Just coming in at the tail end of this thread, and wondering sadly
at the neverending rift between Protestants and Catholics.
What kind of question is that, leading off this thread?
“Where do protestants belong?” Are you kidding me? The place for them
is the place for any repentant sinner confessing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior: Heaven.
Thank you, Bartolome, for getting it out there in your post.
The deep doctrinal differences that separate Protestants and Catholics are well known.
These differences are irreconcilable, but they need
not actually separate the groups from their common ground which is, in fact, Jesus Christ.
Protestants don’t need to be “converted”, any more than Catholics do, as long as they are
clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.
This discussion is somewhat constructive, but ultimately disheartening, as I have seen so few on the thread actually exulting in Jesus Christ, as the glorious shepherd of all believers.
Instead, it is the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) that is being exalted, especially by the
likes of CMP2.
Contributors talk about coming “home” to Rome, but Rome is not our home, Heaven is.
God’s grace is not “infused” to us by the earthly institution of the church, but is rather
a spiritual gift from God, a transaction made by faith. Why is someone like CMP2 so
jealous for the Roman Church? What is this strange allegiance to a “line of succession”?
Is not Jesus our Great High Priest, and our intercessor?
The RCC is certainly a glorious institution, and a wonderful community for a billion believers.
But I really think this forum should get away from the denominational flouting that is
so common in these posts, and get on with the work of the church, which is, the exaltation
of Jesus Christ. Not the Pope, not Rome, not the Eucharist, not Mother Teresa, not the Blessed Virgin. Jesus.
I liked most of what the writer above wrote. The writer above is so correct in that the Mercy of God and the Graces of God are not controlled by any religious institution on earth. The bishops and the popes for the last 40 or so years have been emphasizing this point over and over again, yet a sort partisanship for the RCC still prevails among many enthusiastic Catholics, a partisanship that eerily reminds one of the fanaticism one sees with certain sports fans for “their” team.
However, I wish the writer above had not singled out a particular contributor, however.
Also, I believe the write above perhaps goes a bit too far in speaking of the RCC as if it were just another Christian denomination.
Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict speak and write of the “hermeneutic of continuity” regarding how a Catholic should handled the new and revised doctrines promulgated at the Vatican II Council and afterwards. One doctrinal point for which there is major continuity is that the Catholic Church is the only church that has the fullness of the teachings of Christ (magisterium) and the fullness of the ordinary means of grace (sacraments).
So, though non-Catholic Christians acting in good faith with the teachings and means of grace that they have can attain holiness and eternal life with God as easily as any Catholic acting in good faith with the teachings and means of grace that they have, it is still not correct to say that there is nothing essentially different between the RCC and another Christian group.
All Christian groups are valuable and effective means to salvation of many souls, as the Vatican II Council taught, and as Blessed John Paul II taught.
And, there is no general need for non-Catholic Christians to convert to the RCC, in order for them to have a better chance of gaining eternal life or personal holiness. Every RCC bishop in the world would agree with that statement, I believe.
Yet, God does want all Christians to be united. Thus, the RCC has its “new evangelization,” which forbids threatening Protestants with Hell or Purgagory if they fail to convert to the RCC. But, at the same time, the RCC’s main effort to unite all Christian together is through its Ecumenical endeavors. Blessed John Paul II said over and over again that promoting Christian Unity through Ecumenical study meetings, prayer meetings and so forth was one of the top priorities of his long pontificate.
How are my teachers? I study:
–The Holy Bible (Jerusalem Bible edition; not “The New Jerusalem Bible”)
–The documents of the Second Vatican Council.
–The Catechism of the Catholic Church
–Writing and speeches of Blessed John Paul II
–Writings and speeches of Cardinal Ratzinger/Benedict XVI
I try to based everything on the above sources. I shy away from various theologians and apologists who purport to interpret these sources above for the average Catholic. I find that instead of summarizing and explaining, they are often distorting things and being very selective, imposing their own agenda on people, leaving them misinformed.
Oh boy. That was long. So, in sum, I generally liked what the write above wrote!
The ones I now know are so kind, open and giving. It just took meeting the right person.
