Why Protestant?

[OzSpen]

Baptists dont consider themselves protestant its just a label given by catholics to any christian that doesnt agree with the catholic church.

Baptists didnt break away from catholicism as far as I know it never had any connection with it.

Lutherans did because it was Martin Luther who first protested with the 99 theses against the wittenberg door. Martin Luther was originally catholic, and the church denom thats named after him broke away from catholic tradtions.

Im not a theologian but..in baptist churches we dont even mention catholicism its really nothing to do with us. What the catholic church does or teaches is not our concern...if people want to hear the gospel, that is.

Baptists will get lumped into protestants cos naturally what baptists believe is not going to agree with catholicism.

I'm a Baptist and I'm a Protestant. I join with Luther in protesting against the doctrines of the RCC that are not biblical, supporting his protest against indulgences for penance and promotion of justification by faith and not by works.

By the way, Luther nailed 95 theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany - not 99 (see Martin Luther and the 95 Theses).

Oz

 

[OzSpen]

I guess that depends on your definition of "Protestant."

I find this to be a reasonable definition of a Protestant:

A Protestant is a Christian who belongs to one of the many branches of Christianity that have developed out of the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther in 1517. Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses “protested” against unbiblical teachings and traditions in the Roman Catholic Church, and many Europeans joined his protest. New churches were founded outside of the Catholic Church’s control. The major movements within the Protestant Reformation include the Lutheran Church and the Presbyterian Church (largely associated with John Knox). The Anabaptist or Free Church movement is considered by some to be part of Protestantism; others classify the Anabaptists as an independent group altogether (What is a Protestant? Got Questions Ministries 2002-2017).

Oz

 

[OzSpen]

That's the usual generalization, but there are exceptions on both the Protestant and Catholic ends of the spectrum.

Which denominations or groups would you consider to be 'exceptions'? I would include the Eastern Orthodox denominations outside of the Protestant-Catholic division but closer to the Catholic position on many issues.

Oz

 

[Dave-W]

I find this to be a reasonable definition of a Protestant:

I notice it completely ignores the Anglican/Episcopal/Methodist branch of Christianity.

And what about Messianic Judaism that actually grew out of Orthodox Judaism?

 

[OzSpen]

I notice it completely ignores the Anglican/Episcopal/Methodist branch of Christianity.

And what about Messianic Judaism that actually grew out of Orthodox Judaism?

Dave,

You don't seem to have read accurately the definition of Protestant that I quoted. It began with this statement: 'A Protestant is a Christian who belongs to one of the many branches of Christianity that have developed out of the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther in 1517'.

Anglican/Episcopal and Methodist churches are branches of Christianity that developed from the Reformation.

Orthodox Judaism is not Protestant. It is Judaism and not Christianity.

As for Messianic Judaism, would you consider it as a designated Protestant denomination? Just asking!

Oz

 

[JoeP222w]

If Anglicanism is a middle way between Catholic and Protestant, then could Baptist be a middle way between Protestant and Anabaptist?

This is not really a correct comparison, really a category error.

It is like saying "What is between an apple and a fruit?".

Anabaptist are Protestant.
Baptist are Protestant.
Anglicanism is weakly Protestant.

 

[JoeP222w]

Google denomination tree (images) Whole bunch like this.

This chart is not really accurate. Roman Catholicism left the Christian faith, they were not a building block to the Christian faith. I would also not necessarily categorize Eastern Orthodox as Christian either, since they deny Sola Scriptura.

 

[Dave-W]

You don't seem to have read accurately the definition of Protestant that I quoted. It began with this statement: 'A Protestant is a Christian who belongs to one of the many branches of Christianity that have developed out of the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther in 1517'.

Correct. King Henry the 8th was staunch against Luther. When he separated the Church of England from Rome, he did not intend to make a Protestant church. Just a Catholic Church of England. So whether it was or was not Protestant has been a debate for the last 450 years. That is why it should have been mentioned in the definition.

Orthodox Judaism is not Protestant. It is Judaism and not Christianity.

