Catholics Vs Protestants: Who is Right?

As a former Bible teacher for a private Christian school, I would normally get asked the question, "What's the difference between Catholics and Christians? " And I would say there's quite a few differences that I'll cover in this video. However, I do want to be careful when it comes to this topic.

I know of a pastor that has told me that all Roman Catholics are heretics, and that all of them, regardless if they have faith in Jesus, will go to hell. And I heavily debated this pastor because of my huge disagreements with him. And one of the biggest reasons why is because my best friend growing up is a practicing Catholic.

And I see how much he loves God, has his own relationship with him, and how much he's encouraged my own faith. And I know a lot of our audience here on Impact are Catholics. And after reading a lot of their comments, I feel like a lot of them also have a strong heart for God.

So before we talk about the differences between Protestants and Catholics, you should know what both of these are. From the time of the early church back in the book of Acts, all the way to the early 16th century, there was one Catholic church. And the word Catholic means universal, so it was the universal church.

And during the 16th century, there was a Catholic priest named Martin Luther, and he had many disagreements with the Catholic church. And he had differences of opinion on the authority of Scripture, justification, salvation, the role of the Pope, and the sacraments. So he and other people protested against the Roman Catholic church, and their protest was called the Protestant Reformation.

So people who align with Martin Luther's viewpoints are known as Protestants. And I do want to mention that Martin Luther did not want to destroy or divide the church, but to bring it back to its roots in Scripture. So their goal was to correct the church in the direction it was headed, but as they tried correcting the church, they could not come to an agreement.

So the people who stayed with the Roman Catholic church are Roman Catholics. And for those of you who don't know, I, Miles, would technically be labeled a Protestant. And at the same time, I love my best friend, who is a Catholic.

So that said, I naturally have a heart for Roman Catholics. So in this video, I not only want to cover the differences between these two groups of people, I also want to share my heart when it comes to this topic. So, thought number one, Protestants and Catholics have a lot of unity in the essentials of the Christian faith.

John 3 16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. " In this passage, Jesus speaking to Nicodemus at night, and Jesus tells him that God loved the world so much that He gave His Son, and that whoever believes in His Son will avoid destruction and will have eternal life. So growing up, I had a best friend named Jess who was a Roman Catholic, and he and I had our fair share of arguments, especially about religion.

I mean, yeah, me and him get along now, but it took a lot of effort for us to get here. And I remember one day when we were both emotional and moody teenagers, and we were upset with each other because of our religious differences. And soon, I realized that Jess and I have all the main things in common.

And walking in front of the comic book store, I asked Jess, "Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit? " And he said, "Yes. " And then I asked, "Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins?

" He also said, "Yes. " And then I asked, "Do you believe that by faith in Him we can go to heaven? " And he also said, "Yes.

" And I finished that conversation, and I told him, "Instead of focusing on everything that makes us different, let's just focus on what we have in common. " And since then, Jess and I have been huge supporters of each other, and we haven't had a huge religious disagreement since. Actually, there was a time in our friendship when he and I would read a chapter in the Bible just for fun before we played our video games.

And we'd share something that we thought was cool from what we read. So all that to say, something that I truly believe is the fact that Protestants and Roman Catholics can fellowship and uplift each other in their walks with God. And I say this because it was the case with me.

Thought number two, Protestants and Catholics can learn and fellowship from one another. James chapter 5 verse 16, "Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

" In this passage, James is telling Christians to confess their sins to each other and to pray for each other. And the reason why I bring this up is because as a Protestant, I think that the Roman Catholic Church does confession better than the Protestant Church. My friend who is currently in seminary had the opportunity to speak to a lot of Roman Catholics and he was telling me how Catholics regularly go to a priest to verbally confess their sins.

And from my perspective, when it comes to Protestants, confession isn't really a thing. And I know many Christians who would probably get defensive and say, "Well, it's not the priest that forgives sins, it's God. " And I get that.

But this passage here in James chapter 5 verse 16 is a command that I believe Catholics fulfill better than most Christians. And while believers can argue that they confess their sins to God, this passage tells Christians to confess their sins to fellow Christians. Back when I went to Bible college, I struggled with watching pornography.

And because of my constant failures, I felt like I didn't deserve to be there. So feeling convicted to confess my sin, I asked to sit down with the principal of our school who became a good friend of mine. And while I confessed, I broke down crying.

