Why don't Protestants learn Catholic Church history?

[rcwitness]

Peter and the Apostles were made a foundation. Our leaders are to be the servants of the New Covenant. They are NOT a “new vail”. This impression is what rubs people wrong. And it’s because some leaders give that impression, and some laity put them in that position.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

There is another (Protestant) side to everything. But yes, Protestantism offers Jesus also! And that is where they hold up the Catholic Faith!

It is both… Jesus and me/Jesus and us. He is our King of first importance. And we (Cats) believe He guides through a hierarchy which is NOT opposed to His guidance by His Spirit. His Spirit gives understanding. His leaders give Confirmation and unified order.

For the protestant it is incomprehensible how we can confess our sins to another man.

Not sure why as Jesus clearly gave his apostles authority to do so. But they just cant fathom this.

My thing is, we trust in God as Catholics that the Holy Spirit will work through these men and the right things will be done. You cant separate Jesus from His church Act 9:4 but so many people try to.

 

[rcwitness]

For the protestant it is incomprehensible how we can confess our sins to another man.

Not sure why as Jesus clearly gave his apostles authority to do so. But they just cant fathom this.

It’s the whole “feeling” that the ministerial priesthood of the Catholic Faith is a “new vail”.

But we should know that it’s the stewards of Reconciliation for the Baptized disciples who fall into sin, and seek reconciliation with Jesus, who is in His New People.

 

[Peter_J]

it was a little biased sometimes in its interpretation of facts

If there’s one thing I’ve learn from every debate I’ve studied, it’s that there is always one side that’s biased, and it is always the side that’s wrong.

 

[Peter_J]

(Just wanted to see if you were paying attention. )

 

[benhur]

There’s something to be said for the simplicity of just calling out to Jesus. That’s what protestantism offers, no real structure or anything after that. It’s supposed to be Jesus and we not Jesus and me.

Study just came out that said Catholics who leave for protestantism are actually becoming agnostic or Atheists in the long run.

Hi La,

Interesting study. Have not seen any fall away like that.

It is more like “we” (church) lead me to well (Christ), lending to and needing a "one on one’’, and once accomplished, He places me in “we” (church).

It is not just “me and Him”. He makes you aware that you are one of many living universally, now and thru out history, one of the “called out ones”. And what you once hated or were indifferent to (ecclesia), you now love and feel the deepest of bonds.

The Spirit does not lead us to call each other “brother” and “sister” for nothing . We are family, more than we are an institution.

Blessings

 

[rcwitness]

Hi La,

Interesting study. Have not seen any fall away like that.

It is more like “we” (church) lead me to well (Christ), lending to and needing a "one on one’’, and once accomplished, He places me in “we” (church).

It is not just “me and Him”. He makes you aware that you are one of many living universally, now and thru out history, one of the “called out ones”. And what you once hated or were indifferent to (ecclesia), you now love and feel the deepest of bonds.

The Spirit does not lead us to call each other “brother” and “sister” for nothing . We are family, more than we are an institution.

Blessings

When Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” We see the bond.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

Hi La,

Interesting study. Have not seen any fall away like that.

It is more like “we” (church) lead me to well (Christ), lending to and needing a "one on one’’, and once accomplished, He places me in “we” (church).

It is not just “me and Him”. He makes you aware that you are one of many living universally, now and thru out history, one of the “called out ones”. And what you once hated or were indifferent to (ecclesia), you now love and feel the deepest of bonds.

The Spirit does not lead us to call each other “brother” and “sister” for nothing . We are family, more than we are an institution.

Blessings

I wish all of protestantism had your attitude.

God bless you

 

[benhur]

I wish all of protestantism had your attitude.

God bless you

Thank you. May the Lord help me/us act accordingly. If I haven’t said it earlier, welcome to CAF.

Blessings

 

[Peter_J]

Well put and good post. FollowChrist34.

I must admit that it becomes tiresome to me and makes me want to quit even participating in CAF when I read from those who consider non-Catholic Christians like me to be inferior and lacking in so many ways. In fact, not too long ago I left CAF for over a month because of it and almost didn’t return.

There are those who act like Protestants are the enemy that must be defeated or a bug that needs to be squashed instead of brothers and sisters in Christ.

For me, the best Catholic witnesses are those who take an invitational approach to sharing the faith, who in charity reveal how my Christian faith could be enhanced even more through Catholicism and Catholic principles. I listen with open ears to such folks who invite me to a higher level through Catholicism and help explain doctrines and things I don’t understand fully or may not even be aware of yet.

However, when I encounter holier-than-thou Catholics who act like CAF is boot camp where all my foundational beliefs are wrong and have to be removed and my faith has to be rebuilt from the ground up like a drill sergeant treats a buck private in an army boot camp, it has the opposite effect and makes me stop listening to anything else they have to say and just ignore them from then on.

I hope this won’t sound cliche, but I think there will always be people like that, in Catholicism or wherever. (Keep in mind, there are about a **billion **Catholics in the world.)

