Why not speak out against Protestants?

[Dirk_Skene]

xmydreamsfadex, & Ceasar you guys are right on it :yup:

Just speaking for myself, I do not go on the attack, but if they approach me wanting me to convert to one of their error-ridden religions I go into “lock & load” mode I usually start by asking “Do you really want to go there?” They back off pretty quickly when hit with things like the KJ Bible being cut up & reworded and priestly linage.

 

[Veritas41]

Christ founded the Church on Peter and promised him that not even the gates of the Netherworld would prevail against it. that is one of the main reason i decided to convert to the Church. so why can’t/don’t Catholics speak out against other churches? to me, Protestants are calling Christ a liar by starting their own church since most claim that the Church fell into error or are teaching error. I could go to church with my baptist grandmother and the preacher will put down the Church all day long, but when i go to mass or even my RCIA class, they never mention the Protestants and won’t say that they are the ones in fact that are in error. they usually say something to the effect of “the body of Christ is broken enough.” or something like that if I bring it up. thanks.

I’m a former Protestant, and the reason why many Protestants believe the Catholic Church teaches error is because they simply don’t know what the Catholic Church teaches. Every time I heard Catholic teaching through a Protestant source (that I erroneously assumed to be trustworthy), Catholic teaching was misrepresented and distorted. I have more of a problem with the cafeteria and dissenting Catholics (many of whom are in positions of considerable influence in the Church to lead many people astray) who are Protestant in heart but continue to identify themselves as Catholic to the spiritual harm of others. They, too, call the Church a liar, which I find less excusable than a Protestant doing so.

 

[christianley]

Christ founded the Church on Peter and promised him that not even the gates of the Netherworld would prevail against it. that is one of the main reason i decided to convert to the Church. so why can’t/don’t Catholics speak out against other churches? to me, Protestants are calling Christ a liar by starting their own church since most claim that the Church fell into error or are teaching error. I could go to church with my baptist grandmother and the preacher will put down the Church all day long, but when i go to mass or even my RCIA class, they never mention the Protestants and won’t say that they are the ones in fact that are in error. they usually say something to the effect of “the body of Christ is broken enough.” or something like that if I bring it up. thanks.

I think you will gain more by explaining the Catholic position well than you will by bashing the Protestants. That doesn’t mean you never say why Protestants are wrong, but it seems much more helpful to concentrate on what we Catholics teach and why.

 

[Contarini]

Christ founded the Church on Peter and promised him that not even the gates of the Netherworld would prevail against it. that is one of the main reason i decided to convert to the Church. so why can’t/don’t Catholics speak out against other churches? to me, Protestants are calling Christ a liar by starting their own church since most claim that the Church fell into error or are teaching error. I could go to church with my baptist grandmother and the preacher will put down the Church all day long, but when i go to mass or even my RCIA class, they never mention the Protestants and won’t say that they are the ones in fact that are in error. they usually say something to the effect of “the body of Christ is broken enough.” or something like that if I bring it up. thanks.

Has it not crossed your mind that the Catholic Church keeps the moral high ground by doing this? I cannot understand why people think that descending to the level of your opponents is a good thing. It’s as if people think that simply slinging mud is an effective method of communication. It isn’t. From my perspective at least, it’s generally self-defeating. If I had been brought up among ecumenical Protestants who thought Catholicism was just another variety of Christianity, I would have been much less likely to consider conversion to Catholicism, I think. Anti-Catholicism works for you. In parts of the country where Catholics are in fact or have been anti-Protestant (witness the ex-Catholic I knew in NJ–though he was from Brooklyn originally–who had been educated by nuns who told him Protestants were heretics and Luther was evil), it works against them too. When people start questioning, they are put off by the negative propaganda they heard growing up.

Edwin

 

[Genesis315]

We do, but we take the approach Pope Leo XIII thought would be best with those who may be ignorant:

“But if, among the different ways of preaching the word of God that one sometimes seems to be preferable, which directed to non-Catholics, not in churches, but in some suitable place, in such wise that controversy is not sought, but friendly conference, such a method is certainly without fault. But let those who undertake such ministry be set apart by the authority of the bishops and let them be men whose science and virtue has been previously ascertained. For we think that there are many in your country who are separated from Catholic truth more by ignorance than by ill-will, who might perchance more easily be drawn to the one fold of Christ if this truth be set forth to them in a friendly and familiar way.”
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13teste.htm

 

[BOBKAT]

One big answer is this

THE TRUTH SUSTAIN’S ITSELF

The one true church never needs to speak ill of the other church’s, because the misson is to feed us the truth and nothing else… That being said we hold on to the Word and if we live by it than we will see others flocking to it…

Praise be to God !!

