Why be Protestant? I would like to know

[DJgang]

Why be Protestant?

I am going to say what I would like all Catholics to know…not everyone in America is educated about Catholism…bottom line. I for one knew absolutely NO ONE who was Catholic until I decided to seek out a Pro-Life group in which I found at the local Catholic church. Believe it or not Catholics…there are A LOT of Protestants who don’t even know a Catholic personally, much less what the Catholic faith believes. Therefore, they are never going to seek out knowledge about the Catholic faith. So, leads me to a suggestion…don’t you think that if there were MORE Catholic churches around…the faith may just be looked into more. Say, put a Catholic church in every town…here in Alabama…they are few and far between…isn’t that what Protestant’s do…have a church on every corner…now before someone says something to me about that statement, I was Baptist once and I know that Baptist churches “split” for various reasons, but in honesty, people are actually scared to learn about the Catholic faith.

So, why am I protestant…Episcopalian, because I’ve never been “introduced” to the Catholic Faith until recently. I am learning and in honesty, it’s not easy…I plan on visiting the local Catholic church after the birth of my son, I still need to “talk” more to my husband and just today, my Catholic friend in my pro-life group, emailed me to say “HEY, RCIA classes start this fall, you might want to check out” and I just might do that.

Also, It’s very hard for a Protestant to visit a Catholic church and be denied Communion. I know the reason, but to alot of people who might just want to “visit”…it’s hard for them to understand.

Enough of my rant…

 

[AlanFromWichita]

DJgang:

Also, It’s very hard for a Protestant to visit a Catholic church and be denied Communion. I know the reason, but to alot of people who might just want to “visit”…it’s hard for them to understand.

Enough of my rant…

Maybe it doesn’t help, but I saw a priest choke up in tears while speaking to a mixed-faith marriage encounter group who was just completing a weekend with Mass as the final activity. He had to explain to the non-Catholics that Communion was the one thing we could not share with them during the weekend. It hurts him because he sees people of all faith come to improve their marriages during the weekend and he wants to celebrate by everybody sharing Communion. He was near retirement at the time and the divisions in Christianity were quite painful for him.

Oh, and thank you for the rant. It was coherent and informative, so I’d consider it “soft rant.”

Alan

 

[DJgang]

AlanFromWichita:

Maybe it doesn’t help, but I saw a priest choke up in tears while speaking to a mixed-faith marriage encounter group who was just completing a weekend with Mass as the final activity. He had to explain to the non-Catholics that Communion was the one thing we could not share with them during the weekend. It hurts him because he sees people of all faith come to improve their marriages during the weekend and he wants to celebrate by everybody sharing Communion. He was near retirement at the time and the divisions in Christianity were quite painful for him.

Oh, and thank you for the rant. It was coherent and informative, so I’d consider it “soft rant.”

Alan

It does help and I can see how it hurts the priest.

Glad my rant was informative…I was a little worried.

 

[Diddi]

EA_Man:

I suppose the answer would be different for different people.

Here are two sequences by which Catholics leave the Catholic church and join a protestant church. They both begin with a poorly formed cradle Catholic.

Sequence #1

1. Poorly formed cradle Catholic who doesn’t understand the sacraments;
2. Leaves or thinks about leaving the Catholic church because they are bored;
3. Evangelized by protestants churches that specialize in faith, friendship and fun.

Sequence #2

1. Poorly formed cradle Catholic who doesn’t understand the sacraments;
2. Becomes a cafeteria Catholic and then a dissenting Catholic;
3. Seeks out a mainline protestant church with a liberal theology that matches their personal preferences.

EA_Man:

But in my case I wanted to attend a church where the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached, where there was fellowship among the members of the Congregation in the Holy Spirit, and where Jesus Christ was worshiped enthusiastically.

It would be hard for me to give up body and blood of Christ just for gospel preaching, fellowship and enthusiasm, especially since the price of fellowship is being enthusiastic about a preacher giving his/her own opinion and calling it gospel.

