some final obsevations

Today, I am concluding my postings on the Catholic/Protestant similarites and differences. I hope I was able to provide a bit more clarity. Protestants can always find things we disagree with when it comes to the Roman Catholic Church. Purgatory, celibacy for the religious, and such, but the bottom line is all who call on Jesus as Lord and follow him as his disciples are on the same team.

Let me make a final observation. There appears to be an anti-Catholic bent in our public media forums. Some of the fantasy of Dan Brown’s The Di Vinci Code certainly didn’t help. Obviously, the Roman Catholic Church is scrutinized more than others because of the size of the Church. 1.2 billion Catholics and there is going to be a lot of attention. Obviously, when there is ungodly behavior by some within a Church, such as the sexual misconduct of some priests and the subsequent secrecy exhibited by some Church authorities, it is a bad mark on all of Christianity. At the same time there is awful sinful behavior found within all Christian Church bodies, as with any human organization (Catholic brothers and sisters I know you will disagree with me calling the Church a human organization, but that is simply one of those places we disagree. I would argue that only Jesus can see the Church). We are all sinful people in need of repentance, and as fellow Christians we can encourage each other to connect with Jesus and live life as a new creation.

I don’t believe everyone who calls themselves a Catholic is a Christian. Same with any other Christian group. God will sort out those who trust in Jesus as Lord in the end. In the meantime, it is not a Christian’s place to criticize and fan the flames of bias against brothers and sisters. Let’s focus on what we hold in common. Our mission to reach those who don’t know Jesus with our message of hope and new life. Protestants and Roman Catholics and all Christians throughout the world are invited to lift each other up in prayer and remember the words of Philippians 2:3.

Philip. 2:3b (NLT)
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.