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Posted on 08/09/2020 7:46:24 AM PDT by MurphsLaw
We should stop trying to evangelize Protestants, some Catholics say. Lets get our own house clean first, before we invite our fellow Christians in, someone commented on a recent article of mine that presented a Catholic rejoinder to a prominent Baptist theologian. Another reader argued that, rather than trying to persuade Protestants to become Catholic, we should help each other spread Gods love in this world that seems to be falling to pieces before our eyes. As a convert from Protestantism, actively engaged in ecumenical dialogue, Ive heard this kind of thinking quite frequently. And its dead wrong.
One common argument in favor of scrapping Catholic evangelism towards Protestants is that the Catholic Church, mired in sex-abuse and corruption scandals, liturgical abuses, heretical movements, and uneven catechesis, is such a mess that it is not, at least for the moment, a place suitable for welcoming other Christians.
There are many problems with this. For starters, when has the Church not been plagued by internal crises? In the fourth century, a majority of bishops were deceived by the Arian heresy. The medieval Church suffered under the weight of simony and a lax priesthood, as well as the Avignon Papacy and the Western Schism, culminating in three men claiming, simultaneously, to be pope. The Counter-Reformation, for all its catechetical, missionary and aesthetic glories, was still marred by corruption and heresies (Jansenism). Catholicism has never been able to escape such trials. That didnt stop St. Martin of Tours, St. Boniface, St. Francis de Sales, St. Ignatius Loyola, or St. Teresa of Calcutta from their missionary efforts.
The Catholics clean house argument also undermines our own theology. Is the Eucharist the source and summit of the Christian life, as Lumen Gentium preaches, or not? If it is, how could we in good conscience not direct other Christians to its salvific power? Jesus Himself declared: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (John 6:53) Was our Lord misrepresenting the Eucharist?
Or what of the fact that most Protestant churches allow contraception, a mortal sin? Or that Protestants have no recourse to the sacraments of penance or last rites? To claim Protestants arent in need of these essential parts of the Catholic faith is to implicitly suggest we dont need them either.
* Moreover, in the generations since the Reformation, Rome has been able to win many Protestants back to the fold who have made incalculable contributions to the Church. St. John Henry Newmans conversion ushered in a Catholic revival in England, and gave us a robust articulation of the concept of doctrinal development. The conversion of French Lutheran pastor Louis Bouyer influenced the teachings of Vatican II. Biblical scholar Scott Hahns conversion in the 1980s revitalized lay study of Holy Scripture.
Another popular argument in favor of limiting evangelization of Protestants involves the culture war. Catholics and theologically conservative Protestants, some claim, share significant common ground on various issues: abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, euthanasia, religious freedom, etc. Secularism, the sexual revolution, and anti-religious progressives represent an existential threat to the survival of both Catholics and Protestants, and thus we must work together, not debate one another. Lets hold back any criticism of them, a person commenting on my article wrote. Believe me, in the times that we are in, we need to all hang together, or we will definitely hang separately on gallows outside our own churches.
This line of thought certainly has rhetorical force: we dont have the luxury of debating with Protestants when the progressivists are planning our imminent demise! Ecumenical debate is a distraction from self-preservation. One problem with this argument is that it reduces our Christian witness to a zero-sum game we have to focus all our efforts on fighting secular progressivism, or well fail. Yet the Church has many missions in the public square that Catholics invest great energy in the pro-life movement doesnt mean we shouldnt also focus our efforts on other important matters: health-care, education, ensuring religious freedom, or fighting poverty and environmental degradation. All of these, in different ways, are a part of human flourishing. Even if we consider some questions more urgent than others, none of them should be ignored.
Besides, there is a vast difference between mere polemics and charitable, fruitful discussions aimed at resolving disagreements. The former can certainly cause bad blood. The latter, however, can actually foster unity and clarity regarding our purposes. Consider how much more fruitful our fight against the devastation of the sexual revolution would be if we persuaded Protestants that they need to reject things like contraception and the more permissive stance towards divorce that they have allowed to seep into their churches. Consider how non-Christians could learn from charitable ecumenical conversations that dont devolve into name-calling and vilification.
