if catholicism has flaws then what makes protestantism any better?
602119
Who ever said any kind of sect is better than the other. Beauty is in the eyes of the Beholder. In my opinion, all sects put some kind of shackles on you, without realizing it
499520
See, the bible is flawed. It's just a compilation of stories and accounts passed down from generation to generation with the author's twist on them. It's just a book someone wrote but it's led too many people to believe it that we cant argue against it. If we try to discuss things like this and evolution, die hard religious people pull the "you just have to have faith" card and you can't really do anything about it. Religion was made so people can feel like they belong. It's more interesting to believe there is an afterlife such as heaven or hell rather than knowing our corspe is just going to rot. People go to church for the desire to go to somewhere where they know they are welcomed every single minute of every single day. It gives them a sense of security and some people need that to carry on with their lives\n\nPeople aren't really unsure if God exisists or not.  Either you believe in God or you don't.  It's the same thing with pregnancy, you can't be half pregnant, you either are or aren't.  People who obess to uncover the church are the people in which don't like knowing that they don't know something...If that made any sense.  They obsess about it because The Vatican has yet to release quite a few books regarding the Christian Bible.  Chances are they haven't release the books yet is because there are things in those book which will contradict and nullify the whole religion.  The Catholic and Christian Churches have been two of the most, if not the most, corrupt churches to ever have existed beginning with clergy selling indulgences to limit the person's time spent in purgatory.\n\nBecause religion was made up, it has it's flaws.  It's not perfect as some might believe or have been led to believe.  You ARE right about a few things though.  If the church was to be uncovered the world would be too chaotic and things would get way out of hand.  The creation of religion has helped balance the power between "good" and "evil" and has helped maintain the neutral people to learn more towards the "good" side with the fear of being placed in hell for their actions.  If that fear was removed, life wouldn't be anywhere near the same and crime rates would go up 100 fold.
143574
Basicly, the tech. postion from Rome is that only, The Cardinals and The Pope, have God speak to them regarding spiritual matters.  Which is then handed down to the catholic priests to share with their faith community.  In the United States, though many would disagree with me, Catholicism is more influenced by alot of Bible centered protestant influences, and you are likely to get a hybrid of Catholic / Christian answers from many sincere Catholic Believers.  The source to go to what Rome truly teaches however, is in the writings and declarations from the past former councils.  Many of these differ STRONGLY with Bible Centered Christians, then what Catholics in America would claim to believe and practice.
1073219
Almost all important doctrine is completely agreed upon between Catholic Christians and most other Christians. \n\nThere are some minor doctrine issues and some major cultural and traditional differences which, I believe, do not matter that much.\n\nWith love in Christ.
918941
In Protestant (liberal) theology there are several "middle grounds."  There is the notion that the Bible "contains God's word" and also that is can "become God's words."  These are of course nuanced meanings of how Scripture communicates God's message through a supposedly imperfect text.
498979
this question is just turning into let's see who can insult the catholics the most, which I find greatly offending. The thing I think is most misunderstood is the celibacy of priests. Because of that and many accusations, most people think that "all" catholics priests are pedifiles which is not true.
587438
QUESTION: Why did the first Protestant, Martin Luther, take out from the bible Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation, plus 7 books from the Old Testament—and put them in an appendix without page numbers?\n\nANSWER: Luther deleted those 7 books because they did not suit his doctrines.  He called the book of James “an epistle of straw…”.  The argument that the Jews did not accept them as scripture is based on the fact that they were not written in Hebrew.  That was never the criteria for the 27 New Testament books set forth by the Catholic Church that Protestants accept. Apostolic Teaching was the primary measurement for proving inspiration, not some mans opinions 1100 later.  By accepting Jewish standards for what should be in the Bible, you are accepting an authority that rejected Christ and the message of the New Testament. \n\nQUESTION: Also, why do some Protestants accept some of the 7 sacraments while others only accept only 1 or 2 of them while still others will reject them all?\n\nANSWER: By doing so they diminish the importance of the Incarnation, and the sacramental principle of the Incarnation. When God became man, physical matter was elevated to new heights.  Matter is not evil, as the heretics have taught. Physical matter can be used to convey grace, as “things” were used in the New Testament for healing. Bread, wine, oil and water are found throughout the Old Testament as outward signs of God’s actions. These same elements are used by the Church in the administration of the Seven Sacraments. The Bible shows they were instituted by Christ. \n\nQUESTION: Why do some Protestants insist that the Sabbath be observed on Saturday while other Protestants insist that it is Sunday while still other Protestants will claim that people don't have to go to Church?\n\nANSWER: The “Saturday” Protestants are mostly cults who are anti-Protestant. Christians who say you don’t have to go to a church are socially dysfunctional, or the churches they have been in don't have Real Food, and Real Drink.
