What do Protestant really believe about the Catholic Church?

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Honestly, until my son started to get serious with a Catholic girl I never thought much about the Catholic church. What I knew came from movies, books, TV and news reports. The Southern Baptist church that I was raised in rarely mentioned Catholics or any other Christian churches. The attitude was more of “Here is what we believe” instead of “Here is what we believe and why everyone else is wrong”.

That plus the fact that the ratio of Evangelical/Protestant to Catholic in my area is probably 500 to 1. When that is the case Catholicism never really crosses my radar. My future daughter in law’s family is the only family in my area that I know personally that is Catholic. There is one mid-sized Catholic church in our city compared to an uncountable number of other Christian churches.
 
Augustinian said:
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TC3033:
We didn’t even know about the whole Catholic vs. Non-Catholic thing until trying to get married.
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I think you are not alone among young people , a lot of people aren’t as well informed about religion as they were in the past.

Among our protestant friends, a lot of them just don’t see much importance in doctrine and just don’t have that much knowledge about.
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Spot on. I think the vast majority of n-C’s view the Catholic church down the street like any other church.
 
I think people’s attitude to this really varies depending on where you go. My theory is that because the US is more religious individual denominations have the luxury to be snobby about other Christians. In more secular countries you are more likely to be pleased to meet another practicing Christian.
 
I’m a non-denominational Christian. My perspective may not be so broad, but the Christians and Protestants I know have a deep respect for Catholicism and I admire my Catholic friends for their deep, unwavering faith and the strength that’s so evident within their families. I think the difference in our belief systems is the only divide. Justification by faith alone, the ability to go directly to the Father w/o seeking absolution through a Priest, and worshipping & venerating God alone (although we value the incomparable role of the Virgin Mary), are the main differences in our theological stances. Some people have a problem with ecumenical and liturgical traditions of the Catholic church. I believe that if the Lord is present in it, or the practice brings one into a deeper relationship with Him, then it is subjectively beneficial.
 
I think the video is a misrepresentation of reformers being the first, or bringing something new. Yet I wonder just how that might have been said of Jesus by Israel’s spiritual leaders, that He was going against the 1500 years of status quo truth that had built up since Moses and Abraham.
 
With the largest Lutheran And Catholic Churches downtown were I live.
We are rivals we share a parking lot because the city is under “downtown renovation” so with the Catholics at 8 930 and 11 and we are 745 930 and 11 it gets pretty tough to find a parking spot.
 
Dhc8_Type said:
With the largest Lutheran And Catholic Churches downtown were I live.
We are rivals we share a parking lot because the city is under “downtown renovation” so with the Catholics at 8 930 and 11 and we are 745 930 and 11 it gets pretty tough to find a parking spot.
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lol. It is all the pope’s fault. 😁
 
It could be the Catholic Church is 110. We’re
119.
 
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po18guy said:
Since during the “reformation”, the term has become impossible to define with precision. However, I find several things very curious. All explicitly trust the bible (91% of it/66 books) to be the inspired (written) word of God. OK so far. But, many of those denominations also believe that the Catholic Church is:
  1. The whore of Babylon.
  2. Was founded by Emperor Constantine in the 4th century.
  3. The Pope is the antichrist.
  4. Fell into complete apostasy early on.
  5. And various other myths, distortions and outright lies.
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Above is the post you responded to with this;
larrymoe said:
There is more like the 2 commandment changed so idolatry is accepted.
Sabbath worship eliminated changed to 1st day.
Deut. 13. Pray to Mary and saints for greater spiritually power
And the list goes on
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While @po18guy has some exaggerations in his list, yours simply deserves rebuttal.
The key here is the Reformation era that po references.
#The numbering of the commandments: Lutherans number them essentially the same as Catholics, particularly 1-8. So, no, this was not an issue for the original “Protestants”.
#On the sabbath issue. I am not aware of any Reformation era group that rejected Sunday worship. If you know of one please reference.
#The issue Lutherans had was not invocation in and of itself, but the requirement of it. No command, promise, or example, is what they said. This, along with the indulgences controversy.

Now, if you weren’t talking about the Lutherans, being more specific might help, as it would with po’s , since his 2 and 4 were never taught by Lutherans (what communion could teach these and still confess the creeds, and have Constantine in their calendar).
As for his 1, not a teaching of Lutheranism, and number three is often distorted here into something it is not for Lutherans.
 
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A true Protestant main goal is to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to all nations for the salvation of their souls. Protestants say the Catholic Church fails in doing this, causing millions to to end up in hell for not truly repenting of their sins and living for Christ.
 
Well from a non Catholic perspective the Catholic Church down the street is just another Christian Church. Albeit one that’s a bit more formal than others.
 
I was baptized Catholic as a baby but was raised Baptist. In my household, #2 probably would’ve not made the list, but yeah. Mom’s Catholic, & Dad made sure his beliefs reigned - quite hostilely, I might add…He called me up long-distance to make sure I knew of his displeasure at deciding to enter the Catholic Church, gave me a thorough chewing out - despite me already being 50* yrs old, & I hung up on him. You now have a brief snapshot of what my childhood was like…
 
larrymoe said:
I’m not looking at a Reformation era group.
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Okay, but that was exactly what you were responding to.
larrymoe said:
As a educated catholic .and a bible college graduate.
The simple truth of the changed 10 commandments Is well known.
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I’m currently a continuing Anglican. We use that “changed” version, and no one would accuse us of being iconoclastic.
Are there some that way? Sure. Be specific.
larrymoe said:
The Lutheran version is known as catholic lite.
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I don’t think there’s anything lite about the Lutheran version. It is Catholic and catholic.
 
EvangelistVictor said:
A true Protestant main goal is to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to all nations for the salvation of their souls. Protestants say the Catholic Church fails in doing this, causing millions to to end up in hell for not truly repenting of their sins and living for Christ.
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Which Protestants?
As a life long Lutheran turned Anglican, I find the bolded outrageous.

As a follow up: one might say the same about churches that reject the means of grace found in the sacraments. One might say that the rejection of private confession denies individuals the opportunity to confess but also hear Absolution, the loosing of sin, as Christ provided the Church the power to do in His stead.
 
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kainosktisis said:
I was baptized Catholic as a baby but was raised Baptist. In my household, #2 probably would’ve not made the list, but yeah. Mom’s Catholic, & Dad made sure his beliefs reigned - quite hostilely, I might add…He called me up long-distance to make sure I knew of his displeasure at deciding to enter the Catholic Church, gave me a thorough chewing out - despite me already being 50* yrs old, & I hung up on him. You now have a brief snapshot of what my childhood was like…
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While not minimizing your experience, it is anecdotal. I’m sure it happens in all kinds of settings, including when a Catholic becomes Anglican or Lutheran or Evangelical.
 
True. Heck depending on the choice of service the ‘79 BCP service can be far more formal than an Ordinary Form Catholic Service.
 
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