EA_Man:

My experience being raised as a Catholic was of an emphasis on the outward conformity of religion. No Catholics of my acquaintance, either family or friend, ever read the Bible, spoke of the importance of Jesus Christ to them, spoke of what the Holy Spirit was doing in their lives, or ever witnessed to anyone on the importance of being saved.

So feeling that these things were indicators of an unhealthy (or dead) faith, I decided to seek out people that had an open and enthusiastic Christian testimony. Maybe it’s just a function of where I live, but the ‘Fundamentalists’ outstrip the Catholics in the enthusiasm department.

My experience with the Catholic church was of dead, repetitious, ritual. No fire, no desire, no fellowship, no Bible study, no evidence of the Holy Spirit at work. The only time there was ever anyone new in the congregation was when a new family moved into town. But at least the Mass never went more than 45 minutes.

Peace

Even in such a Catholic community, I would get excited that I was receiving the actual body and blood of Christ.

John 6:47-58
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

And in the Catholic church, you get to eat this bread that came down from heaven. How much more excitement do you want!

And talk about Bible study. I could never go back to an anemic Bible study that does not include typology and the guidance of Catholic tradition. The Bible really came alive for me when I discovered Catholic tradition. Totally awesome!

Peace

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Diddi:

Sequence #1

1. Poorly formed cradle Catholic who doesn’t understand the sacraments;
2. Leaves or thinks about leaving the Catholic church because they are bored;
3. Evangelized by protestants churches that specialize in faith, friendship and fun.

Seen that.

Sequence #2

1. Poorly formed cradle Catholic who doesn’t understand the sacraments;
2. Becomes a cafeteria Catholic and then a dissenting Catholic;
3. Seeks out a mainline protestant church with a liberal theology that matches their personal preferences.

Seen that.

It would be hard for me to give up body and blood of Christ just for gospel preaching, fellowship and enthusiasm, especially since the price of fellowship is being enthusiastic about a preacher giving his/her own opinion and calling it gospel.

One other thing that I’ve received from Protestant churches is genuine welcome, at my service, willing to help with social justice concerns in tangible ways, and some pretty good preaching about anti-abortion. For that matter, Rush Limbaugh is the one who finally convinced me I could not legally specify a time when “surgery” becomes “murder” that actually makes any sense.

Even in such a Catholic community, I would get excited that I was receiving the actual body and blood of Christ.

I finally found out what a “dead church” is. When we were in Anaheim in 2000 the Saturday of Pentecost weekend, my family and I went to a gorgeous historic church, where the assistance pastor was getting shipped out and this was his last sermon. He said this was a dead church, and by golly you could just sense the death. You didn’t even hear anybody breathing during the sermon, much less shifting in their seats. There were about five people who seemed alive whom we met in the parking lot after Mass and they were really nice. The rest were walking zombies I promise you. It looked like all they needed were masks to reenact the Dawn of the Dead. Most, but not all, were much older than me – probably in 60s at least on average. They even walked funny when they came out into the bright sun.

That would be a gruesome grotto to have to go to regularly to get the Body and Blood. I didn’t have any problem going to Communion there but I can see where some people would get the creeps.

Later.

Alan

 

[Scotty_PGH]

EA_Man:

But I have come to the conclusion that it is whether or not you are in Christ and He in you that determines your salvation. With that in mind I believe that there are believers in many denominations that make up the Body of Christ.

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

… all I’m saying is that pound for pound the Fundamentalists are more committed to speading the Gospel.

Are they spreading the message quoted above? THAT is the Gospel!

 

[Reid]

I am a new Catholic convert but grew up Southern Baptist.

Why be Protestant?

I remember my youth group being very active. We would get together for volleyball, basketball, football, basebal … we would invite friends from school to come by and participate in all of these activities. It was so much fun being around a group of friendly people who we had something in common with.

I remember having a banana split party with one huge banana split that covered a large portion of the parking lot. We invited a lot of friends to this, we did all of these activities so that it would be a better offer to a friend that did not go to church to participate with us and before you knew it he was a member a regularly attended all of the events including the bible studies.

