Protestantism Heresy

[Chris Stuber]

I was poking around a catholic website, and ran across a comprehensive list of what the Roman Catholic church considers to be heresy. On that list was Protestanism which is a large number of Christian churches. This comes as shocker to me, because the Christian church has been divided from the beginning, and it blows me away that they actually believe that if you don't adhere to the orthodox, they are somehow perishing in their disputes.

[Western Christians] present …a mystery of the divided Church which cannot be solved on precedents taken from the epoch of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. It is a new problem requiring a search for a fresh approach and confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to guide the Church in our time as He guided her in the past.

If you check out Ignatius of Antioch you can see the early church witnessed theological disputes of the day. Ignatius attempt to create loyalty among the churches but none of the seems to have got it right. It looks like it began as a holy mess, and despite the efforts to unify, they fail to achieve what I would call normalization, and the bible and church body are patchwork. The history speaks for itself, so who is to blame?

The one thing I noticed was the posture of the Vatican, to have an argument for every possible angle like it were an attack on the church, under a heading "The Bible said this would happen". Over the decades, the Vatican Christian Apologetics have generated a ton of defenses to protect any conceivable bible dispute.

This is note a particulary noteworth topic, but the Christian are diverse, and they really cannot agree of much of anything.

Regards,

Chris S.

[duxrow]

Protesting the Catholic version and opinions of the truth of the Bible is what Wycliff and Luther began -- when I was issued dog tags in '45 they gave me a choice of C for catholic, or p for protestant, or j for jewish, and no other choices! Back then I only knew I wasn't catholic or jewish...

A scan of 2009 estimates of USA religions indicates Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10%. The polls seem to shy away from the term "Christian", and "God-of-the-Bible" is inexcusably avoided, but despite a "falling away" and a rapidly growing Islam, Christianity appears to still be in the lead with more than 70%.

The Old Testament Hebrew religion was exclusively for the 'chosen' people, the Jews, but the New Testament is for 'any whosoever', including the Jews, as well as all races; anybody who chooses to recognize and follow after Christ.

Sometimes we hear it said that Jerusalem is the birthplace of the world's three greatest religions, but Islam came much later, in the 5th century A.D., and Mohammed had plenty of time to hear scriptural accounts, but reportedly was never in Jerusalem and didn't mention that city in his koran.
In Europe now, the Sharia Law of Islam is being recognized and its impact on the USA has already grown to alarming proportions.

[duxrow]

Yes, despite claims to the contrary, the USA was founded on
Bible, and not until Kennedy (#35) did we have a Catholic President.

George Washington passed through several cities -- including
Philadelphia and Trenton -- on the way to his first inauguration
at Federal Hall in New York City, then the temporary capital of
the United States. Aware of the importance of this national ritual,
the brown-suited Washington set many precedents during his first
inauguration: the swearing-in took place outside; the oath was
taken upon a Bible; an inaugural address was given (to the assembled
Congress inside the Hall) the contents of which set the pattern
for all subsequent addresses; and festivities accompanied the
inauguration, including a church service, a parade, and fireworks.

[standard_dev]

Then again, an organisation that relies on a celibate priesthood with a line of equally celibate Popes tracing back to St. Peter has a few inconvenient Bible truths to deal with...

Starting with Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law in in Matthew 8:14?15, Mark 1:29?31, and Luke 4:38?41