[Mark in the Old South]

Re: "Christians and the lost alike do not like to see themselves in a mirror.It is easier to fall back on theological debates and nitpicking over Baptism or prayer vs. scripture than it is to consider the possibilty that we personnaly don't have a Christian World View."

In part I agree with you in a small way. None of us like to look at ourselves in the (spiritual) mirror, at least with the lights turned up.

But your trust in this survey is misplaced. I saw the survey when it first came out a few months ago, or one very much like it. I saw the questions and could tell the originators where Protestant. You may ask what is wrong with that. Well I will tell you - There was no Catholic Translation.

As a former Episcopalian who grew up with fundamentalist Baptist now Catholic, I can tell you the devout Catholic and the devout Protestant do not speak the same language at all. One time was asked by an Evangelical if I had been "Saved" and "allowed Christ come into my heart". There is nothing wrong with this way of expressing it, but they are often very petty about this is the only way to say it. Words such as these are used in Catholic Baptism and Confirmation but they do not limit it to those exact words. For example a Catholic may talk about the "grace of salvation in Baptism" This way of expressing the same thing totally confounds the evangelical (for the most part). I could give lots of examples but one is enough.

The problem with the survey questions that I saw was just this sort of thing. There were a few that made me think at the time "no true Catholic could answer this question in the way this survey would count as the correct answer for a Biblical world view" The survey had heresies woven in them. I wish I could remember the specific questions but I remember at least a couple. One question would force a Catholic to reject Catholic Tradition which is part of their Biblical world view though I have no doubt an Evangelical would agree. Ergo the root of the problem. No Catholic could get a really good score on such a survey. Of course a Catholic survey in the same vein would result in a much lower score for many of that 13% that was in the top category.

[trisham]

I can tell you the devout Catholic and the devout Protestant do not speak the same language at all...The problem with the survey questions that I saw was just this sort of thing. There were a few that made me think at the time "no true Catholic could answer this question in the way this survey would count as the correct answer for a Biblical world view"

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I think you make some very good points here. It does seem at times as though Catholics and Protestants are coming from such different perspectives that they might as well be speaking different languages. Which is why the kind of communication we are having on this board is so important, because we really do have so much in common.