Unity Among Christianity

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Maybee oneday we will have unity.The bible says, or rather St Paul says" we are all one in Christ Jesus". Whether we are protestant or Catholic we are all still christians!🙂
 
Scoobyshme said:
We have much more with our separated brethren than not, actually. We all believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God, in the Bible, heaven and hell, etc.

But I think the only way we can be truly unified again is to be unified in the whole truths of Christ, i.e., in the teachings of the Catholic Church which alone has the fullness of Christ’s Divinely revealed truths. Truth isn’t an abstract idea, it is a Person, Jesus Christ. Christ is the Truth, and He cannot be separated into parts. 🙂

I heard someone explain it in terms of math once. (I was a math major in college, so that made sense to me.) If I claimed to “love” and “believe in” math with my whole heart, but didn’t believe in addition, then I wouldn’t have any of the rest of math because addition is integral to it. 🙂

That being said, I think some of our separated brethren live the partial truth they have better than some of us Catholics live the whole truth we have. From whom much is given, much will be required. Yikes! :eek: 🙂
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I would say with some of us it’s more like how far do you want to divide pi by 2?😉
 
*Hello *Scoobyshme;
**
*
*But I think the only way we can be truly unified again is to be unified in the whole truths of Christ, i.e., in the teachings of the Catholic Church which alone has the fullness of Christ’s Divinely revealed truths. Truth isn’t an abstract idea, it is a Person, Jesus Christ. Christ is the Truth, and He cannot be separated into parts. *
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All the law and the prophets of God hang on the greatest commandments, they do not hang on the teachings of the Catholic Church.
If unity was to hang and depend on the greatest commandments, it would work.
How can we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?
How can we love Christians of other denominations, as we love ourselves?
After all, they are our neighbours.
Blessings
Eric
 
Patrick_Ambrose said:
I am Catholic and raised to believe in a unity among all Christianity. I’ve always spoke with others of other Christian churches and spoke of similarities. The main one? Christ crucified, died and rose from the dead for our sins. It’s interesting to me that we start there and then all of a sudden, in some case, conflicts are brought up. Then, the next thing I notice is that I’m attacked for things half truths of what I believe. So, I’d like to see how long this string can go without someone taking a jab at another Christian faith (or, for that matter, negativity toward any other religious group). I say, let’s try and keep this going and see where it leads. If you don’t have anything positive to say (even if it is a belief that is unlike mine); just move onto another site. But if there is something positive to say, please post it. Sound good?
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I thinks it a admirable goal, however as I read this thread I can see already the ‘attacks’ or allegations or negative spin on something, however you want to put it. This happens for several reasons, the best place to start it just to say we are all sinners. From that are our egos, our agendas, our sensiblities get involved and we base our interactions on these traits rather than charity (this includes me so I have to watch what spirit I am posting in)

I think that if you took a dozen Catholic and a dozen Protestants of average intelligence, natural curiousity and eagerness to learn things of church matters/theolgy etc, you sat them in a room with a couple scholars on Protestanism and Catholic - I don’t mean windbags who have mastered the art of volume and hyperbole, I mean actual well read theolgians, maybe a couple people from ND or BC and couple from Duke Divinity and Princeton Divinity. You take that set up and have 2-3 hr discussion about similaties and differences of our Churches, most would leave with questions asked they couldn’t answer, points that caused them to ponder their positions, and in the end maybe say well its possible the Protestants have a point, or the Catholics have a point. I am not saying leaving your ‘denomination’ I am saying maybe I didn’t have it figured out so neatly after all.

I hope this is not a bit of my post modernism trying to come out…🙂 but I do think we can learn from each other and agree on more than we disagree
 
waxwing said:
I thinks it a admirable goal, however as I read this thread I can see already the ‘attacks’ or allegations or negative spin on something, however you want to put it. This happens for several reasons, the best place to start it just to say we are all sinners. From that are our egos, our agendas, our sensiblities get involved and we base our interactions on these traits rather than charity (this includes me so I have to watch what spirit I am posting in)

I think that if you took a dozen Catholic and a dozen Protestants of average intelligence, natural curiousity and eagerness to learn things of church matters/theolgy etc, you sat them in a room with a couple scholars on Protestanism and Catholic - I don’t mean windbags who have mastered the art of volume and hyperbole, I mean actual well read theolgians, maybe a couple people from ND or BC and couple from Duke Divinity and Princeton Divinity. You take that set up and have 2-3 hr discussion about similaties and differences of our Churches, most would leave with questions asked they couldn’t answer, points that caused them to ponder their positions, and in the end maybe say well its possible the Protestants have a point, or the Catholics have a point. I am not saying leaving your ‘denomination’ I am saying maybe I didn’t have it figured out so neatly after all.

I hope this is not a bit of my post modernism trying to come out…🙂 but I do think we can learn from each other and agree on more than we disagree
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:hmmm:Really! Well, God bless us all anyway! Peace, Carlan
 
waxwing said:
I thinks it a admirable goal, however as I read this thread I can see already the ‘attacks’ or allegations or negative spin on something, however you want to put it. This happens for several reasons, the best place to start it just to say we are all sinners. From that are our egos, our agendas, our sensiblities get involved and we base our interactions on these traits rather than charity (this includes me so I have to watch what spirit I am posting in)
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Yes. Every statement to the effect that “the Catholic Church is the only true church” is a blatant and naked jab at the Orthodox. But back to unity and cross pollination-- I have found a great deal of good in Luther and Wesley. Read the part about the Ten Commandments in Luther’s “Large Catechism.” It’s fantastic. And read Wesley on soteriology. As far as I can tell he’s reciting the Roman Catholic teaching. (He was a high-church Anglican, you know.)
 
