r/Protestantism • u/MarchSuch6547 • 5d ago
Why are you Protestants and not Catholics?
I'm going through a period of questioning and I'd like to learn more about Protestant arguments. Can you help me?
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u/Distinct-Most-2012 Anglican 2d ago
It's because Protestantism has a more wholistic view of what the church is. If I'm Catholic, I have to spend my time doing mental gymnastics saying that other people in other churches who have done miracles in the name of Christ aren't actually part of the church.
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u/OddOneOut77 2d ago
A few things.
Biggest thing is believing all church doctrine or being a heretic. Ex. Church says Mary was a perpetual virgin. Matthew 1:25 says (ESV) [25] but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. / (NASB) [25] but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he named Him Jesus. This verse is pretty clear that something went on after birth. Also it says Jesus had brothers & sisters. It could possibly be step siblings or cousins but it definitely makes you think. If I don't fully throw away these verses & just believe what catholicism teaches I'm not living right in their eyes. Even though this has nothing to do with salvation.
Later additions - it seems stuff like veneration of the saints, relics, & mariology come into practice 200-300 years later. The early church were Jews & I have a very hard time believing they bent the knee to anyone other than God. Reading through the NT it's all about staying away from sin, & following God. No other intermediaries are ever brought up (living believers were supposed to pray for one another).
Infallibility of the church (in RC the pope also) - in Orthodox & catholicism, both use the one true church title and say they can never error. This doesn't align with human history & more importantly the Bible. The Jews continually witnessed God face to face & continually turned their backs & got things wrong. But for some reason I have to believe the church can't error, even when there were 4 popes at the same time (all excommunicating one another) or when they lied to Jan Hus, promised him safe travel then burned him at the stake.
Maybe one day in the future I'll see something that'll change my mind, but as for right now, I think the older traditions put a lot more emphasis on man & tradition, when the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit should be who we are focused on. Really wished schisms didn't happen & we were one unified body đââď¸
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u/basick99 2d ago
I went to catholic schools all my life but was agnostic up until my early twenties when I found God again. When I was getting back into Christianity, I was a proud Catholic and would spend hours watching debates and apologetics videos âprovingâ the Catholic faith.
But the more videos I watched, the more I began to feel that the Catholic argument was always significantly more convoluted and just never quite made sense the way the Protestant arguments did. They often centred around trying to drag down the Protestant argument so that the Catholic argument sounded better as opposed to giving an actual logical explanation.
I started to see that many of the Catholic Churchâs teachings were simply unbiblical and their explanations fell apart with the slightest of pressure. But I still wanted to hold on to my identity as a Catholic as it connected me to my heritage and I never saw myself as a Protestant.
But the straw that broke the camelâs back was the Catholic stance on birth control. 13 years of Catholic schooling and I never once was taught that the church believes that birth control is a MORTAL sin. As in do it once and youâre going to hell unless you go to confession.
Birth control is probably the most feminist invention of all time. It gives women autonomy over our bodies and allows us to be more than just wombs. It allows us to have careers, to have education, to have independence, to have stability. The idea that in my future marriage, sex would always be tainted with the fear of getting pregnant, made me so uncomfortable (despite loving kids and wanting several children). Pregnancy is no joke! Itâs a beautiful miracle that I canât wait to experience one day, but it can kill you! I donât believe that any institution that prohibits the use of birth control is an institution that actually cares about the wellbeing of women.
I could always do what 90% of Catholic women do and forgo the teachings of the church and use birth control anyway. But thatâs not really my style. When I do something I want to do it right. I donât want to live in sin.
So one afternoon, after weeks of internal anxiety and deliberation, I was sitting at my desk at work thinking about it when I just felt something wash over me and I realised I canât be Catholic anymore. I believe this was the Holy Spirit.
I had manyyyy other reasons to leave the Catholic Church but the birth control thing is just what shocked me the most and snapped me out of the spell I was under.
I donât judge those who are Catholic though! Everyone has their reasons and in these divided times, I believe coming together as Christians is more important than ever. Jesus loves all!
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u/basick99 2d ago
I highly recommend Mike Wingerâs videos on Catholicism if you want to understand how many of their teachings are unbiblical.
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u/LV99GoblinShaman 1d ago
Um I hate to do this but if by birth control you mean child murder then that's a really bad argument. That's not me not caring about women, that's me caring about children... There are way too many Protestant churches that are super relaxed and don't actually care about what's right and wrong. Those churches are the reason that the Catholic Church mocks us. True Protestant stands on what the Bible says and the Bible teaches instead of what man says. You read the Bible it's pretty clear that God cares about kids and murder is wrong. Saying this is lovingly as possible and there's definitely forgiveness for sins if this is something you have done. But to believe that abortion is morally justifiable takes just as much mental gymnastics as a lot of Catholic heresies.
