Can Devout Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants Co-exist?
Two months ago I would have said that this was not possible. Since I had become Catholic and up until about the beginning of September I had not met one Evangelical Protestant that considered me a Christian. There wasn't one Evangelical Protestant who didn't take the opportunity to "witness" to me because they felt I hadn't accepted Christ, for no other reason than because I was Catholic. Apparently all testimonies about how one is led to Christ are accepted, except for the ones that the person is led to Catholicism. However the last couple of weeks have led me to believe that we can co-exist and win great victories for our Lord. First I met, for the first time, an Evangelical couple who actually accepted my testimony and considered me a Christian and also my father (who has probably been as hard on me as anyone could about my conversion) and I are actually talking civilly to each other again.
It is not my purpose in writing this to sweep our differences between Catholics and Protestants under the rug, because our differences are real and they exist. However we don't need to compromise our differences in order for Catholics and Protestants to work together. As long as we are true in our worship of Jesus Christ as the one true God, we can be true to our differences. But differences don't exist between just Catholics and Protestants, they exist within Protestantism as well. There are those Protestants that believe in the Real Presence and there are those that don't. Those that believe in the 'Once Saved Always Saved' doctrine and those that don't. Some believe in predestination, some don't. Many Protestants believe in the Baptism of infants, and again, there are many that don't. But it seems Protestants are able to put aside their differences and have fellowship, so why cant we?
So what do devout Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants have in common? We both believe in the God of the Bible. Adhere to the Trinity and to the divinity of Christ. Confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Consider the Bible to be the Word of God and to be without error. We believe in the once and for all Sacrifice of Christ upon Calvary, whose blood paid for both of our debt's. Hold to the concepts of Heaven and Hell, sin, dying to ourselves and the absolute necessity of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Both sides take their worship, surrender and love of Christ seriously. Both Catholics and Protestants work to get the Gospel out to the world and both adhere to the belief that there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ. There is no other name which salvation flows through.
Devout Roman Catholics and Evangelicals need to find their common ground because together we could become powerful allies against the prince of this world. God prayed that the Christian community would be one: "..that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast loved me" (John 17:23). The devil takes great joy in our disunity. I can hear him laughing every time a Protestants attacks a Catholic for their beliefs and vice-versa. This is what the Devil wants, Christians divided and attacking each other.
It's frustrating to see ministries that have adopted witnessing to Catholics as their main goal when their time would be better served spreading the promises of Christ to those who have never heard it and to other unbelievers. Its saddening to see anti-Catholics spreading lies to push their agendas and it's further saddening to see good Christians believing their lies.
Devout Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants can co-exist, and they need to not only co-exist but also to unit and work together to get the Word out and to get all nations to accept the Gospel of Christ and His promises. Maybe I am dreaming. I am sure there are fundamentalist Protestants out there, who hate nothing more than Catholicism, will never accept a Catholic as a Christian, but hopefully those fundamentalist will some day find themselves in the minority of Protestants, if they are not already.
Pax Tecum
Two months ago I would have said that this was not possible. Since I had become Catholic and up until about the beginning of September I had not met one Evangelical Protestant that considered me a Christian. There wasn't one Evangelical Protestant who didn't take the opportunity to "witness" to me because they felt I hadn't accepted Christ, for no other reason than because I was Catholic. Apparently all testimonies about how one is led to Christ are accepted, except for the ones that the person is led to Catholicism. However the last couple of weeks have led me to believe that we can co-exist and win great victories for our Lord. First I met, for the first time, an Evangelical couple who actually accepted my testimony and considered me a Christian and also my father (who has probably been as hard on me as anyone could about my conversion) and I are actually talking civilly to each other again.
It is not my purpose in writing this to sweep our differences between Catholics and Protestants under the rug, because our differences are real and they exist. However we don't need to compromise our differences in order for Catholics and Protestants to work together. As long as we are true in our worship of Jesus Christ as the one true God, we can be true to our differences. But differences don't exist between just Catholics and Protestants, they exist within Protestantism as well. There are those Protestants that believe in the Real Presence and there are those that don't. Those that believe in the 'Once Saved Always Saved' doctrine and those that don't. Some believe in predestination, some don't. Many Protestants believe in the Baptism of infants, and again, there are many that don't. But it seems Protestants are able to put aside their differences and have fellowship, so why cant we?
So what do devout Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants have in common? We both believe in the God of the Bible. Adhere to the Trinity and to the divinity of Christ. Confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Consider the Bible to be the Word of God and to be without error. We believe in the once and for all Sacrifice of Christ upon Calvary, whose blood paid for both of our debt's. Hold to the concepts of Heaven and Hell, sin, dying to ourselves and the absolute necessity of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Both sides take their worship, surrender and love of Christ seriously. Both Catholics and Protestants work to get the Gospel out to the world and both adhere to the belief that there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ. There is no other name which salvation flows through.
Devout Roman Catholics and Evangelicals need to find their common ground because together we could become powerful allies against the prince of this world. God prayed that the Christian community would be one: "..that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast loved me" (John 17:23). The devil takes great joy in our disunity. I can hear him laughing every time a Protestants attacks a Catholic for their beliefs and vice-versa. This is what the Devil wants, Christians divided and attacking each other.
It's frustrating to see ministries that have adopted witnessing to Catholics as their main goal when their time would be better served spreading the promises of Christ to those who have never heard it and to other unbelievers. Its saddening to see anti-Catholics spreading lies to push their agendas and it's further saddening to see good Christians believing their lies.
Devout Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants can co-exist, and they need to not only co-exist but also to unit and work together to get the Word out and to get all nations to accept the Gospel of Christ and His promises. Maybe I am dreaming. I am sure there are fundamentalist Protestants out there, who hate nothing more than Catholicism, will never accept a Catholic as a Christian, but hopefully those fundamentalist will some day find themselves in the minority of Protestants, if they are not already.
Pax Tecum
posted by katholicos | 1:36 AM
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