Protestants make up the second largest branch of Christianity. About one Christian in three is Protestant. It is the most common form of Christianity in northern Europe, North America, Australia and the south and east of Africa. Protestants do not belong to one single church but to thousands of independent churches.
Some consider Anglicans, Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses to be Protestants. They have all been heavily influenced by Protestant thought but are not Protestants. To call them that would be to stretch the word to the breaking point.
Protestant ministers are called pastors. Their holy book is the Bible. They do not cross themselves. Some churches do not allow their members to smoke or drink. Protestants have no monasteries, monks or nuns. Poverty is not a virtue but, if anything, a moral failing. Their church buildings and services are plain.
By the 1500s the Catholic Church had grown so corrupt that it cried out for change. In 1517 Luther began a protest movement that in time led to whole countries breaking away from the Church. This led to a hundred years of war off and on that tore Europe apart and ended in a draw in 1648. The religious map of Europe has barely changed in the centuries since though religion itself has been withering away.
Two important beliefs distinguish Protestants from most other Christians:
- Sola fide (“faith alone”): all you need to be saved and go to heaven is faith in Christ. You do not need to do good works, you do not need any sacraments (apart from baptism), just faith. Of course, someone who leads a sinful life could not possibly have true faith.
- Sola scriptura (“scripture alone”): all religious truth is found in Holy Scripture. You do not need a church to tell you what it means or add anything more. If you pray and have true faith, the Holy Spirit will guide you to the true meaning of Scripture.
The effect was to cut out the middle men from religion: the pope, the bishops and the priests. Given the state of the Catholic Church in the 1500s it was obvious that they could no longer be trusted to guide men to heaven.
So now people read Holy Scripture for themselves and made up their own minds. They joined the church that seemed best or even started churches of their own.
In America, where most Christians are Protestants, this all seems perfectly natural and obvious. But in the history of Christianity it was something new, if only because sola scriptura was not really possible on a mass scale before the invention of printing and cheap books.
The Protestants removed the following books from Holy Scripture: Tobit, Judith, I and II Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach and Baruch. They also removed chapters 13 and 14 of Daniel and parts of Esther. They do not consider these books to be the Word of God. They are called the Apocrypha.
“Of course, someone who leads a sinful life could not possibly have true faith.”
this seems like a pretty narrow viewpoint to take… i lived a wicked life for years, and i have always had faith.
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All you need to be saved and go to heaven is faith in Christ.
Damned straight.
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They do not cross themselves.
I had no idea about this one. You learn something new every day.
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Actually, when I was growing up in a Lutheran family, I WAS told to cross myself when I went into and out of a Catholic church. Not as a matter of dogma, mind, but to make sure that I was going in and leaving with spectacles, testicals, wallet and watch.
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spectacles, testicals, wallet and watch.
See, I never knew how folks came up with this formula as Catholics touch the forehead, the middle of the chest (unless your balls are REALLY high up and utterly undescended), the left shoulder and then the right. I’ve never seen a Catholic go all the way down to their genitals when making the Sign of the Cross.
/ex-Catholic
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Thad,
I’ve heard my boyfriend (who’s Jewish) say that phrase once or twice, but I don’t think he knows about the connection with the sign of the cross–he told me it’s some phrase he heard about remembering your things before you leave the house, and he doesn’t cross himself. I don’t think he even knows how–never seen it in real life.
I’m not Catholic (have been Catholic-educated though), but I never thought it was connected with the sign of the cross either. I didn’t actually see it as a “crossing motion”–more of an “up, down, left, right” thing.
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the joke is that you should make sure that the Catholic heirarchy hasn’t stolen any of them. 😀
And if you’re a man and you cross yourself while kneeling down on one leg, as you SHOULD, you do come pretty close to your balls.
I always get a kick out of watching Brazilian women curtsey while entering the Church. The only place I see that except for English women when they meet the Queen.
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Important difference between Protestants and Mormons.
There are good looking black Protestants:
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Protestantism has some similarities with Islam
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“Sola fide (“faith alone”): all you need to be saved and go to heaven is faith in Christ. You do not . . . need any sacraments (apart from baptism)”
Depending on the denomination, you may not even need baptism. For instance, Baptists believe it is purely symbolic; while it is an important public testimony of your faith, you don’t need to be baptized to be saved.
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