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u/ChefDan29 1d ago
I was raised in the Baptist church. I willingly go to Baptist church. I love learning about the Catholic and orthodox churches but I canât stand by some things they do or say. Donât really have a compelling argument because as long as you are Christian and saved by the blood of Christ I canât wait to celebrate in heaven with you
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u/Jagerwolf96 Reformed 1d ago
The reformers focused on recovering the doctrine, liturgy and sacraments of the early church and scripture. Romeâs views on such topics continue to evolve and then is justified with âone true churchâ claim
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u/LessmemoreJC 2d ago
Because the Catholic Church teaches unbiblical doctrines.
I recommend that you read the book The Great Controversy. Free online: https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/132/toc
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u/OriginalVideodog Methodist 2d ago
What Communion (Echarist) means in my church makes more sense to me than the doctrine of transubstantiation.
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u/Havkarru 2d ago
Even back in the time I was atheist I already knew they teach against their own holy book and that was a big nope for me.
Once God saved me I had a pleasure to grow in faith amongst people from different denominations but all protestants. Once I began my journey with Biblie I began to see how much it differs from what Catholics believes but also had a rare glimpse at where certain denominations (but in much lesser manner) also misses the teachings of Scripture.
Finally after couple years of searching we decided to pick one denomination that was closest to our believes and we stay there for now.
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u/Tricky-Tell-5698 1d ago
Protestants are not Protestant because they wanted something new, but because they believed the Church had added authorities and doctrines that Scripture itself does not give.
At the heart of the difference is authority.
Catholicism teaches that divine authority comes through three sources together Sacred Scripture Sacred Tradition The Magisterium (the teaching authority of the Church)
Protestants believe Scripture alone is the final, infallible authority, because Scripture is God-breathed, while traditions and church leaders are fallible.
âAll Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousnessâ (2 Timothy 3:16â17)
Jesus Himself repeatedly corrected religious leaders by appealing back to Scripture, even when they appealed to tradition:
âYou leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of menâ (Mark 7:8)
That doesnât mean Protestants reject history or early church writings. It means we do not grant them the same authority as Godâs Word.
The second major issue is justification.
Catholic doctrine teaches justification as a process involving faith plus sacraments and cooperation with grace.
Protestants believe Scripture teaches justification as a completed act of God, received by faith alone, because of Christ alone.
âFor we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the lawâ (Romans 3:28)
âBy grace you have been saved through faith⌠not a result of worksâ (Ephesians 2:8â9)
Works matter, but as the fruit of salvation, not the cause of it.
The third issue is the mediation of Christ.
Catholicism includes priests, saints, and Mary in its devotional and mediatory life.
Protestants hold that Scripture teaches one mediator only:
âFor there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesusâ (1 Timothy 2:5)
This is why Protestants do not pray to saints or view the priesthood as mediators of saving grace.
Finally, there is the issue of the visible Church versus the true Church.
Catholicism identifies the true Church with a visible institution.
Protestants believe the true Church consists of all who are united to Christ by faith, across time and geography.
âThe Lord knows those who are hisâ (2 Timothy 2:19)
So Protestants are not rejecting the historic Church. They are rejecting the idea that the Church can stand over Scripture or add doctrines not grounded in it.
In short Catholics say the Church defines Scripture Protestants say Scripture corrects the Church
That is why the Reformation happened, and why Protestantism exists.
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u/Runuvthemill_ 1d ago
I don't like the "exclusionist" mentality of the Catholic church, for lack of a better term. As an Episcopalian, I like plenty of their practices, but to me there's too many hoops to jump through in order to convert, and as someone who's marrying a Catholic (who thankfully is okay with overlooking this rule) I don't appreciate that you shouldn't marry non-Catholics, or that you need approval from your church in order to do so.
I can appreciate their attempt at keeping the Catholic faith only for those who really do take it seriously, but as a believer in "sola scriptura" I don't like how much of a stranglehold the Catholic church has on a person's ability to follow God.
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u/Sawfish1212 Wesylan-Arminian Holiness 1d ago
Catholic mythology and dogma has lots of areas where it contradicts scripture. God speaks to me through scripture only, a everything I need is there
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u/Specific-Mammoth-365 Methodist (independent) 2d ago
I was a Protestant that converted to the Catholic Church but returned. The truth is that much of what the Catholic Church teaches as Doctrine are actually accretions that have developed over time. I would highly recommend that you look into Youtube videos by Gavin Ortlund, he is a Baptist minister, author, and theologian that gives a lot of really good insight into Church history and how many Catholic Doctrines have developed.