Troubling! Criticism of Protestantism in Wikipedia

Episaw

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SkyWriting

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Sarah G

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I am protestant (Methodist by default) and it is interesting to me to read the article. As there is also a Criticism of the Catholic Church article it seems fair enough. It is good to be informed of criticisms of one's belief-system. It is good to be objective about the single most important thing in our lives.
Criticism of the Catholic Church - Wikipedia
 
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Monk Brendan

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Hi! I am a non-denom Christian and saw this article Wikipedia ---- Criticism of Protestantism - Wikipedia

I found it troubling to say the least....How do we reply to these things??

First of all, welcome to CF.

Second, the claims put forth in that article are, for the most part, true. Yes, I am an Eastern Catholic--look up Melkite Catholic, but that does not mean that when the Pope says "Jump" I respond "how high." Far from it.

I also know that Wikipedia is mostly written by users, so anyone can put in anything--within reason.
 
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Phantasman

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I didn't find it troubling at all. Whatever church has the widest path (to salvation) doesn't interest me at all anymore. Churches argue over the Bible.

The early church (first three centuries) was the separation of Judaism and Christianity. John and Paul established the church to the Gentiles, which didn't need or use the Hebrew teachings or scriptures. It was through the Jewish Christians that the OT was held onto.

When the church was reformed (4th century), the churches Paul and John established (gnostic) were assimilated by the Jewish Christians. Marcion and Valentinus was following Pauls ministry while the emerging catholic ideology were the Jews who wanted their god to be included in anything Christ taught. The Jews hated Paul.

This separation (church of one god, vs church of the Gospel) continued, rivaling each other until 381 AD.

The first part of the period, during the lifetimes of the Twelve Apostles, is traditionally believed[by whom?] to have been initiated by the Great Commission of Jesus (though some scholars[who?] dispute the historicity of this event), and is called the Apostolic Age. The earliest followers of Jesus comprised an apocalyptic, Second Temple Jewish sect, which historians refer to as Jewish Christianity. Though Paul's influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than that of any other New Testament author,[1] the relationship of Paul of Tarsus and Judaism remains a matter of dispute. Early Christianity gradually grew apart from Judaism during the first two centuries of the Christian Era; it established itself as a predominantly gentile religion in the Roman Empire.


In the Ante-Nicene Period (literally before the First Council of Nicaea in 325), following the Apostolic Age, both incredible diversity and unifying characteristics lacking in the apostolic period emerged simultaneously.[citation needed] Part of the unifying trend was an increasingly harsh rejection of Judaism and of Jewish practices. By the beginning of the Nicene period, the Christian faith had spread throughout Western Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, and to North Africa and the East: see Early centers of Christianity. The Mediterranean Christianity journey consisted of 48 cities that St John visited to get the gentiles to join the Christian community.


Historians[which?] commonly use the First Council of Nicaea in 325 and the toleration/promotion of Christianity by Emperor Constantine I (reigned 306–337) in the Roman Empire to mark the end of early Christianity and the beginning of the era of the first seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787).- WIKI History of early Christianity

When the Roman church started killing the gnostics as heretics, the "gentle religion" ceased to exist. The Priests (Pharisee's) returned.
 
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Phantasman

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It's Wikipedia, about as valid a source for truth as Facebook.
Wiki gives the references at the bottom. A lot of references on Christianity comes the writings of Eusebius: History of the Church as well as historical scholars.

Just because it's Wiki doesn't make it false. I'm sure you agree with it when it agrees with you.

Point: check the references, IOW seek.
 
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Phil 1:21

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Just because it's Wiki doesn't make it false.

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ViaCrucis

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Hi! I am a non-denom Christian and saw this article Wikipedia ---- Criticism of Protestantism - Wikipedia

I found it troubling to say the least....How do we reply to these things??

Depends on what you mean, doesn't it?

Are you troubled that there are criticisms of Protestantism? There's criticism of everything, so that shouldn't be troubling.

Individual criticisms can be responded to by understanding the criticism, and considering whether or not it may be valid--one shouldn't assume that a criticism is false simply because it is directed toward one's own set of beliefs, there may be a valid criticism to take into consideration.

If there is a criticism which is based on faulty premises and/or bad arguments, then one can respond by correcting faulty premises and having the better argument.

There's not going to be a universal catch-all here, it's going to depend.

One way of answering is also to point out that "Protestantism" isn't a homogenous entity, there really is no such thing as "Protestantism", there are instead a number of "Protestantisms"; both Lutherans and Baptists are "Protestant", but they are by no means very similar. So not all "criticisms of Protestantism" are equal in terms of scope, obviously a criticism of a particular Protestant denomination or tradition is not necessarily applicable to all; a specific criticism of Lutheranism does not translate to a criticism of the Baptist tradition, since it is specific and particular to Lutheranism.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Rubiks

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It's Wikipedia, about as valid a source for truth as Facebook.

Wikipedia is very reliable for things like science or math. Just take everything with a grain of salt about "hot-topic" issues (religion/politics) Many articles show obvious signs of being revised by multiple editors (edit wars?) and thus have an inconsistent tone/message and some articles outright contradict other articles. I've seen some articles that contradict themselves within the same article.
 
