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Why do Protestant lay people hate clergy?

Posted on 07/26/2014 4:41:46 AM PDT by michaelwlf3

I am coming up on my first year as an ordained minister in a continuing Anglican church, and I have noticed that participating on political forums (even when the topic is religious) I find that my opinions and postings more often than not generate more hatred than anything else. Among the things I often hear are that the laity are the real priests and that I am a Pharisee, that my vocation disqualifies me from offering an opinion on anything Christian because I am too narrow minded, and (my personal favorite) because I look too Catholic I must be a child molester.

Are these people really Christians?


TOPICS: Ecumenism; General Discusssion; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: cathvsprot; clergy; laity; sectarianturmoil; theology; whiningwhiners
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To: CynicalBear
You played your best for him...
701 posted on 07/29/2014 3:10:48 AM PDT by Karl Spooner
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To: HarleyD

Luke 18:8b
...when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?


702 posted on 07/29/2014 3:10:52 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: HarleyD
Augustine wrote about ...

LOTS of stuff!

Here is SOME of his writings:


Augustine, sermon:

"Christ, you see, built his Church not on a man but on Peter's confession. What is Peter's confession? 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' There's the rock for you, there's the foundation, there's where the Church has been built, which the gates of the underworld cannot conquer. — John Rotelle, O.S.A., Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine , © 1993 New City Press, Sermons, Vol III/6, Sermon 229P.1, p. 327

Upon this rock, said the Lord, I will build my Church. Upon this confession, upon this that you said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,' I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not conquer her (Mt. 16:18). — John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City, 1993) Sermons, Volume III/7, Sermon 236A.3, p. 48.

Augustine, sermon:

For petra (rock) is not derived from Peter, but Peter from petra; just as Christ is not called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. For on this very account the Lord said, 'On this rock will I build my Church,' because Peter had said, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' On this rock, therefore, He said, which thou hast confessed, I will build my Church. For the Rock (Petra) was Christ; and on this foundation was Peter himself built. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. The Church, therefore, which is founded in Christ received from Him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Peter, that is to say, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is essentially in Christ, such representatively is Peter in the rock (petra); and in this representation Christ is to be understood as the Rock, Peter as the Church. — Augustine Tractate CXXIV; Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: First Series, Volume VII Tractate CXXIV (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.cxxv.html)

Augustine, sermon:

And Peter, one speaking for the rest of them, one for all, said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:15-16)...And I tell you: you are Peter; because I am the rock, you are Rocky, Peter-I mean, rock doesn't come from Rocky, but Rocky from rock, just as Christ doesn't come from Christian, but Christian from Christ; and upon this rock I will build my Church (Mt 16:17-18); not upon Peter, or Rocky, which is what you are, but upon the rock which you have confessed. I will build my Church though; I will build you, because in this answer of yours you represent the Church. — John Rotelle, O.S.A. Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City Press, 1993), Sermons, Volume III/7, Sermon 270.2, p. 289

Augustine, sermon:

Peter had already said to him, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' He had already heard, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the underworld shall not conquer her' (Mt 16:16-18)...Christ himself was the rock, while Peter, Rocky, was only named from the rock. That's why the rock rose again, to make Peter solid and strong; because Peter would have perished, if the rock hadn't lived. — John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City, 1993) Sermons, Volume III/7, Sermon 244.1, p. 95

Augustine, sermon:

...because on this rock, he said, I will build my Church, and the gates of the underworld shall not overcome it (Mt. 16:18). Now the rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Hold on to these texts, love these texts, repeat them in a fraternal and peaceful manner. — John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City Press, 1995), Sermons, Volume III/10, Sermon 358.5, p. 193

Augustine, Psalm LXI:

Let us call to mind the Gospel: 'Upon this Rock I will build My Church.' Therefore She crieth from the ends of the earth, whom He hath willed to build upon a Rock. But in order that the Church might be builded upon the Rock, who was made the Rock? Hear Paul saying: 'But the Rock was Christ.' On Him therefore builded we have been. — Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), Volume VIII, Saint Augustin, Exposition on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXI.3, p. 249. (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf108.ii.LXI.html)

Augustine, in “Retractions,”