Finally, abandoning or minimizing the evangelizing of Protestants is to fail to recognize how their theological and philosophical premises have contributed to the very problems we now confront. As Brad Gregorys book The Unintended Reformation demonstrates, the very nature of Protestantism has contributed to the individualism, secularism, and moral relativism of our age. A crucial component to our Catholic witness, then, is helping Protestants to recognize this, since even when they have the best intentions, their very paradigm undermines their contributions to collaborating with us in the culture war.
I for one am very grateful that Catholics many of them former Protestants persuaded me to see the problems inherent to Protestantism, and the indisputable truths of Catholicism. My salvation was at stake. I also found and married a devout Catholic woman, and am raising Catholic children. The Catholic tradition taught me how to pray, worship, and think in an entirely different way. It pains me to think what my life would be like if I hadnt converted to Catholicism.
Why bother to evangelize devout Protestants? Because they are people like me.
Have you taken a look at your clergy and membership?
There are at least 400,000 versions of truth.
More importantly, there is one Gospel given by which men may be saved. It is found in a Person. Not a church. Any church.
Your comment: “watching them forbid Bible reading”
Before the printing press, The Catholic Church kept the Bible on a chain in the Church for people to read (so that they were not taken).
Most could not read and it took 3 years for a monk to copy a Bible.
Amen brother, thank you for your amazing testimony. Praise God for his word that he gave us that shows salvation is so simple that a child can understand it.
Great post brother, like you, I am certain, God’s word says so.
And based upon his testimony you need to start with your own tent, since as he states in Justification by Faith,
Over the past twenty-five years I have asked hundreds of Catholic college students the question: If you should die tonight and God asks you why he should let you into heaven, what would you answer? The vast majority of them simply do not know the right answer to this, the most important of all questions, the very essence of Christianity. They usually do not even mention Jesus! - https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/apologetics/justification-by-faith.html
Roman Catholic professor Peter Kreeft also believes that, When Luther taught that we are saved by faith alone, he meant by salvation only the initial step, justification, being put right with God. But when Trent said we are saved by good works as well as faith, they meant by salvation the whole process by which God brings us to our eternal destiny and that process includes repentance, faith, hope, and charity, the works of love. — ibid
And since Luther also clearly affirmed that it was only effectual faith that justifies, faith and works being inseparable, that faith is a living and an essential thing, which makes a new creature of man, changes his spirit... Faith cannot help doing good works constantly... if faith be true, it will break forth and bear fruit... where there is no faith there also can be no good works; and conversely, that there is no faith.. where there are no good works. Therefore faith and good works should be so closely joined together that the essence of the entire Christian life consists in both. if obedience and God's commandments do not dominate you, then the work is not right, but damnable, surely the devil's own doings, although it were even so great a work as to raise the dead... if you continue in pride and lewdness, in greed and anger, and yet talk much of faith, St. Paul will come and say, 1 Cor. 4:20, look here my dear Sir, "the kingdom of God is not in word but in power." It requires life and action, and is not brought about by mere talk. Works are necessary for salvation, but they do not cause salvation... faith casts itself on God, and breaks forth and becomes certain through its works... faith must be exercised, worked and polished; be purified by fire... it is impossible for him who believes in Christ, as a just Savior, not to love and to do good. If, however, he does not do good nor love, it is sure that faith is not present... where the works are absent, there is also no Christ... References and more by God's grace. , then the Reformation and Counter-Reformation was much that of misunderstanding?
Rather, despite the modern Cath emphasis upon faith, what the RC gospel essentially teaches is that by the grace of God one actually becomes good enough to enter Heaven/glory/God's presence. Thus as Kreeft "also stated, "...we will go to Purgatory first, and then to Heaven after we are purged of all selfishness and bad habits and character faults." - Peter Kreeft, Because God Is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer, p. 224
The “Catholics clean house” argument also undermines our own theology. Is the Eucharist the “source and summit of the Christian life,” as Lumen Gentium preaches, or not? If it is, how could we in good conscience not direct other Christians to its salvific power? Jesus Himself declared: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6:53)
However, to be a faithful Catholic means to assent to the living magisterium's understanding of John 6:53, and rather than meaning that those who do not believe in the Cath Eucharist have no life in them, Lumen Gentium and other modern teaching generally affirms of properly baptized Protestants - all of which deny the Catholic Real Presence and according to Rome lack the necessary priest to confect the Eucharist - "that those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ, and are "in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church," being "joined with us in the Holy Spirit" who "is operative among them," such as the "many who take Sacred Scripture as a norm of belief and a pattern of life" and lovingly believe in the Trinity. Sources.
