I'd like to do a series of posts on theological comparisons between various sects of Christianity (as well as other series comparing the Abrahamic faiths, and comparing world religions in general). For starters, the simplest thing for me to focus on would be some of the big differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. I was raised Catholic and therefore am the most familiar with it, however living in the U.S. means that I have grown up around a variety of Protestant churches and believers. My family never seemed to view Protestants as that much different from us. When I was a child they allowed me to attend a Bible summer camp at a Church of the Nazarene with my friend, my sister's first husband was Lutheran and while there were occasional comments from both families about that, overall they approved since he was still Christian, one of my closest friends and a few of my cousins were raised Presbyterian (although most of my friends were raised Catholic and most of my town was made up of Catholics), and my mother had nothing bad to say about me attending a young adult discussion group for a non-denominational Christian Protestant Church (the church is tied to the Assemblies of God but the discussion group was open to any young Christian who was interested). At one point, my mother even expressed a desire to me to start looking into other churches as she felt disconnected to Catholicism, although she never went through with it. Due to all of this, I always had trouble understanding what the differences were between them until I received formal education on the topics.
To be clear, I understand that "Protestant" is a very broad title and not all Protestant faiths are the same. Protestants can include everything from Anglicans/Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, etc. to many newer churches as well. I realize that not all of them hold the same beliefs and I don't claim to know the differences between every single religion that falls under Christian Protestantism, nor do I even know every denomination. I'm no expert on the topic and I don't claim to be. However, I have studied the Protestant Reformation and some of the more common issues that caused Protestants to split from the Catholic Church initially. I want to focus on two of the differences I studied here.
The first thing I'd like to focus on is the idea of salvation. One of the primary differences between Catholicism and Protestantism (at least the denominations I'm familiar with that initially split off) is whether Christians are saved by works (Catholic) or saved by grace (Protestant). This concept boils down essentially to the question "do we get to heaven from doing good works or do we get to heaven solely by faith in Christ who offers the faithful salvation?" Catholics tend to believe that doing good deeds is what "buys" your way into heaven. You have to commit to not sinning and confessing if you do. This is why even the Pope recently said that atheists who are good people can still get into heaven, although this is absolutely a more modern Catholic teaching. The medieval Church also believed in selling "indulgences" which Luther had a major problem with and which the Church stopped doing during the Counter Reformation in order to stop losing followers by going along with some of what Protestants wanted. The idea behind indulgences was that someone could give money to the church in order to absolve their sins. I certainly agree with Luther on that front. Wealth can't buy salvation. I'm not even entirely sure I agree with the Christian concepts of salvation and the afterlife anymore, but I do know the Bible makes it clear that Jesus said it was difficult for the wealthy to get into heaven and advised people to give up all their wealth to follow him. Christianity started as a religion for the poor and the oppressed. However, I can understand the reasoning behind "giving to the Church" being an act of "good works," but I don't think that having more money means someone is a better person. I also don't agree that giving money to the Church is that important, especially when that money could be used to feed your family or donate to charity. I certainly don't think any human being has the right or authority to literally sell forgiveness of sins on God's behalf. So on the topic of indulgences, I certainly side more with the views of Martin Luther that helped spark the Protestant Reformation.
However, I do think there is something to be said for "saved by works". In my view, that means living a good life, doing good to others, helping other people, caring for God's creation, following the words of Jesus, etc. So literally doing "good works," not buying forgiveness. Indulgences is not an act of "good works" in my view. On the opposite side, you have "saved by grace" which means that as long as you believe in Christ you will go to heaven and if you don't accept Christ you will go to hell. I'm sorry, but I don't agree with that view at all. I'm sure it's evident by now considering I have a pluralist blog, but I truly believe that if there is a heaven there is more than one path to get there. No one religion can be completely true while all the others are completely false. I can't imagine that if Jesus was truly God and was waiting at the gates of heaven that he would turn away a non-Christian person who lived a genuinely good and selfless life of loving their neighbor and helping others while letting in others who were lucky enough to be raised Christian who didn't do nearly as many good works and who didn't love their non-Christian neighbors. That view of Jesus and heaven doesn't make sense to me. I know that according to the Bible, Jesus said the only way to the Father was through him, but I think that can apply to anyone who lives as a good person the way Jesus advised, even if they didn't believe Jesus was the son of God. What of the people who never heard of Jesus or who were raised to believe their family's religion was the right one?
This is the type of question that led me to believe in religious pluralism. I can't believe that an all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good deity exists that would allow some people to be born and raised into a different religion than the one who worships them in a society that preaches that religion is the only true one or that would allow people to be born who never heard of Jesus, and with that knowledge of that person's upbringing would use their power to then damn that person to an eternity of hell anyway for not accepting Christ as their savior, and still somehow be considered a "good" deity. Of course, those issues are also brought up often in theology, philosophy, and religious ethics with "the problem of evil." The idea that many of the things that go on in this world happen while a deity who is supposedly all powerful, all knowing, and entirely good exists is something that many people can't understand. It's what leads many to atheism or agnosticism. It's what drives the conversation around the concept of "free will" and how that plays into the "problem of evil." That topic could be a post entirely on its own, so I will try not to get off topic here. However, my view on those questions does lead me to believe that faith in Christ alone and therefore Christ's gift of grace to his followers alone cannot be the only way to salvation.
Which leads me to the next topic of discussion: predestination. You can probably already guess that I don't agree with it. I've heard contradicting things actually, that some Protestants still believe in it but most don't anymore, but I don't know how true that is. The idea behind the Protestant belief of predestination is that God has already determined which souls are destined to be saved and which are destined to eternal damnation, before the person is even born. God makes the decision based on who will likely respond well to God's teachings and therefore follow God and accept his grace and salvation, where everyone else is destined to be damned before taking their first breath. It's honestly the most horrible thing I've ever heard. I thought God was supposed to be loving? Isn't God supposed to give us a chance?
At the end of the day, I believe that if there is a God and if there is a heaven, it would be open to everyone, as long as they're a good person. Being a good person means a result of our own choices, not something that was determined before we were born or based on what society and place we were born into and therefore which religion we were raised with. Therefore, I honestly can't say I agree with the ideas behind the concepts of "saved by grace" or predestination. Nothing against Protestants, and I realize that not all Protestants still fully believe in all of this, but other than indulgences which are now a thing of the past, I side more with the Catholic Church on these issues. Although ultimately, my views don't align completely with the Catholic Church either, they certainly align more with Catholicism than Protestantism.
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