Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Church are cool with me. This question reminded me of a book I saw in the Spirituality section of B&N "Why Catholics do not go to Heaven", and they must have forgotten the Eastern Orthodox. I won't let anyone tell me where I'm going or how I should worship, if you follow the Catholic way or the very similar Eastern Orthodox Church. God decides by your faith in the Son, Jesus Christ, who goes to Heaven, we as humanity have no decision.
A Bible teacher at my private school (ugh) told the whole 7Th grade (I was in 8Th when I heard this) that only Baptists go to Heaven, and I said to myself "You know what, you just better send me to Hell now, because I won't ever be a Baptist."
People accuse without knowing a thing about other denominations, so blind, and ignorant to the other Christian forms of worship to God.
Most Protestants are still trying to validate and identify what THEY are, much less comprehend the older and rooted forms of Christianity conveyed by Catholicism in its forms. Eastern Orthodox is one beautiful form of Catholicism. Leave them alone (in this sense I mean). Maybe they will come away from an old moldy protest that no longer has any relevance in this world. Despite how many people in Protestant and secular power want it to have relevance. Lots of chiefs in those tribes, not so many Indians, relatively speaking. Merry Christmas. And Happy New Year.
The funny thing is that Protestants probably have more in common with the Roman Catholics than the Orthodox, with them not following the Augustian agenda of original sin and the corrupt nature of humanity.
Jack, I know for a fact that not all protestants attack Catholicism, and I?m quite sure that most would even consider you a fellow christian... please, do the same to them.
Some do know about it, but many don't, especially once you get into the Evangelical / Charismatic side of Protestantism. Often - and granted this is not a blank statement - church history in an Evangelical / Charismatic Church focuses greatly on the Schism between the Catholics and Protestants, likely because that is where the Protestant Church began. My personal theory as to why it isn't focused on that as well - is because it at times seemed (in my classes at the liberal arts Evangelical college I attended while I was a a Protestant - that Orthodoxy was considered to be almost a 'dead' section of Christianity, possibly because it wasn't a large part of Western Christendom? One way or the other, I personally think every Protestant should at least attend an Orthodox service one time in their life to see what it is - and that everyone should know at least a general concept of what the others believe. I attended one as a Protestant - and loved it. Granted, I became Orthodox 5 years later.
Let me reiterate that I am not saying this is a blanket statement across all Protestants - it just seems to be a general trend from the tradition (Pentecostal Evangelical) I came from - and the trend I've seen with some other Protestant denominations.
They know enough about the Orthodox Church to attack it too. In fact, those who have heard of it tend to think of it as a type of "Catholic." Others know it's different from Catholicism, but only insomuch as it's more conservative.
But keep in mind also that they attack Catholicism more because of the Pope. The Papacy is a big thing for Protestants, and probably the only thing that might make Catholicism look worse to them than Orthodoxy. Given, however, Protestants tend to think that the Orthodox Church has a Pope.
Do Protestants even know what the Eastern Orthodox Church is?