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Alicewonder

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Do you have an example of a criticism? Not really keen to read a long wiki artical...

Here goes!!

Criticism of Protestantism covers critiques and questions raised about Protestantism, the movement based on Martin Luther's Reformation principles of 1517. Criticisms come mainly from Catholic and Orthodox sources, although Protestant denominations have also engaged in self-critique and criticized one another.[1]

The biblical critique, according to Roman Catholic apologists, asserts that the doctrines of principal branches of Protestantism, even in their foundational principles, are unbiblical and unfaithful to the practices and beliefs of the Church of the Bible. Sola scriptura of the Lutheran and Reformed branches[2] and prima scriptura of the Anglican Communion and the Methodist Churches both fail according to critics, because the Bible as to its canon and nature was determined by Catholic synods, presupposes the Church and its tradition, never mentions the exclusivity and primacy of the authority of Scripture nor the canon of Scripture, and teaches that "the Church", not the Bible, "is the pillar and the bulwark of the truth". (1 Tim 3:15) Also, sola scriptura is contradicted by the Bible teaching about other sources of revealed truth such as tradition, spoken word, and a Council. According to the critics, sola fide, another concept originated by Lutheran and Reformed theologians, is directly contradicted by the Biblical teaching "a man is justified ... not by faith alone" (James 2:24).

The historical, sociological and ecclesiological critique points to the disparity of Protestantism with early Christian practices and the teachings of the Church Fathers, the 16th century foundation of Protestantism, the problematic moral quality of its founders, and its fragmentation and doctrinal contradictions that foster schism and disunity in contrast to the unity of the Church described in the New Testament as having "one faith, one baptism", and "united in the same mind and same judgement". (1 Cor 1:10) This fragmentation means, according to critics, that each autonomous Protestant denomination, with its distinctive truth claims, have limited numbers concentrated in one geographical area vis-a-vis world population, a situation that is at variance with the universal scope of Christ's one Church. A few critics, supported by leading modern scholars, also say that Protestants brought about the creation of the black legend or false propaganda against Catholics, in contravention of the commandment of "not bearing false witness."[3] Historian Brad Gregory traces the hyperplural, relativistic, morally subjectivistic, permissive, individualistic, consumerist, state-controlled, morality and religion free, secularized society of today to the Reformation's giving sole authority to the bible that can be individually interpreted, its state-controlled churches, faith-alone salvation without need for human cooperation, and Protestantism's divergent moral teachings.
 
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Adstar

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Here goes!!

Criticism of Protestantism covers critiques and questions raised about Protestantism, the movement based on Martin Luther's Reformation principles of 1517. Criticisms come mainly from Catholic and Orthodox sources, although Protestant denominations have also engaged in self-critique and criticized one another.[1]

The biblical critique, according to Roman Catholic apologists, asserts that the doctrines of principal branches of Protestantism, even in their foundational principles, are unbiblical and unfaithful to the practices and beliefs of the Church of the Bible. Sola scriptura of the Lutheran and Reformed branches[2] and prima scriptura of the Anglican Communion and the Methodist Churches both fail according to critics, because the Bible as to its canon and nature was determined by Catholic synods, presupposes the Church and its tradition, never mentions the exclusivity and primacy of the authority of Scripture nor the canon of Scripture, and teaches that "the Church", not the Bible, "is the pillar and the bulwark of the truth". (1 Tim 3:15) Also, sola scriptura is contradicted by the Bible teaching about other sources of revealed truth such as tradition, spoken word, and a Council. According to the critics, sola fide, another concept originated by Lutheran and Reformed theologians, is directly contradicted by the Biblical teaching "a man is justified ... not by faith alone" (James 2:24).

The historical, sociological and ecclesiological critique points to the disparity of Protestantism with early Christian practices and the teachings of the Church Fathers, the 16th century foundation of Protestantism, the problematic moral quality of its founders, and its fragmentation and doctrinal contradictions that foster schism and disunity in contrast to the unity of the Church described in the New Testament as having "one faith, one baptism", and "united in the same mind and same judgement". (1 Cor 1:10) This fragmentation means, according to critics, that each autonomous Protestant denomination, with its distinctive truth claims, have limited numbers concentrated in one geographical area vis-a-vis world population, a situation that is at variance with the universal scope of Christ's one Church. A few critics, supported by leading modern scholars, also say that Protestants brought about the creation of the black legend or false propaganda against Catholics, in contravention of the commandment of "not bearing false witness."[3] Historian Brad Gregory traces the hyperplural, relativistic, morally subjectivistic, permissive, individualistic, consumerist, state-controlled, morality and religion free, secularized society of today to the Reformation's giving sole authority to the bible that can be individually interpreted, its state-controlled churches, faith-alone salvation without need for human cooperation, and Protestantism's divergent moral teachings.

I did not really want a cut and paste.. I was asking for a specific example of a doctrine that has flaws in it that can be shown by using scripture.... But anyway thanks for replying. :)
 
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