S
sdegutis
Guest
I’m not talking about apatheists, those who are completely apathetic about religion. I’m talking about “devout” Christians who refuse to be Catholic for this or that reason. They hate the Catholic gospel.
The word “gospel” comes from old English, and it basically means “good news”, but that’s not really what people think of the Catholic gospel. And it’s all because they heard the Protestant gospel first.
I’ve been told that if you have sex while on some specific drug, you will fall into a depression because sex without the drug doesn’t even come close in comparison. Likewise, when you hear the Protestant gospel, the real thing just doesn’t seem to compare.
The Protestant gospel[1] is that all you have to do to go to heaven is have faith that Jesus died for your sins. That’s all it is. Some may say you need baptism, others that it’s a spiritual baptism, but afterwards you just need to never lose faith that Jesus died for your sins, and when you die you will be with God in heaven forever.
That’s it. That’s all we need to do. Just mentally accept some proposition as a fact, and you’re solid.
The Catholic gospel on the other hand is that we will go to heaven so long as we have faith in Jesus and live a virtuous life.
In other words, it requires that we actually stop sinning. It requires us to strive to become a better person. It requires us to actually change our lives. And if we do sin, we need to confess it to a priest, to whom Jesus gave authority to forgive our sins on his behalf. And the Catholic idea of what’s sinful and what isn’t is much more restrictive than the Protestant idea.
So of course nobody wants to hear the Catholic gospel once they’ve already heard and accepted the Protestant gospel. Never mind which one is true, people naturally prefer whatever’s easiest, which of course is the Protestant gospel, which requires nothing from us at all. Of course, it produces nothing in us either, since whatever takes no effort merits nothing.[2]
[1] I’m admittedly generalizing when I refer to Protestants. I know they differ on every possible doctrine in every possible way. But honestly I don’t care and I don’t think my point really changes because of this. I’m referring to anyone who holds to “sola fide” basically.
[2] I’m not arguing that you can merit eternal life directly, we all know that comes only through grace. I mean that we can merit virtuous habits through virtuous behaviors which forms our character which produces in us hope that we may not fall before our last day. So let’s not get off-track here.
The word “gospel” comes from old English, and it basically means “good news”, but that’s not really what people think of the Catholic gospel. And it’s all because they heard the Protestant gospel first.
I’ve been told that if you have sex while on some specific drug, you will fall into a depression because sex without the drug doesn’t even come close in comparison. Likewise, when you hear the Protestant gospel, the real thing just doesn’t seem to compare.
The Protestant gospel[1] is that all you have to do to go to heaven is have faith that Jesus died for your sins. That’s all it is. Some may say you need baptism, others that it’s a spiritual baptism, but afterwards you just need to never lose faith that Jesus died for your sins, and when you die you will be with God in heaven forever.
That’s it. That’s all we need to do. Just mentally accept some proposition as a fact, and you’re solid.
The Catholic gospel on the other hand is that we will go to heaven so long as we have faith in Jesus and live a virtuous life.
In other words, it requires that we actually stop sinning. It requires us to strive to become a better person. It requires us to actually change our lives. And if we do sin, we need to confess it to a priest, to whom Jesus gave authority to forgive our sins on his behalf. And the Catholic idea of what’s sinful and what isn’t is much more restrictive than the Protestant idea.
So of course nobody wants to hear the Catholic gospel once they’ve already heard and accepted the Protestant gospel. Never mind which one is true, people naturally prefer whatever’s easiest, which of course is the Protestant gospel, which requires nothing from us at all. Of course, it produces nothing in us either, since whatever takes no effort merits nothing.[2]
[1] I’m admittedly generalizing when I refer to Protestants. I know they differ on every possible doctrine in every possible way. But honestly I don’t care and I don’t think my point really changes because of this. I’m referring to anyone who holds to “sola fide” basically.
[2] I’m not arguing that you can merit eternal life directly, we all know that comes only through grace. I mean that we can merit virtuous habits through virtuous behaviors which forms our character which produces in us hope that we may not fall before our last day. So let’s not get off-track here.
