Catholics and Protestants?

Question

Am I the only one who thinks sometimes the differences between the two groups are not as great as we think? I am beginning to realize that sometimes the difference is what we think a word means. I have found myself a few times arguing with a Catholic only to realize we agree but are putting it in different words. That we see certain words a bit differently but when we get down to the basics and talk it out we mean the same thing. Am I the only one this seems to happen to?

St. Boniface - I am pretty much a fundie. However maybe I am a bad fundie. While I don't agree with some of your traditions if I do not think they go against the Bible I have no problem with them. In fact as I understand praying to the saints when it does like you say it is supposed to be done I see nothing wrong with it. I will admit I am not sure how effective it is but I see nothing wrong with asking someone to pray for you. Although I do wonder if sometimes it crosses the line into worship.

cashelmara - So I ask a question about unity and you respond with divisiveness. Nice.

Born-Again Catholic -Yeah I don't see me converting. But I don't see how understanding can hurt. In fact I think understanding can be a great help. While I still disagree with some of your traditions I think I am getting a better understanding. As I said in the question I am finding many of the differences are in what we think words mean. And exactly what an action means. It can appear praying to saints is idolatry. However if done as Catholics say it is then it is nothing more than asking a Christian brother or sister to pray for you. Communication is the answer. Bashing solves nothing.

Answer 1

There are no differences. Anglicans are Catholics who don't recognise Rome as Head Office. Other protestand groups are mostly defined by the point in history at which they broke away from the mainstream.

The one fundamental common belief in Christ makes any disagreement about style relatively insignificant.

Answer 2

There was a time when the Catholic Church was very corrupted and it was called the Dark Ages of the Roman Catholic Church. This was when the Protestant was formed led by Martin Luther. All his intentions were good as he was protesting what the Catholic bishops were doing during his times, wherein they, the bishops exploited the women, drank too much wine, and take all the money from the people through bribery and indulgences. For about some time, there was also a revolution happening in the Catholic Church, trying to change its ways and its leadership. But Martin Luther was already excommunicated by the Pope, accusing him of heresy. He therefore established what we now know as the Protestant Church. Martin Luther was a Catholic German monk, by the way, and the founder of the Protestant Church. Had Martin Luther waited, the Catholic Church would have corrected its wicked ways. But the change from the Catholic Church came too late. Martin Luther already started his own church.

It is therefore no wonder that sometimes catholics and protestants agree on the same thing.

Answer 3

Edge, my friend ... I am smiling right now, and even reading through the cacophony of strident voices here hasn't budged it off my face. You've come to the same realization I did just before I converted -- but in all fairness I was well on my way, and I don't mean to imply that I think you're about to do the same!

All of our differences are clearly not just a matter of semantics. But so many of them are. It's small but significant steps like this one that enable actual discussion (if rather lively at times) about certain points of doctrine, and eventually lead to both sides discovering where they are in accord as well as where their beliefs diverge. It beats "bashing" any day.

Understanding the other side's position does not necessitate capitulating one's own, and I think that's what many folks above aren't getting. But understanding is a whole lot better than rock-throwing. It's how brothers act when they love each other, even when they don't necessarily like what the other one does.

Answer 4

I appreciate it so much my brother! Though I think there are more to it than just semantics.

We have all tried to be united but have failed because we all forget this important truth: Jesus Christ. We cannot do it by ourselves, He is the only one that can do it. We should all pray to Him for reunification.

I would just like to emphasize that each and every thing that the Catholic Church teaches points to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Mother Mary and the Saints became holy because of Jesus. We believe in purgatory because of Jesus' most merciful heart. We believe that the sacraments were all instituted by Christ. The Pope is the servant of God which also points out to Jesus. We believe everything that the Catholic Church teaches because it is established by Jesus. Thus, it is holy because of Jesus.

All of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition point out to Jesus.

Protestants must also see that we do accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior too. We have a very intimate and personal relationship with our Lord and it is all manifested in the Eucharist.

Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical "Ut Unum Sint" (in english, may they be one), said that the first millennium is of Christian unity. The second millennium is of Christian division (Great Schism; Protestantism). He said that he hopes and prays that the third millennium would be of Christian reunification. My prayer also goes to that.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Answer 5

Yes, there are more things that unite Protestants and Catholics than divide them. For example we have the same creed.

Protestant fundamentalists, however, are a different breed altogether.

Jesus prayed that His followers would be ONE.
"that they may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us..." (John 17:21)

St. Paul emphasizes that all followers of Jesus Christ should be ONE.
"Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement." (1 Cor 1:10)

"So then, let us stop judging one another. We must always aim at those things that bring peace and that help strengthen one another." (Romans 14, 13a.19)

Why can’t Fundamentalists, Evangelicals and Pentecostals realize that when we bash each other we are effectively bashing Christianity? I am not asking them to convert to my religion. We have chosen different paths towards the kingdom of God. Why can’t we just walk the path we have chosen and let the other believers follow theirs for the sake of Christianity?

Answer 6

Having been raised Catholic, and now being a born againer, :), I agree and disagree.

There are too many things that I saw in the Catholic faith that are in direct disagreement with the Bible, now that I study it. For instance, praying repetative prayer. Do they realize the "Our Father" or "Lord's Prayer", as they call it, is not meant to actually be a prayer, but a guide to what should be included in prayer? Do they know that repetative prayer was spoken against by Jesus on a number ocassions?

As for prayer, not only do they pray repetitvely, they also pray to other saints, which, since the Bible calls for prayer to our Lord, not St. Jude, Christopher, etc., I also believe is against God's Word.

Then there is the whole baptism thing. The baptism at birth is a man-made doctrine, not one of the Bible, as is making a first communion, and confessing to another man. I don't need someone else to tell me I have sinned. I know it, and take it straight the One who can forgive me. Again, as stated in the Bible.

Then there is the whole Pope thing. We are all God's people, messengers, here on Earth. Not just him, or any other Pastor, etc. We are all called for a purpose in God. None being any greater than the next, else we become boastful, another sin.

Yes, I think some things are similar, but I would no more attend a Catholic mass anymore than kill someone. I have a personal relationship with God that I would never give up.

God bless.

Answer 7

You are not the only one!!!
The differences between Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox Christians and other Christians seem non-existent when you consider that all Christians want to serve and represent Jesus and God. All Christians realize that the will of God and the life of Jesus and the early Christians led to the formation of their respective denomination of Christianity.

Answer 8

Well, my Roman-catholic professor (yeah, we study Roman-Catholicism in college) told us that 85 % of doctrine is the same.

But, I think that Galatians 1:8-9 makes the greatest difference that actually divides us into two camps: biblical Christians and unbiblical non-Christians! It's just unsurpassible!

Answer 9

Everyone has opinion about each other religions, so if
people would just shut their mouths and practice their
own religion, the world is smart enough to check out
what they believe in and where they would fit in. Birds
of a Feather Flock together.

Answer 10

Actually I am still stunned each time I begin doing indepth study into a new religion because they ALL seem to have so much in common when you look at the basic religious concepts, moral view, and even stories/parables/myths. And yes, it does seem to be a matter of semantics. Makes you wonder why so many get so easily upset if someone mentions "Allah" in their posts huh?