What are some of the main reasons that people are attracted to the Protestant faith?

[Brophius]

Forgiveness…

If we are to truly believe that Christ died for our sins and that repentance of those sins will grant us forgiveness, we must also believe that upon repenting of those sins and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that we die to our selves and at that point become reborn in Him. This means that the sinfulness that we carry, those burdens that many denominations continue to place over humanity’s head are no longer valid. A divorcee, a murderer, any sinner can be forgiven and be allowed to sin no more because the God we serve, the one we all serve, loved the world so much that He sent His one and only begotten Son to die for us to wash away those sins… If we chose to hang on to those sins or to place that sin over people after that sacrifice was made and the repentance was given, we place ourselves higher than Christ as judge and jury and make His sacrifice worthless and anemic.

This is why people change from the Catholic mindset to the Protestant. Humanity cannot dictate the power of salvation no matter how long the tradition has held.

Our function is to go out into the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Somewhere along the way we have turned this into a turf war and everyone has laid claim to having the only ‘true’ way to get to heaven. The fact of the matter is Jesus Christ is the only TRUE way to get to heaven no matter how many arguments we start or differences we start to point out in our rituals and traditions. If we strip all the names, traditions, titles, denominational differences, etc… away, the questions will always come back to where we fruitful with the time God gave us? Did we spread the Good News to those around us? Were we the light to others? Did people see Christ in us? Have we lived our lives according to God’s will for us?

We are all sinners. We will all fall and will all need to ask for forgiveness over the course of our lives. It is good to know that God loves us and that because of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and forgotten…

Peace,

 

[Sy_Noe]

Not all Latinos are becoming Protestant; many of leaving the Church entirely or no longer affiliating with a parish. Here’s the start of the article:

Some mention catechism as the reason. In the same magazine with the above article is another article on catechism, specifically Luther’s Small Catechism and how this relatively concise catechism is so important to Lutherans. Of-course the article was in a Lutheran magazine so some CAF readers [specifically one Anglican] will likely discard it as biased and not “universal”]

No they’re not all becoming Protestant… I was merely replying to your post asking for any thoughts on those Latinos who are leaving the RCC for various Protestant denominations. Understand for purposes of RC CAF readers I was including TEC as Protestant.

 

[Sy_Noe]

Forgiveness…

If we are to truly believe that Christ died for our sins and that repentance of those sins will grant us forgiveness, we must also believe that upon repenting of those sins and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that we die to our selves and at that point become reborn in Him. This means that the sinfulness that we carry, those burdens that many denominations continue to place over humanity’s head are no longer valid. A divorcee, a murderer, any sinner can be forgiven and be allowed to sin no more because the God we serve, the one we all serve, loved the world so much that He sent His one and only begotten Son to die for us to wash away those sins… If we chose to hang on to those sins or to place that sin over people after that sacrifice was made and the repentance was given, we place ourselves higher than Christ as judge and jury and make His sacrifice worthless and anemic.

This is why people change from the Catholic mindset to the Protestant. Humanity cannot dictate the power of salvation no matter how long the tradition has held.

Our function is to go out into the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Somewhere along the way we have turned this into a turf war and everyone has laid claim to having the only ‘true’ way to get to heaven. The fact of the matter is Jesus Christ is the only TRUE way to get to heaven no matter how many arguments we start or differences we start to point out in our rituals and traditions. If we strip all the names, traditions, titles, denominational differences, etc… away, the questions will always come back to where we fruitful with the time God gave us? Did we spread the Good News to those around us? Were we the light to others? Did people see Christ in us? Have we lived our lives according to God’s will for us?

We are all sinners. We will all fall and will all need to ask for forgiveness over the course of our lives. It is good to know that God loves us and that because of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and forgotten…

Peace,

Brophius, welcome and thanks for posting your 1st post with your thoughts on the topic of this thread. Peace to you as well.

