Questions about Catholic and Protestants?

Question

How can Protestants be down on catholics based on the bible.

The Catholic Church was the first church and existed alone until 1600ish. (there were no protestant chuches for 80% of the churches life)

The Bible was put together by Catholics

Protestants took parts of the bible that didnt fit with their newly fashioned beliefs (ie divorce) out of the bible to make a new one.

Most protestant churches are less than 100 years old and there are 38,000 denominiations.

Can anyone help me with that???

Answer 1

Protestants make the false claim that Catholic doctrine disagrees with the Bible. In reality, Catholic doctrine disagrees with their INTERPRETATIOn of hte Bible. Protestants give themselves authority to interpret the Bible by saying that their interpretation comes from the Holy Spirit. That is a very easy claim to make.

They have also invented the doctrine of sola scriptura which states that the Bible is the sole authority for faith and morals. This doctrine is man made and not found in the Bible.

Answer 2

They only exist to protest so that is what they keep on doing. Without the Catholic Church they could not be Protest-ants.

But they cannot answer you. They do not know. Most of them do not know the history of the their own church much less the Catholic Church. They go by what they've been told. I know because I used to be a Protestant. At that time I knew the "Catholic Bible" was different but I was under the impression that they had added books...I had no idea that Martin Luther had removed books! Also, I was always told that if it couldn't be found in the Bible (purgatory, the assumption, perpetual virginity of Mary etc.) that it was made up by Catholics. Of course the "Bible as the only authority' is a bogus belief becasue it cannot be backed by the Bible.

Catholics do believe the Bible is the Word of God. They did not keep it out of the hands of the people. Prior to the printing press, Bibles were hand written...it took years and there were few of them. Most regular people could not read anyway so what good did it do to own a Bible. Once the printing press was invented, the Bible began to be printed. Martin Luther had his version printed and distributed with out 7 of the sacred books. This was an abomination and the Church sought to keep this incomplete version of the Bible out of the hands of the people so they would not be led astray by Martin Luther's beliefs. Many of them, as they began reading, got the wrong Bible to follow. That was a cause for concern.

There are so many denominations because there are that many self-appointed popes. All sure that they have the authority of God to interpret scripture. But Jesus gave the authority to one Church and that Church was started by Peter.

Answer 3

Pyper: you have obviously never traveled the deep south. Seems like every other street corner has a baptists church on it, and they all teach that every other baptist church is bound for hell. I'd say that 38,000 is a conservative estimate.

The early church was indeed a loose community of individual churches, but they all recognized the heirarchy of bishops which developed into the Catholic church. They were by no means autonomous, as the various letters in the New testament reveal. They often referred questions to higher authority in the church. If you would read the writings of the early church fathers you would know that there was no substantial disagreement over doctrine. The council of Nicea formalized the profession of faith and the composition of the Bible. It was a singular event that demonstrates the solidarity of the Church at that time, and belies your assertion that the Catholic church was only one of many.

Chris: Please give me a reference to your idiotic claim that catholics killed anyone with a Bible? Are you sure you're not CJ in a different cloak? This is a ridiculous claim. In the first place, before the printing press, no individual could afford to own a Bible, even if they could read, which they probably couldn't.

I am Catholic, and I own several Bibles, a book of Mormon, a Koran, one Hadith and the writings of Bahu'llah. Your thought police haven't come for me yet. Quite accepting Dale Brown as a historian, dude, it's just fiction.

Answer 4

There are as much as 38,000 denominations. I always used to think that there was a new Church for every page in the Bible, joking, but to find that there are so many... Why do Christians need so many denominations? I agree that some denominations like certain translations of the Bible as it suits there particular beliefs and some Protestants put greater emphasis on the New Testament even though the Ten Commandments are in the Old Testament. I even heard one Protestant say that the Old Testament was irrelevant and that we are living in New Testament times.

Answer 5

Pastor Billy says: I think you already know the answer.

I'd like to ask both Boo and IwantU2 to support their claims.
Boo why not verify your accusations from Catholic sources because you are running on myth about what Catholicism teaches.

IwantU2 about the veil of the temple you are providing a tradition of interpretation where does the bible literally explain all priesthood is done away? Be careful now because if you are correct Jesus is not highpriest as stated in the book of Hebrews.

Both these individuals have been mislead about Catholicism or what is first Christianity they need to do some study and research if they wish to speak on behalf of Christianity.

