Posted on 05/19/2008 5:38:23 PM PDT by netmilsmom
To follow-up, Thanks to all the wonderful Non-catholics who said that Catholics were Christians, this post is for the Catholics to chime in.
Do you think Protestants are Brothers and Sisters in Christ? Are Protestants Christians?
A fight! A fight!
Anyone who was baptized in the form as given by Jesus at the end of the Gospel of Mathew is yes a Christian. The churches are part of the Christian family tree.
Thank you.
We Catholics believe we have been “given much” through the gift of our faith.
We have access to the seven sacraments which provide us with unbelievable graces.
Having said that, since we have been given such extraordinary grace, we are held to a higher standard than non-Catholics.
We can have all our sins forgiven before death, through the Last Rites, even if we our contrition is imperfect, and we have access to many opportunities to eliminate all debts while on earth.
So, a Catholic who avails himself of these opportunities can spend little or no time in purgatory.
A Catholic who ignores these opportunities, or who ignores Church teaching, on the other hand, will be accountable for it. He who is given much will have much expected of him.
So, a validly baptized protestant, who is perfectly contrite on his deathbed, and who has led a life trying to do God’s will, and who has not committed any very serious sins, could actually spend less time in purgatory than a Catholic.
Since none of us know the day nor the hour of our final judgement, I like knowing I’ve got the power of the sacraments in my corner.
>> I trust no patriotic American would agree with Charles V’s severe attempt to crush the Lutherans, along with religious freedom. <<
Now, hold on there.... Before you go wrapping yourself up in a flag with that one, let me make a couple points:
* You’re comparing the action of a state (Charles V) to the action of a church (Luther); Of course we’re going to prefer our form of government to Charles’. That hardly means that we’re unpatriotic if we can sympathize with Charles’ cause. Luther was making the libellous accusation that the papacy was the whore of Babylon, (Somehow, he could detail the horrible goings-on of Rome, but didn’t even know the simplest of Roman geography, such as that the Vatican isn’t IN Rome.) and that lords who remained Catholic were her hell-bound minions. Given his penchant for expressing himself in shocking, violent language, Charles’ supposition that Luther intended armed insurrection was quite reasonable.
* The bias of the article should be obvious to anyone who knows the slightest bit of European history: the article states that the intent of Charles V was to continue the profitable sale of indulgences. But indulgences went to the bishops, and then to Rome, not the state. Even if you adopt the cynical implications of American textbooks that Rome knew of such sales, the reaction of Rome to the revelation of those sales by specific diocese was a quick condemnation. And such cynicism seems hardly warranted, since there are papal condemnations of the practice as far back as 1392.
* While Charles’ certainly wasn’t a religious pluralist like Americans today are (an understatement!), Luther was hardly one, himself. Nor was Calvin. Sectarian pluralism was a much later invention of the war-weary British. But whereas Charles left alone those who did not share the Christian faith, only seeking out those he believed were misrepresenting Christianity, Luther argued argues that Jews’ synagogues and schools be set on fire, their prayer books destroyed, rabbis forbidden to preach, homes razed, and property and money confiscated. He said they should be shown no mercy or kindness afforded no legal protection, and they should be drafted into forced labor or expelled for all time. He even said Christians are not at fault for slaying them in cold blood.
OOPS! That thank you was supposed to be to you.
My purpose was to netmilsmom was to demonstrate that even in the darkest hours of relationship between Catholics and Protestants, the Catholic church regarded Protestants as being Christian, lest some modernists allege that this modern “ecumenism” is merely a product of some Catholic leaders (gee, like Benedict and John Paul) having gone soft.
Which is also why I took particular offense at AnalogReigns’ comments, which try to use the very primitive state of government of the 16th century as an ad-hominem against Catholicism, not that he is wicked, but that he unwittingly feeds ammunition to the very un-Christian Catholic Left who deceives the general public with near-perfect success that the Catholic Church is tamed and reformed by outside influences. The truth is that the Church’s teaching has been constant; it is the tactics of the devil which has shifted, away from baiting into war and towards excessive toleration of evil.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matt: 28: 19-20
The words of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to His apostles, after His resurrection.
Some do and some don’t.
>>Some do and some don’t.<<
Says the non-Catholic. Just a alert for those who don’t know,
>>Of course. What makes you think otherwise?<<
Some non-Catholics think we don’t.
Some on FR.
>>Ridiculous question<<
It does seem that, but on anothere thread, it was questioned.
Sorry, thought it was an open thread. Just giving my opinion of what I've seen and heard.
Some do and some don't.
Baptism places an indelible mark on the soul.
One can be a Christian and also a heretic. Not all heretics are equally heretical.
A protestant, by definition, is someone who rejects some truths of the orthodox Christian faith ... or teaches things which are alien to it. That makes them all heretics, to some extent.
Some protestants' behaviour is antithetical to Christianity (so is some Catholics').
Of course.
In about a hundred posts here it seems unanimous. On the reciprocal thread the ratio is far different, see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2017086/posts
Freemasonry is a fraternal organization. Not a religion. There are protestant, Jewish, deist and hindu Masons.
>>Sorry, thought it was an open thread. Just giving my opinion of what I’ve seen and heard. <<
Yup, it’ an open thread and anyone can post on it. However, I do want everyone to know that opinions are given by both sides so in case someone does not know, your opinion that “some” Catholics don’t think Protestants are Christian, is actually stating someone else’s thoughts. Because you are not Catholic, stating that some Catholic “consider” anything would not be a first person opinion.
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