Why Catholic? Why Protestant?

[Charlemagne_III]

In your view, what is the greatest distinction between Protestantism and Catholicism?

What would it take, if anything, to cause you to cease being a Catholic?

What would it take, if anything, to cause you to cease being a Protestant and become a Catholic?

 

[Isca]

For me as a convert from the Protestant faith, the greatest difference is the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

In addition, Christ founded the Catholic Church. All other Christian denominations have been founded by men. As a result, I won’t ever return to the Church of England!

 

[QuestLove]

I am not a catholic.
I do not have any problems with Catholicism and I find some aspects of the services beautiful. What doesn’t attract me is the rigidity and focus on routine.
I am also not a “mega-church” type of person…too loud.
I am drawn to the quiet, still, more personal sort of worship in smaller churches.
I am happy where I am.

 

[captainrick]

From a mainstream Protestant (which I was) viewpoint, the main differences are:

1. Authority of the Pope.
2. Overemphasis on sin.
3. The real presence.

Why did I become Catholic? It is the only original Christian church.

 

[Jon_S_1]

In your view, what is the greatest distinction between Protestantism and Catholicism?

Authority…where it lies…who holds it.

What would it take, if anything, to cause you to cease being a Catholic?

I guess if the church started teaching heresy going against what it has clearly held for 2000 years as dogma…that would prove it was wrong in my book (example: Teach Jesus was not divine, or the Eucharist is just bread or something like that)

What would it take, if anything, to cause you to cease being a Protestant and become a Catholic?

Been there done that!

Once I saw clearly that protestantism had no true authority. that it was just a bunch of groups following the ideas of individuals, then I was already catholic in mind. Once I looked for the authoritative church that is the same today as when Jesus was here there was only one answer…catholicism.

I craved for authority and found it in the Catholic Church.

 

[fhansen]

In your view, what is the greatest distinction between Protestantism and Catholicism?

What would it take, if anything, to cause you to cease being a Catholic?

What would it take, if anything, to cause you to cease being a Protestant and become a Catholic?

If I thought Catholism was wrong I’d cease to be Christian. The primary authority of Protestantism, the sole authority for most, is Scripture, and determining Gods revelation/will with Scripture alone can be a very uncertain proposition, which is why Protestants often disagree. We can’t know Gods will with certainty outside of the original Church that God established, east and west, for that purpose.

 

[Share_love]

In your view, what is the greatest distinction between Protestantism and Catholicism?

The Catholic Church originated with Jesus, who told Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my Church.” Protestantism originated as a revolt against the Church based off misunderstandings.

 

[landon13]

In your view, what is the greatest distinction between Protestantism and Catholicism?

For me the importance is that the Catholic Church is the Church which Jesus Christ Himself established on St. Peter. All other religions including the Protestant religion are man made inventions.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

What would be the first and most important point you as a Catholic would make with a Protestant to demonstrate the authenticity of the Catholic Church?

And what would you expect to be the Protestant’s reply?

 

[johnnyt3000]

What would be the first and most important point you as a Catholic would make with a Protestant to demonstrate the authenticity of the Catholic Church

The authority of the Church via history.

And what would you expect to be the Protestant’s reply?

They may make an argument such as “Where is that in the Bible?”

In which I would reply “Where did the Bible come from?”
Then proceed to tell them where the Bible came from:thumbsup: (assuming they have me answer the question)

 

[Bob_Crowley]

For me as a convert from the Protestant faith, the greatest difference is the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

In addition, Christ founded the Catholic Church. All other Christian denominations have been founded by men. As a result, I won’t ever return to the Church of England!

As a former Protestant, I’d have to agree with the difference about the Eucharist. Whenever I attend a Protestant service, even if they have communion, something is missing.

Of course I didn’t know that when I first crossed the Tiber. But now that I’ve had some experience, it’s quite noticeable.

On the other hand, I think the Catholic Church tends to soft pedal judgement, while I suspect some Protestants over emphasise judgement.

Finally, some Protestants seem to be more hung up on works than Catholics, considering their emphasis on “Faith alone”. They always seem to have to be “doing” something.

Mind you they do a better and more consistent job of evangelism than we do.

