Please try to understand that we Protestants really, sincerely do not believe that Jesus meant for us all to be Catholic in your use of the word. Make it a lower case ācā, and we can agree.Why not?Itās in the Bible.
In fact, the lower case ācā is what is meant by THE church. The catholic church is actually the Roman Catholic church name proper. Catholic is actually an adjective describing the church Christ founded as being universal. Proper names had absolutely nothing to do with it in Christās time. That is what the Bible says.
I think none are 100% correct. I realize that makes me an outsider here because the Catholics here are convinced that they are the only correct ones. I do not for an instant believe that. But I do believe that we are all making an attempt, and maybe someday we will all get together. But that isnāt in the near future, if ever.
NAMESAKE, did you miss the above post. As protestant for most of my life, I loved God but knew nothing of the beliefs of the catholic church. If I had left this world back then, I might have made it to heaven or purgatory. After decades of study of the Bible and realizing I could not find a protestant church that went along with the teachings, God blessed me with EWTN, and I began to learn what the catholic church taught. You might want to read about the early church fathers anything on the first few hundred years of the church. With what Iāve learned it would be a sin for me not to be catholic. As a protestant and not much on history, I did not and was never told that the catholic church gave us the Bible. I guess that is something they did not wish to discuss. May God lead you to the truth. God Bless.
I am an ex-cradle Catholic turned Protestant a few years ago. I studied the Catholic faith indepthly until I finally just could not get around the fact that the Catholic church is many man made schemes mixed together with Scripture and tradition to confuse folks into feeling and believing that the church is justified in all that it does. I had to look at the hard facts that Scripture pointed out that just didnāt parallel with the Catholic faith.
As many here have done, you have assumed that I have not studied enough. That is an error on your part. I have assiduously studied and have concluded by the representation on this web site that Catholicism is false. The people here are not good stewards of the Catholic church. The Catholic dogma, doctrines, traditions, are not reasonable within Christian thought.
Itās sad, but true. Unfortunately, the same could be said for many Catholics, who donāt know what the Church teaches, donāt know why they believe what they believe, or go against what the Church teaches yet still partake in holy communion. More and more Christians are seeing religion as a personal thing, creating a large disconnect between themselves and the body of Christ.
Just yesterday I spoke about this with one of my employees. She said that she goes to Mass occasionally, receives the Eucharist occasionally, and hasnāt gone to confession for a very long time. That isnāt an unusual thing in the population that I encounter.
Forgive me SIA, I humbly stand to differ, the teachings of the Catholic Church are not man made. The doctrines and teachings of the Catholic faith come from Jesus himself and the apostles. The Tradition comes from the apostles themselves, your dissagreement is with Jesus and the apostles Christianity, that Christ instituted the universal (Catholic) Church. I dont want to disagree with your Catholic formation as a Catholic. As far as Scripture is concerned the Catholic Church authorized and gave us the bible that you believe in, why would the Catholic Church teach something contrary to the bible that she (Catholic Church) approved?
My girlfriend hasnāt gone to confession since she was confirmed almost 10 years ago. She says she āhasnāt done anything too badā since then.
She gets mad when I try to explain to her what the Catechism says. Maybe she just asks God for forgiveness and lets sleeping dogs lie.I think the teachings of the Catholic church are man made. Thatās why I am a protestant.
Namesake, thank goodness for your patience, I would encourage you to keep listening, I believe your accusations are premature at this time, the reasonable thought of Christianity is found in those Christians who have given their life and testimony for the Gospel. If you check your history you will find they all followed and taught us the Catholic faith of which you are a part of.
That is a very gracious reply, and I am unworthy of your praise. Thank you for your kindness. More of that kind of response would be welcome and certainly more inviting than the harsh rhetoric that is so common here.
To be Protestant? what is it that you protest? I am curious, do you know the name of the person who founded your protestantism since the 16th century?
Not for sure. I was raised Methodist, very strict. My posting name derives from my great grandfather for whom I was named. He was a Methodist Bishop. He was a hell fire and brimstone preacher of the very old school. So maybe the Wesley brothers?
Why in the - never mind what - would you belong to an organization that doesnāt claim to be Christās Church, if your goal is to follow Christ? :whacky:
If they do choose God at their end, but hang onto some āvenial anti-Catholicismā, which describes I donāt know what, then they will BE in purgatory being purified of their veniality, in a state of discomforture directly proportional to how hard they are āhanging-ontoā their veniality.
So, you reject the Church because of the actions of people?
You are protestant because you prefer your comforts to truth.