Posted on 03/14/2012 5:43:21 PM PDT by ReligiousLibertyTV
Protestantism has indeed fallen on hard times as many American churchgoers have grown tired of theology and moral standards that are as wishy-washy as pop culture and look for churches that emphasize a clear moral standard and upright living. And it is true that no church has produced as monolithic a structure along these lines as the Roman Catholic Church. Catholic leaders long ago learned that the best way to address moral issues is to state a moral standard and stick with it regardless of whether people agree with it or live by it. Protestants continue to swim around in Laodicean tap water and are in danger of circling the drain as they are afraid to espouse standards even within their own congregations. While Protestant churches tend to see themselves as democracies, there is no such thing in Catholic thought. In the Catholic Church there is God, the saints, the Church hierarchy which handles the spiritual welfare, then the Government which serves the civic functions of life, then you. In Protestantism, there is God and then there is you. When Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses and nailed them to the wall of the chapel at Wittenberg, his Biblical discoveries led him to realize that it was God, then you. In Protestant thought, you could assemble with other people and make a church, or not.
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“What are you talking about?
I have seen misinformation before but this post of yours must have been pulled out of a septic tank.”
Gross ignorance at any rate, or wishful thinking.
I have regularly attended three different evangelical churches in the last six years, as well as visited several dozen. My present congregation is on the Pentecostal side. It's the BIBLE and Jesus all the way. Straight up preaching from the word, and no soft-pedaling.
You don’t get out much, do you?
Try, for example, getting the typical evangelical or pentecostal pastor to tell his congregation not to render their children to Caesar. If that is too daunting, just try to get them to tell the congregation that the church must do a careful investigation of the local school district to determine whether it is promoting promiscuity and the sodomite lifestyle as normal. Virtually every school district does this, by the way. But pastors don’t want to know (definitively) any more than the congregants with their children in government schools want to know. Pastors, of course, know that questioning the congregants’ government school habit would threaten their job security and, therefore maintain silence on this issue.
More broadly, the SBC has adopted an amnesty resolution (last June in Phoenix), is selling the “new” NIV ( which is the old TNIV) and other heresy (e.g. “The Shack”) through Lifeway, is getting squishy on the sodomite lifestyle, and has elements moving toward embracing environmentalism. The leadership is also now openly pushing affirmative action for SBC leadership posts and trying to smear any opposition as “racist”.
Bear in mind that I am mentioning the SBC just for illustration. These things are happening to one degree or another in the vast majority of churches.
Yes, mighty dandy but the fit hasn’t hit the shan!
See 23. Bear in mind that teaching theology and holding congregants accountable for what they are doing are different things.
I probably spend more time in the field on this issue than anyone on FR. While there are certainly variations, the overall situation is a travesty.
I think that the criticism of Protestants is largely right. Unfortunately, the situation among Catholics is much worse. Vatican II was an unmitigated disaster theologically for them, and it weakened standards so that sodomites flooded into the priesthood - particularly the Jesuits. That is where the “pedophile priest” problem came from, along with the cover-up.
Serious Catholics need to repair a lot of damage, and we do too, in general.
What churches you are talking about I know nothing about.
I attend a Bible believing Spirit filled church.
I didn’t say that there aren’t exceptions. Family integrated churches, for example, as a whole, are doing a great job. Perhaps yours is too.
Behind all the incense, in reality, Roman Catholicism competes with mainline Protestant denominations for last place in commitment and 1st place in liberal moral views, in contrast to evangelical faith: http://www.peacebyjesus.com/RC-Stats_vs._Evang.html
And the more literal the Catholic overall takes the Bible - like as evangelicals and contrary to most Roman Catholic scholarship, including that which is behind his own official Bible for America - than the more conservative in moral views he is.
I never throw rocks at Catholics (figuratively or literally).
Yes, many Protestant groups are off track. Some are not.
I have NO desire to argue Protestant/Catholic differences. But I find the constant jabs from them here annoying.
“Stupid Rock” throwing.
saw it. You should come to my church.
saw it. You should come to my church.
saw it. You should come to my church.
We do see increasing compromise, yet as stated, they are still much in contrast to the typical Catholic counterparts: http://www.peacebyjesus.com/RC-Stats_vs._Evang.html
Have a nice evening.
Among the people I know Baptists are the most divorced and remarried.
Actually, we’ve all been called out of the ‘churches’ because they all are apostate and decadent now, especially the large Nico Laitan ones like the catholic, orthodox, and episcopal.
You are 100% correct.
It is the huge Nico Laitan churches that have gone astray. The individual, autonomous home churches are the only ones that are truly holding to the word.
Thank you, Oprah!
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