God Bless
Kathleen

 

[water]

I could go to church with my baptist grandmother and the preacher will put down the Church all day long, but when i go to mass or even my RCIA class, they never mention the Protestants and won’t say that they are the ones in fact that are in error. they usually say something to the effect of “the body of Christ is broken enough.” or something like that if I bring it up. thanks.

xmydreamsfades,

That distinguishes between Catholic and some non-Catholics. We don’t mention or talk about other’s wrong doing during the Mass or other meetings. We pray for them.

Putting down someone is not the Love that God wants us to do. Praying for them and just demonstrate your belief are what we are called to do.

Do not go against or put down your Christian brothers just because we believe a few different things. Love will bring us together.

 

[Researcher]

A great many people do speak out regarding the error of protestant doctrine. As others have said above, it is best done with love toward those to whom you are speaking. It has never proven to be effective on a large scale to denounce another denomination.

Those who are in the other Christian denomination because this is where they were raised are not by definition heretics. They only know what they know. Luther, King Henry VIII, and many others were disobedient to the authority of the Church given to it through Jesus Christ. But who should be surprised? This has been going on since Adam & Eve. Then it was Cain and on and on. It did not stop at the time of Jesus either. Remember Judas? How about Arian? He was disobedient long before Luther. The list of those who are disobedient is very, very long. Even many who call themselves Catholic today are disobedient to the Church and God as well.

In the words of St. Fransis; “Preach the true Gospel always. And when necessary, use words.”

 

[Caesar]

Could you show me where it says that in the bible.

How do you know?
It is enough to answer to that it is because the Church says so. The Church, being the earthly Body of Christ, cannot err.

 

[aurora77]

THE TRUTH SUSTAIN’S ITSELF

The one true church never needs to speak ill of the other church’s, because the misson is to feed us the truth and nothing else… That being said we hold on to the Word and if we live by it than we will see others flocking to it…

Praise be to God !!

Exactly! A true Christian doesn’t need to be mean, snotty, superior, or to distort what another faith teaches. We don’t need to “speak out” against Protestants so much as we need to be ready to give our reasons for being Catholic. It’s not being unneccessarily politically correct to have basic respect for our Christian brothers and sisters. If we truly believe that they do not have the fullness of the truth, then it is our duty, whenever we are called to teach that truth.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

How do you know?

It is enough to answer to that it is because the Church says so. The Church, being the earthly Body of Christ, cannot err.

Well ok then. I will have to take it that you cant show me otherwise Im sure you would have gladly pointed me to Scripture.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

Exactly! A true Christian doesn’t need to be mean, snotty, superior, or to distort what another faith teaches. We don’t need to “speak out” against Protestants so much as we need to be ready to give our reasons for being Catholic. It’s not being unneccessarily politically correct to have basic respect for our Christian brothers and sisters. If we truly believe that they do not have the fullness of the truth, then it is our duty, whenever we are called to teach that truth.

I ditto that as a protestant.

 

[ldv]

Hi
Im curious to know what you guys(catholics) think of John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that **whosoever believeth **in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jhn 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that **the world **through him might be saved.

Jhn 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

These are all very general statements. None of them say you have to belong to the CC to be saved. All it says is that you have to believe in Jesus Christ. I actually am one of the whosoever’s in John 3:16 and I have never been catholic. How do you reconcile that with some thoughts going around here?

Hello,

I have read many posts from you. If you truly want to know what is to believe in our Lord, just open your Bible to John Chapter 6 and read the following:

6:47. Amen, amen, I say unto you: He that believeth in me hath everlasting life.
6:48. I am the bread of life.
6:49. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert: and are dead.
6:50. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven: that if any man eat of it, he may not die.
6:51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
6:52. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.
6:53. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
6:54. Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you: except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
6:55. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.
6:56. For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.
6:57. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me: and I in him.
6:58. As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.

So to believe in him is to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

I hope this helps.

May the Lord be with you always.

Thanks,

Luiz

 

[Caesar]

Well ok then. I will have to take it that you cant show me otherwise Im sure you would have gladly pointed me to Scripture.

Scripture isnt the be all and end all of Christ’s Church. It is but a part- an important part- but is to be regarded as neither greater nor lesser then Apostolic Tradition and Dogma.

Acts 8:14-17 - the people of Samaria were baptized in Christ, but did not receive the fullness of the Spirit until they were confirmed by the elders. Confirmation is a sacrament that Jesus Christ instituted within His Catholic Church to further strengthen those who have reached adulthood.

Acts 19:5-6 - the people of Ephesus were baptized in Christ, but Paul laid hands on them to seal them with the Holy Spirit. This sealing refers to the sacrament of confirmation.

