Had I known that Frasier was on at the same time I might not have seen this Simpsons episode and thus wouldn’t be blogging about this particular topic.
Last nights episode had Bart accused a prank (which, oddly enough, he didn’t actually commit) and sent off to Catholic school. Whilst playing up there he encountered a youth priest who passed him comic books based on famous Catholic saints. This then lead Bart down the path converting to Catholicism and soon enough Homer was caught up in it too. Marge then became concerned about the interest her son and husband were having in their new ‘religiousity’ and she yanked Bart from his ‘first communion’ lesson. Reverand Lovejoy and Ned Flanders add their two cents and the final message comes from the fountain of wisdom (Bart) calling for tolerances between the two since the differences were so small and the similarities were so large. Everybody shakes hands and we end with this impression that Catholicism and reformed Protestantism are basically the same thing.
At this point I was very annoyed that I missed Frasier.
I guess I shouldn’t be overly surprised considering that most people don’t know the differences but think they know the similarities between Catholics and Protestants.
I would say that, minus the issues of the doctrine of baptism, Mary worship/devotion, authority of the Church/Pope, Sola Scripture (scripture alone), etc, the biggest difference between Catholic and Protestant doctrine hinges on how we are saved – by grace through faith or by works.
This is the fundamental difference between the two – and I would add, the difference between Biblical Christianity and every single other world religion and cult.
At the heart of Catholic doctrine is salvation by works. And if a Catholic were to say to me, “I’m saved by grace through faith alone!” I would say, “Great! But that’s not what your Church has taught or continues to teach.”
I guess its up to the Protestants to keep this ‘protest’ alive.
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