Posted on 12/30/2008 4:47:26 PM PST by SeekAndFind
While Catholics and Protestants both fall under the broad umbrella of Christianity, they practice their faith in different ways.
A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of regular churchgoers found that 25% of Evangelical Christians read the Bible on a daily basis along with 20% of other Protestants. Just seven percent (7%) of Catholics do the same. At the other extreme, 44% of Catholics rarely or never read the Bible along with only seven percent (7%) of Evangelical Christians and 13% of other Protestants.
Consider the divergence among the faiths in other areas, too. (All the figures that follow are based upon those who attend church at least twice a month.)
Ninety-one percent (91%) of Evangelical Christians consider themselves to be born again. Sixty-three percent (63%) of other Protestants have been born again along with 25% of Catholics.
Forty-four percent (44%) of Evangelical Christians reflect at least daily on the meaning of Scripture in their lives. Thirty-six percent (36%) of other Protestants and 22% of Catholics do the same.
Fifty-two percent (52%) of Evangelical Christians have had a meaningful discussion about their faith with a non-Christian during the past month. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of other Protestants and 18% of Catholics also have held such a discussion.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Evangelical Christians attend a regular Bible Study or participate in some other small-group activity. Forty-seven percent (47%) of other Protestants take part in small groups related to their faith, along with 24% of Catholics.
Seventy-one percent (71%) of Evangelical Christians say their Church does an excellent job helping them understand the Bible. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of other Protestants and 52% of Catholics say the same.
Despite these differences, the overwhelming majority of all Christians believe that the God of the Bible is the one true God. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of churchgoing Evangelical Christians hold that view along with 94% of other Protestants and 92% of Catholics.
Forty-four percent (44%) of American adults attend Christian church services at least twice a month, and 92% of these regular churchgoers believe the God of the Bible is the one true God.
Sixty-one percent (61%) of adults also say life in the United States would be better if more Americans lived as Christians.
It appears that you are more correct than I. The first readings during the week are more what I was thinking of. Thank you.
Wheres Sola Scriptura in His Word? or Bible for that matter?
Personally, I’m too stupid to read His Word and get the meaning. I’ll take the studies of Men 1400 years before me.
Who btw wrote all that stuff down for you.
***Wheres Sola Scriptura in His Word?
It is His word, not the word of some dead pope. And He values that word above His name (Psalm 138:2) Thats what Sola Scriptura is all about - Gods Word, not mans word. Just because they wear brocaded robes and lived 1400 years ago doesnt make them right.***
Why don’t we see what the Bible says about Sola Scriptura?
John 20:
30
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book.
John 21:
25
There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.
2 Peter 1:
20
12 Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation,
2 Peter 3:
15
And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you,
16
speaking of these things 12 as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.
17
Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability.
And what does Paul have to say about sola scriptura?
2 Thess 2:
15
Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.
Paul instructs us that the Church is primary. Still not convinced? Are you calling Peter et al dead popes and spurning their words? 1 Timothy 3:
15
But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.
The Church, RT; the Catholic Church, and not a rabble of Luther’s every milkmaid running around creating theologies on their every whim.
I would be honored.
Okay, truce. I’ll be done for now.
Although I was speaking more of other people, I think the article also infers that in the usual way of deciding the questions. To wit, of the questions cited in the article:
Seven (two-thirds) are about bible study/scripture in “practice of faith”.
One of the remaining four is a specific buzz word for protestants “born again”.
Zero questions about Eucharist, Rosary, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, etc. etc. concerning the many non-protestant ways that Catholics practice their faith.
So while it does not “say that Bible Study is a measure of quantity or quality” it is the great majority of the quantity/quality that it lists in it’s article on how we “Practice Faith”.
thanks for your reply..
You do see that it is highly weighted in one measure of quantity/quality, yes?
And that it includes no measure of specific Catholic ways of practicing their faith, yes?
And that in the numbers/quantity that it measures, the Catholic number is lower, yes?
And that if Catholic ways of practicing their faith were included in the questions, the numbers would be different, yes?
I don’t get how you don’t get the same conclusions.
:)
The article is simply about DIFFERENCES
And the article lists eleven different ways. They are yes/no ways of practicing faith. One would assume, from the title "Practice Faith in Different Ways" that those answering yes practice their faith in way X and those answering no, don't.
So eleven ways to practice or not practice faith are listed. Two-thirds are Bible/Scripture related.
Now, could we INFER that that such a poll considers the topic of two-thirds of it's questions the best measure of quantity and quality of faith practice. (It purports to measure the "different ways faith is practiced".)
And could we INFER that since the major specific ways that Catholics practice their faith is NOT included in the list of "differences" that it is discounted as one of the "different ways" to practice faith?
You wrote:
“Thanks for telling us; I didnt know that it was underway, even.”
Fascicles of the New Testament books have been published over the last ten years. According to one of the editors of the Old Testament, the whole New Testament will be out this Spring or Summer. The whole Bible will be done in about 2 years. It will be as useful for Catholics, as the ESV Study Bible is for Evangelicals!
“How often have you pushed God away through sin? We are redeemed ONCE. But most of us fall away through multiple times in our lives.”
1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
All we have to do is confess our sins to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no need to be born-again.....again. You, I and every living human being commits sin. It’s what we do afterward that separates us from the heathens.
God Bless you and yours and have a wonderful new year.
“Fellowship is done in the church hall afterward over coffee, donuts and gooey butter cake or cappuccino and brioche (depends on where you are).”
MMMM, brioche....YUMMY!
You wrote:
“All we have to do is confess our sins to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no need to be born-again.....again.”
I think you’re half right. We are born again once, but can experience more than one conversion toward God. People do backslide after all.
“You, I and every living human being commits sin. Its what we do afterward that separates us from the heathens.”
True enough.
“God Bless you and yours and have a wonderful new year.”
Happy New Year!
“but can experience more than one conversion toward God. People do backslide after all.”
To you, a “conversion toward God” to me....confession. I feel that isn’t much difference as both bring the believer closer to God.
Later.
Many Catholics attend daily mass, so they are hearing three different readings each day...and can read along as well....we get a lot of scripture in our daily lives.
At a Catholic mass there are three readings from scripture....or the Bible.....THEN the priest gives a homily, which seeks to show us how those readings apply to our daily lives. So do you call the reading of scripture from the Bible aloud in church a sermon? We differentiate between the two. Readings and homily.
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