As for Messianic Judaism, would you consider it as a designated Protestant denomination? Just asking!

I do not consider it Protestant. But many do.

Certainly much of the doctrine has been borrowed from Protestant sources (but not all); however, the genesis of the Modern Messianic community hearkens back to 3 Orthodox Jewish rabbis from eastern Europe in the 1880s: R. Isaac Lichtenstein from Romania, R. Joseph Rabinowitz of Russia, and R. Leopold Cohn of Hungary.

 

[Albion]

Which denominations or groups would you consider to be 'exceptions'? I would include the Eastern Orthodox denominations outside of the Protestant-Catholic division but closer to the Catholic position on many issues.

Oz

Well, the LDS (Mormons) is considered to be non-Protestant for being, really, a religion unto itself although claiming to follow Christ; and any not to be Protestant. As for the Catholic end of the spectrum, there are a number of churches that are neither RC nor EO, such as the Old Catholics and the Church of the East.

 

[Dave-W]

Well, the LDS (Mormons) is considered to be non-Protestant for being, really, a religion unto itself although claiming to follow Christ;

The LDS are NOT mono-theistic and therefore cannot accurately claim to be Christian.

You Too can be god in your own planet/galaxy/universe.

 

[Albion]

The LDS are NOT mono-theistic and therefore cannot accurately claim to be Christian.

Very well, so it's obvious that they cannot be Protestant, either.

 

[OzSpen]

Well, the LDS (Mormons) is considered to be non-Protestant for being, really, a religion unto itself although claiming to follow Christ; and any not to be Protestant. As for the Catholic end of the spectrum, there are a number of churches that are neither RC nor EO, such as the Old Catholics and the Church of the East.

The LDS doctrines are not Protestant. They are those of a cult.

 

[OzSpen]

Anglicanism is weakly Protestant.

Not if you are a member of the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church in Australia. It is very Protestant.

Michael Jensen, an Anglican from the Sydney diocese, wrote:

Sydney's Anglicans are the inheritors of an Anglicanism that has a long and deeply established heritage in the Church of England and they share in an expression of Anglicanism that is, in global terms, widespread. Far from being an aberration caused by a quirk of history or a narrow ultra-Protestant sect, they can trace their way of being Anglican in continuous line back to the Reformation and even somewhat before.

Moreover, the classic Anglican description of the supreme authority of Scripture resonates deeply with the evangelicalism that is found in most parishes in Sydney (Are Sydney Anglicans actually Anglicans? 1 Sep 2011)

Oz

 

[Dave-W]

Not if you are a member of the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church in Australia. It is very Protestant.

And yet other diocese consider themselves more catholic.

Anglican Catholic

 

[Albion]

And yet other diocese consider themselves more catholic.

Anglican Catholic

That's a different church, not just another diocese.

It is true, however, that the Diocese of Sydney has a worldwide reputation for being very near the Protestant end of the Anglican spectrum.

 

[Dave-W]

That's a different church, not just another diocese.

Do they not submit to the Archbishop of Canterbury? If so that would make them another arm of the same denomination.

 

[Albion]

Do they not submit to the Archbishop of Canterbury?

Nope. It's a separate church not in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury. It's one of the "Continuing Anglican" church bodies.

See the Wikipedia article, "Continuing Anglican movement" if you're interested.

 

[Dave-W]

OK - Thanks.

 

[OzSpen]

And yet other diocese consider themselves more catholic.

Anglican Catholic

Dave,

There are some diocese in Victoria that are evangelical. However, the remainder tend to be high church, anglo-Catholic and liberal in theology. Here in the Brisbane diocese there is an evangelical Anglican church about 15 mins from where i live. I've been there for one of their services and the short message was Christ-centred.

Oz

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I wasn't aware of that. I though Anabaptists were a separate movement and considered themselves so.

There may be a lot of differences in what Anabaptists even think themselves - I've seen many posts(or a few anyway) by someone(s) with the label "Anabaptist" that don't appear at all to be in line with Scripture nor with Anabaptists in general. I don't know any way on this site to even start to do anything about that.