As we grew older, we got busy with High School then College, work and the stress of life, many protestants just like any faith stopped showing up and started living their life.

A traditional protestant church hires a preacher, and that preacher is usually a good looking guy, great speaker, can take you in and trully preach his message. They are in competition with the church and preacher down the street, it is their job to pull in people, and with people feeling the church the money always follows. When you have a preacher that has a wife, several children, he is now concerned with things like how am I going to support my wife, my kids, pay the bills…

Today the biggest protestant churches are huge, and pull in lots of money. Yes most of them do a lot of good things with that money, but they build a country club version of God’s house, a place to come and feel good about yourself, a house that appeals to its audience.

 

[Reid]

But is this what God really wants? Is this what God really attended?

What happens to the young man that falls away from his faith?
What happens to the young man who becomes very involved in one of these country club feel good bible preaching churches?
What happens if that man who belongs to a country club church, is on the church softball team, is active with the youth, teaches sunday school …, what if that man away from the country club crowd is a different man.

Isnt our faith tested the most when we are alone with God.

As new converts come into the Church like myself I think we will bring a new enthusiasm. And if you like the church you are in because of its activities then why dont you use that enthuisiasm and start something in your community bring that added excitement to you Catholic Church that you left behind or soon will join.

 

[Reid]

I love the mass. I love the Church. I love the unity. The faith is real here, yes some come in because they always have, yes some are there and dont take in the beauty of it. And yes many go through the rituals with no emotion or passion.

But are we not all sinners.

So I go to mass weekly, and I take in the liturgy of the word, in three years i will hear the whole gospel. I listen to a short homily. And then I receive Christ in the Eucharist, I partake in something that cant be explained in common terms, I participate in a true blessing, thank God he continues to gives us his body and blood for our sins.

At last I hope I please Him, that I have done as he wished, I have given him one hour of my time. Just like he asked in the garden.

But this hour is different because His Church is in unity, One Church, and we as sinners participate in this hour of prayer, this hour of His word, and this hour we are given His flesh and blood to eat and drink. All in unity here on earth, will all of the Saints and Angels in Heaven.

Now I think an hour with God and our family here on Earth and Heaven is a lot better than that country club make you feel good about youself church down the street, and I call our Catholic Church heaven on earth.

 

[Scotty_PGH]

Reid:

And yes many go through the rituals with no emotion or passion.

There’s this little old nun in a full habit who sits in the front of my church every Sunday. Though you couldn’t tell it by looking at her, I’d bet there’s nobody in any Church on any Sunday with more passion flowing through them.

We don’t need to clap our hands and shout Halleluiah to express the emotion and passion we have. I sometimes become speechless when reciting the Credo because I stand in awe of God and what he has done for us. Tears often well up in my eyes when the Gloria is sung. I would think the person next to me would detect zero emotion, but meanwhile my heart is racing inside of me, overflowing with passion for our Lord.

I would not dare to presume that the same is not true for anyone else in the Church.

 

[Reid]

Good story about the nun who sits alone, who does not look like she is full of emotion but in her own way has more than most.

To presume things is to judge.

I asked my GF what happens when she goes a latin high mass or what did people do before vatican II.

Her answer was that being brought up in the Catholc Church and a good Catholic home even when she hears a mass in english she is walking through the mass within her self with the prayers that are being made. She participates but on a different level. So whether or not it is in english or a different language she participates the same as she understood the words or not.

 

[Genesis315]

Curious:

Perhaps because Protestants are often raised Protestant and it just doesn’t occur to everyone to check out Catholicism.

Unfortunately, there are also many Catholics raised Catholic who never really check out Catholicism–as EA_Man pointed out in his first post in this thread.

 

[maesoph]

What scares me about religion in the US is that it seems to be in really bad shape. Our local Catholic church is pretty full for all services on the weekends, but I am somewhat dissappointed in the level of involvement there. But on the other side of the fence, I have also walked by many, many, many Protestant churches that are absolutely empty during service time - and this is a relatively conservative area

I don’t know what the problem is.

