I am writing you here because I want the readers of this blog, and yours, to know that I speak from the depths of my being as I write these words, and that I bear you no ill will. I have come to this point primarily because you have concluded, in your latest blog, that the difference between Catholics and Protestants is that Catholics have access to the all of the Sacraments of the Church and Protestants do not. In fact, you give great importance to that difference, even above differences in the doctrine of scripture, an observation that I find deeply troubling, but I will debate no more.
I shan’t even trouble you again with exercises in logic for logic’s sake. Your latest missive has betrayed you and my suspicion has been, at least for the purposes of continuing our conversation, confirmed. I appeal to Jesus’ words in His High Priestly prayer found in John 17. . .
“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” – John 17:3
Eternal life is not bound up in any earthly organization, Catholic or Protestant. It is bound up in the knowledge of God and His Son, as found in the very pages of scripture. I am not debating on behalf of Protestant Church, or the Reformation. If I have given you that impression, forgive me. Your latest post, along with what I have read of those preceding it, have been about extolling the glories of your Church, it’s teachings and it’s history. You have even thanked me for causing you to dig deeper into its history. That has certainly not been my intent, and if all I have said to you did not point you to Scripture for it’s own sake, and to Christ Himself, I apologize for having spoken at all.
The very title of your blog “The Real Difference between Catholics and Protestants” signals your true agenda – to state your case that there is only one true church, as if the Bride of Christ is an organization rather than the body of believers who have placed their trust in Christ from “every tribe, tongue and nation”. The true difference(s) between us, sir, is not the issue at hand.
All of us, whether we are called Catholic or Protestant (or any derivation thereof), must ask ourselves, in whom have we trusted for our justification and salvation. The Apostle Paul, with all of his religious education and learning, and who could have debated things religious all day and all night, said it best:
“. . .but we preach Christ crucified. . .” – 1 Cor 1:23, and ” For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” – 2 Cor 2:2
Your definition of what separates us, that we do not have certain Sacraments that are only available through the single organization on earth with the authority to administer said sacraments, lays to rest any thoughts I may have had that you might be interested in knowing more about God and His Son, rather than learning more about your church. I fear that you might even be fearful of gazing at your professed Savior other than through “Catholic” lenses. However, such is the bondage into which you are willingly submitting yourself.
Call that sarcasm, rudeness on my part, or even personally insulting, but I intend nothing personal. Your very words demand I consider the possibility.
So, my Catholic friend, I leave you with this question, the one question we all must ask ourselves. In whom are you REALLY trust for salvationl? If it is Christ, we are safe. If it is anything, or anyone OTHER than Christ, we are in grave danger.
So long, my friend. You are welcome here anytime you wish to discuss our Christ and His Gospel.
Dan
The Battle Cry 
Hello. I havent been by in a few days and it looks like I’m stepping into an ongoing discussion. I’ll just state that it’s imperative to trust not in a religion or try to play “my church is better than your church,” but to first have a relationship with the Lord Jesus and to search the scriptures in a sincere search for the truth. To conform to the word of God and not to the traditions of men. You have stated it perfectly with “Eternal life is not bound up in an earthly organization,Catholic or Protestant.”
I hope that I’m not creating an unnecessary complication to this discussion. Thanks for taking time to address this.
Have a blessed day in Jesus.
timbob
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Hi Tim!
There is indeed an ongoing discussion. When one side of the discussion is applying the Berean principle of searching scrpture as the final authority, while the other side claims to be doing the same but is bound to look at scripture through the lens of the “Church”, it is indeed challenging.
The main discussion isn’t here, but it seemed approptiate to comment here.
And as you say, without a real relationship with Christ, it’s all rather pointless.
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Blessings Born4Battle,
Please rest assured that I am truly 100% trusting in Jesus Christ for my salvation. It is the sacrifice that He made that is the cause of our salvation. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Eternal life is not bound up in any earthly organization, Catholic or Protestant.
Amen. If I gave you the impression that I felt this way, then I have not done an adequate job of explaining myself.
Your definition of what separates us, that we do not have certain Sacraments that are only available through the …lays to rest any thoughts I may have had that you might be interested in knowing more about God and His Son,
Of course I am interested in learning more about God and His Son. In order to truly love someone, you have to know them. You cannot love someone that you don’t really know. I thirst for Christ.
God bless you on your journey….pray for me, as I will pray for you.
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My friend,
Thanks for stopping by!
One of the challenges of this blogging thing is only being able to read, interpret, and comment on “words on a page”. So much of what is present in face-to-face dialogue is missing. What we talk about most, however, says a lot about us.
Do I speak more of Christ and God’s saving grace, or all the reasons I go to the best church in town. That would say a lot about me.
That’s where I am coming from here. . .and am not judging anyone. I do not doubt your sincerity. I hope you can see that. . .
Concerning our on-going discussion, I am actually eager to continue, but would rather limit them to what we find in scripture, with an occasional mention of actual church history if it is directly supported in scripture.
I suppose you could call that a difference between you and me at this particular moment in time – our focus.
I can remember a time when I was absolutely consumed with all the details concerning the end times adn ible prophecy. However neither the knowledge of end times or the detailed history of the church can save a person from sin and death.
That intense focus on the Gospel ‘colors’ my conversations in Blogland. And then there is the issue of the supremacy of Scripture. . .
God Bless!
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Born4Battle,
I enjoy our discussions as well. I love talking about God and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. How great He is!!!
I was born and raised Protestant. I attended Christian schools all of my life. I have been a student of the Holy Scriptures in class and out. I love the Bible. My faith was (and still is) completely based on what I found in the Scriptures.
Only recently, have I been intrigued with what I have found and learned about the history of our faith. I never really cared for history before, and still don’t to tell you the truth, but I never approached history from a Christian standpoint. What were the first Christians like? Who were the heroes of the faith in the Early Church? When I got a little taste of the Early Church, I instantly became hooked and wanted to learn more.
Does this type of study save? Of course not. What it does is gives me a better understanding of what is meant by much of the Scripture, because this is the crowd that was the first to hear the Gospel, as oppose to reading it. You are right, I am very fascinated with Early Church History, but not to the neglect of my own salvation. We are called to love God with all of our hearts, all of our minds and all of our souls. This is how I am loving God with my mind. I am growing more and more in love with Him.
I do not doubt your sincerity.
..and I do not doubt yours. We are brothers in Christ. We really are – even though we do not see eye to eye on theological matters, that does not make you less of my brother.
God bless…
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