Posted on 11/23/2014 7:39:25 AM PST by SeekAndFind
It isn’t just perception. Different polls have shown that Catholics have little Bible knowledge, especially versus evangelicals. See the Pew Religious Knowledge survey, for one. And I lived my first 40 years in a highly Catholic area (80%), and with all the Catholics I knew, they had a lot of knowledge of Catholic practices and the basic Catholic doctrine that was drilled into them, but little to know biblical knowledge. And living among them, having been raised Lutheran (which in my area, meant the Bible also wasn’t taught in church), I didn’t have it, either.
And for the claim that the Bible is read at mass, I would have to look into whether the whole thing actually is, and how much regularly-attending Catholics actually learn from what’s read. Plus, I heard on Catholic radio that daily - versus just Sunday - Scripture reading at mass only began in recent decades, and likely because of pressure to be more like evangelical churches. Then one can ask, how many Catholics attend daily mass? I’ll also add that I read the biography of Mother Angelica, and she only read the Bible *decades* after becoming a nun, on her own, and not because the Catholic church directed her to.
Thankfully this is getting resolved, although in slow manner by programs such as this:
http://biblestudyforcatholics.com/
FWIW, I began buying property in Panama this year. Prior to this I made 4 trips to Panama investigating opportunities and trying to develop banking relationships. The people I encountered were more educated than outside Panama City, but they were pretty consistent about expressing the desire to see the country move forward economically and for them to be able to keep the profits of their businesses. IOW, the Protestant work ethic!
Some of these people were former RC's and others were RC's in name only (because they were born into it).
This ain't rocket science, folks.
I started out in a Pentecostal church...I then read and believed enough scripture that I could no longer be Pentecostal...However, I know that these people are brothers and sisters in Christ...It is good to hear so many people turning from religion to Jesus...
It really goes back to one thing. Reading Scripture for yourself and seeking the Truth in it. A lot of the more detailed ideas can be tough to understand early on, but being saved by faith alone in Christ alone is clear.
The ones I know and work with converted so they could remarry after they divorced; I thought evangelical-types frowned on that.
Oh I can help them with that!
Andrew Chesnut: I don't really know anything about Pentecostalism in South America but I stayed at a Holiday Inn three years ago.
Take this interview with several tons of salt
Protestantism, teaching error for over 500 years. For this and this alone, Jesus weeps.
RE: Protestantism, teaching error for over 500 years. For this and this alone, Jesus weeps.
With one proviso... in so far as “Protestantism” (and “Catholicism” for that matter ) depart from Scripture.
“And in my view, that would be that those folks found out they could have a one on one personal relationship with Jesus”
This world famous former protestant pastor would care to defer from you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Hahn
Here’s a few of the books written by this former protestant, now world-renowned Catholic theologian.
Rome Sweet Home (co-written with Kimberly Hahn), Ignatius Press, 1993. ISBN 0-89870-478-2
Catholic for a Reason (with Leon Suprenant, editor), Emmaus Road Publishing, 1998. ISBN 0-9663223-0-4
A Father Who Keeps His Promises, Servant Publications, 1998. ISBN 0-89283-829-9
The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth, Doubleday, 1999. ISBN 0-385-49659-1
Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God, Doubleday, 2001. ISBN 0-385-50168-4
First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Trinity, Doubleday, 2002. ISBN 0-385-49662-1
Lord Have Mercy: The Healing Power of Confession, Doubleday, 2003. ISBN 0-385-50170-6
Swear to God : The Promise and Power of the Sacraments, Doubleday, 2004. ISBN 0-385-50931-6
Letter and Spirit : From Written Text to Living Word in the Liturgy, Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 0-385-50933-2
Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace, Doubleday, 2006. ISBN 978-0-385-51924-3
Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith, Doubleday, 2007. ISBN 978-0-385-50935-0
Answering the New Atheism: Dismantling Dawkins’s Case Against God, (with Benjamin Wiker), Emmaus Road Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-931018-48-7
Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God’s Saving Promises, Yale University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-300-14097-2
Politicizing the Bible: The Roots of Historical Criticism and the Secularization of Scripture 1300-1700 (co-written with Benjamin Wiker), The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2013. ISBN 978-0824599034
“Scripture reading at mass only began in recent decades, and likely because of pressure to be more like evangelical churches. Then one can ask, how many Catholics attend daily mass”
So how many evangelicals attend daily services? Name me another faith other than Catholicism where services are held every day of the week. A Catholic Mass is going on somewhere in the world each and every minute of the day. Protestant faiths that read scripture during services are copying Catholic Masses. It’s so egregious with Lutherans and Episcopalians you can hardly tell their services from a Catholic Mass.
Most pentacostal/evangelical churches I went to before I became Catholic was one man standing on the stage beating his fist into a Bible telling everyone they were going to hell if they didn’t change. No one read from the Bible but him. Then as the collection basket was passed around he kept saying the more money you gave the better God would like you. After services he hoped in his cadillac and took off with his blonde-headed girlfriend counting the days booty.
Amen. My thoughts and experience as well.
Ephesians 1:3 (KJV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
More than likely when they found out they couldn't get divorced and remarried as Catholics they turned to God and the scriptures...That alone will show them they were in the wrong religion...
Are you willing to show us what God's scriptures say about divorce and remarriage???
Hahn wasn't known as a defender of the faith as a Protestant, but now, he's up there with the archangels as far as the Catholics are concerned...
Do you know why that is??? It's because he knows far more scripture than most Catholics due to his Protestant upbringing...And as such, he is able twist and pervert scripture and you guys don't even know the difference...
He'd never be able to sell his false material in a Protestant church...
Apparently you didn't pay much attention...Those pastors always supply numerous scripture references and tell the congregation to go home and study those scriptures in their bibles (yes, Protestants own bibles) and the rest of the bible as well...
Telling people they are going to hell if they don't repent and believe...IT'S IN THE BIBLE...Of course they believe in a real heaven and hell...It is not a Catholic figment of their imaginations...
But they don't sell indulgences...You don't like them passing the hat??? Had a cousin who was a Catholic and he was sent a bill each month based on his income and was expected to pay it, plus, any other offerings the Catholic religion deemed appropriate...
AMEN
“Hahn wasn’t known as a defender of the faith as a Protestant”
Yea, he was a real dummy as a protestant.
“Hahn received his B.A. degree magna cum laude in 1979 from Grove City College in Pennsylvania with a triple major of Theology, Philosophy, and Economics. He obtained his M.Div. degree summa cum laude from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1982”.
Hahn defended protestantism just as vigorously as he now defends Catholicism. He man has a genius IQ, and knows the Bible like the back of his hand. That is why he is despised by protestants that hate the Catholic Church. He saw the truth of the Gospel and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Catholic Church is the One, True Faith, and for that reason he is now a Catholic.
As a Catholic, in May 1995, he was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Systematic Theology from Marquette University (Phi Beta Kappa).
Since 1990, Hahn has served as Professor of Theology and Scripture at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. He was awarded Doctor of Humanities – honoris causa, by the Pontifical University of Puerto Rico in 2004. In 2014, Francis Cardinal George appointed Dr. Hahn to the newly established McEssy Distinguished Visiting Professorship in Biblical Theology at Mundelein Seminary.
Anybody and their brother can call himself a “pastor” if they are evangelical. No training necessary. But being a former Amway or good used car salesman helps.
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