Answers to Catholic Questions: first part

For some time now I have been receiving emails from people who quote me an article found on the website www.cristianicattolici.net. The article in question is entitled "Protestantism, reasons and wrongs”. I would not have believed that the questions contained in the article needed an answer, because they are somewhat trivial and show ignorance on the part of the author, both as regards the knowledge of the Protestant world (which he always confuses with the Pentecostals), both in regards to biblical knowledge and church history. But I find myself forced, Unfortunately, to take this article and answer the questions it contains ironically addressed to Protestants.

The following are the questions that are asked by the Catholic author to Protestants with the relative answers below.

 

1) It is possible that there was a time when the Church of Jesus Christ died only to be reborn with Valdo or Luther?

And this is who said it? The Bible says:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him does not perish, but have everlasting life. (Giovanni 3:16)

Anyone who denies the Son, he does not even have the Father; who publicly acknowledges the Son, he also has the Father. (1Giovanni 2:23).

The Christian is one who recognizes Jesus Christ as the savior, he accepts it as a gift of faith and tries to lead a life according to his teachings. There have always been some of these people throughout history, not all followed the Marian cult. So what about the people of the Old Testament who did not yet know the grace of Christ? They all died spiritually? Certainly not. They were also saved by faith in God, certainly not for works, inasmuch as it is impossible to save oneself by works: a single sin committed is enough and in the eyes of God we are finished. The church, in the Bible, it is not identified as a religious building but is the assembly of believers, who gather in the name of Christ (Gr. ekklesia it means assembly).

Jesus said “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them " (Matteo 18:20).

The church is an assembly of Christians gathered in the name of Jesus and the church can also be done at home. Religions, the denominations, confessions, they are human inventions, certainly not from God. God is not interested in the name "Catholic" or "Protestant", He is only interested in those who do his will, and his will is expressed in Sacred Scripture, God's Word. This is why the church of Christ has never died, but it has always existed, Christians have always gathered in the name of Christ even long before the Protestant Reformation, even if many times they have had to do it in secret for fear of being killed, just as it happened to the first persecuted Christians. Jesus, Looking at the future, he had predicted it, he prophesied just what happened to his saints preaching His Word, during the Protestant Reformation:

Beware of men; for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, to serve as a witness before them and the Gentiles. But when they put you in their hands, don't worry about how you will speak or what you will have to say; because at that very moment what you have to say will be given to you. Because it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. (Matteo 10:17-20)

Pagans are those who worship others, they have other gods, they turn to others in prayer and build their images and statues. What the Catholic Inquisition did during the reform, that's exactly what Jesus said to his disciples.

When one speaks of the false church in Revelation it is said:

And I saw that that woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of Jesus' martyrs. When I saw her, I marveled at great amazement. (Apocalypse 17:6)

The woman is identified with the false church. Woman is the metaphor for the church, just as the church of Christ is called the bride. The false idolatrous church that will be destroyed by the wrath of God during the judgment, he killed his saints, that is, the believers of Christ, his martyrs and persecuted them by spreading false doctrines. This is a prophecy that is confirmed by what happened during the reformation. Then there is also to consider that John was surprised to see her, because? She was perhaps known? A church that would not have expected it to be fake?

But man looks at appearance, and this is also typical of Catholics who want to be seen by going to church, confessing in public, show others what good Christians they are, and they believe they are receiving grace through a rite, a sacrament. This is only appearance.

In fact, the LORD does not pay attention to what strikes a man's gaze: man looks at appearance, but the Lord looks to the heart. (1Samuele 16:7)

Only God knows our heart, and "he knows who his folks are". We cannot point to others and judge them or affirm that they are not the Church of Christ and will not be saved. We can only compare what the Word of God tells us with other human doctrines, we can only tell whether a behavior is right or not in the light of Scripture, but NEVER judge others for salvation. Judgment belongs only to God:

Don't judge, lest you be judged; because with the judgment with which you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure with which you measure, it will be measured to you. (Matteo 7:1-2)

Unfortunately the Catholic Church, it is famous for its judgments on the faithful!

When the Lord comes back, he will not take Christians with him on the basis of their belonging to one denomination or another, but it will take them from side to side:

And he will send his angels with a great trumpet sound to gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the skies to the other. (Matteo 24:31)

 

2) If that is not possible, since Christ has promised to always assist His Church, and that the gates of hell will never prevail over It, which was e, which, the true Church of Christ?

The answer to this question is already contained in the answer 1.

 

3) Because according to you Protestants the true Church of Christ was not and is not the Roman Catholic Church, can you show me the names of true Christians who have been part of the earthly Church of Christ?

Even the answer to this absurd question is contained in the answer 1. We Christians are not obliged to judge other Christians and to state who the saved are or not. This task belongs only to God because it is very dangerous to judge oneself in God's place. We think of spreading only the pure and intact Gospel without being polluted by human doctrines and additions. Jesus Christ will do all the rest.