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"To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant." John Henry Cardinal Newman
To justify its break from the Catholic Church, Protestantism has adopted the strategy of pitting the Holy Scripture against the Church. The result is a false dilemma whereby one is to chose between Holy Scripture and the "traditions of men"...the Catholic Church. Fifteen hundred years of Christianity and the working of the Holy Spirit were swept away with the cavalier and unbiblical charge that it is merely the "traditions of men."
Protestantism is the best example of following the "traditions of men." Virtually every Protestant church, denomination, sect and cult can be traced to some human founder(s) within the past 500 years. Whether it is Luther, Calvin, King Henry VIII, Wesley, Knox, Joseph Smith (Mormon), Russell (JW), Eddy (Christian Scientist) or any number cropping up to this very day, all Protestants follow the "traditions of men." Some, such as Lutherans, use the very name of their founder in their denomination name. Others closely identify with their founders, such as those who call themselves "Calvinists." All approach the Bible and interpret it in accordance with the "traditions of men" they have inherited

Answer 6

@ Christopher: i'm Lutheran too, yet no way am I reducing Ephesians 2:8-9 out of my Bible . . . Michael: See, and now I practice my lack of information. i know the completed Catholic-Protestant blah blah blah is going on advert infinitum, however the 1st element I honestly think of roughly is the Protestant *denomination* fairly than only non-Catholics. And, understanding a tad with regard to the denomination, it type of feels that Protestant Protestants (lol) may be plenty greater possibly to argue with Catholics than something of the Protestants. I dunno. i think, and remarkable me if i'm incorrect, that your line "warm buttons I ought to stay away from" replaced into a minimum of quite tongue-in-cheek . . . there circulate the *good* discussions in case you do away with all the nice and cozy button matters. (And no way am I a "by using the e book" Lutheran . . . this is greater of a default element . . . i'm going to have informed you that.)

Answer 7

You need to check other sources besides the LDS Guide to the Scriptures. They use that 38,000 figure frequently. It has never been substantiated and is wildly exaggerated.

Your claim that "most protestant churches are less than 100 years old" is also LDS in origin, and untrue. Ever heard of Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Calvin, William Miller, and/or Alexander Campbell (among others)? All lived long before "100 years ago".

The Catholics were was not the first Church. They don't even claim that for themselves. What is known now as the Roman Catholic Church didn't fully evolve until 5-6 century AD. Most city churches until then were led by elders and/or bishops and were autonomous. When one bishop of Rome claimed supreme authority, the eastern part of the Church withdrew. (the "Orthodox" churches).

The Church was started by Jesus Christ. (And not restored by Joseph Smith.)

The Bible was not put together by Catholics. Again, it was used in its present form as early as the 2nd century AD, long before the machinery of what is now known as the Roman Catholic Church was in place.

Protestant churches added nothing to the Bible. We just refuse to accept certain disputed books as revelation or doctrinal. (Why? The Jews never recognized them as part of their scripture, Jesus never quoted from them, and the early church leaders explicitly rejected them.)

Answer 8

Since the Protestants like the Bible and base their theology solely on it, one would think that they would just give Christ's Church a thank you once in awhile instead of the hatred they display.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 9

The reality is that God did not create religion, man did. The twelve disciples were not Roman Catholic, and the Roman Catholic Church is not the only Catholic Church either. The Catholic Church started hundreds of years after Christ's Resurrection.

He gave us faith. Faith to believe in Him and to accept Jesus Christ is all you need. You can't "do" anything to receive salvation, it is through faith alone.

You don't need an inter-mediator to confess to, and the Pope is not Christ's only representative on earth. You are the Temple of God and the Church is within you. You yourself are the church, and God's representative to the rest of the world.

A famous preacher once said, "Don't tell me a sermon, live one for me to follow". Are you living up to God's expectations for you?

Forget denominations, accept God and Christ and become part of the true Church. That is the Family of God.

Cheers.

Answer 10

The Catholic church kept the Bible out of people's hands for hundreds of years, and said that Man must have an intermediary between them and God (that's not Biblical). The Catholic church also said that to 'earn' their way to Heaven, people must do good works (also not Biblical). Then there's confession (not Biblical), the saints, and a bunch of other stuff. No religion is perfect because of Man - men make the rules and men break the rules. Live and let live. God bless us, everyone.