The Universal Prayer

Archdiocese of Washington ^ | 03-16-17 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[tomsbartoo]

So, as I understand your reasoning, if I wanted you to refer to me as an “absolute genius” (I don’t, by the way) are you really suggesting that you should do so––merely because I wanted you to so identify me? I don’t think so. I’m sure you would reasonably argue that there is no evidence to support such a designation––other than my request that you do so.

By the same token, you wish to be called a “Christian” because you, personally, believe that such a designation properly describes you. Yet, there’s no Protestant sect (at least that I’ve ever heard of, though I’ll concede that there are over 40,000 such sects so far) that refers to themselves as “Christian”. Show me where I’m wrong on that point.

One last point. You seem to be getting yourself into a “there you go again moment” like the secular media, by consistently referencing back to the term “prod”. As you know, I told you (and did) willingly abandon that term so long as you showed respect for the Catholic Church by capitalizing her name––which you have. But maybe that’s all the ammunition you have, and if so, I understand.

[ealgeone]

I normally would engage in a friendly spirited debate over these matters, but I see you're one of the Catholics on this board to whom normal rules of debate and conversation do not apply.

I attempted to show respect to you yet you did not return in kind. Fine.

I will post this answer your false charge of there being 40,000 different sects for the casual reader of these threads as a lie must be countered.

The “30,000 Protestant denominations” argument fails on several points. First, there are not 30,000 Protestant denominations. Even under the most liberal definition of what constitutes a denomination, there are nowhere close to 30,000 Protestant denominations. The only way to get even remotely close to the 30,000 figure is to count every minor separation as an entirely different denomination. Further, the vast majority of Protestant Christians belong to just a handful of the most common Protestant denominations; i.e., Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, etc. Yes, it is undeniably sad that there are so many denominations, but the 30,000 Protestant denominations argument is an extreme exaggeration of the reality of the divisions within Protestantism.

Second, even if there genuinely were 30,000 Protestant denominations, one thing all Protestant denominations agree on is that the Roman Catholic Church is not the one true church of God. Protestant denominations are unanimous in rejecting the papacy, the supremacy of Rome, prayer to saints/Mary, worship of saints/Mary, transubstantiation, purgatory, and most other Roman Catholic dogmas. Sola Scriptura has led all Protestant denominations to the same conclusion – the Bible does not teach many of the things Roman Catholics practice/believe. Further, outside of disagreeing with Roman Catholicism, the Protestant denominations agree on far more issues than they disagree on. Most of the Protestant denominations were formed because of a non-essential doctrine, a side issue, on which Christians can agree to disagree. As an example, Pentecostalism separated from the other denominations based primarily on the issue of speaking in tongues. While tongues can be an important issue in the Christian life, in no sense does it determine the genuineness of faith in Christ.

Third, there is no infallible interpreter of Scripture, nor is there a need for one. There is no infallible denomination or church. Even after receiving Christ as Savior, we are all still tainted by sin. We all make mistakes.

(And are we ever seeing this in the RCC today with the issues surrounding the current Pope....comments mine)

No denomination/church has absolutely perfect doctrine on every issue. The key is this – all the essentials of the faith are abundantly clear in God’s Word. We do not need an infallible interpreter or 2,000 years of church tradition to determine that there is one God who exists in three Persons, that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected from the dead, that Jesus is the one and only way of salvation, that salvation is received by grace through faith, that there is an eternal heaven awaiting those who trust in Christ and an eternal hell for those who reject Him.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Protestant-denominations.html

I will no longer comment on this thread.

[tomsbartoo]

Some Protestants, such as yourself, have had no problem in jumping into discussions that are best decided and discussed among Catholics. You’ve also had no problem in being both dismissive with Catholic teaching, and disparaging the Catholic Church herself (as witnessed by your regular referencing the Catholic Church in lower case).

But yes, there’s no need for either one of us to further comment on this tread, but in the future, you’ll get less push-back from me and others if you stay out of issues that are specifically Catholic (whether or not they are actually so delimited), and when you do feel so compelled to jump in, show the respect that you wish others to show for your Protestantism.