Well, not me necessarily, but all Protestants. We Protestants really never know whether we are in or out with the Catholic Church. At one council it seems that we are damned to the fires of hell, and then, at another, we are “brethren,” separated, yet real brethren!
This all comes down to how the Catholic church is going to define their dogmatized phrase “outside the church [Roman Catholic Church] there is no salvation.” While Protestants often get blasted for our inability to agree on certain doctrines (rightly so in many cases), there is no less division among Catholics about what it means to be “outside the Church.”
Folks, I would like to know. My eternal life hangs in the balance.
On a more serious side-note, this does hamper Protestant/Catholic relations when it is believed that any non-Catholic is necessarily damned to hell (that is if they truly die a non-Catholic—more on this in a moment).
So, what do Catholics say? Continue Reading »
3 replies to "Finally a Catholic who is Not Afraid to Condemn Me?"
Hi, Michael.
It might be time for you to look at some documents from Vatican II, and talk to some knowledgeable Catholics (which I don’t claim to be). I was raised in a Catholic household, and attended Catholic grammar and high schools, Catholic (and state) colleges and universities. I haven’t heard that old saw about “Protestants going to hell” since one European nun said it in the early 1950s — except, of course, for folks like Mel Gibson, who are stuck in the early 20th century with little religious understanding — leftovers from the ‘wallbuilding’ era, when all Christians stressed what divided them in their particular doctrines over the much larger central and shared core of Christianity. Triumphalism has been a sad part of all our denominations.
Not long ago, the Pope told us to look for what is from God in all religions, in and out of Christianity, and see what we could learn about faith. The Church, including the hierarchy, changes slowly, but doors and minds are opening. Please don’t assume everything you learned about Catholics is true — even if it was from an old-guard Catholic! God is bigger and more merciful than any of us, and our job is to help each other continue up the path to His presence.
Peace.
the protestant dilemma is in their bibilical search for truth and authority -they witness- that they indiividuly are the “truth & authority”. eventually this makes no sense to
them and the search leads them to catholicism. to say that
protestants are united in essentials but separated on non-
essentials is a stretch. the obvious retort would be – if factors
of divided theology are classified unassential – why do they
divide ?. some good reasons for not being catholic-are they
don’t read the bible, worship mary,the pope and idols etc.
when a protestant discovers that these are false charges
he must if honest resolve the dilemma.
ken
Michael,
May I ask you a question?
First off. I definitely see where you’re coming from in this post. The answers to this question are extremely varied in Catholicism. It certainly seems to leave things pretty bleak for Protestants (in the Catholic view) when you get into all the details of confession, sacraments, contrition, etc. If all the mortal sin stuff applies, the lack of confession would seem to be fatal.
I’m not so sure if there CAN be a sensible Catholic view on this point. It seems like the RCC has tied itself up in a knot.
But the question goes the other way. Coming from a Protestant view point, how can you view any Catholics as brothers in Christ? There are two main reasons I ask this question. The second one is more important to me.
Justification: If faith alone is part of the gospel, then Catholics deny the gospel. Don’t they fall under Paul’s anathema in Galatians 1?
Idolatry: This has many parts. Prayers to statues and saints, for example, could very well be idolatrous. More important, however, is Eucharistic adoration. Catholics worship the Eucharist. If it isn’t Jesus, then that is most definitely idolatry. Regular idolaters are damned according to the Bible (if there is one sin that damns you, its this one). How do you get around this?
I see clear love of God and Christ from my Catholic friends and my Protestant friends. I can’t bring myself to condemn the former as idolaters. I can’t bring myself to condemn the ladder as schismatic heretics. I think the consistent Christian position would be to do one or the other, so it makes me want to take the third road, reject Christianity all together. I’m much more comfortable saying they’re both just wrong rather than rebellious or evil.