Eph. 1:13 - Paul writes that the baptized Ephesians were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, in reference to confirmation.

Eph. 4:30 - Paul says the Ephesians were sealed in the Holy Spirit of God, in reference to the sealing of confirmation.

Heb. 6:2 - Paul gives instruction to the Hebrews about the laying on of hands, in reference to confirmation, not ordination. The early Church laid hands upon the confirmand to administer the sacrament of confirmation.

Heb. 6:2 - this verse also refers to the cycle of life and its relationship to the sacraments - baptism, confirmation, death and judgment - which apply to all people.

John 6:27 - Jesus says the Father has set His seal on Him. As the Father sets His seal on Jesus, so Jesus sets His seal on us on the sacrament of baptism, and later, in the sacrament of confirmation.

Rev. 9:4 - the locusts could not harm those with the seal of God upon their foreheads. See also Rev. 14:1 and 22:4.

 

[BradyQ]

Also, God does not “show Himself at other churches”, for there is One True Church- the Catholic Church. All other “churches” are but schismatic sects of the Catholic Church that teach heresies in varying degrees.

Then is that “God-feeling” just a figment of my imagination?
also which heresies do other churches teach? i know a lot of churches make up a bunch of lies but what about just a simple “Hey! lets follow the Bible! we dont need no traditons or doctrines or nothin’!” church?

 

[Singinbeauty]

Oh believe me OP… there are PLENTY of catholics out there who do a lot of ‘speaking out’ on any and every protestant in their line of sight. Just as it is visa versa. We have wars and fractions in government all over the world because of this. So I wouldn’t be too worried about it. And yes there are even SOME pastors who do this when preaching but it doesn’t make it right. My pastor doesn’t do it. And I wouldn’t attend a church where the pastor did.

My question is why either side would WANT to speak out against their brother or sister in Christ?!?!?! Sometimes it just feels like a whole big ‘Daddy loves me more than you’ argument set on the spiritual level. *sigh

 

[Caesar]

Then is that “God-feeling” just a figment of my imagination?
also which heresies do other churches teach? i know a lot of churches make up a bunch of lies but what about just a simple “Hey! lets follow the Bible! we dont need no traditons or doctrines or nothin’!” church?

Anything that disagrees with a Dogma of the Catholic Church is a heresy, or any twisting of the Catholic faith.

For example, Martin Luther said we are saved by faith alone (among other things) which contradicts the Church’s teaching on salvation. So he commited heresy.

 

[rr1213]

Also, God does not “show Himself at other churches”, for there is One True Church- the Catholic Church. All other “churches” are but schismatic sects of the Catholic Church that teach heresies in varying degrees.

Actually, it appears that the Catholic Church does teach that God most certainly is active within other Churches and ecclesial communities:

“Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth” are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: “the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements.” Christ’s Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, and are in themselves calls to “Catholic unity.” (CCC 819) (emphasis added).

“Therefore, these separated Churches and communities as such, though we believe they suffer from defects, have by no means been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church”. (Dominus Iesus) (emphasis added).

And, certainly even more important than the foregoing, are the words of Our Lord who stated in Mathew 18:20: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

 

[John666]

Christ founded the Church on Peter and promised him that not even the gates of the Netherworld would prevail against it. that is one of the main reason i decided to convert to the Church. so why can’t/don’t Catholics speak out against other churches? to me, Protestants are calling Christ a liar by starting their own church since most claim that the Church fell into error or are teaching error. I could go to church with my baptist grandmother and the preacher will put down the Church all day long, but when i go to mass or even my RCIA class, they never mention the Protestants and won’t say that they are the ones in fact that are in error. they usually say something to the effect of "the body of Christ is broken enough." or something like that if I bring it up. thanks.

The body of Christ IS “broken up enough”, that is why one should speak out against Protestanism …in charity I might add.

 

[John666]

Has it not crossed your mind that the Catholic Church keeps the moral high ground by doing this? I cannot understand why people think that descending to the level of your opponents is a good thing. It’s as if people think that simply slinging mud is an effective method of communication. It isn’t. From my perspective at least, it’s generally self-defeating. If I had been brought up among ecumenical Protestants who thought Catholicism was just another variety of Christianity, I would have been much less likely to consider conversion to Catholicism, I think. Anti-Catholicism works for you. In parts of the country where Catholics are in fact or have been anti-Protestant (witness the ex-Catholic I knew in NJ–though he was from Brooklyn originally–who had been educated by nuns who told him Protestants were heretics and Luther was evil), it works against them too. When people start questioning, they are put off by the negative propaganda they heard growing up.

Edwin

One would do well discerning Truth from feelings.