And it was the first time I ever told anyone about my struggle. And I told him that I'd understand if I were to be dropped from the program. And as I cried, he consoled me, reassured me that I wouldn't be let go.

And he then encouraged me to find an accountability partner who I could regularly confess my sins to. And I did. And from that point on, I've always had an accountability partner that I confess my sins to.

And it's one of the reasons why I have victory from pornography today. So with that said, in my experience, there's something relieving and refreshing about confessing your sins to someone that you trust. You feel seen, you feel accepted, you feel heard.

And honestly, you feel healed, just like this passage says. And it's a kind of healing that I know not many Christians have because they don't confess their sins. But you know who does confess their sins a lot?

Roman Catholics. And it's one of the things that I've come to appreciate about confessions. On the other side, growing up in either middle school or high school, my same friend Jess told me how he appreciates my prayers.

He normally would repeat his prayers, but he mentioned how he likes how I change things up and how I talk to God more conversationally. So to this day, before every meal, Jess and I will take the time to pray before our meals. And for about three to five minutes, we'd pray for both of our families, the state of our country, and for the different things that we need in the season of life we're in.

In fact, Jesse is someone who has prayed for the success of impact before we were even a thing. And he was one of my biggest supporters before I moved to Japan. So all that to say, from Catholics, I learned that confession should be focused more.

And from Protestants, Jess learned a new way to pray. So that said, when it comes to God, I think that Protestants and Catholics can learn a lot from each other. Thought number three, Protestants and Catholics aren't automatically saved unless they have personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Matthew chapter seven, verse 21, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. " In this passage, Jesus teaches a multitude of people and tells them that not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven. " And this is a sobering verse because Jesus makes it clear that some people who look like Christians won't be saved because they never did the will of God the Father.

So one question I also get from people is, are Catholics saved? And I tell them, if they have faith that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, then they can be. And my justification for this would be John 3 16.

However, to add to that, I would also mention that being a Christian doesn't save anybody. And if that sounds weird to you, let me repeat myself. Having the title Christian does not save you.

Going to church, praying prayers, or being Protestant or Catholic also does not save you. Having faith that Jesus died for you is what saves. And faith is more than just belief because according to James chapter 2 verse 17, it says that if faith does not have works, it's dead.

So word of caution, whether you're a Protestant or Catholic, do not put someone in a box and think they're immediately going to heaven just because they're in a group of people. For example, I might have taught at a private Christian school, but I did not assume that all the students that were there were Christian. So naturally, I would preach the gospel and I taught my students regularly through God's word that we're all sinners in need of a Savior.

And on top of that, my friend Jess is a pretty devout Catholic. And I quickly learned growing up that not all Catholics are as serious about their faith as Jess is. And not every Catholic believes in the exact same thing.

So all that to say, I believe that my friend Jess is saved because as I observe his faith, I see a genuine belief in God that influences the way he loves and lives. So in the same way that I don't think that every person who calls themselves a Christian is saved, I don't think every Roman Catholic is saved. And the reason why is because the only way to be saved from eternal damnation isn't by being in a people group, but by having faith in Jesus.

By believing in your heart that he died on the cross for your sins and that he rose again from the dead. And we read that in Romans 1, 16, 10, 9, and 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3 to 4. And thought number 4, Protestants and Roman Catholics have important differences that distinguish them from one another.

John chapter 17 verse 17, sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. In this passage, Jesus is praying to God the Father and Jesus asks him to separate his people by his truth. And Jesus then says that God's word is truth.

So going back to Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, one of the main things that Luther believed was that the Bible is the ultimate authority over Christians. Or in other words, whatever the Bible says is what's true and should be obeyed. Roman Catholics, however, believe in both scripture and tradition.

To give you more detail on this, Roman Catholics and Protestants have a different perspective when it comes to church structure. If you look back during the early church, God used the apostles to lead the church. And these apostles had unique authority given to them by God.

So Roman Catholics believe that this authority is passed down to other people. And these people kept passing their authority down, and it remains with the church today in the form of tradition. So the Pope and the bishops are the ones who have authority alongside scripture.

