Catholicism vs Protestant-does it even matter?

[Wigglesworth]

Catholicism vs Protestant-does it even matter?

ok so i'm a college student from a Hindu background going through RCIA, and i keep hearing things from Protestants saying that Catholics are doing it wrong, and Catholics saying that Protestants are doing it wrong. my question is, does it really matter? like i know somewhere in the Bible, Jesus tells a guy that you'll get in heaven if you love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.

so as long as you're doing that, does following a different denomination make what you're doing incorrect?

Yes. Two people who disagree about truth are not both correct. God is true. People who disagree with God are not true. True love requires respect for truth in all of the issues that matter in a happy life. It is not love to let someone live a lie, if we can help it. Sometimes we cannot help it, but we should never approve of the lie.

 

[Albion]

Aargh. Another dead thread that was brought back to life.

 

[babylonisfalling]

Catholicism vs Protestant-does it even matter?


ok so i'm a college student from a Hindu background going through RCIA, and i keep hearing things from Protestants saying that Catholics are doing it wrong, and Catholics saying that Protestants are doing it wrong.

my question is, does it really matter? like i know somewhere in the Bible,

Jesus tells a guy that you'll get in heaven if you love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.

so as long as you're doing that, does following a different denomination make what you're doing incorrect?

There is salvation through Jesus Christ on both sides of the Catholic/Protestant fence. I think it still matters though because Catholicism is more correct.

 

[andy b]

no

 

[steve_bakr]

Catholicism vs Protestant-does it even matter?

ok so i'm a college student from a Hindu background going through RCIA, and i keep hearing things from Protestants saying that Catholics are doing it wrong, and Catholics saying that Protestants are doing it wrong.

my question is, does it really matter? like i know somewhere in the Bible,

Jesus tells a guy that you'll get in heaven if you love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.

so as long as you're doing that, does following a different denomination make what you're doing incorrect?

I would say that it doesn't have to matter.

 

[Digout]

Catholicism vs Protestant-does it even matter?


ok so i'm a college student from a Hindu background going through RCIA, and i keep hearing things from Protestants saying that Catholics are doing it wrong, and Catholics saying that Protestants are doing it wrong.

my question is, does it really matter? like i know somewhere in the Bible,

Jesus tells a guy that you'll get in heaven if you love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.

so as long as you're doing that, does following a different denomination make what you're doing incorrect?

I suggest you read the book "Why I am A Believer in Jesus" (A story of a Hindu Devanga Brahmin) available with amazon.com

 

[Ave Maria]

I believe that it definitely does matter. I believe that the Catholic Church is the Church instituted by Jesus Christ and that only the Catholic Church has 100% of the Truth as given to us by God.

 

[Albion]

I believe that it definitely does matter. I believe that the Catholic Church is the Church instituted by Jesus Christ and that only the Catholic Church has 100% of the Truth as given to us by God.

IOW, it matters because you value the feeling that you are part of a church that gives you 100% assurance that it alone is right and always is right. If only life worked that way.

 

[thecolorsblend]

IOW, it matters because you value the feeling that you are part of a church that gives you 100% assurance that it alone is right and always is right. If only life worked that way.

I think it's one of those things where it's worth checking the record and finding out which one's true and which one isn't.

For example, infallibility seems to bother some people. But when has the Catholic Church ever pronounced something to be totally bulletproof and reliable, TOTALLY worthy of believing in and staked their credibility on it... and then walked it back?

I can find examples among the Southern Baptists and SEVERAL for the Anglican Communion. It seems like the Mormons change some major doctrine or other every other year. Each tradition has several issues where they put their foot down, staked their credibility on something and told their followers to absolutely abide by it... only to change their minds later on.

I'm at a loss to think of an occasion when the Catholic Church has ever infallibly declared something and then be shown to be wrong about it. I can't think of a time when they staked their credibility on an issue and then changed it. Sure, there are instances of policy changing but none of those things were infallibly declared. If the Catholic Church was a totally human institution, wouldn't it have had occasion to change "infallible" doctrines at least once every few centuries?

