From a catholic perspective when evangelicals say that....?

Question

they have a relationship with Jesus. As if they have a personal saviour etc etc.

From a catholic perspective are they deluded.

Its clear from that the bible was not meant to be the sole authority for followers of Jesus.

The church is the pillar of truth from which to reveal the bible to people.

Doesnt 2 thes 2:15 say to hold on to oral tradition as much as the bible.

So evangelicals claim that they have some sort of personal or superior relationship with their creator at least from their perspective.

However the potential is there that they dont have a relationship at all because they have not been correctly thought the bible. So what do catholics think of this whole relationhip theory

I am coming to the conclusion that the Catholic Chruch is indeed the church that Jesus founded. The one church that he spoke about.

I would think that God isint happy with 37,000 christian clubs/denominations world wide.

And while those denominations claim that they agree on the essentials how then do you determine what is essential or not.

It would seem that the verdict is in

Answer 1

Amen brother...

Just as many Christian faiths don't believe in the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

Why else would Jesus have said...

Joh 6:51 "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."
Joh 6:52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"
Joh 6:53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
Joh 6:54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
Joh 6:55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
Joh 6:56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.
Joh 6:58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."


Count them Seven times He states that His Body is food and His Blood is drink. Why do Christians misunderstand this???

Just my thoughts...

Answer 2

Amen! I’ve been asking the same basic questions myself. Here’s one that I posted recently: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aml9mZ6In_.BMv4RiTo8Q1Hsy6IX?qid=20070722225224AAqfxgc

As far as a personal relationship with Jesus, I think that is between the person and God. I know a lot of Catholics with little to do with Jesus, and Protestants as well.

You’re dead on the money about oral tradition. I keep arguing that very point with so many Protestants when they jump on the bible as their final, all authority. They either forget, or simply don’t know that it was the CHURCH that came first, and THEN the bible, not the other way around. There was no Christian bible for 400 years after Christ. Without a bible, how was the Faith taught? Oral tradition.

I feel that a person CAN have a personal relationship, even if it’s only a desire, with Jesus in their heart. I agree though, that they NEED the correct instruction in the Faith. For years as a protestant I wanted to know and love Jesus more, but I had no idea what the Faith was or what God taught. I spent a long time trying to piece things together myself, but never had any confidence that I had it right. It was agonizing, lonely and frustrating. It wasn’t until I found the Church that I found the Light.

No, I don’t think God is too happy with the 37,000+ denominations. I asked the same question myself (which you may have seen by now). Each claims to be of God, each claims to follow His teachings, but hardly any of them BELIEVE the same things. How does that make any sense? When a disagreement on doctrine occurs, how does it get settled? Who settles it? Who has the authority and who doesn’t?

What a mess! Thank God for the Catholic Church!

By the way, welcome home.

Answer 3

I eat His Body and drink His Blood every day. No evangelical or fundamentalist has a more personal relationship with Christ than that.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Beattyb,

So you believe in hearing Christ’s voice but not allowing Him in your church to worship Him in the Eucharist. Go figure?

Jesus did not instruct literally not to call someone father, doctor, teacher, etc. but this is pure eisegesis of God’s Word. Praying prayers that encourage contemplation are not vain and this is eisegesis also. Never has the Catholic Church forbidden a man to marry. If you want to attack and show hatred for Christ’s Church at least know what you are talking about and not continue to bear false witness against His Church. There will be a judgment, you know, when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess. May the Lord have mercy.

Answer 4

No. Even if Christ intends a Universal Church, the RCC is not it. That is absurd. It is the same institution that has been responsible for some of the greatest atrocities ever committed.

Anytime you look toward an extra-biblical source as plenary, you are asking for trouble. The Evangelical denominations are in Communion with our Lord, that is more important than being in Communion with an usurper church.

Answer 5

All can have a relationship with Christ. Catholics have the fullness of truth thus are able to enter more deeply into that relationship and truth. Our Evangelical brothers who have tremendous reverence for the Word of God are left wanting because the Bible can only take them so far. Thusly many run the risk of misinterpretation of His Word. We pray that they may come to the fullness of truth

Answer 6

Please do not denigrate our brothers and sisters in Christ. You are not being Christ to them.

Evangelicals may very well have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but I think that the Catholic Church is the means to have the fullest possible relationship with Jesus Christ.

Non-Catholic Christians do not have the Eucharist, which is Jesus Christ present in a way that can be felt, smelled, seen and tasted. Non-Catholics cannot hold their Lord and savior in their hands. Non-catholics also cannot experience Jesus forgiving love in the sacrament of Reconciliation or feel His healing in the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

Answer 7

There are many scriptures that speak of Jesus having a personal relationship with his followers and his followers knowing his voice. Read the books of St. John and Matthew. Evangelicals are not deluded and do know the scriptures, for instance the scripture where it says to "call no man on the earth your father," and to not repeat vain prayers, and to not forbid men to marry. You know, like the Catholics do??

Answer 8

Was the Catholic church 'correctly' teaching the bible when they sanctioned the murder and turture of thousands during the inqusition, burning at the stakes, the crusades robberies , rapes, and pillages, the charging for forgiveness of sins, the worship of Mary, the introduction of pagan idols masked as Saint this or saint that.

If you are going to be Catholic then fine be it but please dont claim to actually have a biblically superior stand with your doctrine of papisms and priest and nuns and other curruptions of pure gospel doctrine

Answer 9

You can have a personal relationship with Jesus too.