 

[EvangelCatholic]

Forgiveness…

If we are to truly believe that Christ died for our sins and that repentance of those sins will grant us forgiveness, we must also believe that upon repenting of those sins and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that we die to our selves and at that point become reborn in Him. This means that the sinfulness that we carry, those burdens that many denominations continue to place over humanity’s head are no longer valid. A divorcee, a murderer, any sinner can be forgiven and be allowed to sin no more because the God we serve, the one we all serve, loved the world so much that He sent His one and only begotten Son to die for us to wash away those sins… If we chose to hang on to those sins or to place that sin over people after that sacrifice was made and the repentance was given, we place ourselves higher than Christ as judge and jury and make His sacrifice worthless and anemic.

This is why people change from the Catholic mindset to the Protestant. Humanity cannot dictate the power of salvation no matter how long the tradition has held.

Our function is to go out into the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Somewhere along the way we have turned this into a turf war and everyone has laid claim to having the only ‘true’ way to get to heaven. The fact of the matter is Jesus Christ is the only TRUE way to get to heaven no matter how many arguments we start or differences we start to point out in our rituals and traditions. If we strip all the names, traditions, titles, denominational differences, etc… away, the questions will always come back to where we fruitful with the time God gave us? Did we spread the Good News to those around us? Were we the light to others? Did people see Christ in us? Have we lived our lives according to God’s will for us?

We are all sinners. We will all fall and will all need to ask for forgiveness over the course of our lives. It is good to know that God loves us and that because of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and forgotten…

Peace,

Good points and welcome

I read so often about how some Catholics view the “rules that one must obey” to be a part of the Church. Law and Gospel are critical for Christians to understand particularly the emphasis on our redemption in Christ.

 

[EvangelCatholic]

No they’re not all becoming Protestant… I was merely replying to your post asking for any thoughts on those Latinos who are leaving the RCC for various Protestant denominations. Understand for purposes of RC CAF readers I was including TEC as Protestant.

Understood

 

[Sy_Noe]

Very poor catechesis.

Yes this seems we know by posts to be the prevailing reason why Catholics here believe people are attracted to Protestantism. But something is troubling me in this regard. I know of a local priest in TEC who was a RC priest prior to leaving. From my understanding he is not the only RC priest to convert to TEC. Are we to assume then a RC priest was very poorly catechized?

 

[Isaiah45_9]

I think nearly all sizable colleges have Newman Centers, right?

Not sure. But… Are the centers reaching out for the students?

ETA: It’s been many moons since I was in College but… I remember Protestants reaching out, I have no memories of Catholics reaching out (Me included )

 

[EvangelCatholic]

Yes this seems we know by posts to be the prevailing reason why Catholics here believe people are attracted to Protestantism. But something is troubling me in this regard. I know of a local priest in TEC who was a RC priest prior to leaving. From my understanding he is not the only RC priest to convert to TEC. Are we to assume then a RC priest was very poorly catechized?

Agree. For example, the number of Lutheran pastors/ theologians entering the Catholic priesthood is an interesting contrast that can’t be attributed to catechetical weakness, in my opinion.

 

[JustaServant]

Very poor catechesis.

The older | get Steve the more I think there is more involved than poor cathechesis.
Young people are not joining mainline Protestant churches. They are joining the local Rockin’, Bible thumpin’ mega-church (or mega-wanna-be). A lot of that has to do with maturity. When I was young and rebellious, that kind of church fit the bill. But a quarter century later, the well runs dry and you want something with more substance. I really think maturity has a lot to do with it.
Another factor is culture. In our “melting pot” country, religion is no longer part of one’s culture, ethnicity or heritage. Where one goes to church has been separated from that.

 

[SoMissCatholic]

How about a church in my neighborhood that is closing. It went from around 800 parishioners to 250 since the year 2000. It is combining with another catholic church just a mile down the road. I was surprised. I thought numbers were steady, even rising in US.

I think it depends on the region of the country you are in. According to this article:

New data shows that some of the fastest-growing dioceses in the country are deep in the U.S. South.

