I got this from watsapp and i want you all to read and learn.


7 THINGS EVERY
PROTESTANT
SHOULD KNOW
ABOUT
CATHOLICISM
I compiled this short list based on questions I
normally receive and some common
misconceptions of the Catholic Church. This
article is not meant to be all encompassing and I
don’t go into great detail on any subject. This
isn’t meant to be an antagonistic or hostile
article. It’s simply something to get people
thinking and I really feel that Protestants will
appreciate the Catholic perspective on some of
these issues. If you have feedback or questions
post them in the comment box below the article.
So without further delay….

#7 Not Every Catholic Practices or Understands
Their Faith
Surprise. Some Catholic’s aren’t really Catholic.
Some don’t even really know what it means to be
Catholic. It’s easy to find a Catholic who doesn’t
go to Church on Sundays or who doesn’t really
treat others with love and respect. I often
encounter people who claim to be Catholic but
don’t feel the need to go to Church or pray. One
can be Catholic by name and not really Catholic
by action. I’ve encountered Protestants on many
occasions who are surprised to find that I am so
devout and dedicated to God and living Christ’s
message… because I’m Catholic. They become
even more perplexed when they find out that I
read the Bible, know a good deal about Church
history, and can adequately defend the Catholic
Church’s teachings that many consider to be
controversial or difficult to understand. Many
Catholics, however, don’t know how to express
or explain their beliefs even if they understand
them. Getting someone else to understand
something is not always an easy thing to do.
After years of studying of the faith, engaging in
dialogue and debates, writing articles and
contemplating the Catholic faith I still have
trouble putting some things into the right words.
That’s because the Catholic Church has been
around for 2000 years so there is 2000 years
worth of history to understand and explain. A
person can devote his entire life and career to
understanding the Catholic Church’s history and
have enough material to last the span of their
career. However, every Catholic should at least
have a basic understanding of all the tenets of
the faith.
The Church is continuously trying to improve the
current catechetical programs to help people
develop a better understanding of the faith
through Sunday school and private Catholic
schools. Parents, however, have the primary
responsibility of ensuring they teach their
children about the faith and give them the
opportunities they need to grow their
understanding by involving them in the Church.
Children learn best from the example of their
parents. This isn’t always the case. So often
people will grow up never really learning anything
about the faith until someone asks them why
they call themselves Catholic. I was that person.
I didn’t know anything about the Catholic faith
until I started to have people challenge me and
ridicule my faith. I didn’t like losing arguments
and looking silly. I also wanted to know the truth
so I started investigating and that started my
journey toward the faith. Throughout the years I
have often given incorrect answers that were
based on my improper understanding, guessing,
or opinion. I’ve been corrected many times and I
know I still don’t understand everything.
However, just because a Catholic gives a wrong
answer, can’t give an answer, doesn’t know
Scripture or doesn’t practice their faith doesn’t
mean the Catholic Church’s teachings are wrong.
The Catholic Church should be evaluated based
on official documents and by speaking to those
who have a solid and in-depth understanding of
Church teaching that is based on reliable
research and not opinion.

