I'm a Protestant in the Reformation tradition - Presbyterian to the core. What WileyPink posted makes me sick to my stomach. Any Protestant who thinks Catholics are satanic (or vice versa, for that matter) simply hasn't spent enough time around truly different religions.
I would submit this question: When the bullets are flying, would you rather have a Catholic (or a Protestant, for the Catholics reading this) in the foxhole with you, or a Muslim? Whose prayers would you rather have going up next to yours - a fellow Christian's or a Hindu's?
Something else Mr. Pink might want to consider is that nobody can seriously debate the proposition that Western European civilization is laid upon a Catholic foundation. (And if you wish, that Catholic foundation is laid upon a classical Greco-Roman foundation.)
To claim that the Catholic Church is Satanic and all Popes are antichrist is effectively to claim that the roots of Western culture and civilization are Satanic. (Can a Godly culture be built on a Satanic foundation?)
It's to claim that the church that first translated the Scriptures out of Greek and Hebrew is Satanic.
It's to claim that the church that preserved those Scriptures until the late Middle Ages -- as even Luther himself testified! -- is Satanic.
It's to claim that the culture that brought about the first stirrings of human freedom in modern times, things like the Swiss confederation and the Magna Carta, is Satanic.
It's to claim that the culture that invented modern musical notation, without which we would have neither the cantatas of Bach nor the hymns of Wesley, is Satanic.
It's to claim that the culture that invented movable type, without which the Reformation would not have happened, is Satanic.
And all of that gives Satan way more credit than he deserves, IMO. He's neither that good, nor that creative.
I would submit this question: When the bullets are flying, would you rather have a Catholic (or a Protestant, for the Catholics reading this) in the foxhole with you, or a Muslim? Whose prayers would you rather have going up next to yours - a fellow Christian's or a Hindu's?
I don't totally agree with his sentiments and I don't doubt that there are truly born again believers within the Catholic system, but surely you don't mean to suggest that the Romanist church is not apostate? If you do, then how can you call yourself Reformed? What was the point of the Reformation?
Surely, some of the statements made by the Reformers themselves were just as bad as those made by WileyPink.
Thank you for your kind words. Nearly ALL Catholics and Protestants I know realize that our shared beliefs far outweigh our differences. And from a secular standpoint, the conservative movement would be dead without the unity of Catholics and Evangelicals.
Thank you for the post! Sadly, Wiley's post represents great ignorance. Much of his understanding of the Catholic Church is not based on fact but on what others have said about the Catholic Church. Though some call themselves Baptist, they are actually Fundamentalists. The belief that is first and foremost the defining characteristic of Fundamentalists is their reliance on the Bible to the complete exclusion of any authority exercised by the Church. The second is their insistence on a faith in Christ as one’s personal Lord and Savior.
"Do you accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?" they ask. "Have you been saved?" This is unmodified Christian individualism, which holds that the individual is saved, without ever considering his relationship to a church, a congregation, or anyone else. It is a one-to-one relationship, with no community, no sacraments, just the individual Christian and his Lord. And the Christian knows when he has been saved, down to the hour and minute of his salvation, because his salvation came when he "accepted" Christ. It came like a flash.
In that instant, many Fundamentalists believe, their salvation is assured. There is now nothing that can undo it. Without that instant, that moment of acceptance, a person would be doomed to eternal hell. And that is why the third most visible characteristic of Fundamentalism is the emphasis on evangelism. If sinners do not undergo the same kind of salvation experience Fundamentalists have undergone, they will go to hell. Fundamentalists perceive a duty to spread their faith—what can be more charitable than to give others a chance for escaping hell?—and they often have been successful.
Their success is partly due to their discipline. For all their talk about the Catholic Church being "rule-laden," there are perhaps no Christians who operate in a more regimented manner. Their rules—non-biblical rules, one might add—extend not just to religion and religious practices proper, but to facets of everyday life. Most people are familiar with their strictures on drinking, gambling, dancing, and smoking.
Excellent question. I wonder how people felt in the same foxhole with John F. Kennedy and numberous other Catholics.