How Do I Answer My Protestant Friends?

[mulls]

Sorry mulls,

Not ALL protestants.  Some do...  And if I may dare - many do...  And if I was even more daring to base my statements on personal experience (which isn't always good), I'd say that most do (unintentionally perhaps). 

Actually to "fine-tune" my statement, ALL Protestant sects have been started because of "protests" agains the Church.  Therefore, really, their theology MUST indeed be based on the need to "prove" the Church wrong.  If their theology (for them) is "based" on proving their personal interpritation right (whether or not they think that they're working toward "truth"), then it is likewise based on proving the Church wrong.

On the other hand MOST children of protestants do have a fervant and sincere disire to search the truth and do what's right.

But if they come up to Catholics with lines like "Are you saved", or "do you worship Mary", then I'm led to beleive that they are simply in the business of trying to prove you wrong.

i don't agree, but i understand where you are coming from. thanks for clarifying.

don't apologzie for making judgements based on your personal experiences. what else are we supposed go by? however, be careful about making generalizations about things/people based on your experiences with only a small sample of the population size (i.e. judging every protestant in the world based on every protestant that you know. the same goes for me when talking about catholics. i learned this pretty quick after coming to this board).

if i were you, i would not be offended if people came up to you and asked if you were saved or if you pray to Mary.

when prots ask someone if they are saved, they usually do it out of love and a genuine caring for the eternal destination of that person's soul. personally, i would never ask that question as a witnessing tool. it just sounds too holier-than-thou for my taste. but don't be offended if anyone ever asks you this. they probably just want to make sure you are a 'true' Chrisitan, who has Jesus at the forefront of his life. as for the Mary thing, try not to take it personally, i'm sure you can understand why a person would be confused about it

[littleflower+JMJ]

you know vermaria thats happen to me many times before and many times they shut their ears...but there was this one time when one of my friends went to far and i told her everything i knew....she too remarked on the BLessed Mother, she said, "Why do you pray to those dumb saints and you don't need to pray to Mary!" now that made me very angry but i counted to ten and took a deep breath....i wasn't going to argue with her, i was going to explain why I have a devotion to the BLessed Mother, why we "HONOR" not worship Mary and why we recognize Her ......

i told her first how in the bible she is the Mother of Jesus, that God would want the Mother of His Son to be Perfect in every way. She also claimed that her preacher had said that Mary had other children (hende, brother james) i told her how we must always look at the Bible at the time period that it was written in, their names had different meanings then today. such as the word brothers and sisters, were also meaning cousins and family since they did not have such words back then. then telling her, "would you think that God would want Mary to have the child Jesus and then have other children? NO! Jesus was no ordinary child, He was Jesus! and how could Mary not be a virgin if She was the vessel to God's plan, she was pure!" as the bible passages of the Magnificat....

they also claim that we lose sight of Jesus when we pray to Mary, they could not be more wrong! by praying to Mary we grow closer to the Person who knew Jesus Best, who nursed him, clothed him, was His Mother. and what they need to understand is that the BLessed MOther in all her prayers, and messages and intercessions Her goal, Her whole being is to lead us to Her Son, she is our Light to Him, She waits for Her children to beckon Her so She can guide them, protect them and show them the Way to Her Son Jesus. Such as the Wedding at Cana, they came to Mary in dispair, they asked for Her help, She then directed them to Jesus and told Her Son to "Do as they tell you", this is where our pleas for intercession come in, we know that Jesus who loves his Mother very much, can hardly refuse whatever She asks of Him. notice that jesus' time to do miracles was not at that time, but since His Mother asked of Him, he did as was obedient.

we recognize her as Queen of Heaven because we know that God chose Her out of the whole human race and created Her to be a part of his Divine Plan for the salvation of mankind. so we know that even now that God too grants Her the honor that being the Mother of God will carry. I have a very personal relationship with the BLessed Mother, I know that what I am, is all because of Her unending love for all Her children who long to be with Her Son. I know that she hears my prayers and have countless miracles that i can accredit for in my petitions.

when ppl talk about my mother like that i feel so sad, if they only knew that She only wants to bless them and guide them to Her Son, maybe they would understand Her better.......when my friend said those things i wanted to cry, but i knew that I should tell her why ....so we must not forget Mary,for where Jesus is His Mother Mary is nearby.

i hope this helped...

God bLEss!

+JMJ

[Dave]

I hope this isn't the case with your friends, but some Protestants are totally happy believing bad things about the Catholic Church and don't want to hear what Catholics have to say about it. No matter how many times they're corrected, such Protestants continue spouting the same old b.s. Sad but true.

[Brother Adam]

I hope this isn't the case with your friends, but some Protestants are totally happy believing bad things about the Catholic Church and don't want to hear what Catholics have to say about it.  No matter how many times they're corrected, such Protestants continue spouting the same old b.s.  Sad but true.

The problem is many of your beliefs don't appear to line up with scripture- actually the appear very anti-biblical and they are afraid it is Satan that has the grip on your church and act accordingly.

[Chrysologus]

Catholic beliefs only appear anti-scriptural for those who have been taught the scriptures in a manner contradictory to the Catholic Faith. If there was no such thing as Protestantism, no one would think Catholicism was anti-scriptural. You can't find a single verse, which, in context, even remotely contradicts Catholic doctrine.

[VeraMaria]

Catholic beliefs only appear anti-scriptural for those who have been taught the scriptures in a manner contradictory to the Catholic Faith. If there was no such thing as Protestantism, no one would think Catholicism was anti-scriptural. You can't find a single verse, which, in context, even remotely contradicts Catholic doctrine.

I agree. :)

[VeraMaria]

wow, half a year later, i have learned SO much! I was laughing as i read this post :lol:

[Laudate_Dominum]

Wow, that's an old skewl post! Cool!!

[Dave]

Kudos to Vera!! :D

[Paladin D]

Vera, explain to them about intercession. You are interceding, the only difference is... they're in heaven, so you have to communicate a different way (through prayer).

[PatrickRitaMichael]

ask them why they ask other people to pray for them when they're sick. if it's not a sin to ask someone to pray for you, then it's not a sin to ask mary. and since we believe that God is a God of the living, they can't say she's dead :)

[God Conquers]

hahahha!

I was looking at this and was stumped by the question, and thought it was new and that I hadn't responded yet. I scrolled down and was super-confused that I had already answered!

This post IS old! And I am becoming prematurely senile.