Where i live we have a “Forge” group it is a non denominational Christian mens group.
We get together once a month sing, share a word or inspiration. The protestants normally share on a bible passage and the Catholics from a book from their favourite religious writer.
We make prayers of intercession and so on.

Everyone seems to have a great time and no conflicts. I doubt an outsider would ever know we are from different denominations.

People who think such things would be hard or troublesome might have issues they need to sort out at a personal level with G-d.
 
scottm said:
Yes. Every statement to the effect that “the Catholic Church is the only true church” is a blatant and naked jab at the Orthodox. But back to unity and cross pollination-- I have found a great deal of good in Luther and Wesley. Read the part about the Ten Commandments in Luther’s “Large Catechism.” It’s fantastic. And read Wesley on soteriology. As far as I can tell he’s reciting the Roman Catholic teaching. (He was a high-church Anglican, you know.)
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No, every statement to the effect that Catholic Church is the only true Church is a statement of truth.
 
That’s divisive, dude, and you know it.
Opening post. See the opening post.
 
scottm said:
That’s divisive, dude, and you know it.
Opening post. See the opening post.
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Dominus Iesus.
…
The Catholic faithful are required to profess that there is an historical continuity — rooted in the apostolic succession — between the Church founded by Christ and the Catholic Church: “This is the single Church of Christ… which our Saviour, after his resurrection, entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care (cf. Jn 21:17), commissioning him and the other Apostles to extend and rule her (cf. Mt 28:18ff.), erected for all ages as ‘the pillar and mainstay of the truth’ (1 Tim 3:15). This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in [subsistit in] the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him”. With the expression subsistit in, the Second Vatican Council sought to harmonize two doctrinal statements: on the one hand, that the Church of Christ, despite the divisions which exist among Christians, continues to exist fully only in the Catholic Church, and on the other hand, that “outside of her structure, many elements can be found of sanctification and truth”, that is, in those Churches and ecclesial communities which are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church. But with respect to these, it needs to be stated that “they derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church”.
  1. Therefore, there exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him. The Churches which, while not existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church, remain united to her by means of the closest bonds, that is, by apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist, are true particular Churches. Therefore, the Church of Christ is present and operative also in these Churches, even though they lack full communion with the Catholic Church, since they do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the Primacy, which, according to the will of God, the Bishop of Rome objectively has and exercises over the entire Church.
    …
    [bibledrb]Luke 12:51[/bibledrb]
 
An observation.

First, as an individual who has moved around in fundamental/conservative/evangelical protestant circles in addition to having some exposure to the “liberal” maineline protestant groups, I can say that there are few in those circles who make unity with Rome a real priority. The only place that there is really any interest from my vantage point is in the mainline wing.

Unity, from what I can see is being held up by only one thing and that is the refusal of protestants (and or Orthodox) to embrace the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. If correct, the only way to achieve unity would be for each and every professed christian to convert to the Catholic Church. To put it another way and make it personal, If I had a strong desire to see unity, as defined by the OP, I would simply become a Roman Catholic.
 
Jon_Hus said:
An observation.

First, as an individual who has moved around in fundamental/conservative/evangelical protestant circles in addition to having some exposure to the “liberal” maineline protestant groups, I can say that there are few in those circles who make unity with Rome a real priority. The only place that there is really any interest from my vantage point is in the mainline wing.

Unity, from what I can see is being held up by only one thing and that is the refusal of protestants (and or Orthodox) to embrace the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. If correct, the only way to achieve unity would be for each and every professed christian to convert to the Catholic Church. To put it another way and make it personal, If I had a strong desire to see unity, as defined by the OP, I would simply become a Roman Catholic.
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It’s across the board, not just mainline Protestants. Many do come into communion with the Church, but not necessarily into the Latin rite.

The Coming Home Network International
 
Okay, let’s keep trying here because there’s a lot of people seeing the negative and feeling people pulling a part as they go their separate ways:

If you look for negative, you will find it. But, if you look for positive, you will find it.

I say this because when someone from another denomination hears “Catholic Church has the fullness of knowledge of Christ”, what they can hear very easily is “There they go again, pulling their, we’re better than you”.

However, if you look at it a little differently as to, WHY is it stated; then go from there to get to the truth, you can actually look into understanding the reasoning behind the statement. By doing this, the misunderstandings can fall away for you and those who are making the statement and, in fact, are confused by it’s meaning themselves gain understanding and this is a win-win situation.

Seek and you shall find.
 
Jon_Hus said:
So basically, you are, in a very nice way, saying, that I’m uninformed?
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🤷 I know the non-Catholic clergy coming into communion with the Church are from all different backgrounds, not just mainline Protestantism.
 
Patrick_Ambrose said:
…I say this because when someone from another denomination hears “Catholic Church has the fullness of knowledge of Christ”, what they can hear very easily is “There they go again, pulling their, we’re better than you”.

However, if you look at it a little differently as to, WHY is it stated; then go from there to get to the truth, you can actually look into understanding the reasoning behind the statement. By doing this, the misunderstandings can fall away for you and those who are making the statement and, in fact, are confused by it’s meaning themselves gain understanding and this is a win-win situation…
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My friend Patrick,

Consider if you will your reaction to a protestant Bible believer who might use the same arguement to express his/her feelings as to why the unity Catholics desire so much could not be achieved by Catholics changing their minds about protestant beliefs.
 
Jon_Hus said:
My friend Patrick,

Consider if you will your reaction to a protestant Bible believer who might use the same arguement to express his/her feelings as to why the unity Catholics desire so much could not be achieved by Catholics changing their minds about protestant beliefs.
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What exactly are Protestant beliefs?
 
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