Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: HarleyD
You’re wasting your time with me.

Probably. Can you tell me, in a few words, what the definition of "denomination" is meant to be in this study? That seems to be the sticking point.

The Catholic, correctly IMO, sees the question as one of both a shared doctrine and a shared leadership. All of the Catholic "denominations" you list share both the voluminous teachings of the Catholic Catechism and the leadership of the Pope.

Protestant denominations share neither a non-trivial core of teachings nor any leadership. Hence they are distinct.

SD

94 posted on 04/01/2004 11:03:30 AM PST by SoothingDave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies ]


To: SoothingDave
Protestant denominations share neither a non-trivial core of teachings nor any leadership. Hence they are distinct.

The essential core of teachings shared by Protestants are indeed, non-trivial (they compose the beliefs of the Apostles' and Nicene creeds) and the head of our body of believers is Jesus Christ, Himself.
Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
,br>16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

97 posted on 04/01/2004 11:12:20 AM PST by Quester
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies ]

To: SoothingDave
Stepping back and TRYING to look at this objectively and analytically (I’m an analyst by training) I would say Mr. Barrett classified Catholics and Protestants major heading through its dogma. Hence there are some (non-Roman) Catholics not included under the “Catholic” category probably because their dogma didn’t match that of Roman Catholics. Once the dogma was established and the major classifications defined, I believe Mr. Barrett defined denominations based upon the rites of the church.

The Catholic Church seems to have a much larger and defined set of dogma and a limited set of rites. IMO you see yourselves as not having denominations because everyone follows the large set of dogma and only deviates in minor places through the rites. These are trivial to you and do not affect your core dogma which is substantial. Consequently you see yourselves as one church.

Meanwhile, you Catholics level charges at us Protestants as saying we have no dogma and think we have 400,000 independent denominations floating around in the cosmos. Protestants just have a very limited set of dogmas and a much broader set of rites. The careful analysis presented in this report shows that Mr. Barrett was able to classify only 21 denominations as Protestant (verses 12 for the Catholic Church).

The argument as I see it is that Catholics bristle at the thought of having denominations since all the churches follow the core dogma which is substantial. On the other hand, we Protestants have found a teensy-weensy technicality and, of course, we’re exploiting it. :O)

From an analytical standpoint this to me is interesting. When the Catholics put down something like sola scriptura this riles us Protestants because you’re treading on a Protestant dogma. Hence, we go bonkers and put aside our different rites and go into combat mode. Since you Catholics have many dogmas there are lots of things us Protestants can do to drive you crazy. Baptism seems to be one of these issues since it is viewed in the Catholic Church as a dogma but in the Protestant church as a rite.
107 posted on 04/01/2004 12:34:17 PM PST by HarleyD (For strong is he who carries out God's word. (Joel 2:11))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson