Number of Sacraments in Protesant Churches.

Please define "sacrament'.

Arcangl86 said:

So I noticed something I've wondered about for a while and would like to debate. My argument is that many churches which only have two sacraments officially in practice have three, with marriage being treated as a de facto sacrament. For purposes of clarification, I am a Anglo-Catholic that actually does believe that marriage is a sacrament, so I'm looking for somebody to argue the other end.

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Perhaps you're getting ordinances and sacrements mixed up. The definition for ordinances can be found in what is presented below. Marrige doesn't really quite fit the definition as it doesn't seem to be a symbolic reenactments of the gospel message

From Got Questions. Protestants and Evangelicals see ordinances as symbolic reenactments of the gospel message that Christ lived, died, was raised from the dead, ascended to heaven, and will someday return. Rather than requirements for salvation, ordinances are visual aids to help us better understand and appreciate what Jesus Christ accomplished for us in His redemptive work. Ordinances are determined by three factors: they were instituted by Christ, they were taught by the apostles, and they were practiced by the early church. Since baptism and communion are the only rites which qualify under these three factors, there can be only two ordinances, neither of which are requirements for salvation.

The way the Catholics understand "sacrament" is "a rite given by Christ which confers grace."
The Protestants have no such understanding of the word.

I wouldn't be the one to take up that debate challenge, but I hope you won't mind if I pass along a thought at the start of your thread.

As one who would be on the other end of the issue, I think Anglicans like myself are content with the idea that matrimony is either to be considered a minor sacrament, as not one of the 'Sacraments of the Gospel,' or else it is a sacrament which is not generally necessary for salvation. That is to say, I don't think of this as an either-or proposition.

Arcangl86 said:

So I noticed something I've wondered about for a while and would like to debate. My argument is that many churches which only have two sacraments officially in practice have three, with marriage being treated as a de facto sacrament. For purposes of clarification, I am a Anglo-Catholic that actually does believe that marriage is a sacrament, so I'm looking for somebody to argue the other end.

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Arcangl86 said:

Except for Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists and the Reformed. You know, most of them.

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Yeah, I guess we are not really Protestant, which is OK by me.

I didn't see this before now. It's an interesting topic.

To clarify - do you want to debate whether or not marriage is a sacrament, or do you want to debate whether marriage is treated as a sacrament in deed, if not in name?

I'd be in the "marriage isn't a sacrament" camp, and I'd be arguing it from within Anglicanism.

Arcangl86 said:

So I noticed something I've wondered about for a while and would like to debate. My argument is that many churches which only have two sacraments officially in practice have three, with marriage being treated as a de facto sacrament. For purposes of clarification, I am a Anglo-Catholic that actually does believe that marriage is a sacrament, so I'm looking for somebody to argue the other end.

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I don't think these other churches DO treat Matrimony as a de facto sacrament. They consider it an important rite of the church, etc. etc., but it's only your perception that is putting it into the sacrament category. All these churches consider there to be two sacraments, or perhaps none.