In a passage in this book, I said about the Apostle Peter: 'On him as on a rock the Church was built.'...But I know that very frequently at a later time, I so explained what the Lord said: 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,' that it be understood as built upon Him whom Peter confessed saying: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,' and so Peter, called after this rock, represented the person of the Church which is built upon this rock, and has received 'the keys of the kingdom of heaven.' For, 'Thou art Peter' and not 'Thou art the rock' was said to him. But 'the rock was Christ,' in confessing whom, as also the whole Church confesses, Simon was called Peter. But let the reader decide which of these two opinions is the more probable. — The Fathers of the Church (Washington D.C., Catholic University, 1968), Saint Augustine, The Retractations Chapter 20.1:.

 

703 posted on 07/29/2014 3:24:39 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: bramps

“Your assignment for tonight is to meditate on the ninth commandment.”

And yours is to work on your reading comprehension.


704 posted on 07/29/2014 3:56:16 AM PDT by michaelwlf3
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To: verga; metmom

“The beautiful thing about threads like this is that virtually every time one of the prot posse posts you prove both he and I correct.”

Probably half the posts in this thread have proven my point, how it breaks the heart! I give up on thinking I will ever see unity among the denominations in my lifetime.


705 posted on 07/29/2014 3:56:16 AM PDT by michaelwlf3
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To: Elsie

“THIS Protestant prefers to post official writing from the RCC and let the chips fall where they may.”

Well, THIS ANGLICAN is forever mystified as to why Protestants like yourself think that the writings of the RCC have anything to do with me. Your own prejudice betrays you.


706 posted on 07/29/2014 3:56:32 AM PDT by michaelwlf3
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To: editor-surveyor
Yes! But that does not happen until the last trump!

Our BODIES will be changed at the last trump.

The inner man, the spirit, has already arrived.

All the verses in the NT about our spiritual birth are in the present or past tense.

We ARE new creatures in Christ.

We ARE seated with Him in the heavenly places.

We have been given the Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance.

We have been born again to a new and living hope.

We know that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

We We know that we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, that we are not our own but have been bought with a price.

We know that we have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son He loves.

We know that its HE who works in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure and it's not our efforts which save us or keep us saved.

707 posted on 07/29/2014 5:34:32 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: editor-surveyor
Only those that “endure to the end” will be “born of the spirit.”

You've got it backwards.

Those born of the spirit will endure to the end.

God will see to that.

708 posted on 07/29/2014 5:36:00 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: editor-surveyor
The persons that Yeshua mentions in that chapter confessed his name, and worked in the gifts of the spirit, yet he said that “I never knew ye.”

You're obviously reading more into that passage than it says.

Even the demons Jesus cast out said He was the Holy One of Israel. Identifying Him correctly doesn't ensure salvation.

It also doesn't say those people confessed His name or that they works in the gifts of the Spirit.

It just says that they said *Lord, Lord* and appealed to mighty works, which the enemy can mimic.

709 posted on 07/29/2014 5:41:26 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: HarleyD
t's interesting how when Dr. Luther was a Catholic theologian they didn't harbor such ill will. It was only when he left the Church the seeds of bitterness sprung open. As far as Luther's stance on Jews, I would call your attention to Church And The Jews In The Middle Ages, The by Catholic Culture. This was a common view held by many Catholics, not just Luther. Catholic Culture makes the same point that I often have argued here: It is a fallacy (one that historians call presentism) to judge the past by the standards of the present. We can't judge people's behavior through the lens of our today's standards. Certainly they had their faults. But, quite frankly, we probably have far many more then they had.

If one is ignorant of good and evil one may have an excuse. After reading this, there is no excuse.

T HE JEWS AND THEIR LIES D R. MARTIN LUTHER

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/luther.htm

"What then shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race of Jews? Since they live among us, we dare not tolerate their conduct, now that we are aware of their lying and reviling and blaspheming. If we do, we become sharers in their lies, cursing and blasphemy. Thus we cannot extinguish the unquenchable fire of divine wrath, of which the prophets speak, nor can we convert the Jews. With prayer and the fear of God we must pratice a sharp mercy to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames. We dare not avenge ourselves. Vengenance a thousand times worse than we could wish them already has them by the throat. I shall give you my sincere advice:

First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians. For whatever we tolerated in the past unknowingly—and I myself was unaware of it—will be pardoned by God. But if we, now that we are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews, existing right before our very nose, in which they lie about, blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ and us (as was heard above), it would be the same as if we were doing all this and even worse ourselves, as we very well know.

Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.

Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. . . .

Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuternomy 17 [:10 ff.]) in which he commands them to obey their teachers on penalty of death, although Moses clearly adds: "what they teach you in accord with the Law of the Lord." Those villains ignore that. They wantonly employ the poor people's obedience contrary to the law of the Lord and infuse them with this poison, cursing, and blasphemy. In the same way the pope also held us captive with the declaration in Matthew 16 {:18], "You are Peter," etc, inducing us to believe all the lies and deceptions that issued from his devilish mind. He did not teach in accord with the Word of God, and therefore he forfeited the righ to teach.

Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords, officials, tradesmen, or the like. Let they stay at home. . . If you princes and nobles do not close the road legally to such exploiters, then some troop ought to ride against them, for they will learn from this pamphlet what the Jews are and how to handle them and that they ought not to be protected. You ought not, you cannot protect them, unless in the eyes of God you want to share all their abomination.

Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping. The reason for such a measure is that, as said above, they have no other means of earning a livelihood than usury, and by it they have stolen and robbed from us all they possess. Such money should now be used in no other way than the following: Whenever a Jew is sincerely converted, he should be handed one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred florins, as personal circumstances may suggest. With this he could set himself up in some occupation for the support of his poor wife and children, and the maintenance of the old or feeble. For such evil gains are cursed if they are not put to use with God's blessing in a good and worthy cause.

Seventh, I commend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen 3[:19]). For it is not fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting and farting, and on top of all, boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat. No, one should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants."

*** "But what will happen even if we do burn down the Jews' synagogues and forbid them publicly to praise God, to pray, to teach, to utter God's Name? They will still keep doing it in secret. If we know that they are doing this in secret, it is the same as if they were doing it publicly. For our knowledge of their secret doings and our toleration of them implies that they are not secret after all and thus our conscience is encumbered with it before God."

*** Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is:

First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss in sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire. That would demonstrate to God our serious resolve and be evidence to all the world that it was in ignorance that we tolerated such houses, in which the Jews have reviled God, our dear Creator and Father, and his Son most shamefully up till now but that we have now given them their due reward."

"To sum up, dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish burden—the Jews . . ."

"Let the government deal with them in this respect, as I have suggested. But whether the government acts or not, let everyone at least be guided by his own conscience and form for himself a definition or image of a Jew. When you lay eyes on or think of a Jew you must say to yourself: Alas, that mouth which I there behold has cursed and execrated and maligned every Saturday my dear Lord Jesus Christ, who has redeemed me with His precious blood; in addition, it prayed and pleaded before God that I, my wife and children, and all Christians might be stabbed to death and perish miserably. And he himself would gladly do this if he were able, in order to appropriate our goods . . ."

"Such a desperate, thoroughly evil, poisonous, and devilish lot are these Jews, who for these fourteen hundred years have been and still are our plague, our pestilence, and our misfortune."

"I have read and heard many stories about the Jews which agree with this judgment of Christ, namely, how they have poisoned wells, made assassinations, kidnapped children, as related before. I have heard that one Jew sent another Jew, and this by means of a Christian, a pot of blood, together with a of wine, in which when drunk empty, a dead Jew was found. There are many other similar stories. For their kidnapping of children they have often been burned at the stake or banished (as we already heard). I am well aware that they deny all of this. However, it all coincides with the judgment of Christ which declares that they are venomous, bitter, vindictive, tricky serpents, assassins, and children of the devil, who sting and work harm stealthily wherever they cannot do it openly. For this reason, I would like to see them where there are no Christians. The Turks and other heathen do not tolerate what we Christians endure from these venomous serpents and young devils . . . next to the devil, a Christian has no more bitter and galling foe than a Jew. There is no other to whom we accord as many benefactions and from whom we suffer as much as we do from these base children of the devil, this brood of vipers." ***

