T
TULIPed
Guest
And vice versa brother. The most selfless person I know is a Catholic. He’s an example of Christ to me. Thanks for the kind words.
- Status
E
Episcopalian
Guest
I’m Episcopalian, which markets itself as being the middle way between Protestantism and Catholicism…I’ll still answer anyway 
Theologically, I don’t think transubstantiation is actually what’s going on. I think the Eucharist maintains being bread and wine but becomes a focal point for God, as opposed to actually God, or more the more Protestanty just a symbol of Him.
I also felt that that the truly zealous were far too pompous and unreasonably self assured with wrapping themselves up in that “fullness of faith” concept that floats around in the Catholic circles I used to be a part of. No one truly knows anything until they see Him, so why bother pretending and hurting others who gasp may have it right even though it’s not Catholic?
The best part is that the Anglican Communion allows for a wide variety of worship styles each Sunday. One church I attend is in the Tridentine rite, my home parish is a High Mass with deacons and sub-deacons, another down the street is a standard Vatican II style, and another a city over is praise and worship with a loooong sermon and a few readings.
I go to whichever parish I feel like worshipping in that week
Theologically, I don’t think transubstantiation is actually what’s going on. I think the Eucharist maintains being bread and wine but becomes a focal point for God, as opposed to actually God, or more the more Protestanty just a symbol of Him.
I also felt that that the truly zealous were far too pompous and unreasonably self assured with wrapping themselves up in that “fullness of faith” concept that floats around in the Catholic circles I used to be a part of. No one truly knows anything until they see Him, so why bother pretending and hurting others who gasp may have it right even though it’s not Catholic?
The best part is that the Anglican Communion allows for a wide variety of worship styles each Sunday. One church I attend is in the Tridentine rite, my home parish is a High Mass with deacons and sub-deacons, another down the street is a standard Vatican II style, and another a city over is praise and worship with a loooong sermon and a few readings.
I go to whichever parish I feel like worshipping in that week
H
Hodos
Guest
Disagree. I am not aware of any Christian denomination who doesn’t revere Mary as blessed.
W
whatistrue
Guest
Try the Church of the Nazarene. Maybe some others in the Wesleyan Holiness tradition; not sure. They believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary when the Holy Spirit came upon her. Not much else mentioned in normal services or study, and no real mention of being blessed or of reverence.
H
Hodos
Guest
I am unfamiliar with these traditions. I think however, if you asked them what their view of Mary is, I think they would agree that Mary was the instrument through which the Word was made flesh for the salvation of mankind. I think on this point, the issue is not whether one holds Mary in high esteem, but what the definition of proper reverence is between denominations, particularly in terms of acts of religious devotion.
Last edited:
W
whatistrue
Guest
I grew up in the Church of the Nazarene. It would be rare to hear Mary even mentioned more than a couple of times a year in passing; primarily around Christmas. Yes, they admit (it appears somewhat reluctantly from my experience) that Mary gave birth to Jesus, but no mention of being blessed and no reverence to speak of. Yes, (kind of) special for giving birth to Jesus, but basically just another woman.
H
Hodos
Guest
That would probably reflect what scripture actually says though. If you follow a lectionary reading schedule (not sure if Church of the Nazarene does), you wouldn’t expect to hear many homilies on Mary outside of the birth narratives of Christ.
W
whatistrue
Guest
Not really. The Annunciation is there, but Mary herself is treated almost as an afterthought. The Visitation is rarely mentioned, if at all. Mary’s part in Cana is played down. I had never heard of “…behold your son…behold your mother…” before marrying a Catholic. And so on. My recollection is that Joseph got more “pulpit time” than Mary, even though he vanishes early on.
They most decidedly do not. The preacher picks the text and builds a sermon around it, and that sermon is easily 50+ percent of the time spent in a Sunday service. Yes, the texts selected for the time around Easter and Christmas are typically chosen to reflect the season but that’s about it. One could easily go to every Sunday service available for 5-10 years and hear some parts of Scripture multiple times and some other parts never.
ETA: That should just about do it for me. You should now be aware of at least one Christian denomination which has no significant reverence for Mary or consider her especially blessed. I am sure there are others, but this is the one I have personal experience with.
Last edited:
Q
QuietKarlos
Guest
They don’t really hold her in any high regard though. And we call our lady ‘the blessed mother’. Protestants treat her as if she’s not a big deal in their lives, which I feel does not fill the propehcy that all generations will call her blessed. And I’ve never heard a Protestant used the word blessed or any similar word to describe the Virgin Mary. I could be wrong here, though but I really don’t think Protestants fulfill this statement.
M
Maximian
Guest
As an ex Protestant who at one time objected to the Marian devotions, my former objections to the Marian devotions were:
A. The dead can’t hear us. So praying to them, even to Mary, is vain
B. Christ’s passion is sufficient for all needs, so again, devotion to Mary is vain.
C. It wasn’t part of Christ’s nessage to invoke his mother.
I changed my mind because
A. At the Transfiguration Jesus showed us that the dead can hear us
B. Christians are enjoined to pray for one another. Mary as a Christian naturally prays for people who ask her to, as any good Christian would
C. One of the last things our lord said on the cross was “behold thy mother”. I do not believe that the Son of God’s words at a moment like that can be taken as holding less than cosmic significance.
Last edited:
T
TULIPed
Guest
Ok. Enough is enough. I can’t take it any more!
I’d appreciate it if you could please make your generalizations more sweeping from now on. Cheese and rice, we’re getting waaaaaay to lazy with our hip shooting folks. Let’s stay frosty.
Carry on.
H
Hodos
Guest
So, as I stated earlier, what we are seeing here is a matter of opinion based on your tradition. You expect that Protestant denominations treat Mary differently than she is treated in scripture. This is what I was referring to when I said we probably have differences in what we would consider to be appropriate devotional practices given what scripture says. When you begin your statement with “I feel…” that sort of gives up the game.
