can conclude you know how to swim.

I can conclude that you need to cool off as this may have caused distress and that in consideration of your question…

knowing what I know and knowing what you know should cause us to think and believe to a greater or lesser extent what it is we know and in that regard the severity of your risk is less than you might imagine and perhaps no greater than mine and neither of us should consider condemnation as a personal act based on what you say.

Next I would ask you what do you think about your posting and if it causes you no distress then just smile…and I really don’t need you to tell me what you think about what you thought about your posting…🙂
Say what?
 
Jones,

I often do good works, I often am pleased with them. In maturity when I realize that I am doing something that is pleasing to God and that I get rewarded for it, tears well up in my eyes sometimes and I think…wow…look what I am allowed to do by the grace of God and look how loving the Father is who bestows his Fatherly joy in his child He is giving the ability to please Him…knowing that whatever I do, I do not do, and whatever I earn I have not earned without the grace needed to do it and with that in mind an understanding that on my own I can do nothning.

You may be missing out on some good works and the benefits God gives you. You should pay more attention to what you are doing…or rather whatever good you are doing by the grace of God…👍

or

You can keep thiniking you are a miserable wretch…your choice…🤷
There are two ways to be happy over a good act. I can sincerely say something like: “I am happy, if I have been of any assistance”, when I have been in that priviledged position. I have been and am happy, when I sometimes have been instrumental for something good to happen or in the prevention of something bad to happen. But I flee from any idea that I would have ever done anything meritorius in the sense that it would put God under some kind of obligation (Luke 17: 7-10).

The other way is to bargain with God - if I now do this act of charity, look what a Good Boy I am, please keep this in your records. The Lutheran view is that this kind of a “good work” is a sin.

I have been reminded that a father specially loves an obedient child. I sincerely rejoice as a father, if my children behave well out of love and respect to me. I would have been very sad, if any of my sons would have got an idea of my love for them being conditional of their behaviour or, even worse, had I discerned a calculating spirit behind the (superficially) impeccable behaviour.
 
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