Posted on 07/17/2011 1:06:48 PM PDT by Brices Crossroads
“... we got a Teddy Kennedy ‘socialized’ medical bill, ‘socialized’ education bill, and people think they have standing to criticize other churches...”
Is there supposed to be some logic behind that statement? Some connection between two unrelated phrases? What on earth are you trying to say?
They’re not quite addressing the same issue.
I’m simply denying the existence any widespread evangelical/Protestant dogma that says that it’s impossible for a Roman Catholic to be a Christian. The person you pointed out claimed that being a Roman Catholic does not guarantee being a Christian. That’s a different assertion.
The evangelical creed is almost always that being a Christian depends on whether you put your faith in Jesus Christ for your salvation, with fiddly details about destiny, choice, timing, and consistency over time that I don’t intend to get into which involve what is called the Arminian/Calvinist debate. I try to avoid that debate. (Incidentally, almost all agree that if no works based in faith are produced, no salvation occurred.)
Ah, yes, then I agree with you that there is no “widespread” dogma. I understand that you were asking if there were no individuals who said that — unfortunately there are many on FR (their numbers in the real world seem minuscule) who call us as damned. Unfortunately the rest of the non-Catholic crowd doesn’t haul these guys up, so most of us get the erroneous impression that ALL of you guys think that way...
Even this person was only claiming that being a Catholic in some sense, doesn’t guarantee you’re a Christian. With some differences about where the boundaries are and what defines them, such as rites of confession after having sinned a serious sin, I understand the Catholic church would actually agree about that.
Not really. The guy really means, and has stated so over the years that he thinks we are something close to satanists...
I’d have to dig more to see if the darker view is there, and of what kind. Many evangelicals are skeptical of how good a job the Roman Catholic church as a whole does in bringing its people to be Christians. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother to BE evangelicals. Some go to an excess and point to obviously godly figures in the Catholic church, now and historical, who clearly put their trust in Jesus Christ, and say that because they also do rosaries or hail to saints or engage in whatever disputed activity, they can’t be Christian — and I’d disagree with that, my disagreement itself being based upon evangelical principles.
Yes. But this started because you asked if there were any evangelicals who said that -- and yes there are, overly represented on FR RF I might add...
As a product of a Lutheran grade school education I have substantial experience in background on this matter. At the time of my schooling we students were being taught that the catholic religion was a definite no-no. This for my brother and I in spite of our very close association with catholic boys by sports involvement. Our school couldn’t supply a baseball and softball team so we teamed up with boys from the two catholic schools to compete with the public grade schools. My brother, who was an exceptional athlete, and I enjoyed this relationship until when our teams won city tournaments the word was out that my brother and I were playing under the banner of a horrible,unsanctioned by Lutherans catholic school. We were called in and read the riot act as to allowed religious associations. Fortunately the next year was public high school for my brother and the situation was cooled. I did sneak by one more year.
OK, I get what you’re saying.
My impression of a lot of these people who make that kind of claim is that they actually believe the disputed activities within the Roman Catholic church distract people from putting their faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation. Rather than believing that they are literally impossible things for a Christian to do. They have found a personal faith in Jesus Christ that illuminates and cleanses their souls and gives them peace and joy, and are often from religious backgrounds where they used to engage in ritual but didn’t have that personal faith.
could be, but they give us Catholics a wrong impression (since they are over-represented on FR) that all non-Catholics are like these.
Thanks for the backup, Cronos.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.