Should we Evangelize Protestants ?

The Catholic Thing ^ | August 9th, 2020 | Casey Chalk

[MurphsLaw]

We should stop trying to evangelize Protestants, some Catholics say. “Let’s 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 God’s love in this world that seems to be falling to pieces before our eyes.” As a convert from Protestantism, actively engaged in ecumenical dialogue, I’ve heard this kind of thinking quite frequently. And it’s 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 didn’t 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 aren’t in need of these essential parts of the Catholic faith is to implicitly suggest we don’t 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 Newman’s 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 Hahn’s 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. “Let’s 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 don’t 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 we’ll fail. Yet the Church has many missions in the public square – that Catholics invest great energy in the pro-life movement doesn’t mean we shouldn’t 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 don’t 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 Gregory’s 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 hadn’t converted to Catholicism.

Why bother to evangelize devout Protestants? Because they are people like me.

[Mark17]

Ok, there is a ton of source material out there, about the Queen of Heaven, or the worship of Nimrod and Semiramis. I believe she has had different names, in different cultures and languages, but I believe she is alive and well in the RCC. I think the false religion of Nimrod, was, in one form or another, widespread in the time of Jesus, and in some ways, still is today.
Christmas, gift giving, Easter, are from the religion of Nimrod. Some say, let’s put Christ back in Christmas. I don’t think Christ was EVER in Christmas, to begin with. It was a pagan festival, from the beginning.

[RevelationDavid]

“Should we Evangelize Protestants?”

To what end? What is your intent in the evangelization?

[Luircin]

The specific day of Christmas comes from a pagan source, yes, but not a pagan festival. It was a belief of the time that a great person would be concieved and die on the same day, and March 25 was generally accepted as the day of Christ’s death. Thus, December 25 for 9 months before.

In any case, Christmas is just a time most Christians put aside to remember the birth of Christ. If you wanna do it on another day, more power to you, but I think it’s a great day to share Christ with unbelievers.

[Mark17]

I've often wondered who actually takes sin more serious, Catholics and others who depend on their works for their salvation

I can only answer for myself. As a Catholic, when I was younger, I could avoid grotesque mortal sins, whatever those were. As I got a little older, grotesque sins, became harder and harder to resist. I finally got to a point, that I gave up, and just starting sinning, like there was no tomorrow. It’s not that I necessarily wanted to do this. I just felt powerless to resist sin, so I no longer resisted it. Now, of course, I am no longer a catholic, so things are different. I am FAR from perfect, but I am not nearly the grotesque sinner I was, when I was a catholic. 👍

[boatbums]

I think it's because they mistakenly believe Mary had to BE a sinless vessel in order to bear Jesus' human body. Since he is God, and God cannot be in the presence of sin - even though Jesus was surrounded with sinful people His whole ministry as well as family members he grew up with. They also have some strange ideas about Jesus' birth, how that Mary was spared from labor pains (a consequence of Eve's sin per Genesis 3:16) and she remained an "intact" virgin (not humanly possible unless she had a C-section). The veneration/worship of Mary and the belief that those who serve her will be saved and those who don't will be condemned also play into their refusal to rely upon the Scriptures for their doctrines. Of course, Mary was a human woman, of the lineage of David, a chaste virgin and a follower of Jehovah. It doesn't seem to interfere with their rejection of predestination when they assert Mary was preserved from all sin from her birth (saying she did not inherit the Adamic sin nature of which God says we ALL do) but then insist that she had a choice when the angel Gabriel announced she would bear the Messiah. What if she said no? Would she get a retroactive sin nature??? Did God have a Plan B???

I've come to realize that it's usually pointless to argue with them about Mary. She means more to them than Jesus Christ. Even Luther talked about the idea they were taught that Jesus was hard and aloof, judgmental and stern, and that they would have better luck appealing to His Mom since she was sweeter and nicer. Astonishing, really. At least we know why we don't agree with them on their Marian dogmas and we have Scripture AND reason to back it up. It is definitely NOT because we hate her or disrespect her. Jesus is who saves us - He is the object of our worship. His glory He will not share with another.

[metmom]

I am not confused at all.

Catholicism forfeited the right to call itself a *church* over a thousand years ago.

It’s history is rife with homosexuality, immorality, greed, corruption, murder, extortion, etc.

It is not *one* as there is a schism with the EO and has been for over a thousand years, with each calling itself the *one true church* and the other in schism.

It is not holy by ANY stretch of the imagination.

It is not catholic as it does not encompass or tolerate any dissent or difference of opinion.

