Protestant Beliefs and Practices?

Question

Background information:
My family is protestant but I wasn't raised to follow any religion. I've gone to church a few times but other than that, nothing. My boyfriend is also protestant. He's very family oriented and the majority of his family are priests so religion is obviously a huge part of his life. He knows I don't practice the religion and is fine with it, but he risks having his family disown him since we're dating.

Now on with the question: What are the beliefs and practices of protestants/closely related religions? I'm trying to meet him half way but lack the resources. What are traditions and things the practice that make it unique, what are need-to-know things about it..etc. I would just like some information about what I should look into..any help would be great.

Answer 1

Protestants being thus impious enough to make liars of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Ghost, and of the Apostles, need we wonder if they continually slander Catholics, telling and believing worse absurdities about them than the heathens did? What is more absurd than to preach that Catholics worship stocks and stones for gods; set up pictures of Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and other saints, to pray to them, and put their confidence in them; that they adore a god of bread and wine; that their sins are forgiven by the priest, without repentance and amendment of life; that the pope or any other person can give leave to commit sin, or that for a sum of money the forgiveness of sins can be obtained ? To these and similar absurdities and slanders, we simply answer: "Cursed is he who believes in such absurdities and falsehoods, with which Protestants impiously charge the children of the Catholic Church. All those grievous transgressions are another source of their reprobation."

"But what faith can we learn from these false teachers when, in consequence of separating from the Church, they have no rule of faith? ... How often Calvin changed his opinions! And, during his life, Luther was constantly contradicting himself: on the single article of the Eucharist, he fell into thirty-three contradictions! A single contradiction is enough to show that they did not have the Spirit of God. "He cannot deny Himself" (II Timothy 2:13). In a word, take away the authority of the Church, and neither Divine Revelation nor natural reason itself is of any use, for each of them may be interpreted by every individual according to his own caprice ... Do they not see that from this accursed liberty of conscience has arisen the immense variety of heretical and atheistic sects? ... I repeat: if you take away obedience to the Church, there is no error which will not be embraced.

Source(s):

Against the Reformers
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible online

Additional Reading

St Alphonsus Mary De Liguori (1696-1787)
Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Answer 2

You could get a more accurate discription if you had said what church he goes to. Protestant covers all but Catholic.

There are hundreds of different churches that teach as many different doctrines.

Some are faith only, some believe in works, some beleive in modern day miracles, some beleive miracles have ceased, some speak in tongues, some beleive tongues have ceased

Some take communion every Sunday while others do it only occasionally. Some call their preachers Revrend while others think that is reserved for God alone. Some have Priests while others have Pastors, and still others the pastors are the same as Elder, shephard, and overseerers. Some have just preachers. Some beleive baptism is essential for salvation while others think baptism is a work.

There is a long range of beliefs and practices.

There is a book that may help written for church leaders, but anyone can benifit. Handbook of Denominations in the United States by Frank S Mead and the one I have is Revised by Samuel S Hill

Answer 3

First of all, if there are priests in his family, then his family is not protestant, they are likely catholic, or something else. Protestants, are christians, that broke with the catholics, because they were convicted they were on a wrong path. They in essence, give the power of God to the pope. They have many awesome beliefs, but some are so far off, I worry for them as a whole. Protestants believe in the christian bible, and pray directly to God, and confess their sins directly to him. We are able to do this, because of what Jesus did on the cross. Mary, was a sinner, only a virgin for the birth of Jesus, and the months prior. She had other children with her husband later, and was no longer a virgin. We don't pray to the saints either. They cannot hear us, they are dead. Only God and Jesus answer prayers, to pray to anyone else is idol worship and that is clear in the bible. That is a start. Keep seeking the truth, it is all that really matters in life!

Answer 4

Praying is a really great thing. As a protestant myself, I know that all I need to do is pray and I will have any answer I need.
Saying grace is an obvious thing but more specifically, just praying in general. Pray in the morning to keep everyone safe and thank God you're alive, pray if someone is hurt or in pain, pray when you are thankfull, pray when you are concerned about something. You can never pray to much and what's great about it, you can do it alone or with your family.

Answer 5

Look . . . the Protestants began with they broke with the Catholic Church over sin/forgiveness

They have busted up into groups over Baptism - Faith - Predestination - Holy Spirit stuff -

You ask a huge question!!

Answer 6

The Protestant Churches teach Scripture, with no traditions added to it.
The Bible teaches that Scripture alone is the supreme and infallible authority for the church and the individual believer. This is not to say that creeds and tradition are unimportant, but the Bible alone is our final authority. Creeds and tradition are man made.
Jesus said, "Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). He said "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" (Matthew 5:18). He said, "It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the law" (Luke 16:17).
Jesus used Scripture as the final court of appeal in every matter under dispute. He said to some Pharisees, "You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down" (Mark 7:13). To the Sadducee's He said, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God". (Mat 22:29). To the devil, Jesus consistently responded, "It is written..." (Mat 4:4-10). So following Jesus' lead, the Scriptures alone are our supreme and final authority.
The Protestants broke from the Catholic church because they did not agree with the traditions that were being held as the authority, rather than God's word the Bible.
We are saved by grace alone. Recall that in Acts 16:31 the jailer asked Paul and Silas how to be saved. They responded, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." The jailer believed and immediately became saved.
Close to 200 times in the New Testament salvation is said to be by faith alone - with no works in sight. Consider the following:
John 3:15 tells us that "everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
John 5:24 says, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."
In John 11:25 Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."
John 23:46 says, "I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness."
John 20:31 says, "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
If salvation were not by faith alone, then Jesus' message in the Gospel of John - manifest in the above quotations - would be deceptive, stating that there is one condition for salvation when there are allegedly two - faith and works.
I must emphasize that we are saved by faith for for works. Works are not the condition of our salvation, but a consequence of it We are saved not by works, but by the kind of faith that produces works.

Eph 2:8-10 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this: It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Answer 7

Protestant covers a large amount of denominations and each has different practices. We would need to know the denom. before we could answer.