#6 Bad Catholics Does Not Equal a Bad Church
The Catholic Church seems to be in the spotlight
a lot. It seems like every so often the Catholic
Church is in the news over some scandal,
tabloid, controversy or misunderstanding. It’s
true that there are media outlets and reporters
that unfairly misconstrue the Catholic Church
and its representatives at times (it should be
stated that there are also fair and honest
reporters and media outlets out there). However,
it is also true that some members of the Church
(even important ones) make big mistakes and we
can’t blame that on the media. Probably the
most common thing I hear about is the cases
where Priests have molested children. There
have been priests that have made terrible
mistakes but the question is not “do people in
the Church make mistakes?” I’m well aware that
there have been cases of priest molestation, bad
handling of those cases by bishops, corrupt
leaders and Popes with illegitimate children. The
question is – since there are some bad Catholics
does that mean that the Catholic Church itself is
bad? I pulled up a news site today (September
12, 2013) and found two articles concerning
recent incidents. One article was about a child
psychiatrist in Utah who was found to have child
pornography on his computer (see http://
www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/10/utah-child-
psychiatrist-held-on-child-porn-charges/ ). The
other article was about a police chief who raped
a child (see http://www.foxnews.com/
us/2013/09/10/louisiana-police-chief-indicted-on-
child-rape-charges/ ). Does this mean that the
field of child psychiatry is corrupt or that the
Louisiana law enforcement is a corrupt system?
Not necessarily. It depends. The point is that sin
is a human problem. You can find similar cases
of rape, child molestation, financial fraud and
murder committed by teachers, school officials,
CEO’s, military members and every other
institution and organization on the planet.
Whether an institution is corrupt depends on
what the institution teaches.
The Catholic Church has never taught or
condoned the behavior that others condemn it
for. In fact, the Catholic Church condemns those
sins whether they are committed by its own
members or those outside the Church. However,
even though the Church condemns the sin (or
the behavior) it does not condemn people. The
Catholic Church invites sinners into the Church
because it is like a hospital for sick people and
sin is a disease that infects all human people. If
we expected the Catholic Church to “clean
house” and get rid of all the sinners then all its
members would be kicked out – including the
Pope. This does not excuse the terrible things
done by some of the leaders but bad people
don’t equal a bad institution.
Related: The Conversion Story of Marcus
Guevara – Founder of ThirstingforTruth.com

#5 Protestants are viewed as Separated Brothers
and Sisters
:I once heard Scott Hahn, a convert to
Catholicism and a popular Catholic scholar, state
that Catholics and Protestants have about 90% of
Theology in common. That 10% that separates us
is important and should not be ignored. However,
it is even more important that we not forget that
90% which bonds us together as brothers and
sisters of the same mission. We can learn a lot
from each other. I also admire many of my
Protestant friends’ love for the Bible and zeal for
the faith. I never hesitate to have a good
dialogue about the differences between Catholics
and Protestants but I always make it a point to
acknowledge and give recognition to a person
who is working hard toward a deeper relationship
with Christ.

#4 The Catholic Church Does Not Teach or
Advocate Worship of Mary or the Saints
Contrary to what you have always heard the
Catholic Church has never taught or condoned
the worship of Mary or the Saints. I have been a
part of, or visited, various Catholic groups,
ministries, organizations, churches, and
conferences over the years. I’ve met a ton of
Catholics and I’ve never once met a person who
believed in worshiping Mary or the Saints. I’ve
also never seen an official Church document that
teaches or condones the practice. If anyone can
produce one please send it to
Marcus@ThirstingforTruth.com or paste a link in
the comments below. I have, however, heard
many Protestants accuse me of this practice
without much evidence. I plan on posting an
article dedicated to this topic soon but for now
I’ll just give a short rebuttal. Most people think
Catholic’s worship Mary and the Saints because
we pray to Mary and the Saints. This would be
true if prayer and worship was the same thing.
But they’re not.
Related: 7 Reasons Catholics Are Devoted To
Mary
Prayer is spiritual communication and while you
can worship God through prayer you are not
always worshiping when you are praying. For
example, “God, why did you let this happen to
me?” is a prayer. You are communicating your
feelings to God, but you are not worshiping God.
“God please don’t let me get in trouble for
stealing. I’ll never do it again” is also a prayer
and it is certainly not worship. Just because
people pray to a Saint doesn’t mean they are
worshiping the Saint. Praying to a Saint, or the
Saints, is a practice where we ask them to pray
for us and offer our prayers to God.
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and
pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and
effective” (James 5:16)
To Catholics, the Saints are not dead but alive.
They are more alive than we are now. Therefore,
they are a help to us. Prayer allows us to
communicate with those members of the body of
Christ who enjoy the beatific vision.
Related: Why Do Catholics Pray to Saints?

