Who is better? Protestant or Catholic

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I may be wrong but as I listened to Catholic Answers Live yesterday during the beginning of the second hour Karlos said that you don’t need to believe the pope’s revelations but you must believe the canon. I believe I have that correct.
 
Sheep4sale said:
So I’m a Protestant and believe while I can break the law I’m not held to the law, diplomatic immunity
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Hm, what shade of Protestant are you ?

John Calvin famously theorized what he saw as the three uses of the law :
  • the law as a mirror in which we see our own unrighteousness
  • the law as a curb keeping in check our evil urges
  • the law as a rule of life we should follow.
This is why, in the Calvinist tradition, the 10 commandments are reaffirmed in connexion with the confession of sins at the beginning of the Sunday service.

I don’t see where, according to the particular shade of Protestantism I have been educated in, you get a free pass.

By the way, you seem to have a quite utilitarian approach of religion based on whether or not it is easy on your sins. I don’t think this is either useful or healthy.
 
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I don’t like the phrase with ‘better’.
As a Catholic, I have the ‘benefit’ of going to confession to a priest.

First, Jesus gave us this gift, this sacrament.

Second, when a person makes the effort to go to a church, wait in line, get their thoughts organized, examine their life, it is showing concretely that they indeed wish to be washed in the Blood of the Lamb, Christ crucified for sinners. There is something very healing, very restoring, to put your sins down and come out of the confessional renewed and restored, to go back out to the world.

I became a Catholic in my 20s. I was so excited to go to confession! I really felt like I had the ear of Jesus right there. I received words of consolation and encouragement, and felt 20 lbs lighter when I came out. It is a gift!
 
Interesting I believe the first followers were called people of “the way” found in Acts.
 
Your post about “there really is no need to go to a priest to confess” is against Catholic teaching.
Catholics don’t believe that.

What is your point in bringing that up on a thread that seems to be about a different topic?
Are you actually looking for people to have a sola scriptura debate with you about it?
If so, it might be better if you started an on-topic thread.
 
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John 20:21-23. Jesus sent the Apostles (the first Catholic priests, who through the laying on of hands sent more Catholic priests, right down until today) to forgive sins on his behalf: and told them
“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”
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From the beginning, therefore, the Church Jesus founded (the Catholic Church) has provided the sacrament of Reconciliation (‘Confession’) wherein we penitents confess our sins, out loud, to one of Jesus’ priests. Yes, we all share in the ‘priesthood’ of Christ in a certain sense – but there is another sense in which those consecrated priests are (and have always been) set apart to serve Christ’s sheep in a special way. And he gave those specially set-apart priests (starting with the Apostles) the authority to both forgive sins – and to withhold forgiveness. These are Jesus’ own words. (And knowing whether to forgive, or whether to withhold forgiveness, requires hearing the confession out loud.) So from the beginning, the Church Jesus founded has understood Jesus’ words to require that a confession be made out loud, to one of the priests he gave authority to hear and forgive on his behalf. And this has been the consistent practice of the Church Jesus founded, from the beginning to the present day (and it will continue, faithful to Christ’s will).

Reconciliation through one of the priests Jesus authorized to serve us in this way, is a tremendous gift. I believe God deeply desires you to come home to His Church and receive this gift! 🙂 He showers His beloved with so many goods, and the Church he founded really is his bride. The Catholic Church Jesus founded is where the fullness of truth is found: where Jesus himself resides, in the Eucharist.

Maybe on top of asking questions online, you might see about spending some time in a Eucharistic Adoration chapel in your city? Just spending one-on-one time in the same room with Jesus himself? I know that had a profound effect on me during my conversion period, and helped me move forward in my understanding of the Lord.
 
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Ah, I see you are following the “Romans Road.” if you do not know this, the theology you have been taught is very new and disagrees with even Protestantism in the mainline Churches. Either those communities are wrong or those who taught you are wrong. Who decides? Our Lord, all of the Apostles, including Paul, taught, desire, even demand that we all agree. This is the elephant in the bible Christian living room. No one agrees, and no one judges. That can’t be right! Our Lord did not leave us orphans!

As well, Catholics are not prisoners of single verses. We accept the entire bible as a seamless whole, everything to be taken in the context in which it was spoken (and much later written down).

I am sorry that someone - who meant only the best for you - has taught you things that are not 100% correct. And, if you ponder this with a humble heart, is the genesis of your questioning.

You see, words are so easily twisted - the bible: God, via Saint Peter, tells us this so that we are careful. 2 Peter 3:16. And which writer is the most easily twisted?

Saint Paul! So, please be very diligent in determining what God intended for the men to speak and for other men to write down.
 
“Which is better”?

Define “better” please.

Protestantism is generally far far easier to believe because, simply put, there is far less to believe.
 
I don’t think you can say that Catholics and Protestants are better or worse than one another.

But you can say that the Catholic faith is better than the Protestant faith, because as we’re all fond of saying the Catholic faith is Christianity in its fullness. So if Catholicism is full, then Protestantism is only partly so.
 
Faith, and the justified state that it leads to, does not excuse man from the obligation to be righteous. Rather, faith is the means to true justice/righteousness for man simply because faith is the means or vehicle to communion with God, ‘apart from whom we can do nothing’, John 15:5.

The righteousness that God gives us at justification is real righteousness. What we then do with it is up to us and how we go on to live our lives with the help of His grace.
 
You are correct they believe it is one of seven sacraments. That being said, I don’t believe you/I must confess to a Catholic priest in order for my/your sins to be forgiven. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
 
You can believe what you want, but I don’t believe you are a Catholic and you are not making clear that what you’re saying is not a Catholic belief.

This forum, outside of the “Non-Catholic Religions” subforum, is a place where people come to get information on Catholic teaching. If you want to make a speech about beliefs that are not Catholic teaching, then you should make that clear so that someone seeking Catholic information here is not misled by someone posting about his or her personal, non-Catholic beliefs.
 
Sorry, I made it clear I my initial post that I am not a Catholic and I’m seeking to understand. I’m not trying to cause any trouble or mislead anyone I’m just simply trying to understand where I may be wrong. Please notice I say where “I may be wrong”, not you.
 
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Sorry for the misleading title. I don’t believe one is better than the other. I’m just trying to understand what Catholics believe about sin. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Isn’t that great!
 
I was born into a Presbyterian Faith, yet before
I was born, my Mother was baptized by immersion
while pregnant w/ me, so I am a Cradle to Grave
CHRISTIAN!! But difference aside, we are ALL God’s
ppl, just as the Divided Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
 
Catholicism is better because it is the ONLY religion that can trace it’s roots back to Jesus Christ!!! All the protestant denominations were invented by people. Think of Martin Luther, for example. He decided he didn’t like the Catholic Church, so he tried to “improve” it. We can’t just invent our own religion - that’ God’s job!!! Jesus HIMSELF - the Son of God - founded The Catholic Church! Whose religion are you going to follow? A person’s religion or God’s religion? I think we both know the answer to that question and I’ll be praying you make the right choice. I say - go for it!!! I hope this helps!!! 🙂
 
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