D
dscath
Guest
Most are what they are based on family upbringing…most if born into Catholic families remain Catholic, and the same is true for Protestants.
What faith tradition were you born into?
I notice you say you are a Catholic teen…are you Catholic because you were born to a Catholic family, or were you born in another faith tradition and came into full communion with the Catholic Church of your own accord?
What faith tradition were you born into?
I notice you say you are a Catholic teen…are you Catholic because you were born to a Catholic family, or were you born in another faith tradition and came into full communion with the Catholic Church of your own accord?
Q
QuietKarlos
Guest
Thanks for asking. Here is my story of conversion and stuff: part 1:
Growing up we went to mass sometimes but when I was maybe 8 we kind of stopped going, except for Christmas and Easter. I did get baptised and made my communion and confirmation though.
My older brother started practicing the faith a year or maybe even 2 years before I came to the faith although he never really said anything to me that would have made me come to the faith. Maybe he prayed for me or something idk. My family started going to mass when my brother started practicing may I add.
One day my religion teacher in school (a devout Catholic although the school isn’t really that Catholic) showed us this video explaining new death experiences and I thought, wow-there is a God and Christianity is true. Although I wasn’t happy about it or anything.
Now after this I kind of just ignored religion for a few months-why? Because I had enough problems and I thought religion was just going to be another one. I was kind of like to myslef-I’ll do it later (this is not a good idea to do by the way) . Although I started praying the Rosary then some nights although I found it boring and it was just like a chore and then a few months after I mustered the courage to go to Confession.
Im not sure are new death experiences a very good reason to come to the faith-probably not, although they give some good evidence and there are some seemingly insane cases. I don’t know why this made me believe so much without question, maybe there was something guiding me to believe or something. But I think I have other good reason to believe my religion is true. The Fatima miracle for example, also Jesus’ historicity. Also now reading the Gospels I’m like: this is something I should want to carry out. It just seems… Good.
I came to Catholicism because I think it is true rather than family influence. My brother if anything I found more annoying when he became Catholic (I love my brother by the way I was more the problem) and my mother never pushed things on me and my dad isn’t really that into religion or anything.
I never really considered Protestantism, although I said in an above thread about a debate which made me question things slightly.
Last edited:
Q
QuietKarlos
Guest
Part 2:
I would now think Protestantism is just too flawed.
There is no authority and nothing to tell you: hey this is what so and so means in the Bible. You might think if you just read the Bible for yourself you will come to the right conclusion. This is only true for smart people though. I would be SO confused if I did that. And even smart people have a billion different enterpretations.
That is why I am Catholic over Protestant. The Bible says clearly enough there’s a church Jesus set up as well. I know there are different enterpretations of this verse but I just feel it really is as simple as Jesus said in the Bible.
There are more things to my story which I am not going to say here but this is all the things I will share.
The Rosary, though although I might not have said it particularly devoutly did really help with some things in my life when I started praying.
I’m on the forum just trying to learn things, to discuss my probably silly sometimes opinions and to ask people about their probably silly sometimes opinions.
Thanks all and God Bless.
I would now think Protestantism is just too flawed.
There is no authority and nothing to tell you: hey this is what so and so means in the Bible. You might think if you just read the Bible for yourself you will come to the right conclusion. This is only true for smart people though. I would be SO confused if I did that. And even smart people have a billion different enterpretations.
That is why I am Catholic over Protestant. The Bible says clearly enough there’s a church Jesus set up as well. I know there are different enterpretations of this verse but I just feel it really is as simple as Jesus said in the Bible.
There are more things to my story which I am not going to say here but this is all the things I will share.
The Rosary, though although I might not have said it particularly devoutly did really help with some things in my life when I started praying.
I’m on the forum just trying to learn things, to discuss my probably silly sometimes opinions and to ask people about their probably silly sometimes opinions.
Thanks all and God Bless.
M
Mishakel
Guest
I’m not sure how this relates to anything I said. The only source I included in my post was from scripture.
M
Mishakel
Guest
I agree we should strive to live after the example that Christ established and doing good things instead of evil is in line with how God wants us to live.
I am not looking to win a debate or to solve the differences between Catholics and Protestants in this thread The OP asks why choose to be Protestant instead of Catholic and I listed the biggest reason for me.
The issue over works vs faith is covered in detail by Paul in Romans 4.Paul goes into great detail to explain what made Abraham righteous, and it’s not works. I maintain as Paul himself said
“ 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
I don’t think it can be stated any more clearly. We are made righteous because of our faith in Jesus and by believing that he gave his life so that we can be saved. This faith is what makes us righteous just as Abraham. Yes we are to live a Godly life but none of the good works we do gain us righteousness or the grace of God.
Anyway, this is why I believe what I believe
M
Maximian
Guest
Well said! The “principle of non contradiction “ is fundamental to Catholicism. That is why, for example, if a Pope contradicts the previous teaching of the church, the faithful can ignore that teaching. Indeed, they must.
Last edited:
M
Maximian
Guest
Its not unfair to say that Protestants don’t hold Our Lady in particularly high regard. They don’t pray to her, venerate her or meditate on her life. They think of her in the same light as those apostles about whom we don’t have much information.
W
whatistrue
Guest
I have no expectations for someone else’s traditions. I made no reference to devotional practices or my own feelings, only what I myself observed in that particular denomination with respect to discussion of Mary as she is mentioned in Scripture. My only point was a response to your statement that you were unaware of any Protestant denominations that did not revere Mary or call her blessed and pointing out at least one that didn’t. So I have nothing further to say unless you continue to tell me I am saying something that I am not.
Last edited:
- Status