Was our Lord misrepresenting the Eucharist?
Consider how much more fruitful our fight against the devastation of the sexual revolution would be if we persuaded Protestants that they need to reject things like contraception
Again, see to thine own house;
Just 15% of U.S. Catholics say that using contraceptives is morally wrong. 41% say that using contraceptives is morally acceptable, while 36% say it is not a moral issue. 37% of Catholics who attend Mass at least once a week say using contraceptives is morally wrong while 33% say it is morally acceptable and 30% say it is not a moral issue. — http://www.pewresearch.org/key-data-points/u-s-catholics-key-data-from-pew-research/#abortion
74% of Evangelicals, 73% of Mainline Protestants, and 68% of sexually active Catholics women use birth control. 3% of the Catholics rely on natural family planning. Attendance at religious services and importance of religion to daily life are largely unrelated to use of highly effective contraceptive methods. ^
88% of Catholics believe that they can practice artificial means of birth control and still be considered good Catholics. New York Times/CBS News poll, Apr. 21-23, 1994, subsample of 446 Catholics, MOE ± 5%
98% of self-identified Catholic women ages 15-44 who have ever had sexual relations have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning at some point in their lives. .” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/the-claim-that-98-percent-of-catholic-women-use-contraception-a-media-foul/2012/02/16/gIQAkPeqIR_blog.html?wprss=fact-checker
40% of 18- to 29-year-old Catholics said the church’s “teachings on sexuality and birth control are out of date.” http://www.barna.org/teens-next-gen-articles/528-six-reasons-young-christians-leave-church
59% of all Catholic women of childbearing age practice contraception—a rate of usage statistically equivalent to that of the general population (60%). Calvin Goldscheider and William D. Mosher, "Patterns of Contraceptive Use in the United States:
58% of Catholics 52% if they are voters) believe that employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception;
50% of white Catholics support this requirement, versus 47% who oppose it, along with 38% of white evangelical Protestants an 50% of white mainline Protestants. Public Religion Research Institute, February 2012 http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/02/january-tracking-poll-2012/
and the more permissive stance towards divorce that they have allowed to seep into their churches.
Grievously, yet so is the unscriptural redefining of marriage via a broad criteria that relegates marriages that are considered marriage in Scripture to having never taken place, resulting in thousands of marriages being "annulled." Which broad criteria potentially means that multitudes of other Catholic marriages are invalid as well.
the very nature of Protestantism has contributed to the individualism, secularism, and moral relativism of our age.
Rather, it is the demeaning of Scripture that is the problem, thus those who most strongly esteemed as the accurate and wholly inspired word of God, with its basic literal hermeneutic testify to being far more conservative and unified in polled core beliefs and values than overall those whom Rome counts as members in life and in death. Thus evangelicals have been religious enemy #1 for liberals and Catholic alike in the West.
Why bother to evangelize devout Protestants? Because
distinctive Catholic teachings are not manifest in the only wholly inspired substantive authoritative record of what the NT church believed (which is Scripture, in particular Acts through Revelation, which best shows how the NT church understood the gospels).
Also, you have not defined just who the real RCs are. For there are many RC sects, such as with many here asserting,
"Bergoglio the Heretic;"
"preaches and authors heresy;"
"the material and formal heretic;"
this fraud of a pope;
“an apostate,”
"he's not a Catholic;"
"Pope Frank..protestant;"
"The Impopester;"
"The Ecumenical Mass of Bergoglio is straight out of Hell;"
"...for which our poor, beleaguered pontiff is nothing more than the ultimate poster boy."
Actually "Bible Christians" have been and are the most ardent defenders of basic Scriptural Truths Catholic also assent to, this your assertion is fallacious.
If It’s doctrine that was only created 1500 years after Christ then there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY it came from him. There is someone it came from. And you know who that is.
