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.
Wow, 11 grandchildren....the Lord has seen fit to bless you repeatedly....your grandchildren are lucky to have a grandparent who is a faithful servant of the true God...God Bless...and Happy New Year....
Same here. Our bulletins are handed out after Mass. Actually whether it is Fr. Saunders or Fr. Belli, the homily never fails to capture attention. Both of them regularly speak for 15-20 minutes and it is always educational.
Thank you. I’ve adopted now my sister’s daughter and her daughter, both of whom I love dearly and want to take their mother’s and grandmother’s place. My sister died a few years back and they are without a mother. We’re establishing a good relationship and I pray it will lead to their salvation. To me that’s the most important relationship of all. Bless you.
God’s grace never leaves us. It doesn’t bop in and out like a balloon. I had his grace when I was saved, I have his grace for growth in my life, I have his grace when I sin and repent and confess it. It never goes away. Does yours?
Amen, RoadTest. We both want to see all mankind saved.
You wrote:
“I have his grace when I sin and repent and confess it. It never goes away. Does yours?”
If you reject God by sinning how can you keep all the grace that you once had? Rejecting God would entail rejecting His gifts as well.
Are you actually claiming a man can hold on to all the grace God has given him even when he rejects God? What is the point of repenting and confession then?
I know Catholics believe differently regarding God’s grace. My husband was Catholic and when he became born again, he was relieved to learn that God’s grace would never leave him. It wasn’t going to bop in and out of his life because he sinned. ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When you sin, you repent and confess your sin and God is quick to forgive it. He doesn’t remove His grace because you sinned and repented. Now if one continues in sin and refuses God’s grace, that’s another thing.
You wrote:
“I know Catholics believe differently regarding God’s grace. My husband was Catholic and when he became born again, he was relieved to learn that God’s grace would never leave him.”
Really? So if your husband became a Hindu, would God’s grace leave him?
“It wasn’t going to bop in and out of his life because he sinned.”
And this would include apostasy too?
“ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When you sin, you repent and confess your sin and God is quick to forgive it.”
And if you don’t repent? Do you hold on to God’s grace - all of it - even then?
“He doesn’t remove His grace because you sinned and repented.”
Who said He did? Aren’t you overlooking the possibility that we severe our relationship to God’s grace - even only partially - by our own actions? God does not force grace on a man.
“Now if one continues in sin and refuses God’s grace, that’s another thing.”
Oh, so it’s “another thing”? So, you can’t lose grace, except when you lose grace? And you can only lose that grace when you refuse it or “continue” in sin, but not when you sin?
God says differently. In His word - 1 John 5:16-17 - we are told that some sins - but not all - are deadly. Deadly to what? Deadly how? They are deadly because they severe that grace relationship between the sinner and God.
This is exactly what the author of Hebrews was talking about in Hebrews 10:26-36, “For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains asacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment. . . . How much worse punishment do you thinkwill be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God and profaned the blood of the cov-enant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? . . . For you have need ofendurance, so that you may do the will of God, and receive what is promised”
As Peter pointed out in his second letter (2:21): “For it would have been better for them [those who should know better] never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.”
If “once saved, always saved” - a doctrine no one believed in before the 16th century is true - then why are we told to we must persevere “to the end”? (Mt. 10:22; 24:13)
Why must we stay “in the kindness of God” (Rom. 11:22) in order to reign with Christ (2 Tim. 2:12)?
Why are we told in scripture of several cases of Christians who have fallen away through sin (e.g., 1 Tim. 5:8; Heb. 6:4-6; Jas. 5:19-20; 2 Pet. 2:20-21)?
Why does St. Paul, who had a dramatic conversion himself, write, “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27)? Why would he need to do that if OSAS is true?
St. Paul also advises us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). Why? Why would there be fear and trembling if OSAS is true?
OSAS is a 16th century belief, but not an orthodox Christian belief at all.
I am NOT going to argue with you endlessly about God’s grace. A CHRISTIAN has God’s grace. Think what you like about it. I’m secure in Him and His grace abounds in my life.
That’s okay that you didn’t answer my questions. You’ve proved my point already anyway.
I don’t have to answer your questions, vlad. We disagree continually about such things. Nothing new there.
You proved my point either way. Thanks.
” Are you telling us that the Lord’s Prayer is pagan babbling?”
Can’t you see the repetition in 50 “Hail Marys” and Five “Our Fathers”?
He heard you the first time. Put away the Babylonian (in origin) prayer beads and learn real Christianity.
Yeah, I figure one Our Father per person, per life, is enough.
But then, what could St. Paul have meant when he told us to “pray without ceasing”?
***” Are you telling us that the Lord’s Prayer is pagan babbling?”
Can’t you see the repetition in 50 “Hail Marys” and Five “Our Fathers”?
He heard you the first time. Put away the Babylonian (in origin) prayer beads and learn real Christianity.***
Fascinating. So St. Paul is wrong? 1 Thess 5:
12
We ask you, brothers, to respect those who are laboring among you and who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you,
13
and to show esteem for them with special love on account of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
14
We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, cheer the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient with all.
15
See that no one returns evil for evil; rather, always seek what is good (both) for each other and for all.
16
Rejoice always.
17
Pray without ceasing.
Hmm. Pray without ceasing. Babbling. I value the words of Paul over the entity known as RoadTest.
What does Jesus do? Luke 5:
14
Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; 4 that will be proof for them.”
15
The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments,
16
but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.
Real Christianity? How would you describe it?
Ah, dear vlad, who says your point is the right one?
He meant we should always be praying for the circumstances of our lives, others, and our nation and its leaders, not repeating stuff over and over again. Pray from the heart.
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