For Protestants, they believe that the authority in the early church that was held by Paul and Peter ended with them. So today Protestants believe that Jesus rules his church currently by his word and his spirit through faithful ministers. So here's where my beliefs differ from Catholics, and I'll use scripture to back up my beliefs.

Also note that there's a lot of differences between Protestants and Catholics, so I'm only going to go over some of the major ones. And for sake of time, I'm going to be brief with the differences. Difference number one, who Christians should pray to.

1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 5, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. " According to this passage, it says that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. So because of this passage, I believe that only Jesus should be prayed to.

Because it says here that the only mediator between God and men is Jesus. Whereas Catholics believe that they can communicate to Mary and other saints to talk to God on our behalf. Difference number two, the virginity of Mary.

Matthew chapter 13 verses 55 to 56, "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?

And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things? " In this passage, it lists Jesus' brothers by name, and then it mentions that Jesus has sisters.

And I say this because Catholics believe that Mary stayed a virgin after the birth of Jesus, and I believe that Mary had kids afterwards. Additionally, Roman Catholics believe that Mary is different and distinguished from other women, and is worthy of greater reverence. And Protestants tend to believe that Mary was a holy woman of God who was used to be Jesus' earthly mother.

Difference number three, marriage of church leaders. First Timothy chapter three verse two, "A bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife. " In this passage, Jesus says that bishops, overseers, or church leaders should be the husband of one wife.

So I believe that church leaders, like pastors, can get married, and many Catholics believe that priests cannot have a wife. Difference number four, heaven, hell, Hades, and purgatory. Revelation chapter 20 verse 14, "Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death.

" If you read this passage, it says that people who were not found in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire. And then after this passage, it talks about heaven. So I believe that once people die, they either go to Hades, which will eventually lead to the lake of fire, or they'll go to heaven.

Catholics also believe in a place called purgatory, and it's a place for souls to be purified so that they can one day go to heaven. But I don't believe it because Jesus' sacrifice was all that was necessary to make me completely pure. So should someone come to faith, I don't think it would be necessary for them to go through purgatory in order to be purified.

Difference number five, books of the Bible. So Protestants and Catholics do have different Bibles, kind of. Protestants have 66 books in the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament, and 27 in the New.

And Catholics are in agreement and also have those 66 books. In addition to those 66, Catholics believe in more books. And these extra books are known as the Deuterocanonical books, or the Apocrypha.

Difference number six, communion. Luke chapter 22 verse 19. "And he took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. " In this passage, Jesus took bread and told his disciples to eat it in memory of him. So another thing that Catholics believe is something called transubstantiation, where the bread and wine that's partaken in communion physically becomes the body of Christ.

Whereas Protestants typically believe that there's a spiritual presence when taking communion and that it's done in remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice. And difference number seven, overall authority. Second Timothy chapter three verse 16.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. " In this passage, Paul is telling Timothy that all scripture is given by God and is beneficial for us because it can tell us what's right and wrong and can train us. So again, Christians believe in something called sola scriptura, which means by scripture alone.

And Catholics believe in sacra scriptura at traditions, which essentially means that both God's word and the traditions passed down to us are equally important. So for me, my source of truth is found in God's word. So if the Bible says something, I believe it.

Now there's a lot more depth when it comes to Catholicism, but I did my best to cover some of the basic differences. And I should add that I welcome conversations with people who are Catholic. Honestly, I think a healthy habit all of us should have, regardless of our beliefs, is to listen thoughtfully about what people believe, understand why they believe it, and then respect them for believing it.

Okay, so Protestants versus Catholics. When it comes to this topic, I have four thoughts that I believe everyone should bear in mind. Protestants and Catholics have a lot of unity in the essentials of the Christian faith.

Protestants and Catholics can learn and fellowship from one another. Protestants and Catholics aren't automatically saved unless they have a personal faith in Jesus Christ. And Protestants and Roman Catholics have important differences that distinguish them from one another.

To close, I think that our world does a great job at dividing and discriminating. And by doing so, a lot of people have made enemies of each other. And I see a similar divide between Protestants and Catholics.

And honestly, our goals as Christians should not be to align and agree with each other on every single thing, but to encourage each other in our faith and our walks with God. So with that said, I hope this video encourages you. And whether you identify with being Catholic or Protestant, I hope you know today that Jesus loves you.

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