Protestant Isn't A Religion!?

Question

If I ask you what religion you are and you tell me Protestant, you have not yet answered my question! That is what I learned in 9th grade Honors History class. Protestant isn't a religion because Protestant can be alot of religions! If you tell me that you're Protestant you could be Lutheran etc! So why do so many people say I'm Protestant rather than saying O I'm Lutheran or I'm _____?

Answer 1

protestant is a group of christian denominations. it's like asking what color something is and say "yellow" rather than, lime, banana, sun, lemon, macdonald....

Answer 2

Depends on how you define "religion." If you take religion as meaning everyone in a certain group agrees on all points, then there is no religion at all. No two Baptists are identical, no two Catholics, no two Muslims, and no two atheists. Its like snowflakes. Each one is unique, yet we know what snow is when we see it. That's because we can recognized the shared attributes. Same with religion. A Shiite and a Sunni are both Muslims because they have some beliefs in common that make them different from Christians. An Anglican and a Lutheran are both Protestant because historically they both dissented ("protested"=Protestant) from Roman Catholicism's teachings on priesthood, Mary, the Mass, etc. Not much else beyond this historical connection is needed to qualify as a Protestant, other than acceptance of certain basics, like Jesus being the Son of God, rising from the dead, etc. Incidentally, many Baptists claim (with some validity) that they were never part of Catholicism and so were never Protestants. Nevertheless, despite the history of divisions, those groups that rally around the Bible as the supreme authority for belief and practice come to remarkably similar positions.

Thus, if you use "religion" to capture the shared attributes, Protestant and Catholic become useful categories. But there is a better way. According to Jesus, the shared attributes of all Christians are that they are spiritually reborn persons who follow His teaching and who love one another. Thus, the best use of such categories is to find those things we have in common under God and use them as an excuse to love each other. This, I think, is the highest meaning of the term “religion.”

Answer 3

Alexis,
you have been served a plate of generic fit all answers.

long ago, you had jewish religion, (the only one established by God) and everything else.

the first christians were jews, who applied the teaching of life to themselves and were called christian to denote that they were believers in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.

As the christians becme more and more non-jews, a form of doctrine known as replacement theology came along in which the christians wrongly believed that God had called a second group out, the christian, and they were the people of God. That is not correct. The covenant is with Abraham and his descendants, not to the christian. I can elaborate on this if you need me to, just email me.

the roman catholic church appeared about 300-400 AD, I have read enough to know the early formation could have been all the way back into about 275 AD, but the established, church of rome falls into the basic 300-400 time frame, and co-insides with much of the attacks on Jesus himself not being God.

the first believers knew Jesus was God and did not dispute that. However Darius, emporior of rome knew to destroy the christian, you had to destroy the truth of Jesus and he went at it will all his heart. Also Arius a church bishop also attacked the diety of Jesus when he was not promoted as he thought he should be.

The church at rome, has many doctrines, at complete disagreement to the bible. The first and most damaging is the doctrine of tradition. The church at rome puts tradition above biblical text. The church at rome advocates asking dead "saints" to pray for you. The church of rome elevates Mary, mom of Jesus to having been born without sin, and becoming the queen of heaven. Look up queen of heaven in Esword and see what God thinks about that.

Protestant is a series of denominations, of a religion that is different from catholic. The protestatant religion acknowledges that Jesus alone is the one you pray to for forgiveness and your needs. To pray for any other is blaspheme, (at least the bible says it is, and who reads that old book anymore anyway right?)

your religion would be protestant, catholic, jew, islam or whatever you are.

your demoniation would be lutheran, church of christ,

religion is a tricky thing, and you must define terms in order to get any clear idea what is going one.

Answer 4

Most people ask if you are Catholic or Protestant (yeah I know they leave out all the other religions). In our society, Protestant means Christian, but not Catholic. Most people would then get specific after answering Protestant. But since Protestant is still Christian...yes it's a religion. The same goes for you if you only say that you are a Christian.

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Answer 5

Actually, Protestant is a religion. All the off shoots like Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians etc, are Denominations of the Protestant religion.

Answer 6

There are many sections of Christianity, one major section is Protestant, so people in know, know that you are Christan, in general, protestant in particular and you may have affiliation with some sub-section of Protestant group.

Other are:
Catholics(mainly known as Roman catholic).
Orthodox, (various by countries, example Greek and Russian).
Few other too numerous to mansion and new emerging once as I write this.

Answer 7

Maybe someone would say protestant if they DO in fact have a broad religion. they may believe in what Lutheran and whatever else can be protestant can be. or they may just not one to put out the specifics.

Answer 8

you're asking the incorrect human beings. in case you % to comprehend what the "remarkable" faith is, you will could desire to ask God. flow to diverse church homes, talk over with ministers and priests. learn the theological variations and spend a while in prayer and meditation - ask for practise on your non secular adventure, despite the fact that that highway may well be. For myself, i'm Catholic. i'm Catholic because of the fact the Catholic Church grew to become into the 1st Christian Church, and it preserves the non secular traditions of the early Church alongside with the completed Scriptures. Catholicism, even with the shown fact that, isn't the least complicated form of Christianity to embody, and it fairly is not for each man or woman. while you're searching for the "suitable" faith, then you definately could desire to locate the single it fairly is *suitable for you*. I firmly have faith that God is in actuality a solid guy and could not carry your specific theological selections against you in case you reside a life based on love, honesty, generosity, compassion, admire, and unselfishness (between different comparable virtues), as Christ taught us to stay.

Answer 9

I think some people use Christian in the same way because they don't think the denomination is too terribly important.

It's like calling myself an American, doesn't tell you what state I live in, but I think of myself as more of an American that as a resident of my particular state.

I think some prefer to designate "Protestant" rather than "Christian", because they definitely do not want to be thought of as Catholic.

Answer 10

There is a lot more leeway in changing between Protestant denominations. For example I was born into a Episcopalian family who then moved to a Methodist church through most of my childhood and when I became a teenager we moved to a Baptist church which is where we remain. Now can remember Methodist teachings and Baptist teachings and have formed kind of a hybrid. am I fully Methodist or fully Baptist? No but I am fully Protestant.

Answer 11

Protestant is a Christian that is not Catholic
why do we have to pick a religion I am a Christian
is that not enough
movedby
that is right there is only one true Church and that is the body of Christ