 

[Albion]

I think it's one of those things where it's worth checking the record and finding out which one's true and which one isn't.

Sure, but you're not going to find any denomination that has never made a mistake, and certainly not because it's been supposedly endowed with some divine Teflon shield against error. And if you look at the Roman Catholic Church in particular, you will find that quite a few of its most famous doctrines were not formulated until many centuries after Christ, and others have been changed over the years.

For example, infallibility seems to bother some people. But when has the Catholic Church ever pronounced something to be totally bulletproof and reliable, TOTALLY worthy of believing in and staked their credibility on it... and then walked it back?

You know, I personally don't sympathize with a claim that any church is infallible but then doesn't admit to its own theories concerning infallibility. It supposedly is the case that the agreement of the Magisterium defines any teaching infallibly, and it has changed as many doctrines as any Protestant church has, not to mention the actions taken by Popes and councils.

I'm at a loss to think of an occasion when the Catholic Church has ever infallibly declared something and then be shown to be wrong about it.

Let me explain how that works. Doctrines that are out of fashion are simply left to die in obscurity. You can hardly find a priest anywhere who will stand by the doctrine of Purgatory as the church has historically defined it...but of course, there's been no new council that's passed a resolution repealing the original decision. It just gets unofficially altered and called a matter of personal judgment.

 

[ChesterKhan]

You bet it matters. It's a matter of honesty. Did Christ teach this, or did He teach something else? Now, I nor God can fault you for that which you cannot know - either because you are ignorant or stupid. Natural stupidity is not a sin, and you can't be faulted for something you do not know.

But as Christians, we believe there is real, objective truth that goes on whether we believe it or not. If the Resurrection is something I made up just because I thought it sounded nice - I believe it is true for me, but not for an atheist - then I believe complete nonsense.

Part of the Christian life is to come to know the truth as it really is. Christ is "the Truth". So we ought not to fear the truth, but seek it. And part of that includes the one question around which all dogma and doctrine are centered: which authority has the right to say it is founded by God Himself?

I would argue that Rome has that authority. It was founded by two Apostles: the head of the Apostles, Peter; and the most vocal of the Apostles, the first theologian of our faith, Paul. It broke up the fights and squabbling when the Eastern Churches couldn't agree to anything. And even the Oriental Orthodox have one church that is not Orthodox, but Catholic: the Maronite Church has always been loyal to Rome.

Still, I wouldn't blame the man who chose to become Orthodox instead. The two (three?) churches are remarkably similar, Rome, and Constantinople (and Alexandria, and Antioch, and Ethiopia, and Malankara, etc). And they, too, have valid apostolic succession.

It's all really a question of how the Apostles passed on their authority. It's fairly clear an episcopal nature was used, and only preserved in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Anyone who argues the Church Christ founded was congregational or like the Presbyterians ultimately has to face that none of the Churches that survived the persecution of Rome passed on their authority the way the Baptists, Presbyterians, Evangelicals, or non-denominational Christians pass it on. The "Bible alone", in that way, just doesn't suffice.

And where there is no legitimate authority, there is no Christ, either, who is our sole authority, working through the bishops and priests.

 

[Albion]

Welcome to CF, ChesterKhan.

 

[Basil the Great]

I have observed many Catholics and many Protestants from different denominations for decades. I see little difference in how they live their lives. Does it matter in the end, in terms of our salvation? What did Jesus say? He told us to love God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul and all our strength and to love our neighbor as our self. It seems to me that to follow those two commandments is far more important to God than which branch of Christianity one subscribes to.

As a side note, we must remember that our Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox brethren could well be part of the title of this thread. Perhaps Catholics and Protestants need to look at them more often and see that they contribute much to the fullness of the Christian family?