Which protestant denomination is most close in doctrine to the catholic church?

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Indifferently said:
Lutherans believe in sola fide. That is an entirely different from the doctrine of synergy/semipelagianism codified at Trent.
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And Sola Scriptura. Although they have one of the many varying definitions of the term, lol.

During my years of discernment, I almost converted to Lutheranism (LCMS). I could never reconcile neither one of these 2 things.

I think the closest ones are the High Church Anglicans and Episcopalians. And they are far ahead of the rest.
 
JamesTheJust said:
Maybe because slander is a sin in itself?

Hate the sin, love the sinner.
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I’m not making any judgments upon Luther’s soul. Nor is it the case that I want Luther’s soul to be damned for all eternity. That being said, I will not white wash him. I don’t think it’s charitable to all of the victims of Luther’s rhetoric, to pretend as if the things he said and did weren’t as malicious and destructive as they really were.
 
EphelDuath said:
I’m not making any judgments upon Luther’s soul. Nor is it the case that I want Luther’s soul to be damned for all eternity. That being said, I will not white wash him. I don’t think it’s charitable to all of the victims of Luther’s rhetoric, to pretend as if the things he said and did weren’t as malicious and destructive as they really were.
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A better word for it would be detraction. Certainly, the results of Luther’s sins are terrible, but this by no means gives us warrant to call him an evil or malicious persons.

We should hate the sins of Luther, but love Luther himself.
 
I don’t believe I’ve indicated the contrary? All I’ve objected to is the mischaracterization of Luther as a good-willed mostly Catholic guy that just had a few bumps with authority.
 
EphelDuath said:
I don’t believe I’ve indicated the contrary? All I’ve objected to is the mischaracterization of Luther as a good-willed mostly Catholic guy that just had a few bumps with authority.
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I don’t believe I’ve indicated that you did. 👍
 
To answer the question, the closest church to the one holy, catholic, and apostolic church as expressed in the LCMS is WELS. 😛

(ducks for cover)

To really answer the question, my opinion it’s a tie between High Church Anglicans, and High Church Confessional Lutherans - between the two, you have differing disagreements between but they seem about on par with each-other in their level of disagreement with the Catholic church.
 
AbideWithMe said:
Oh, sheesh, not again… that blog post full of quotes twisted out of context has already been gone over here ad nauseum. It’s like a Hydra. :rolleyes:
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Can you direct me to where these accusations are addressed, so that I can see them in their proper context? Thanks! 🙂
 
A Catholic walking into most Anglican/ Episcopal churches would probably feel right at home [kneelers, high altar, statues, etc.] and the worship is quite similar [sign of the cross, bowing, incense, bells]. A Catholic walking into some Lutheran churches would experience the same thing, especially in Europe.

It is ironic that some posters identify LCMS as the “most Catholic” Protestants. But that opinion is mostly due to the conservative nature of the Missouri Synod [strongly anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, only male clergy].

In terms of theological rapport, probably Lutherans are most in sync with Roman Catholics especially when one considers the findings of the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue and Joint Declaration on Justification.
 
When I was flirting with churches other than the Catholic Church some years back (for about 8 months), the folks that struck me as closest to Catholic teaching and doctrine were the Episcopalians, at least in this area (the Texas Panhandle).

I was less impressed with the Methodist church I attended with my then-gf. The power and authority in that church obviously lay with the members who were the richest; while all of them were nice people (to one extent or another), the richest members heavily influenced who got posted as pastors there by subtly offering or withdrawing financial support for this or that church venture or need.

The parents of my ex-gf put a lot of backing behind one of the young pastors that got transferred there, having him over to dinner a lot, sticking up for the causes that he favored, helping to fund certain mission trips to places like Costa Rica that he went on about, that kind of thing.

Some of the other elite in the congregation didn’t like him nearly as much, and through withdrawal of support for several things the church was doing, got him “fired”.

My ex’s parents left that church for another Methodist about two months later. 🤷 Apparently, status-quo was more important to them specifically than the worship aspects of their particular church.

This kind of jockeying and power-playing was one of the major facts that led me back to the Church.
 
AbideWithMe said:
The thread goes on for 52 pages, but post 53 on page 4 from Tertium Quid should help: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=822579&page=4.
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I’ve read two of the more interesting explainations for some of the quotes offered, and so far I have to say that it’s mostly polemic and claims that they’re being taken out of context while the larger context only softens the original quote ever so slightly at that.

And the quotes, as used, seem accurate for the most part.

For example, to paraphrase the response to Luther’s oft-cited claim that he can’t find anything in scripture to militate against polygamy, the cited website claims, and I paraphrase, that Luther said exactly that but concluded that he (Luther) personally is opposed to it.
 
FathersKnowBest said:
I’ve read two of the more interesting explainations for some of the quotes offered, and so far I have to say that it’s mostly polemic and claims that they’re being taken out of context while the larger context only softens the original quote ever so slightly at that.

And the quotes, as used, seem accurate for the most part.

For example, to paraphrase the response to Luther’s oft-cited claim that he can’t find anything in scripture to militate against polygamy, the cited website claims, and I paraphrase, that Luther said exactly that but concluded that he (Luther) personally is opposed to it.
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“Your first question: Whether person may have more than one wife? I answer thus: Let unbelievers do what they please; Christian liberty, however, is regulated by love (charity), so that all that a Christian does is done to serve his fellow-man, provided only that he can render such service without jeopardy and damage to his faith and conscience. Nowadays, however, everybody is striving for a liberty that profits and pleases him, without regard for the profit and improvement which his neighbor might derive from his action. This is contrary to the teaching of St. Paul, who says: ‘All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient’ (1 Cor. 6, 12). Only see that your liberty does not become an occasion to the flesh. . . . Moreover, although the patriarchs had many wives, Christians may not follow their example, because there is no necessity for doing this, no improvement is obtained thereby, and, especially, there is no word of God to justify this practise, while great offense and trouble may come from it. Accordingly, I do not believe that Christians any longer have this liberty. God would have to publish a command that would declare such a liberty.” - Luther
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Actually, it sounds more like he believes God would be opposed to it for Christians.

Jon
 
JonNC said:
Actually, it sounds more like he believes God would be opposed to it for Christians.

Jon
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Maybe so.

But he already explicitely said that he can’t find it prohibited in the Bible.
Thus showing that, although he professes sola scriptura, he doesn’t live by it.
 
FathersKnowBest said:
Maybe so.

But he already explicitely said that he can’t find it prohibited in the Bible.
Thus showing that, although he professes sola scriptura, he doesn’t live by it.
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No. He wouldn’t live by the caricature often presented about sola scriptura (even more tragic is that some non-Catholic groups actually practice that caricature). Luther, in the quote, presents a scriptural view that certainly a Catholic can nod at: he quotes Paul,
*“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient”. * Simply because something isn’t expressly prohibited doesn’t mean it serves well our fellow man. I’m sure upon contemplation we could come up with plenty.
It is not a violation of sola scriptura for our communion to hold the teaching against polygamy.

Jon
 
JonNC said:
:rotfl:

If one could rankle an SSPXer more than by calling him a protestant, I can’t imagine what that might be. 😛

Jon
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But, when you think about it, the SSPXers are Protestant! I mean, they ARE protesting!😃
 
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