 

[Flopfoot]

If someone convinced me that Catholicism was inconsistent with the bible, it might prove that Catholicism is wrong but it wouldn’t prove Protestantism right because Protestantism is inconsistent with the oral tradition. There would be no “true” church so I would have to look for whichever one is closest to being right based on the oral tradition. So I would still be Catholic.

If someone convinced me that the oral tradition is not true then I would have no reason to believe in the bible either, so I wouldn’t even know if Christianity was true. In that case I would have to choose a religion that best matches my general historical and philosophical beliefs. So I would still be Catholic.

If someone convinced me that my historical and philosophical beliefs were wrong then I wouldn’t be sure about anything to do with morality or religion in general, so I would just choose whichever religion is most convenient based on what my friends and family practice and one that doesn’t have highly restrictive rules or demands. So I would still be Catholic.

 

[Sacred_Heart_1]

In your view, what is the greatest distinction between Protestantism and Catholicism?

What would it take, if anything, to cause you to cease being a Catholic?

What would it take, if anything, to cause you to cease being a Protestant and become a Catholic?

The greatest distinction between Protestantism and Catholicism is the way that Mary is viewed.

Our Blessed Mother keeps me Catholic, with her, I would Never cease being Catholic. It’s not a doubt in my mind. When Mary’s foot touches the ground…I am nothing, no one, no more…

 

[Charlemagne_III]

If Protestants are puzzled about why Catholics rate Mary so highly, why are Catholic puzzled about why Protestants pay so little tribute to her role as mother of Jesus?

 

[Ignatius]

In your view, what is the greatest distinction between Protestantism and Catholicism?

The biggest difference is that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ while He was on the Earth in the flesh and all of the Protestant ecclesial communities were founded by some man at some pint 1500 years after He had Ascended to the Father.

 

[Charlemagne_III]

If you could present a book to a Protestant that you think would best answer any and all the major Protestant arguments against Catholicism, what would that book be?

 

[Ignatius]

If you could present a book to a Protestant that you think would best answer any and all the major Protestant arguments against Catholicism, what would that book be?

Actually, we have such a book, it’s the Bible. The problem with books is, the reader interprets them as they see fit, even if it takes twisting the meaning to turn it on it’s head.

The most effective means will be to help someone see that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ while He was on the Earth in the flesh and all of the Protestant ecclesial communities were founded by some man at some pint 1500 years or more after He had Ascended to the Father.

 

[Flopfoot]

In order to prove something to someone else you can only use sources and premises that the other person accepts as true. The easiest way of proving Catholicism true is by the Catholic oral tradition, but since no one other than Catholics accepts this source, it’s useless for such a purpose.

Using the bible is also a difficult approach, since the Protestant’s faith is usually built on the bible alone so they already believe that it supports their own claims, not yours.

If there was a book that compared Catholicism to Protestantism from a purely philosophical perspective (rather than using the bible or other historical sources) that might be useful since Catholic beliefs intuitively make more sense than Protestant ones (eg. Salvation by faith alone means you can sin as much as you want and still go to heaven).

If your purposes are purely defensive rather than trying to counter-evangelise the Protestant, there are plenty of books defending Catholic beliefs (that’s the whole point of apologetics isn’t it?)
Here’s one I’ve actually read
jloughnan.tripod.com/ca2bibchris1.htm
It’s called ‘Catholic Answers to “Bible” Christians’ and it’s from my home city of Sydney (-:

 

[Charlemagne_III]

Actually, we have such a book, it’s the Bible. The problem with books is, the reader interprets them as they see fit, even if it takes twisting the meaning to turn it on it’s head.

The most effective means will be to help someone see that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ while He was on the Earth in the flesh and all of the Protestant ecclesial communities were founded by some man at some pint 1500 years or more after He had Ascended to the Father.

Yes, that was the conclusion drawn by John Henry Newman when he converted from Anglican to Catholic. But he did this only after reading a considerable amount of early Christian history. Is there a particular book you would recommend that would support the same conclusion drawn by Newman?

Would that be, for example, Newman’s own book On the Development of Christian Doctrine?

 

[Flopfoot]

edited my above post