#3 The Catholic Church Compiled the Canon of
the Bible Centuries After Jesus’ Death
Most people are completely unaware that there
was no official canon of inspired Scripture (what
we call the Bible) for about 300 years after
Christ died. The Bible is not one book. It is a
collection of many books from many different
authors. Today you can go to a book store and
say “I need a Bible” (nowadays you probably
need to specify that you need a Christian Bible).
They will bring one out to you and within a few
short minutes you can walk out of the store
confident that you have all the 27 inspired books
of the New Testament in your hand. Ever
wondered why that is? Have you ever questioned
why the book of Hebrews, James or Revelations
belongs in the Bible? Have you ever wondered if
maybe the Gospel of Judas or the Gospel of
Mary Magdalene was supposed to be a part of
the New Testament but somehow they got lost?
Have you heard of the Gospel of Judas or the
Gospel of Mary Magdalene? Why not? They were
written and floating around in existence since
before the canon of the New Testament was
established.
The problem is that there is no book in the Bible
that says “The following books are inspired by
God”. Most people, Protestants and Catholics,
just take for granted that all these books are
combined together with a cover that says BIBLE
and don’t ask any questions about where it came
from or why those certain books belong in there.
The only reason that we have a Bible today is
because the Catholic Church recognized that
there was a need to establish an official list of
books that the people of God could trust as
inspired works. God then guided the Catholic
Church who was able to recognize the inspiration
of God to establish an official canon. Here is a
Protestant website I found that gives a short
summary of how the Bible came to be (see
http://www.gotquestions.org/canon-Bible.html ).
I find it funny that the author attributes the
credibility of the established Bible canon to
these obscure “Councils” without any mention
that they were official Catholic Councils. At the
beginning and his article he stresses the fact
that “Ultimately, it was God who decided what
books belonged in the biblical canon… It was
simply a matter of God’s convincing His human
followers which books should be included in the
Bible.” Then at the end he reiterates his point
“Again, it is crucial to remember that the church
did not determine the canon. No early church
council decided on the canon. It was God, and
God alone, who determined which books
belonged in the Bible.” Catholic’s have no
argument that it was not God who determined
the inspired canon. God inspired the authors who
wrote the books in Scripture. However, the entire
article is pointless if only to say “Here are the
councils in which the canon of Scripture was
debated and established… but remember no early
church council decided on the canon”. Yes they
did! With God’s guidance they did decide on the
canon of the Bible and it was not “simply a
matter of God’s convincing His human followers
which books should be included in the Bible”.
That is not at all a simple task. Look at the tens
of thousands of Protestant denominations who
all have differing beliefs. There was great debate
at the time about certain books that Church
leaders believed should not have been in the
Bible – like the book of Revelation. God didn’t
compile the books and send a copy down to
earth in a little parachute basket. He spoke to
his Church and the Church recognized His voice.
The interesting thing is that if the Church was
prevented from error on the canon of the Bible,
how could it then later become corrupt? If it’s
possible that the Church who established the
canon becomes corrupt, then is it possible that
the canon of the Bible that was authoritatively
defined by the Church is not the correct canon?
That’s what Martin Luther thought. In fact, it
was his influence that changed the canon of the
Old Testament that Christians accepted for 1500
years (removing what he called “the Apocrypha”).
Luckily, Martin Luther didn’t get his way with the
New Testament books he wanted removed from
the Bible. Otherwise, Protestants would have a
different New Testament today and this would be
a very different article.

#2 Catholicism is the Original Non-
Denominational Church
Most people have no idea what the word
Catholicism means. It comes from the Greek
Catholicos which is sometimes spelt as
Katholicos, or Katholikos, (καθολικός in the
ancient Greek). It means “concerning the whole,
general, or universal”. Universality means it is a
fit for everyone. No one is excluded. So the
Catholic Church can be translated as the
universal Church, the Church for everyone, or
even loosely as the original non-denominational
Church (if you consider that non-denominational
churches are themselves denominations since
they don’t literally accept belief in anything or
everything).

#1 Catholics are Christians
Every time I get the “Oh, you’re not a Christian.
You’re a Catholic, right?” from a well-meaning
Protestant I do a face palm. When I hear a
Catholic say “I’m not a Christian. I’m Catholic” I
do a double face palm. A Christian is a follower
of Christ. There was no such thing as a non-
Catholic Christian for the first one thousand
years. Even after that Protestant Christianity
didn’t come around until the 1500’s. Protestant
Christianity normally can be thought of as non-
Catholic Christians (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran,
Non-denomination… etc). Although there are non-
Catholic Christians that are not protestant like
the Greek Orthodox. Simply put – Catholics are
Christians because we are followers of Christ.

Op pls re edit.

Put the 7things in 7places plus lines en spaces

To enable easy reading