"We are at fault for not slaying them." ***

"I wish and I ask that our rulers who have Jewish subjects exercise a sharp mercy toward these wretched people, as suggested above, to see whether this might not help (though it is doubtful). They must act like a good physician who, when gangrene has set in, proceeds without mercy to cut, saw, and burn flesh, veins, bone, and marrow. Such a procedure must also be followed in this instance. Burn down their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them, as Moses did in the wilderness, slaying three thousand lest the whole people perish. They surely do not know what they are doing; moreover, as people possessed, they do not wish to know it, hear it, or learn it. There it would be wrong to be merciful and confirm them in their conduct. If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs, so that we do not become partakers of their abominable blasphemy and all their other vices and thus merit God's wrath and be damned with them. I have done my duty. Now let everyone see to his. I am exonerated."

It should not be a surprise to learn that Hitler praised Luther in his book Mein Kampf. The Nazis took Luther's advice, step by step.

Arbeit macht frei" (German pronunciation: [ˈaɐ̯baɪt ˈmaxt ˈfʁaɪ]) is a German phrase meaning "work makes (you) free".[1] The slogan is known for having been placed over the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps during World War II, including most infamously Auschwitz I, where it was made by prisoners with metalwork skills and erected by order of the Nazis in June 1940."

710 posted on 07/29/2014 5:46:05 AM PDT by af_vet_1981 (The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began)
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To: michaelwlf3
I guess the problem is that Anglicans are somewhere in-between. The CoE started off as a compromise between Calvinists (Low Church) and Catholic-ish (High Church) before the turn against Calvinism (too close an association with the Netherlands)

If you call yourself Protestant, most people in the USA think of Baptists or mega-kirk folks or congregational folks. They don't think of Anglican or Lutheran priests.

So, the unfortunate thing is that you aren't "Protestant" enough to most non-Catholic posters

711 posted on 07/29/2014 6:19:45 AM PDT by Cronos (ObamaÂ’s dislike of Assad is not based on AssadÂ’s brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: MamaB
well no, God did not "write it" -- the books of the Bible (note the plural) are God-breathed, but they are not exact dictation and neither are they written by God as you state. To say that He wrote it is wrong. This means that we worship Jesus Christ as the living Word, we do not believe that the Bible was existent before time or that it is divine of itself

This distinguishes us from Moslems who believe, as you state "God wrote the Koran"

712 posted on 07/29/2014 6:57:53 AM PDT by Cronos (ObamaÂ’s dislike of Assad is not based on AssadÂ’s brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: Cronos; MamaB
This means that we worship Jesus Christ as the living Word, we do not believe that the Bible was existent before time or that it is divine of itself

It's good to know you got something right.

Keep going. You'll get there eventually.

713 posted on 07/29/2014 7:34:12 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: michaelwlf3
Your own prejudice betrays you.

Thank God that you are prejudice free.

How have you attained that?

714 posted on 07/29/2014 7:40:35 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: af_vet_1981
Arbeit macht frei

Nah...


Everybody knows that Sacrements do!

715 posted on 07/29/2014 7:41:52 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Cronos

And that is pretty much correct, we were shooting for the via media and for the most part succeeded for much of our history. If you saw me in public, though, you would think I am a Catholic priest and wonder who the woman I have with me is.


716 posted on 07/29/2014 7:49:43 AM PDT by michaelwlf3
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To: Cronos

So, you do not believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God? Interesting.


717 posted on 07/29/2014 7:55:29 AM PDT by MamaB
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To: MamaB

Catholics believe that the Catholic church wrote the Bible and gave it to the world so we’ve been told constantly to *say Thank you, Catholic church* for it.

Pretty pathetic that they think it’s the work of men.


718 posted on 07/29/2014 8:24:05 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: metmom

I did not realize that. Thanks. Another odd belief. I thought everyone knew that.


719 posted on 07/29/2014 8:35:31 AM PDT by MamaB
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To: MamaB

That=inspired word of God.


720 posted on 07/29/2014 8:39:46 AM PDT by MamaB
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