LOL. No, the babies should not be thrown out. There are many believers chosen by God who have been attending the RCC. I visit with some of them regularly. I certainly do not want to imply that they cannot be part of the elect. At the same time, the reformation roundly condemned Rome for its papal errors, its indulgences, its priesthood, its Mariolatry, its sacraments, its traditions over Scripture. The recent trend to make nicey with that organization by otherwise reformed thinking believers has muddied the bath water more.
If a person is told, well, unmerited grace granting you faith in Jesus is of course the only thing which will rescue you, BUT if instead you really need to add the Law and circumcision and sacrifices and candles and absolution and confession and a statue of Mary and a pope and a priest to administer a wafer that has magically become the body of Jesus and some wine that has magically become the blood of Jesus (to re-crucify Him) and you need...well, it is no big deal. God will just wink at it?
It appears as though the attempt to not "hurt any feelings" has replaced the clear statements of truth the way Paul delivered them. He wanted the Judaizers to cut off certain important appendages while they were adding circumcision to the mix (Gal). I don't believe he thought this misunderstanding was innocuous. Are you certain that Rome has "Christian practice" going on? Or is it more of obfuscation of the message of grace, a replacement message? I am not persuaded the org is within the pale, my FRiend.
Well, Dutch, I’m looking at it this way, and history sometimes presents inconvenient truths that we have to stretch our understanding to grasp. The Roman Catholic/Orthodox complex of communions was the only game in town until Luther, pretty much. And the bible (yeah we both believe it very much) says that the church isn’t going to get wiped out (paraphrasing). I do believe that if Paul and Peter saw what’s going on now in the Roman and (perhaps a bit less) Orthodox communions, they’d be grief stricken, but they’d also marvel that God managed to keep at least a flicker alive, that He did not fail His promise. Anyhow, I believe in lighting candles (actually big ole floodlights of spirit) rather than cursing darkness... that’s the way God redeems. And so sometimes this here Protestomcat has to face off with Roamin’ Catolics that way. I just am suggesting, emphasize the blessing of the light... not the curse of the darkness. The light will itself show that it is superior to the darkness. God bless you Dutch to be a conduit of the light. I’m trying to be one on my part too.
Basically... let the evangelical model’s own successes make their point. It was easy enough to pummel on Luther at the start; he was a hot tempered man who among other things used such extreme language as wishing those who did not appreciate church music to be imprisoned in a silent wilderness (and there there are the curses at the Jews which are to cringe to see). But when the movement grew, other reformers joined, the clashes resulted in clarification (at least of where the disagreements are), and the imprint of the original reformers was mellowed out into an evangelical blend. And the gospel sees spectacular success in transforming lives. There’s generally no “mother, may I” games going on in these churches, is why, no pedantic penance auditors (and the often sad loss of counseling has its own pitfalls but at least it does not block the Lord as much, an absent doctrine is better than a twisted one).