4) It is possible that Christ founded an abstract Church, universal, but not identifiable with any denomination existing on earth, leaving you at the mercy of discussions, liti, misunderstandings and splits his disciples, without providing them with a clearly identifiable organ, who supervised the doctrinal discipline of the Christian faithful?

sure, he did it! It has also given us the ability to discern right from wrong, according to his Word, our only filter.

examine everything and hold good (1Tessalonicesi 5:21)

Sanctify them in the truth: your word is truth. (Giovanni 17:17)

And our guide is Scripture:

You, instead, persevere in the things you have learned and of which you have acquired certainty, knowing who you learned them from, and that since childhood you have had knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which can give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2Timoteo 3:14-15)

Trust in human doctrines, to institutions it is very dangerous because, as in fact happened in Catholicism and continues to happen in many modern pseudo churches headed by a charismatic leader, deviates from the Word:

Who goes ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, has not God. He who abides in the doctrine, He has the Father and the Son. (2Giovanni 9)

And we don't want to get away from the words of Jesus, only in this way do we not risk losing God. Make instead, additions to a will is wrong, it is touching and nullifying the Word of God. The Gospel warns:

But even if we or an angel from heaven announced you a different gospel than the one we announced to you, be anathema. (Galati 1:8)

The apostle Paul, speaking of a will (be it the old one or the new one established by the Grace of Christ) he claims:

Brothers, I speak according to the customs of men: when a will has been validly concluded, although it is only a human act, no one cancels it or adds anything to it. The promises were made to Abraham and his offspring. Does not say: "And to the offspring", as if it were many; but, as if speaking of only one, dice: "And to your offspring", which is Christ. Here's what I mean: a testament that God has previously established, it cannot be undone, so as to make the promise useless, by the law that came four hundred and thirty years later. Because if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; It gave, instead, granted this grace to Abraham, through the promise. (Galati 3:15-18)

When God says something, that something is eternal. If in the Bible it states truths, then men cannot come to upset, censor, undo the Word of God, bringing various secrets or new prophecies. Caution!

 

5) It is possible that the Holy Spirit, be pulled by the "jacket" by this or that other Christian group, used and named as a guarantee of this and that other doctrine, that often contrast with each other?

Which doctrines conflict with each other? Only those who rely on human institutions that claim to follow the Bible, but the reality follow human doctrines, it is in contrast with Christianity. See Catholics following the Vatican as a guide, and Jehovah's Witnesses who follow the Watchtower. Both consider the doctrines proclaimed by their spiritual leaders to be infallible and hardly question them. Yet they are both false in the light of Scripture.

 

6) How come the Holy Spirit is ONE, yet on closer inspection the doctrinal realities of Protestant Christians, it would seem more a spirit of confusion than unity?

No spirit of confusion. Protestant churches, mistakenly, they are defined as different from each other, but they are not really, as they all refer to Scripture. All Evangelical / Protestant churches agree on the fundamental doctrines of Christ: salvation by faith alone and not by works, recognition only of baptism and holy supper, rejection of ecclesiastical hierarchies, I refuse to pray to anyone other than God, rejection of the Marian cult, refusal of apparitions, free examination of the scriptures (yet we all say the same thing), recognition of the Holy Trinity, the work of the Holy Spirit Comforter, Jesus as the only mediator, the miracles still existing as a work of God through the intercession of the only mediator, and not continuous. The differences that exist within the Protestant churches are marginal and of little importance, certainly not those fundamental doctrines of Christ and what he affirmed. Then you will find Baptists who baptize only adults, the Lutherans and Reformed who also baptize children, the assemblies of brothers that force women to put a veil on their heads during worship, the Waldensians involved moreover in good and social works, etc. So I wouldn't say Protestant churches are churches of confusion, they are all Christian churches where the Word of God is preached. In this we must admit, that there is a lot of ignorance on the Catholic side who thinks who knows what about the various denominations. In fact, the various Protestant denominations may very well come together and worship God all together, something that will never happen with Catholics who pray in front of the statues with incense and recite the Hail Mary while running after the statue in procession. True Christians are not divided but united with each other, even if in an invisible way as only God knows! And by true Christians of Christ we mean followers of Christ, not of Mary the Madonna or of Padre Pio. To the good connoisseur ...

Plus the Catholics, believing we are united, they are unaware that there are hundreds of Catholic denominations in the world (Latin, orthodox, Byzantines, Armenia, baked, Syriacs, etc. etc. read the English Wikipedia much more objective than the Italian one click here), as different from each other as the Protestant churches from each other, and all recognized by the Holy See. How come all these denominations in the church that Christ would found? Not to mention the Catholic charismatics, a mixture of Pentecostals and Catholics! Or maybe we should use the papist or Catholic appellation to make the difference? The answer is simple: the human being is fallible and it is easy for him to be wrong, for this we need Scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit. And it is only God who will guide us on the right path according to his plan. There are no foolproof garments in the world.