Are we all so content flipping burgers that we don’t see a need for God in our lives???
Has science disproved God???

 

[kayla]

I"m not protestant but if I ever left the Catholic Faith this is what I would miss:

The Sacraments
Confession and the Eucharist in particular
Mary our Blessed Lady and all the Saints
The one Holy Apostolic Catholic Church that Jesus started.

 

[Ahimsa]

My observation on the various strengths of the Christian communities:

Orthodox know how to contemplate.
Catholics know how to cogitate.
Protestants know how to explicate.
Pentecostals know how to exclamate!

Anyways, I was raised Protestant, and didn’t even begin to think about the Catholic/Orthodox tradition until I studied Hinduism and Buddhism.

 

[The_Iambic_Pen]

Why be Protestant? Well, there are a variety of reasons, which I’ll list here:

-People have a tendency to stay in the faith they were brought up in, unless they see something wrong with it. If a Protestant sees nothing wrong with his church, he or she is not going to see a reason to change to something else.
-Most Protestants are extremely ignorant about Catholicism. They know nothing of church Tradition, and all they have is the Bible (and most of them have no idea where it really came from or how it was put together). When they do hear about Catholic doctrines, they don’t see them clearly laid out in the Bible, and so they assume they are man-made doctrines which are often contrary to Scripture.
-Salvation in most Protestant churches is very simple. Simply confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved (see Romans 10:9). Good works are admirable, and all those who love God should do them, but they do nothing when it comes to getting us into Heaven. Only our faith in Christ will do that.
-There are many nominal Catholics out there, whose personal relationship with Christ seems shaky at best. Protestants are not likely to abandon their deep faith in Christ just to become another bored Catholic.
-To continue with that line of thought, many Protestant churches put a huge emphasis on personal evangelism and Bible study. Protestants don’t usually see Catholics doing this.
-Protestantism isn’t as “weird” to an outside observer. Doctrines such as the Immaculate Conception, Transubstantiation, and Papal Infallibility, as well as traditions like priestly celibacy seem strange to those outside the Catholic Church.
-Since many Protestant denominations have no history to really be ashamed of (since many of these denominations have only been around for a few decades), Protestants don’t really want to join the Church that has the history of the Inquisition and the Crusades to deal with.
-There are often family pressures to consider. If someone is raised in a strong Protestant home, he or she is not likely to change to a church his or her family believes is teaching false doctrine.
-Many Protestants see the Catholic Church as having a very negative attitude toward sex. The praising of lifelong celibacy and the apparent view of sex being purely a means of having children are at odds with many Protestants, who have been taught to see sex as a God-blessed union between a husband and wife, whether children result or not.
-Most Protestants have never been to a Catholic mass, and the image many of them have (if they think of it at all) is of a group of mindless people repeating the same words week after week, often without really thinking about them. By contrast, their own services are often dynamic and exciting, with no two services being exactly the same (even if the format itself is).
-Many Protestants are scared of the idea of Confession. They don’t want to tell another person about their deepest and darkest sins. It’s much safer just to confess them to God and hope no one finds out about them.
-Many Protestants have been taught that not only is the Catholic Church teaching error, it is in fact so far from the truth that it is leading millions of people to Hell. Catholics are in need of being evangelized on the same level as any non-Christian.
-Protestants don’t need to worry if they’re going to the “right” church, because as long as they have a personal relationship with Christ, it doesn’t really matter what building they visit on Sunday. It’s very rare to hear about someone agonizing about a possible conversion from Lutheran to Baptist, for example.
-Protestants are taught that the Reformation was a necessary event, as the Catholic Church was sliding deeper and deeper into sin and error. For them to become Catholic would be to return to the same institution their forefathers broke away from.

Well, those are a few reasons. Personally, I don’t think of myself as a typical Protestant (at least not anymore), but many people do have these ideas. I actually think education clears up many of these issues, but education in these matters is something so few people have. That’s all for now. God Bless!

 

[kaycee]

Scotty PGH:

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
Are they spreading the message quoted above? THAT is the Gospel!