Meaning that since distinctive Catholic teachings are not manifest in the only wholly inspired substantive authoritative record of what the NT church believed (which is Scripture, in particular Acts through Revelation, which best shows how the NT church understood the gospels) then then there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY it came from God. There is someone it came from. And you know who that is.
However, as usual, your argument provides further testimony to why one should not be a Catholic.
Hi.
I’m guessing 250 posts.
I’m a practicing Catholic. I would rather the Protestants or the Hebrews in my foxhole than aetheists or Muslims.
Just sayin.
5.56mm
You can only wish Catholicism ,with its schism and sects, was more unified than those who most strongly esteemed as the accurate and wholly inspired word of God, with its basic literal hermeneutic, who have long testified to being far more conservative and unified in polled core beliefs and values than overall those whom Rome counts as members in life and in death.
What do you class those who even reject Bergoglio as pope as being?
Protestants may be good people, but that does not merit salvation.
Nor does anything you or your church does actually merit salvation: rather the only thing we truly deserve is damnation. However, in His mercy, God spared always provided a means for mercy, culminating in not sparing His own Son, but sending His to be the savior of the world. Who came into this world incarnated to be tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin, but by the Holy Ghost “went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. “ (Acts 10:38)
Yet after doing everything Right, He took responsibility for everything we did Wrong, and paid the price for our forgiveness with His own sinless shed blood, dying for us. Yet who bodily arose as prophesied 3 days later, and after being seen by many He ascended to Heaven at the Father’s right hand as man’s present savior and future judge.
Therefore all who come to the Lord Jesus with a repentant heart and believe in Him obtain forgiveness of all sins, and obedient believers will be with Him forever in glory. In contrast, what the RC gospel essentially teaches is that by the grace of God one actually becomes good enough to enter Heaven/glory/God's presence, usually thru RC (not EO) Purgatory. However,
Yes. God the Son made a new covenant with all.
God tore the curtain separating us from God. He said you MUST BE BORN AGAIN, Which means He will put His Spirit in us. And his Spirit is the ONLY way we can understand even a little bit.
The New Covenant is being born again and God having a direct relationship with us, not thru the church. The visible church has a role but without God’s Sprit within us we are deaf and blind.
Now Nicodemas (you do know who he is?)didn’t get it either and he should have known being a religious leader.
So, you want to know what it means to be born again? You will have to ask God and then get your Bible out to let Him speak to you It is one of those questions He is willing to answer. No human being can explain it to you. And no church institution can explain it to you.
The One True Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Christ Jesus
, that built Christendom(western civilization.)
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
+10 One God
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
+15 Christ Jesus
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
+ 1 Consubstantial with the Father
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
+ 1 For our salvation
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
+ 1 Virgin Birth
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
+10 Suffered, Died and Rose
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
+ 1 Ascended, Seated
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
+10 Come Again in Glory to Judge
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
+10 Holy Trinity
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
+10 One Visible Church
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
+ 1 One Baptism
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
+10 Resurrection of the Dead
The Ten Commandments:
1. I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God
and Him only shall you serve.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not murder.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10.You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
+10 The Ten Commandments
The Greatest Commandment
1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy
whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength
2. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
+ 2 The Greatest Commnadments
The Seven Sacraments Catholic Church:
1. Baptism.
2. Eucharist.
3. Confirmation.
4. Reconciliation.
5. Anointing of the sick.
6. Marriage.(XY+XX, Till death do us part)
7. Holy orders.
+ 7 The Seven Sacraments
The Precepts of the Catholic Church:
1. You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation
and rest from servile labor.
2. You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
3. You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the
Easter season.
4. You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by
the Church.
5. You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.
+ 5 The Precepts
The seven chief corporal works of mercy:
1. To feed the hungry.
2. To give drink to the thirsty.
3. To clothe the naked.
4. To visit the imprisoned.
5. To shelter the homeless.
6. To visit the sick.
7. To bury the dead.
+ 7 Corporal Works
The seven chief spiritual works of mercy:
1. To admonish the sinner.
2. To instruct the ignorant.
3. To counsel the doubtful.
4. To comfort the sorrowful.
5. To bear wrongs patiently.
6. To forgive all injuries.
7. To pray for the living and the dead.
+ 7 Spiritual Works
Pro-Life - From Conception Until Natural Death
+10 Pro-Life
There are not a hundred people in America who hateLord, keep us strong. Keep us bold and filled with love for our
the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate
what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church
which is, of course, quite a different thing. - Fulton J. Sheen
Amen
* Click the pic to learn how to say it in Latin
Please note that this image is merely an artistic depiction of Saint Michael the Archangel
and Satan in human like form and may or may not be an accurate resemblance to their actual
forms or all accounts of forms in which they may or may not have actually appeared either
separately or together.