 

7) How come Protestants who pride themselves on understanding the Bible for themselves, with the help of the Holy Spirit, then they use commentaries, and willingly take Bible courses?

Protestant Bibles usually have no footnotes and no commentaries, but these exist if anyone wants them, but always based on God's Word. It happens that there are people who find it hard to read the Bible by themselves and then it is explained and preached to them but always according to biblical doctrines, and on those there is no escape because the Bible speaks clearly and even a little boy of 10 years can understand it. There is nothing to hide, nothing to be interpreted in Christ's message of salvation. The Bible was given to us by God and is not difficult to interpret. Just read it to understand. Who reads the Bible and considers it the only authority, he will reject human doctrines that do not conform to the Word. A person who also starts with commentaries to study the Bible, sooner or later she will come to read it by herself and interpret it. He will have the ability to discern good from evil. Everything that happens is under God's will, which will bring the elect closer to the Truth according to its predetermined plan since Creation. We can preach the Bible but only God knows "who his people are". We do not know who the elect are, it is certain that they are Christians.

Now we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, which are named according to his design. Because those he foreknew, he also predestined them to conform to the image of his Son, that he may be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-3)

But we must always thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God from the beginning elected you to salvation through sanctification in the Spirit and faith in the truth. (2Tessalonicesi 2:13)

And here there is no discussion, it is God who chooses the saved:

All those the Father gives me will come to me; and he who comes to me, I will not cast him out; (Giovanni 6:37)

No one can come to me unless the Father draws him, who sent me; and I will resurrect him on the last day. (Giovanni 6:44)

For he saith to Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion". (Romans 9:15)

So then he gives mercy to whomever he wills and hardens whomever he wills. (Romans 9:18)

Proof of election and consequent salvation, it is not belonging to one church or another, but conversion by the Holy Spirit, the new birth (Giovanni 3:5-8), and only those who have experienced it know this, no one can read people's hearts. Only God Almighty, omniscient and omnipresent it does.

Salvation therefore does not depend on belonging to a church (this concept is not Christian but it is a human invention), but it comes from the will of God who does Grace by giving faith to whoever he wants, without merit but only for his will. In fact we know this why:

For by grace you have been saved, by fede; and that not of yourselves:; it is the gift of God. It is not by works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)

 

8) Because every time a Protestant doesn't know how to answer some of my questions, runs to inquire from the pastor? It would no longer be consistent to ask only the Holy Spirit?

And who said this? A Christian who knows God, because he knows His Word (God can only be known by knowing His Word, only then can one be inspired by the Spirit, certainly not by inventing doctrines), it will reject human interpretations, and will go directly to the divine source to answer the various questions that are put to him. So says the Scripture. And I don't think there are any unanswered questions from us Protestants.

 

9) How do you explain, starting from the Protestant concept that the Bible does not interpret, the attribution of different explanations to the same verses?

As said in the answer 6, there are no different interpretations of fundamental biblical doctrines. Some differences may arise on marginal concepts of little importance, which do not affect the salvation of the Christian who has accepted Christ by faith. There can usually be misunderstandings among Christians, but what unites us is Jesus Christ, only Christ, salvation through Christ and by faith. This is the central message of the Gospel present throughout the New Testament, he doesn't understand why Catholics don't want to see him.

 

10) Desperate to prove true Christianity, and considering the biblical concept ―from the fruits the trees will be recognized ... ‖ we are really sure that the fruits of the Pentecostals and / or Protestants, are better than those of Roman Catholics?

Obviously yes. Only Protestants recognize Jesus Christ as the only Savior, only Protestants did not censor God's commandments, only Protestants are close to the Truth of the Bible. These are the fruits and what is important to Jesus is precisely that his Gospel be preached throughout the world and in its entirety without falsification.. What matters to Jesus is salvation for eternal life. And faith has nothing to do with works, why the Hindus, the atheists, the Buddhists, they can do many more works than we Christians, they can be more pacifist and hospitable at times, but if we go and see who will be saved, I'm certainly not them. Works are not proof of salvation! The human being is a sinner, he cannot save himself with his own strength, his works, his choices, and that is why God sent the Son Jesus Christ to die for us sinners. Thanks to Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit who gives us faith and opens our eyes (to some instead of others), we are saved.

Finally Jesus warned us:

and even among yourselves men will arise who will teach perverse things in order to drag the disciples along. (proceedings 20:30)

Something that began to happen already after the first centuries from the death of Christ, when the councils began to introduce idolatrous doctrines of perdition no longer conforming to the Word, like the papacy, the Marian cult and images. Yet even the fathers of the Church were opposed to the new doctrines adopted by the nascent Church (read http://www.veritadellabibbia.net/tradizione)