205783
No religion is the best because they are all corrupt.\n\nNo religious group is the best . . . because they are all vain and self-centered.\n\nDo want to follow the best . . . follow what is in your heart and not what is taught.
519728
Just a note, both Protestants and Catholics actively persecuted one another.  It was not instigated by Catholicism, rather the process was a civil war and the Protestant Princes set the events in motion for both sets of persecutions.  Luther committed what amounted to genocide on the baptists, the baptists would kill entire towns if they didn't become baptists, Catholics would level whole cities that they considered in religious revolt.  Luther burned around 20,000 baptists at the stake.  Protestants persecuted each other and Catholics.  It unleashed existing hatreds in monstrous proportions.  One leading Protestant reformer, who was previously a member of the Inquisition wrote of his horror at the methods of the reformation.  Believe it or not, the Inquisition had rules of restraint on torture, which was culturally accepted as a positive thing at the time by everyone.  The Reformation, in rejecting canon law was free from the restraints.  Both sides acted hideously, as did Americans during our own Revolution, though we were not quite as bad because the populations here were not so dense and the war was between us and them, whereas the Reformation would be though of as closer to the Afgani Civil War.\n\nAs to the consequences, I think there were several both positive and negative.\n\nFirst, the saddest and the most obvious even on these boards is that when you start killing people it is very hard to get people to go back and forgive or say "sorry."  The anger from 500 years ago spills onto these boards, and the angriest rarely understand the real issues or have a real grasp on what is actually being fought over.  We have deep splits on what are really non-Christian issues, but we have Christianized the issues.\n\nMost Americans have not spent any real time in Europe.  That is a shame.  If you went to Germany and followed the geography of the split between the Reformation and Catholicism, you would notice something interesting.  It follows the old Roman line of advance.  Protestant areas are those areas that retained Northern European pagan theologies as Christianized theologies.  Catholic areas are those areas that retained Roman pagan theologies as Christianized theologies.  You even see it in the physical housing today of people.  For example, if you are in Northern German, it is visually very spartan, but has great oral and musical components.  If you are in Bayern (Bavaria), the houses and structures are visually very appealing, but there is less in the music and less emphasis on the spoken.\n\nIn Protestantism, you have an anti-visual symbolism emphasis.  It emphasizes the "word," and the bardic traditions of singing, witnessing and storytelling.  The visual is distrusted.  A good early Calvinist church wouldn't have even had cushions and nothing to see.\n\nIn the Catholic areas you have a distrust of individual witness, a distrust on non-scriptural hymns, and a distrust of using stories in teaching.  Instead you have a rich painted or statuary tradition.  It was believed that since Jesus was both God and Man, he had to be picturable.  As such, while it is wrong to paint a picture of God the Father, it is essential to paint images of God the son with halos to affirm his simultaneous divinity and humanity.\n\nThis division ultimately lead to a number of positive cultural components.  Art and literature improved dramatically as they were now in greater competition.  Religious toleration gradually became a new cultural concept.  It did not previously exist almost anywhere at any time.  There are what have been considered unusual examples in history but they were not the norm.\n\nAn anti-religioussness sprang forth and became the Enlightenment.  Without it, we would not have the United States.  As John Adams said, "in the best of all possible worlds, there would be no religion."  It permitted a growth in science independent and indeed completely separate from religion.  Science now exists
554975
Catholics have more fun.  Especially alcoholic ones.  That's the whole point of Catholisism.  Pain old deubochery is good for peoples souls and Okay at St. Peters.  God don't want no prude...period.
847022
Catholicism is a branch of Christianity.  Not believing in the Bible defeats the purpose of Christianity.  You can't claim to be a Christian yet not believe in the one book that Christianity is all about.
246115
Catholics and Protestants get along fine in the Republic of Ireland. In Northern Ireland the situation is more complicated but it has less to do with religion, and more to do with politics, history and the Troubles of the last 30 years. The Protestant political parties tend to favour full integration with the UK, and Protestant people tend to consider themselves British, both culturally and historically. Catholic political parties tend to favour full integration with the Republic of Ireland and Catholic people tend to consider themselves Irish. Then you have had 3,000 people who died in the Troubles (the armed conflict between the British, the IRA and the Loyalist groups) which has left some very deep wounds in the society.
535985
Any theologian should be wary of a doctrine that:\n!. Denies the existance of God.\n2. advocates theft and murder.\n\nCommunism is merely a theory.  It promises a panacea in which everyone is equal yet has always produced a totalitarian state in which most individual rights are not recognized and the vast majority of the people live in abject poverty when the party leaders wallow in wealth.