Sáncte Míchael Archángele,
Saint Michael the Archangel,
Sahn tay Me kale ark ann ja lay
defénde nos in proélio,
defend us in battle.
de fen day nos en pro leo
cóntra nequítiam et insídias diáboli ésto præsídium.
Be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil.
contra neh-queet ee um et in cid e ah s dee ob lay esto pray sid ee um
Ímperet ílli Déus,súpplices deprecámur:
May God rebuke him we humbly pray;
Im pair et ee lay Day-ews soup-lay-chase day-pray-che-more
tuque, prínceps milítiæ cæléstis,
O Prince of the Heavenly host
too quay pren-cheps may-lee-tea-a che-lace-tees
Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos,
Satan and all evil spirits
Say tan um ah lee o squeece spear ee toose mah ling nos
qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in múndo,
who wander through the world for the ruin of souls
quee ard per dits ee own um ani mon um prev a gon tour en mundo
divína virtúte,
by the divine power of God,
day vee nay ver-toot-tay
in inférnum detrúde.
thrust into hell
en in fair num day-too-tay
Ámen.
7
Your comment: “Trust in Christ alone. All else is either a distraction, or sinking sand.”
That is not what Jesus told us.
“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them saying, “This is my Body which is given for you, Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19 The Mass and the Eucharist
“And you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you mind on earth shall be bound in heaven...”Matthew 16:18-19 Christ delegated authority to His Church.
and many more.
So how does one accept God if they do no fully believe in His Word and ignores what He tell us?
No, the Catholic Church has stood up for the Gospel of Christ since the Gospel was revealed to His holy apostles in the First Century. There has been one holy catholic and apostolic Church, from the First Century until this day. It was not a candle hidden under a bushel, nor did the gates of hell prevail against it, for some 1500 years.
Not according to the Francis:
Francis told Tony Palmer NOT to convert, ordered him buried as Catholic Bishop
Should we evangelize the Jews?
Not according to the Francis:
Catholics Should Not Try To Convert Jews, Vatican Commission Says
Should we evangelize the muslims?
Not according to the Francis:
Conversion is not your mission, pope tells Catholics in Morocco
=========================================================
As her (Mother Teresa) biographer, I once asked her whether she tried to convert people. She replied, Yes, I do convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu, a better Christian, a better Catholic, a better Sikh, a better Muslim. When you have found God, its up to you to do with him what you want.
Hmmm. Should people evangelize God’s grace is necessary for salvation (Catholic perspective) or should we evangelize God’s grace is SUFFICIENT for salvation (protestant perspective)? It is really not unclear what the Bible teaches.
Your comment: “The New Covenant is being born again and God having a direct relationship with us, not thru the church. The visible church has a role but without Gods Sprit within us we are deaf and blind.”
Yes, when we are Baptized and accept God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit and reject Satan, then we begin the process of our salvation. Jesus gave us the Catholic Church, the Mass and the Sacraments to help us find the narrow gate in our process of becoming holy so that we can have eternal life with God.
Jesus established a visible church - the Catholic Church and he told us He would be with us until the end of time. Jesus wants us to pray together as a community as the Body of Christ(Catholic Church) through the Holy Spirit as part of our sacrifice to God the Father in the Mass.
You must have missed the words of Jesus:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing then in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, too the close of the age.” Mt 28:19-20
Maybe we should start with the Pope. Sigh.
Perhaps it is an odd moment for Lutheran fan mail. Yet, ever since you became the Bishop of Rome in 2013, I have become increasingly convinced that you are the pope that Luther was looking for 500 years ago.
Because that wasn’t her mission. She had a very specific mission, especially her obedience to God with the dregs of humanity in a third world hellhole, and the fruits of that converted more people than we can know.
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