Why do "some" or "many" Protestants have a visceral HATRED of the Catholic Church?

[AlNg]

Actually it doesn’t

Tell that to the Protestant missionaries coming to my door and handing me materials on this. The thread is about why Protestants dislike the Catholic Church. I am giving you examples which are responding to that question. Why have this thread if you don’t want to know some answers to the question in the first place?
There is no point in blaming me for this thread.

 

[Nicene]

No you didn’t say it was an example, you said it is why they all hated the church. You’ve been proven wrong. It predates it by much farther.

Sorry for the edit while you were posting. but again, thanks for proving my point.

Peace and God Bless
Nicene

 

[AlNg]

you said it is why they all hated the church

That is kind of silly. The OP is why do SOME or many Protestants dislike the Church. I am telling you why SOME DO according to my experience with SOME door to door Protestant missionaries such as the JW, which many people consider to to be Protestant. If you don’t believe me, go to their website and you will find all kinds of materials there which they have been handing out.

 

[strita]

the answer to the title question is that they have been trained to be that way, despite our Lord’s admonition to love even our enemy.

 

[Nicene]

Yet that’s not what you said in earlier posts. You’re backpedaling. Yet your current post solidifies what I said above. One is taught to hate.

Peace and God Bless
Nicene

 

[AlNg]

Yet that’s not what you said in earlier posts.

you said it is why they all hated the church.

Give me the quote where I said ALL Protestants hated the Catholic Church. I suspect that you may be misquoting me.
In any case to make it perfectly clear. I do NOT believe that all Protestants hate the Catholic Church. Some actually love the Catholic Church and have many Catholic friends. But the question of the OP that I was responding to is why do SOME Protestants dislike the Catholic Church. I know from talking to SOME Protestants as to what SOME of their reasons are. Not ALL Protestants think that way, but SOME do. i was doing my best to answer the question raised in the OP and unfortunately, there seems to be a certain amount of displeasure that I have done so. It is not a pleasant topic. But it is not my question. i am just trying to give an answer to it.

 

[Nicene]

1 Tim 6: 3 If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness,
4 he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing; he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions,
5 and wrangling among men who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

Once again Ill refer you to 1 Tim

1 Tim 6: 3 If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness,
4 he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing; he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions,
5 and wrangling among men who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

Peace and God Bless
Nicene

 

[AlNg]

4 he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing; he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words,

Does your Bible say anything about misquoting people or bearing false witness?
Well, perhaps it was a misinterpretation on your part. But no, to repeat, I do NOT believe that ALL Protestants dislike the Church. I was only trying my best to answer the question as to why SOME Protestants may dislike the Catholic Church. i hope that does not make me puffed up with conceit? Is that what you are saying here, that i am puffed up with conceit because I am trying to give an honest answer to the question as to why SOME Protestants dislike the Catholic Church?

 

[Nicene]

I don’t have to bear false witness, your words throughout the thread are enough witness.

Peace and God Bless
Nicene

 

[PetraG]

The other reality, of course, is that the Roman Catholic Church represents the single biggest religious denomination in the world, bigger than all of the other Christian denominations combined. That means that (a) we’re “the competition” (since we don’t hold the relativistic view that all Christian denominations are the same) and (b) statistically speaking, if somebody meets a disgruntled former member of some Christian denomination, it is most likely that they’re meeting one of ours. If they see a Christian not acting much like a Christian, chances are it is one of ours. The things we get right have this way of getting taken for granted because we’re this huge organization. It isn’t too surprising that of all the visceral and irrational hatred in the world, some of it is aimed at us and some of it is coming from other Christians.

In other words: Human nature + Statistics → we’re going to run into a fair number of people we’ve never met who have a very dim view of us because we’re associated with a very large and very old religious group.

Yes, there are a good number of people in and outside of non-Catholic Christendom who have a pretty favorable view of us. Statistically, that’s going to happen.

I think this is the main thing to remember:
Now who is going to harm you if you are enthusiastic for what is good? But even if you should suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you. Do not be afraid or terrified with fear of them, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.
1 Pet. 3:13-17

We should not worry that people are going to see us in a bad light because we belong to the Catholic Church, then. We were told by Our Lord and by the Apostles to accept this as a matter of course. Be more concerned that the Church established by Our Lord could be put into a bad light or could be given a false representation because people see that we’re in it and are scandalized by how we speak and act. That is really the only thing we have to concern ourselves about.

 

[PetraG]

Only Jesus can forgive sins.

Yep. We teach that.

Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Only God forgives sin

CCC 1441 Only God forgives sins. (Mk 2:7) Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, “The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” and exercises this divine power: “Your sins are forgiven.” (Mk 2:5,10; Lk 7:48) Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name. (Cf Jn 20:21-23)

CCC 1442 Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood. But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with the “ministry of reconciliation.”(2 Cor 5:18) The apostle is sent out “on behalf of Christ” with “God making his appeal” through him and pleading: “Be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5:20)

CCC 1461 Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation,(Cf. Jn 20:23; 2 Cor 5:18) bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops’ collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry. Indeed bishops and priests, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, have the power to forgive all sins “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Idols in their Church

I have no idea what you mean by that.

 

[PetraG]

then why confess your sins to a mere human.
humans are judgemental, God is the best listener you can ever have.

My short answer is that this objection sounds like something that somebody who has never been to the Sacrament of Penance would say. The most judgmental person in a confessional is almost always the penitent. That is the person who been trying to listen with the ears of God and failed by inserting human judgment for the mercy of God. Can priests fail to act faithfully in persona Christi? Sure. I can say with certainty, however, that the track record of penitents is far worse. Too often, there is no real excuse-free confession made or else there is no believed absolution granted. I cannot speak for God, but I have this feeling that is the reason Christ instituted the sacrament.