The third-fastest-developing diocese is Atlanta, which saw the number of registered parishioners explode from nearly 322,000 in 2002 to 1 million in 2012 — an increase of more than twofold, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Atlanta also has the largest Eucharistic Congress in the country, with an annual attendance of about 30,000, according to an archdiocesan official.

Atlanta is not alone. Charleston, S.C., has seen a 50% increase in parishioners over the last decade. Charlotte, N.C., grew by a third, as did Little Rock, Ark. The Diocese of Knoxville, Tenn., established just 25 years ago, is now the 25th-fastest- growing diocese in the nation — and would rank near the top if those official figures counted as many as 60,000 unregistered Hispanic congregants, according to a diocesan official.

Dioceses like Knoxville stand in stark contrast to former Catholic strongholds like Boston and Philadelphia, where parish consolidations, school closures and dwindling priests are the norm.

“Instead of us closing parishes and closing schools, we’re doing the opposite. We’re in total growth mode,” said Deacon Sean Smith, chancellor for the Diocese of Knoxville.

When Knoxville was established as a diocese in 1988, it had 37 parishes. It has since added 14, including four mission parishes. It has also expanded three parishes, built a new high school and opened one middle-elementary school. Meanwhile, the number of parishioners has doubled.

. . .

The Southeast does not have a monopoly on exponential growth. Among the top 25 high-growth dioceses, nearly half are in the U.S. Southwest, stretching from Fresno, Calif., the second-highest-ranking diocese, to Laredo, Texas, the first. But there, Hispanic immigration is behind most of the growth, according to Mark Gray, a research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

In the Southeast, however, something different is happening. In a region where churches sit on seemingly every street corner and billboards belt out Bible verses and calls for repentance, local Catholics say they have found fertile ground for the renewal of the Church.

“Our Protestant brothers and sisters have done us a great favor. Talking about faith here in the South is like eating, breathing and sleeping,” said Randy Hain, a managing partner at Bell Oaks Executive Search in Atlanta and co-founder of The Integrated Catholic Life, an online magazine. “There’s an openness about faith here, which makes it easier to be open about your faith if you’re Catholic.”

There is no doubt that the number of Catholics has been shrinking in the Northeast. I’m not sure about the Midwest, but if I had to guess, I would imagine that it has probably been shrinking there as well. The Southeast and Southwest, on the other hand, have been growing. I’m not sure about the Northwest.

One other point in the linked article I wanted to comment on:

Smith, who grew up in Colorado, suggested that it is easier for Northern Catholics to take their faith for granted because most of their friends belong to the Church.

**“It doesn’t really challenge the Catholics there to know their faith as well or be able to explain it clearly,” added Lisa Wheeler, founder of Carmel Communications, a Catholic marketing firm in the Atlanta area.

But in the South, where they are a decided minority in a predominantly evangelical-Protestant population, Catholics must constantly defend their faith. As a result, they come to cherish it, Smith said**.

Having lived my whole life in the state with the highest per capita number of Southern Baptists in America and only 3% Catholic, I can say that the above definitely rings true for me. I always had to defend my faith growing up. Even so, though, my knowledge of the faith over the last couple of years has grown exponentially. So, even for someone who, out of necessity, had to know his faith in order to be able to defend it, looking back from where I am now, I don’t feel I was very “well catechized” then.

 

[SoMissCatholic]

Again, I will consider using any other number, other than “tens of thousands” if someone will give me the correct number of Christian denominations, and the source for this statistic.

I have no idea. And the “source” that lies behind the usual figures cited isn’t the answer, either.

Pick a number, of your own, without reference to internet references to 20-25-30-35-40 thousands. That’s been a chaining reference to the figures in the sources I gave, for 35 years.

Your figure is as likely to be correct, as anything I know of.

GKC

That’s what I’m sayin’.

Or so would mine, if I had one. But we would be forced to admit that we aren’t basing it on anything documented.