Nor is it apostolic as there is nothing in Catholicism that even begins to resemble the early church as recorded int he book of Acts and addressed in Paul’s epistles.

Romanists can make that claim all they want but it falls really flat in light of the reality of the fruit Catholicism produces.

[metmom]

Ironic, isn’t it?

They tell you you have to become Catholic and jump through all the Catholic hoops to get to heaven, and then even when you do, they tell you that you can’t be sure you’re saved after all so there’s no guarantee of heaven.

Well, then, if the Catholic hoops of baptism, penance, eating Jesus and drinking His blood, can’t guarantee you a spot in heaven, they why even bother?

[metmom]

The Blessed Mother is the Mother of God, Jesus Christ and according to human tradition it is the mother of the King that is the Queen in a kingdom.

Human tradition? You have to appeal to HUMAN TRADITION to justify your claims?

That's real authoritative.

So if Mary is the mother of God, then she's the mother of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Say, isn't she supposed to be the faithful SPOUSE of the Holy Spirit?

What's she doing marrying her son (the Holy Spirit) and then going on to enter a marriage contract with Joseph? How is that faithful?

How is that not incestuous?

[Mark17]

In any case, Christmas is just a time most Christians put aside to remember the birth of Christ. If you wanna do it on another day, more power to you, but I think it’s a great day to share Christ with unbelievers.

I DO love the time, and use it to spread the gospel. I just try to keep it in perspective, and not put too much emphasis on it. In the grand scheme of life, I try not to think too much, that one day, is more important than any other day. 😁🤪

[Mom MD]

Amen. Yes Mary was blessed. She likely spent more time with Jesus than any other human. She was at His feet when He died for us. Likely she saw Him after the Resurrection as well. She was blessed because of what God did for her not because of any merit or sinlessness of her own. There is no queen of heaven only a King. God would not have left that important a detail out of scripture.

The real travesty is painting the One who died for us and freely gives us all things as a petty tyrant that has to be appeased by mommy before grudgingly giving us anything. Christ rushes to meet us in our need and supplies far more than we could ever imagine. He eagerly wants fellowship with us - as much as that boggles the mind. God is not our stern and aloof father but our loving daddy. Mary worship turns the gospel of grace on its head and puts another equal or even superior to God - in catholic mythology Christ has to obey Mary.... What a tragedy that robs catholics is the relationship God desires.

[metmom]

Accordingly, the Blessed Mother is the Queen of Heaven.

In what Bible?

You got a book, chapter, and verse for that?

Or is that more Catholic wishful thinking, fabricated and labeled as *sacred tradition* to try to put the validity if the claim beyond questioning?

[boatbums]

Ditto! :o)

[metmom]

Catholics idolize Mary and some worship her, believing she is more than human and only slightly below Christ.

They do and you can tell by the powers and abilities they attribute to her; thing which only God can do.

[metmom]

Stealing that......

[MHGinTN]

BUT, to put the finer point on it, there will be NO CHRISTIANS in hell. You might want to make a distinction there, regarding why one goes to hell or not, since it is not a denominational sortin’ stall sort of thing.

[Mom MD]

I love Christmas and Easter. It gives us special time to reflect on what Christ has done for us and share that with the world. But beyond that I love the celebration. Heaven rings with love joy and laughter and these great festivals are a way to share in that joy. We see in such a dim way the joy that awaits! gathering together as a people to sing joyous praise is as close to Heaven as we can get right now. And the Joy of easter morning is much more poignant after walking through the depths of the preceding days. What a God we serve. I cannot wait to celebrate with Christ in Heaven some say very soon. These are not pagan festivals though Satan tries to ruin every move of God with cheap imitation

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Amen.

They had one job - the message of salvation.

They lost that in the 200s, when they decided to add paganism.

Thankfully, God has always had His people, who didn’t bend their knee to Baal.

[Mom MD]

And always will have a remnant. His Word will accomplish its purpose and will not return to him empty

[metmom]

The whole Mary thing also perverts the image of God as He is presented in Scripture and represented to us by Christ.

Jesus said.......

John 5:19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

What happened to this Jesus of Scripture, the One who lived and walked and taught for three years with his disciples?

Did He turn into some kind of hard-hearted, callus monster when He got to heaven so that His mommy has to intervene to stay His wrath?

And she's the only one who can talk sense to Him?

WHY would anyone want to trade the God of the Bible for the Catholic God, ever?

[metmom]

That's one of the numerous errors of the Catholic Douay/Rheims Bible. They use the words "do penance" when Scripture says "repent".

The Catholic religion would have you believe that God would rather you beat yourself up over your sin than have you turn from it and not commit it any more.