 

[PetraG]

He didn’t there’s no biblical claim for it.

We Protestants only do Eucharist and Baptism.

For God said, we all fall short of his Glory
and all includes, Priests as well.
There humans too, so they can be judgemental.
And most are.
My catholic friends have had terrible experiences at a confession, and some have ended up giving up their faith.

And you know how terrible that is?

Mark 9:42

“You Protestants” are not a monolithic group with only one set of practices or beliefs. There are Lutherans who count Penance as a sacrament.

My Catholic friends have had amazing experiences in confession. As for the Protestants, you and I both know that there are unfortunately little ones who have suffered by attitudes of condemnation rather than mercy, both in the Catholic Church and in Protestant churches, as well. This is not something that is confined to a confessional. If anything, I’d say that a confessional is a place where the judgmental attitude that can unfortunately come out of the laity is most likely to find a remedy. This is particularly true when it comes to judgmental attitudes surrounding moral duty and guilt that come from parents and other family members.

Let us not pretend that the Sacrament of Confession is typically a vehicle of guilt and condemnation rather than a house of mercy. That simply is not true: not in theory and not in practice. (It is fairly common for confessors themselves to go to confession to another priest every 2 weeks or so, as the Pope does.)

Having said that, yes, ex-Catholics who left the Church feeling pain or resentment are a very big source of negative attitudes towards the Church. You can quibble about whether it is “fair” or not or “deserved” or not–I’m certainly not saying that no one who left has any real basis for ill will!–but it is the truth.

 

[GKMotley]

And there are Anglicans who practice auricular confession, and even some who also declare themselves protestant.

 

[Pattylt]

Having said that, yes, ex-Catholics who left the Church feeling pain or resentment are a very big source of negative attitudes towards the Church. You can quibble about whether it is “fair” or not or “deserved” or not–I’m certainly not saying that no one who left has any real basis for ill will!–but it is the truth.

I can add that I’ve also heard some very condemning and vitriolic comments from ex Protestants about their churches as well. It certainly isn’t just ex Catholics! From my experiences alone, I would say ex Mormons harbor the most hatred for their church. Anyone that bases their opinion of ant church on the ex’s are either trying to justify previous held biases or doesn’t want to know the truth of those churches…of all denominations, sects or faith views. They would rather hate than learn.

 

[PetraG]

I can add that I’ve also heard some very condemning and vitriolic comments from ex Protestants about their churches as well. It certainly isn’t just ex Catholics! From my experiences alone, I would say ex Mormons harbor the most hatred for their church. Anyone that bases their opinion of ant church on the ex’s are either trying to justify previous held biases or doesn’t want to know the truth of those churches…of all denominations, sects or faith views. They would rather hate than learn.

I’m going to defend people as having had objectively bad treatment from real people. I don’t defend making blanket condemnations of entire denominations because somebody had a problem with their local church, but if someone has been treated really badly–and Catholics can do it, too–then I don’t blame them for saying, “this is what happened to me.”

In that case, it is on the local church or on the Church to go looking for them. I really hope that ex-Catholics who have had objectively abusive things happen to them do find their way back, but they’re going to tell their stories and it isn’t wrong to believe that they’re telling the truth. Sometimes, people overstate things–sometimes, wildly!–but other times they understate and the story is still enough to curl your hair. It is very sad and it is scandalous, but it does happen.

I think pretty much all of the truths that too many of us have learned by witnessing divorces and other bad human-to-human breakups would apply to the possibilities of what can happen to put a split between a member of the faithful and their church, whether it is a Catholic church or some other kind of church. There is usually a lot more to the story than any one side can tell, and that is even when no one is making up a thing.

I can also say that people do leave the Church because they misunderstand the teachings of the Church and cannot in good conscience agree with the wrong-headed thing they think (or worse yet, have been told) that the Church teaches. This happens, too, and it is an honest source of wrong-headed bad impressions about the Church. Again, though: when people who are in the habit of telling the truth say, “this is the way it is there, it is terrible,” they tend to be believed.

 

[TC3033]

Because that never happens here…

 

[TC3033]

…It was #sarcasm.

This happens all the time here. I oft use the joke that if it wasn’t for CAF, I would be missing out on how much of my non-Catholic faith I had no idea I believed.

 

[adf417]

then why confess your sins to a mere human.
humans are judgemental, God is the best listener you can ever have.

Not sure who your are speaking about. This Catholic confesses his sins to God. I am happy for my priest to hear them and i can listen to his words “i absolve you of your sins” as though God himself was speaking. Some people continue in their guilt after confessing there sins as if they wonder if they have been forgiven. I am comforted not only by God forgiving my sins but hearing his words.

Peace!!!

 

[Pattylt]

I certainly didn’t mean to come across as saying that all ex whatevers are spewing hatred. Merely that those that do harbor great hatred of their ex church come in all flavors of religion. I’ve heard it from ex Catholics, ex Protestants even ex Jews. I’m sure many of those types have a justified reason as surely as some just have a complete misunderstanding of their church’s teachings. They can definitely cause great harm because many people of other faiths love to hear the hatred being spewed. I have much more appreciation for those that don’t listen to the haters or, at least, recognize it as a personal experience and don’t weigh the entire faith upon it.

Some people seem to enjoy hating…hopefully few and some love to hear the hate…also, hopefully few.

. I oft use the joke that if it wasn’t for CAF, I would be missing out on how much of my non-Catholic faith I had no idea I believed.

As an agnostic, I get this quite often, too, but not just here. I have also been defended here!