GKC

If you haven’t come across these before, the below articles offer some discussion of the World Christian Encyclopedia numbers and, in the third one, a specific list of 5,157 denominations.

philvaz.com/apologetics/a120.htm

philvaz.com/apologetics/a106.htm

philvaz.com/DENOMS.php

From the first link, if we take the numbers given for U.S. denominations at face value:

Number of U.S. Denominations

Catholic 1
Orthodox 60
Protestant 6,161

and consider that there are still 237 other countries that are not included in that calculation, then, to me, logic dictates that the true number, at a minimum, necessarily must be in the tens of thousands.

 

[GKC]

If you haven’t come across these before, the below articles offer some discussion of the World Christian Encyclopedia numbers and, in the third one, a specific list of 5,157 denominations.

philvaz.com/apologetics/a120.htm

philvaz.com/apologetics/a106.htm

philvaz.com/DENOMS.php

From the first link, if we take the numbers given for U.S. denominations at face value:

Number of U.S. Denominations

Catholic 1
Orthodox 60
Protestant 6,161

and consider that there are still 237 other countries that are not included in that calculation, then, to me, logic dictates that the true number, at a minimum, necessarily must be in the tens of thousands.

I am familiar with the subject, See my posts above. The problem is that, for reasons of their own, the survey counts any denomination in a given country as a separate denomination, as noted in the second link. Thus the RCC is counted as 236 “denominations” worldwide. So, of the 6161 protestant “denominations” listed for the US one would have to know how many of the survey’s total, worldwide, were repeated countings of the same “denominations”, counted in the US. As 236 of the worldwide total is, in fact, the RCC being counted in each country.

I have no idea what the actual, separate, distinct total would be. Pick a number. Won’t bother me.

GKC

 

[Sy_Noe]

I think it depends on the region of the country you are in. According to this article:

There is no doubt that the number of Catholics has been shrinking in the Northeast. I’m not sure about the Midwest, but if I had to guess, I would imagine that it has probably been shrinking there as well. The Southeast and Southwest, on the other hand, have been growing. I’m not sure about the Northwest.

I don’t know of course but I wonder if there is any correlation between religion and politics in this regard. For instance the Northeast generally speaking tends to be more liberal and the Deep South conservative. Catholics emphasize things like abortion and their opposition to SSM which would appeal more to conservatives than liberals. Don’t know if this could play a role but just a thought.

 

[Sy_Noe]

Agree. For example, the number of Lutheran pastors/ theologians entering the Catholic priesthood is an interesting contrast that can’t be attributed to catechetical weakness, in my opinion.

I wouldn’t think so either. Lutheran pastors I would imagine are well schooled in the Lutheran faith just as I would imagine Catholic priests are in theirs.

 

[dronald]

The older | get Steve the more I think there is more involved than poor cathechesis.
Young people are not joining mainline Protestant churches. They are joining the local Rockin’, Bible thumpin’ mega-church (or mega-wanna-be). A lot of that has to do with maturity. When I was young and rebellious, that kind of church fit the bill. But a quarter century later, the well runs dry and you want something with more substance. I really think maturity has a lot to do with it.

I don’t know if the Catholics here recognize this but making the Church sound immature “rockin bible-thumpin” makes it sound like those who are a part of said Church where rock music is prevalent must not be intellectual. I find that offensive as there are ways to speak of reasons a Protestant may go to said Church without demeaning the conduct within.

Another factor is culture. In our “melting pot” country, religion is no longer part of one’s culture, ethnicity or heritage. Where one goes to church has been separated from that.

Catholic style of worship is actually a by product of an old culture and not the “proper” way to worship, although it is one way and there’s nothing wrong with it.

There’s also nothing wrong with the Church going to Africa and playing worship music to the beat of a drum, or Gospel music in some of the black neighborhoods of the United States, or an electric guitar for those who like that sort of music. The CC wants to remain in the past, and that’s fine for some; there’s nothing wrong with it, but contemporary worship can not be downplayed; it’s just as important.

Psalm 150.

