Among the Baptists I’ve met, I’ve never encountered anyone who gave significant thought to Catholic theology, unless they had a Catholic neighbor or coworker. In 40 years of listening to sermons, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Catholic Church mentioned. It may have been at some point somewhere, but it certainly was NEVER the subject of a sermon. I’ve never heard it mentioned in doctrinal discussions.
In terms of what to believe, the discussion always centers on “What does the Bible say?”, not, “What do Catholics think?”
The idea that we define ourselves as ‘the opposite of Catholicism’ is ludicrous.
“The idea that we define ourselves as ‘the opposite of Catholicism’ is ludicrous.”
No, actually it makes perfect sense historically. The problem is that Protestants in America today have a difficult time seeing it because this was always a Protestant establishment.
as I said Well,the author errs by making a blanket statement. Not all "Protestants" are like that, however, some are -- and I know a couple personally who did that (now they are back to The Church)
The two that I did know were Assemblies of God at that point, then they jumped 4 or 5 times to various other groups and finally came back
i have no doubt that some non-Catholics do not define themselves as "the opposite of Catholics", but I know personally that some DO define themselves that way, so the author is wrong to give a blanket definition either way, just as you or I would be.
I went into a huge Christian bookstore the other day looking for a decal of a fish to put on the truck. I found it. As a matter of fact I found everything imaginable that dealed with Christianity. I also found books on every religion in the world. They sold the Koran and had many books on the history of Islam. They had books on Buddism. They had books on Mormans. They had books on every protestant faith you could think. What they didn’t have was the first Catholic bible or anything else to do with Catholicism. Nothing, not the first thing. No New American Bible, no RSV Bible, no Douay Rheims Bible, no Ignatius Bible. About the only Bible they had was the NKJV protestant bible. Also the Book of Morman and the Koran and every other type of faith you could think of, except Catholicism. As I was paying for the fish decal I asked the young lady behind the counter did they sell crucifixes; that I had seen plenty of crosses but no crucifixes. She looked at me and said “Christ came down from the cross”. I paid for my decal and left the store.
To say that the vast majority of protestants don’t consider Catholics as christians is an understatement. If the items sold in that huge Christian store are an indication protestants consider Muslims closer to Christianity that Catholics.
Amen Brother!
I think this line of thought originates with the Roman Catholics to reassure themselves.
I do believe we are seeing Protestant churches in decline, but what isn't being discussed is the dramatic growth in Evangelical churches. Evangelical churches are growing dramatically throughout central and south America replacing the institutional churches that have turned away from Scripture. The same is happening in the USA. As the Protestant churches turn away from Scripture they are declining, but Evangelical churches are growing.
Believers find one another. The name of the assembly may change but they find each other because of their core faith.
That accusation is akin to homosexuals defining those who oppose them as being "homophobic." The reality is that because of holding Scripture as the standard for Truth, with doctrines being in dependance upon Scriptural substantiation, then it is results in being opposed to many things in Roman Catholicism.
And most of the anti-Catholic posts we see here on FR is due to the incessant advertizing and promotion of Roman Catholicism, which holds itself as the elite and only one True Church. And a fools mouth call for strokes, (Prv. 18:6) so these call for reproof.