What I actually find surprising is that those are the very Catholics that many Protestant posters gravitate toward the most. (I’ve tried unsuccessfully to get Protestant posters to explain that to me.)

 

[steido01]

I hope this won’t sound cliche, but I think there will always be people like that, in Catholicism or wherever. (Keep in mind, there are about a **billion **Catholics in the world.)

Wise words.

What I actually find surprising is that those are the very Catholics that many Protestant posters gravitate toward the most. (I’ve tried unsuccessfully to get Protestant posters to explain that to me.)

When Person A is simply trumpeting his or her own cause, Person A can be safely ignored. When Person A begins to tell Person B (erroneously) what Person B believes, despite Person B’s protestations, gravity drops an apple on everyone’s heads.

 

[Peter_J]

TY steido.

Wise words.

When Person A is simply trumpeting his or her own cause, Person A can be safely ignored. When Person A begins to tell Person B (erroneously) what Person B believes, despite Person B’s protestations, gravity drops an apple on everyone’s heads.

So if I want to increase the number of hits I get on my blog, forum, Tweets, or Facebook page, should I start saying that Lutherans believe in Double Predestination, or Papal Infallibility?

 

[LutheranScholar]

TY steido.

So if I want to increase the number of hits I get on my blog, forum, Tweets, or Facebook page, should I start saying that Lutherans believe in Double Predestination, or Papal Infallibility?

If you want to wind up turning into a bridge a tribe of online trolls will live under, sure…:coffeeread:

 

[Contarini]

I myself, as is visible, am a Protestant; but I’m young, and I’m learning a little Church history at a time here.

But, I’m not reluctant to admit that Protestantism, and thus the Restorationist movements, all come from our Catholic predecessors (which is obvious with any amount of Church history!)

So why don’t Protestants learn more Catholic Church history? The history of the Church is really just the history of Western Christianity.

Sorry to jump on this so late–I hadn’t seen it before.

Many Protestants do have a mentality of “everything started with Luther.” However, Protestant colleges and seminaries certainly do teach early and medieval church history, and even pay some attention some of the time to some post-Reformation developments–the Spanish mystics are very popular in some Protestant circles, for instance, as are modern Catholic spiritual writers like Merton and Nouwen.

I actually think that Catholics are far less acquainted with Protestant history, generally, than Protestants with Catholic history. To be sure, there’s far more reason for Protestants to study the pre-Reformation periods than for Catholics to study Protestantism (or for Protestants to study post-Reformation Catholicism). But still, Catholics live in the midst of a largely Protestant culture, and yet most of the cradle Catholics I know are pretty clueless about Protestantism.

 

[Padres1969]

I myself, as is visible, am a Protestant; but I’m young, and I’m learning a little Church history at a time here.

But, I’m not reluctant to admit that Protestantism, and thus the Restorationist movements, all come from our Catholic predecessors (which is obvious with any amount of Church history!)

So why don’t Protestants learn more Catholic Church history? The history of the Church is really just the history of Western Christianity.

Short answer, because they view the Catholic Church as having been in error for most of its history so why learn the history of what they view as an error?

 

[LutheranScholar]

I myself, as is visible, am a Protestant; but I’m young, and I’m learning a little Church history at a time here.

But, I’m not reluctant to admit that Protestantism, and thus the Restorationist movements, all come from our Catholic predecessors (which is obvious with any amount of Church history!)

So why don’t Protestants learn more Catholic Church history? The history of the Church is really just the history of Western Christianity.

Good point. The history of the Early Church has much to teach us if we could just sweep our particular sectarianisms aside and learn what the Early Church Fathers had to teach. Dr. Luther incorporated the teachings of many of the ECFs into his doctrine, as can be seen in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession ( remember, Luther and company wanted to reform, not abolish, the Church) and used many of them as examples to support his teaching.

I was young once, too, and when you’re in the dawn of your life, there is just so much out there to experience and to do. Once of the best things to do at that time is to establish a firm bedrock on which to establish your faith, which will guide you throughout your life.

 

[Peter_J]

Short answer, because they view the Catholic Church as having been in error for most of its history so why learn the history of what they view as an error?

So then they’re implicitly admitting that the pre-Reformation church was RC?

 

[jmcrae]

So then they’re implicitly admitting that the pre-Reformation church was RC?

So it would seem.

 

[rcwitness]

So then they’re implicitly admitting that the pre-Reformation church was RC?

The reformers don’t deny breaking away from the Western Catholic Church, with the bishop of Rome as patriarch.

 

[spedteacherita]

I didn’t know much about the early Christian history and the teachings of the Early Church Fathers but I think this subject is beginning to take on more interest in the Protestant apologists. I watch one Pastor frequently on Youtube and have learned much from his teaching. I have also noticed more references to the Early Church Fathers from the LCMS churches locally. To me, it seems that there is more interest in learning what these men taught - especially those who were direct disciples of the apostles.

God bless, all.

Rita