 

[dronald]

If you haven’t come across these before, the below articles offer some discussion of the World Christian Encyclopedia numbers and, in the third one, a specific list of 5,157 denominations.

philvaz.com/apologetics/a120.htm

philvaz.com/apologetics/a106.htm

philvaz.com/DENOMS.php

From the first link, if we take the numbers given for U.S. denominations at face value:

Number of U.S. Denominations

Catholic 1
Orthodox 60
Protestant 6,161

and consider that there are still 237 other countries that are not included in that calculation, then, to me, logic dictates that the true number, at a minimum,
necessarily must be in the tens of thousands.

So if “two different denominations” have the exact same beliefs but don’t know of each other, are they still different denominations?

 

[SoMissCatholic]

I am familiar with the subject, See my posts above. The problem is that, for reasons of their own, the survey counts any denomination in a given country as a separate denomination, as noted in the second link. Thus the RCC is counted as 236 “denominations” worldwide. So, of the 6161 protestant “denominations” listed for the US one would have to know how many of the survey’s total, worldwide, were repeated countings of the same “denominations”, counted in the US. As 236 of the worldwide total is, in fact, the RCC being counted in each country.

I have no idea what the actual, separate, distinct total would be. Pick a number. Won’t bother me.

GKC

I understand that they count each country separately, and certainly that should be taken into consideration; however, my point was that saying there are “tens of thousands” of protestant denominations is not just an arbitrary number, IMO. It is a reasonable estimation based on taking the numbers for one country and extrapolating it out based on the fact that there are still 237 other countries to consider. Even when discounting duplications, I don’t think it is unreasonable to conclude that the total number is in the “tens of thousands” at least. Taking a sample size and making an estimation about the whole based on that sample is a valid mathematical tool. They invented a whole field around it called statistics. Granted, I haven’t used any scientific statistical model to come to my conclusion, but I’m not trying to be precise either. I think a general estimation based on general data is a valid assumption in this instance, but that’s just me.

 

[SoMissCatholic]

So if “two different denominations” have the exact same beliefs but don’t know of each other, are they still different denominations?

Yes, because they operate under two different governing structures. Just as I would consider a catholic group that professed all of the same beliefs as the Catholic Church but was not in communion with the Pope to be a different denomination. Maybe that’s just me, but that is how I see it.

 

[dronald]

Yes, because they operate under two different governing structures. Just as I would consider a catholic group that professed all of the same beliefs as the Catholic Church but was not in communion with the Pope to be a different denomination. Maybe that’s just me, but that is how I see it.

I don’t see the big deal then.

If I opened an underground Church in China that has the same beliefs as mine back home I’m suddenly creating a new denomination?

 

[GKC]

I understand that they count each country separately, and certainly that should be taken into consideration; however, my point was that saying there are “tens of thousands” of protestant denominations is not just an arbitrary number, IMO. It is a reasonable estimation based on taking the numbers for one country and extrapolating it out based on the fact that there are still 237 other countries to consider. Even when discounting duplications, I don’t think it is unreasonable to conclude that the total number is in the “tens of thousands” at least. Taking a sample size and making an estimation about the whole based on that sample is a valid mathematical tool. They invented a whole field around it called statistics. Granted, I haven’t used any scientific statistical model to come to my conclusion, but I’m not trying to be precise either. I think a general estimation based on general data is a valid assumption in this instance, but that’s just me.

I have no idea if 10s of thousands is reasonable. It wouldn’t surprise me. But you cannot tell from the figures in the World Christian Trends/World Christian Encyclopedia anything specific.It is not that they count each country separately. It is that they count each denomination as a separate denomination, every time it appears in a country. 236 Roman Catholic Churches, in the total. If you have 40000 denoms, as counted by that system and, worse case, each of them appeared in every one of the 238 countries, you got 168 denoms. That would not be the case, but what would be the proper figures? Can’t tell.

Yep. I’ve heard of statistics. Got an A in undergrad stat, a B in graduate stat. Dang grad prof asked formula/theory questions, not problems, Been about 45 years ago, though. Not much left in the head.

GKC