Is Protestantism or Catholicism the Truer form of Christianity? This was from a Google ad I saw on my board a while ago, you probably all had it here too. I miss seeing people on fire for God (the AoG way) but at the same time that reverence to be found in Catholic Churches wasn’t there. It’s the closest word I can come up with. Church isn't supposed to be what 'I' get out of it, nor should my worship. I've been in an AoG church from 2003 until the past few months here. Granted I'd miss going for stretches of time, my own internal battle with things. I struggled with tongues. The church I was going to didn't believe in once saved always saved but I have heard that teaching. It didn't make sense. True, I think God keeps after all of us to know Him but to just assume a choice made once has someone locked into the kingdom regardless of what happens afterward doesn't make sense. For the most part, I never parted with the crucifix I wear even in my anti-Catholic days void a few months.
James 2:17-22 NAB-A
(17) So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
(18) Indeed someone might say, You have faith and I have works. Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
(19) You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble.
(20) Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?
(21) Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
(22) You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works.
I'm familiar with the Protestant argument, "But works are the result of faith" but then why are we told to 'work out our OWN salvation'? Clicks in too much. Yeah, things still sinking in here. I guess I would be concerned with a Charismatic movement, I don’t know, it would be like bringing the AoG into a Catholic Church.
Anyway....
quote:
Is Protestantism or Catholicism the Truer form of Christianity?
Which is more soundly based on the Bible and the Word of God?
Are some Christian Denominations corrupt and false?
These are questions that have divided Christianity since the reformation. Protestant Churches, particularly Evangelical ones, make many strong claims to hold to the pure Biblical form of Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church claims that it has the true Apostolic teaching that represents the fullness of the Christian message. But what is the truth?
In the early 1500s teachings and forms of worship that had been the mainstay of the Christian Church for at least twelve centuries were replaced wholesale in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformers claimed that the Catholic Church had corrupted the truth of the gospels. This led to the birth of hundreds of new Protestant denominations, all claiming to offer a purer, bible-based Christianity than that provided by the old church.
Re: Is Protestantism or Catholicism the Truer form of Christianity? also from that same site;
quote:
BUT FOR THE PROTESTANT VIEW TO BE RIGHT, TWO MAJOR QUESTIONS HAVE TO BE ANSWERED.
1. WHEN DID THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TURN FALSE?
If you ask a fundamentalist Protestant this, you will be hard-pressed to receive a precise answer. If pushed, most will say that this happened some time around 300 AD, when Christianity became a legalised religion in the Roman Empire.
Protestant fundamentalists have a whole list of doctrines which they claim are false, and which they claim suddenly entered the Church at this time: These include, good works needed for salvation, devotion to the Virgin Mary, tradition given equal weight with scripture, and the Papacy. Other beliefs that they claim entered the Church later, include specific Marian doctrines, Purgatory and Transubstantiation. See highlighted links for details of these issues.
Catholics would state that all the above doctrines were part of the original teaching of the Church, and point to the historical record, and the writings of the early Church fathers to prove:
1. That none of these doctrines was new in 300 AD. And that all were accepted and taught by the Church from the earliest times.
2. That there is no proof whatsoever of any major changes in Church doctrine in 300 AD or at any other time, and
3. That the major Protestant doctrines, such as Faith Alone for Salvation, Scripture Alone for Doctrine, or a disbelief in the real presence of Jesus's body and blood in communion, were not taught in the early church, nor by any church at any time before 1520 AD.
2. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TRUE CHURCH BETWEEN 300 AD AND 1520 AD - DID IT DISAPPEAR?
This second question is the one Protestants find hardest to answer, and they try to evade it whenever possible. If Protestantism is true Christianity, where was the True Church for the one thousand two hundred years between 300 AD and 1500 AD?
A) Did God just let the True Church and its teachings die?
Some Protestants would argue this. For although churches split away from the Catholic Church before 1520, these fell into two groups.
1. Churches like the Orthodox, Coptic and Armenian Churches, which split from Catholicism largely for political reasons. There are small doctrinal differences with Catholicism, but otherwise all hold very similar doctrines. They believe in Apostolic Succession, Faith and Works for Salvation, the equal validity of both Scripture AND Tradition, the veneration of Mary and the Saints, and prayer for the dead. None of them share protestant distinctive doctrines.
2. Blatantly heretical groups such as the Gnostics and Cathars, who believed that matter was evil; Arians and Nestorians who challenged the Divinity or manhood of Christ; Anti-Trinitarians, and holders of similarly non-Christian opinions.
Neither of these groups held to the key Protestant teachings. Therefore, if Protestantism is the teaching of the True Church, the True Church clearly did not exist between biblical times and 1520 AD.
A lot of protestants blithely accept this. But this raises one very major problem. If Catholicism is false religion, and Protestantism is the true faith that leads to Salvation, and Protestantism was not taught until 1520 then everyone who lived before 1520 COULD NOT HAVE BEEN SAVED.
Re: Is Protestantism or Catholicism the Truer form of Christianity? I might as well add to this thread... and I have other things to be doing but this has been weighing too heavy on me. And I still don't want to nor desire to become anti-Protestant... there's things I miss from those days but I had confusion, scripture out of context and meaning different things to different people.
I was so very convinced the Catholic Church was the church of Thyatira, I so believed Catholicism was dripping with idolatry and all the other anti-Catholic claims. It all made sense back then. I did want to save Catholics from the Catholic Church... and now I see things differently. I still get a kick out of being emailed in May referring to those who fall away & then revert being the strongest defenders of the faith... and that they wouldn't be surprised if I didn't become a defender of the faith.. even in the near future... and I was still thinking no way would I ever be Catholic again. I guess God had other plans.
We can learn from each other, I do believe that.
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Also adding this, the church I had been in, they prayed over me, laid hands on me, anointed me with oil... added me to the bulletin for healing for my eyes. I feel I still owe them an explanation now and praying on that too.
I would love to run into the old co-worker I sat next to in my pre-tech days. I realized some of the Catholic literature I still had here was from him, I kept thinking I should toss it but never could. He knew me in my dabbling days, I was asking him about talking to spirits of the departed... during his break and lunch he'd often be at his desk praying.. He's the one that gave me holy water and told me to put it on my eyes... that was when I still had all the new floaters and inflammation. I never once saw him get angry even in the midst of the most irate customers. I know I posted this at my board & don't think I posted it here. We all thought he should have become a priest.
Last edited by HasahZ, 10/22/2007, 4:10 am
--- ...Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Amen
