[Coldwater Creek]

And, what do the Catholics have to say about the Baptist?

I have read on FR many times a post from a Catholic saying, that, the Catholic is the only TRUE CHURCH.........

This what we Baptist believe, it is not hate or bigotry.

[Pyro7480]

I have read on FR many times a post from a Catholic saying, that, the Catholic is the only TRUE CHURCH

That's miles different from saying your Church is guided by Satan, as Jeffress did.

[ReformationFan]

Indeed. Try reading what Roman Catholicism taught about Protestantism at the Council of Trent. Yet, I don’t hear Protestants whining about “anti-Protestant bigotry”.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I would assume that any member of any church would argue that their church was the true Church, and that others, to the extent that they differ, are to that extent straying from the right path. If that were not the case, why would anybody join any church at all?

However the word "church" has slightly different shades of meaning in different contexts. Catholics, for instance, are convinced that a valid Baptism makes one a member of the Church, that Baptism opens the door to all the other Sacraments, and that most non-Catholic Chrstian churches baptize validly. ("Most". Not all. For instance, not Mormon baptism.)

Therefore, baptized Protestants or Evangelicals or Reformed or Baptists or what-have-you, can rceive the Sacrament of Matrimony in a Catholic church if they are marrying Catholics. (It's on that basis that my Baptist husband could marry Catholic me, which involves a Catholic Sacrament.)

The alert reader will notice that that logically entails the conclusion that all baptized Protestants are, in a manner of speaking, Catholics.

Yup: we'd say you are all certainly, but imperfectly, Catholics.

"Yikes!" A chorus of objection arises.

"But, don't you see, that means we think you're in the True Church."

"Harrumph!" and "Well, see here!" Another chorus of objection arises.

I smile.

Carry on, brothers and sisters in Christ.