Replies

You wrote:

“I’m not a Protestant, so I’m just asking for them.”

You’re Catholic? A Jew? Eastern Orthodox?

“Does this mean that, in the view of Catholics, Protestant Christians do not have the Holy Spirit in them, Whose job it is to guide them into all truth? (John 16:13)”

They have the Holy Spirit, but overrule the Holy Spirit with their own prejudices. This is why Protestants can’t even agree among themselves. Want to see something funny and sad at the same time? Get ten Protestants from different denominations and ask them about infant baptism! Then stand back and watch them rip each other apart. They start accusing each other of not understanding the scriptures, not having the Holy Spirit, etc.

“Does this mean that Catholics are more proficient readers than Protestants,...”

Here at FR? Yes. I know that sounds arrogant, but I have seen it hundreds of times. We’re not smarter. We’re just more experienced it seems.

“... and Catholics are always better historical researchers than non-Catholics?”

Beyond any question. Stick around and you’ll see Protestants admit again and again (or show with their comments if they’re too embarrased to admit it) that they didn’t know something that knowledgeable Catholic generally know. Protestants here are often eyeball deep in caricatures about history and don’t even realize it: the “Dark Ages”, Inquisition, crusades, popes, annullments, papal elections, indulgences, etc. One of my favorite questions on these topics is to simply ask, “How many books have you read on this subject?” The answer is almost always ZERO. Seriously, ZERO. So when I bring up books and authors’ findings the usual response I get is “That’s revisionism!”, or “That’s what Catholics would say!” even when the authors are not revisionists and not Catholic. I have even had guys here at FR argue with me and admit that what I was saying went against what they learned in their high school history classes! Yeah, I hope so! And high school seems to have been the last time that they read anything even claiming to be a history book.

Ask yourself, “How many book on the Eucharist have you read?” Any at all? I’m willing to bet the answer is ZERO. It is ZERO is it not?

“Your statements just seem to indicate that non-Catholics are all totally without God and fairly daft, too.”

No. I think there are many fine Protestants, but God’s guidance often comes in the form of moral guidance and not in the form of historical or even Biblical accuracy. God is there first for your soul! The problem is that Protestants ignore what they have a Protestant prejudice against. Secondly, yeah, I admit, and I am sure this is often just me, that Protestants seem rather “daft” about many Christian things - especially historical things in Christianity. Let me give you an example. A friend of mine went to a Protestant non-denominational church in Kansas City a number of years ago. He was shocked to see a mural in the basement that showed their view of Bible preaching throughout the ages since Christ. The mural showed the Apostles preaching out of a codex, then there was a gap, until a painting of John Wycliffe showed up preaching out of a Bible. That’s right. There were NO CHRISTIANS from the time of St. John until the late 14th century. Now, if that isn’t emblematic of poor Protestant understanding of history, then nothing is.

“What about non-Catholics who are regenerated, have the indwelling Holy Spirit, and know it?”

They claim they have it and say they know it. They also claim they understand the Bible correctly, but then again the Protestant next door also says he is regenerated and has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but he disagrees with you on a hundred issues. And the Protestant next door to him claims the same, and disagrees with you on a hundred issues. How can you all be regenerated, all have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and all not only disagree with one another, but also disagree with the Church?

You might want to think about that. This is something I have thought about often: How can Protestants claim sola scriptura and the Holy Spirit as their guide and yet not agree on things? Either that means they are untrustworthy as a group for guidance or the Holy Spirit is somehow falling down on the job. Clearly the Holy Spirit always is what He is, so the problem lies with Protestants and Protestantism. There’s simply no way around it.