That is a false Gospel. Salvation by sacrament of communion? Belief in Jesus as Savior is the Good News! John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and **he who believes in ** Me will never thirst.” Jesus explains the metaphor, coming to Him and belief in him is the reality behind the metaphor of eating and drinking.

 

[Sherlock]

AlanFromWichita:

Seen that.

You didn’t even hear anybody breathing during the sermon, much less shifting in their seats. There were about five people who seemed alive whom we met in the parking lot after Mass and they were really nice. The rest were walking zombies I promise you. It looked like all they needed were masks to reenact the Dawn of the Dead. Most, but not all, were much older than me – probably in 60s at least on average. They even walked funny when they came out into the bright sun.
Alan

Wow, what a bunch of presumption. I wonder how you managed to attend to what was going on at the altar, what with all of the assessment of your fellow pew-warmers going on.

Our church also has a fair number of seniors…who assist in the running of the parish; help in charitable events and organizations; offer their prayers. They may not be waving their hands in the air and crying “Amen, brother!!”, and they may be somewhat reserved with expressions of “fellowship”, but they are an asset to our parish. Judging people by how they walk, etc., does not seem to me to be charitable in the least.

One common thread running through this is the importance to some of external, emotional expressions of worship and “fellowship”. Though I appreciate these facets of Christian life, they are not a good enough reason to believe in anything. Something is either true or it’s not; and if it’s true, that’s the reason for believing in it. After that determination, it’s up to individuals to quit grousing about how dead certain parishes are, and actually do something about it. Also, there’s simply a matter of people having different tastes: I personally dislike the same external expressions of fellowship that others apparently see as an indication of a parish’s life. I really don’t want someone in my face before or after Mass; and God almighty I dislike those modern, “lively” hymns. I want quiet, peace, respect, and reverence. I am, however, very involved in our parish and volunteer in many areas. None of which is visible, Alan, from watching me at Mass.

 

[Scotty_PGH]

kaycee:

That is a false Gospel. Salvation by sacrament of communion? Belief in Jesus as Savior is the Good News! John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and **he who believes in **Me will never thirst.” Jesus explains the metaphor, coming to Him and belief in him is the reality behind the metaphor of eating and drinking.

Ummmmm so Jesus’ exact words quoted in John 6:53-57 are “a false gospel”?

:bigyikes:

Do you think that any Catholic who receives Communion does not believe in Jesus as Savior? Of course we do. And we also follow his command to eat his flesh and drink his blood in rememberance of him.

If that truly is just a metaphor, Jesus didn’t do a very good job of explaining it to the many disciples who turned away from him at that point. And since we know this is an impossibility, it’s clear that Jesus’ words were no metaphor!

 

[On_my_way]

I really love how all these protestants who posted use sola scriptura and then only use the scriptures that pertain to them. Everything that the Catholic Church teaches is in Scripture. Also, not everything that Jesus did is in the Bible. That is where Tradition comes into play. I read all their qoutes out of the Bible and it seems like they follow what they want. I think that it was lambic pen who said works are not needed to get into heaven and all you need is faith. So tell me this why did the apostles have to do Jesus’ work they already had Faith. He also stated that Catholic teaching is sending millions of people to hell. And how does he know that. Can you see how these protestants think of us Cahtolics and this is a Catholic Forum. I really don’t want to say this but I have to get it off of my chest.

Will all you protestants get off of your high horse. Your founding fathers Luther, Calvin and Zwingly at one point believed in the teachings of the Catholic Church and all of its Doctrines and Traditions. It was in 1517 that the reformation started. Look at the time frame. Catholic Church has been around for 2005 years and the rest of you guys less than 500 years. Are you going to tell me that you guys got it right in less than 500 years. Come on. If there is one thing that I have learned from being Cahtolic that is how to be humble and have compassion for the people outside of the Catholic Church, but you protesters are getting on my last nerve. And that is what your group is about. If there was now Catholic Church there would be nothing to protest. You exsist only because the Catholic church exsist, point blank and period.