682336
Most modern Bibles that are not Roman Catholic do not include the apocrypha (those questionable books in the middle between the testaments), unless they just include them for historical value. Protestants during the Reformation rejected certain teachings that were found in these contradictory books, and because they held Scripture so high they continued not including them. They are Jewish books, and the Jews rejected them as Scripture. The only reason the Roman Catholics include them is because they opposed the Protestants, so they just made a declaration that these too were Scripture. Imagine just calling something the words of God, when they hadn't been considered such for 1,500 years?! That is why Protestants do not include the extra books. They have not taken away, it is the Roman Catholic Church which has added. The verse you are talking about really refers to Revelation, but there are other verses like Proverbs 30:5-6 "Every word of God is flawless...Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar" (NIV). If you look at the Apocrypha without bias, you will see that it is additive and not on par with Holy Scripture.
112294
It would require some understanding as to the decision making process in the Catholic Church.  The Catholic Church is a highly varied body.  There is more internal variation inside the Catholic Church than there is across all of Protestantism.  All Protestant groups have an analog within the Church, the reverse is not true.\n\nFirst, the bible was canonized 350 years after the death of Jesus.  There wasn't a book someone could call the bible to cite as a reference.  They often did cite the scriptures, but they were not referring to the NT in the early Church.  They did also cite that which was handed on, traditio, from the apostles.  The bible is part of what was handed on, but not the whole of what was handed on.\n\nIn the early Church women were not ordained to the major orders, deacon, priest or bishop.  There were deaconesses, but their ordinations were different from the men.  Because early Christians did not do it, the Church cannot change it now.  When John Paul II was asked to rule on ordaining women, he ruled he could not change anything.  Popes and bishops may not make changes to beliefs, even if those beliefs no longer make sense.  Just because roles have changed does not change what was handed on.  Jesus was pretty radical, if he had wanted Mary Magdalene to be an Apostle, he could have made her one.  None of the Twelve, or the Seventy were women.  This may simply have been practical for some reason.  Nonetheless, what is is.\n\nUnlike Protestants who get to vote at conferences about what they believe, the rule in the Catholic Church is simple.  What did the early Christians believe and do?  That guides everything else.
347486
YES.  According to the good ol' American Heritage Dictionary, a Christian is one who professes "belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus."  I'm a Catholic, and I know this describes me, as I'm sure it describes you as well.\n\nI have come to understand a bit more about why sometimes Protestants say Catholics aren't Chritistian, however.  Hopefully, these will help you understand your friends' logic:\n\n1. The Saints.  It's thought that by praying to saints, Catholics are worshiping them.  This isn't true, of course, for reasons I won't get into here - I'm sure you know them - but you can see how people might think you're not Christian if they thought this was true.\n2. The Bible.  Because Protestants don't have a Church structure the way Catholics do, Protestants often end up paying a lot more attention to the Bible, memorizing passages etc.  It seems to them that Catholics ignore the Scriptures and so the word of Christ.  This isn't true either, but it's a not-infrequent misconception.\n3.  The Eucharist.  Catholics say that the Eucharist is the essence of Christ, present with us.  We worship Christ in and through the Eucharist.  If you're Protestant, you (generally) think the Eucharist is bread, symbolic of Christ, but not actually Christ.  So if they see us worshiping God in the Eucharist, they think we're bowing down to a piece of bread.  You can see how this would seem sacriligious?\n4. Salvation.  Generally, Protestants believe that salvation can only come from accepting Christ as your savior.  Essentially, no matter how good a person is on their own, because they're not perfect, they wouldn't be able to make it to heaven if it weren't for Chirst's sacrifice.    Catholics believe this is true, but that you also have to 'walk the walk, not just talk the talk.'  Salvation is based on the acceptance of Christ as savior combined with good works.  The reason some Protestants have a problem with this is because they're thinking we're discounting the importance of Christ's sacrifice and that we think we could get into heaven on our own. \n\nSo you see, the concept of Catholics not being Christian is generally based on misconceptions.  Try explaining these concepts to your friends (without proselytizing) and try to find out why they think Catholics don't count as Christians.  We all believe in Christ as the source of eternal life.  Maybe you can help them see this.
1160737
The main two categories are Catholic and Protestant.  And the main difference between them is the way they interpret the Bible.  If you're serious about researching this, you'll want to speak with a Priest (Catholic) and a Pastor or Reverend (Protestant) about what each believes.  \n\nThe problem you might run into, however, is that there are so very many ways to be a Protestant.  Episcopalian, Lutheran, Baptist, Mormon, and the list goes on and on.  And there are even variations among those, like WELS Lutheran, ALC Lutheran, etc.  The main differences still being interpretation of the Bible.