Oh, also it is on account of my Protestant beliefs that I can accept that people in Catholic and Orthodox congregations can be believers.
But we don’t soft pedal it when we say a lot of them are just believing in men, not in Christ. And we aren’t being hypocrites here because that’s a big problem in the evangelical segment of Christendom too. Baptists, Methodists, etc. will freely tell you there are going to be congregants who miss heaven because of failing to put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe in going where the Lord has sent me, not based on worries about the pontifications of Orthodox or Catholic. I have no problems accepting any bible based congregation as authentic, even if you don’t, because this is the personal message of the Founder of the faith.
Oh, yeah. And many Catholics turned off from Christ when they were betrayed by men in cassocs.
If I ever start posting how the Catholic Church clergy is an exemplar of faith to the world, come kick me.