What is the difference between Catholics and Protestants?

"What is the difference between Catholics and Protestants?"
Dr. Gregory Wills answers in Honest Answers | Episode 42

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[ritachikata]

Being a Catholic for 57 yrs on this earth, no pope, cardinal, bishop, priest nuns, laity has ever taught, proclaim that our salvation depends on obedience to the pope.
Sir, you are wrong.
I’ve always being taught that our salvation is by grace and that we have to cooperate with that grace in alligning our selves to the will of our father in heaven. The pope is not God but is the custodian of Gods Church.
Pls pick up the cathechism on the Catholic Church paragraph 882–“the pope is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful”.
We Catholics do not regard our pope as God. Pls, in the name of our Lord Jesus, stop spreading the lies. Remain blessed and safe.

[flashback]

I thought atheists vs believers were the best comment wars, but Catholics vs protestants are much more vicious lol

[alexandreamcclure]

No one submits to the Pope but the pope is a representative and in service of the people. You have already shown you do not understand Catholicism.

[theobserver]

We don't pray to Saints rather we ask for their prayers just like we ask others to pray for us. There's a clear difference.

[johncox]

Prayer to the saints is actually asking for intercessory prayer. The historic Christian belief is that those who have passed on are alive in Christ, more alive spiritually than we are here on Earth. Revelation makes.referemce to the saints in Heaven offering up the prayers of the faithful before the throne of Christ. It is no more different than asking my neighbour to pray for me.
The intercession of the saints is one of the most widespread misunderstanding Protestants have about historic Christianity as manifested in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

[GustoSTL]

I've been raised Catholic (grade school and high school) and am still a practicing Catholic. I feel this guy doesn't know what he's talking about, and I can't agree with his interpretation of the Catholic Church

[LidiaMonroe]

I'm not Catholic or Protestant, and even I know this is a misrepresentation of Catholicism. I don't blame him for his views, Protestants have been taught to view the Catholic religion in a negative light. But I think it's best to learn about the Catholic faith from a Catholic. I would say it's also best to learn about the protestant faith from a Protestant, but who would you ask, when there are 40, 000 different Protestant denominations?

[domingomelchor]

If the bible is the final authority, who decides if two Protestants disagree. For example, John MacArthur and the late RC Sproule debated infant baptism. Protestants admit, when asked about the differences among themselves, that other Protestants twist scripture. They admit that, while they teach scripture (verse by verse), they don't have the authority to teach. They are merely readers of scripture. Their commentaries do not have any value. Can the bible tell a pastor whether he or she is right or wrong? How? Can the bible scream "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT."

[pumasgoya]

Catholics believe submission to God first. The Church is there to guide you, and it's not submission to the Pope, It's submission to Church Doctrine, which can be interpreted by not just the Pope, but to the Magisterium and Church Tradition, guided by Jesus and only Jesus.

[d.o.]

The catholic church actually teaches that the good work comes AFTER justification, and not BEFORE. that means the good work is not a prerequisite to be justified. I think this whole thing is messed up and got lost in translation.

[billmartin]

This video has many errors that are at best misleading:

1) Pope - yes we submit that the Pope is the leader of the church, but he is just a man and is only speaking infallibly when teaching on morals and doctrine in union with the bishops, which has only taken place twice in history. The church is principally led by its bishops over their respective dioceses. The leadership of the Pope is what creates the unity that Christ commanded - the alternative is the Protestant failure of thousands of church splits, all bickering over theology

2) works - Catholics believe our faith saves us, but a living faith expressed by following Christ’s commandments. Without faith in Christ, there is no amount of good works that can save us. But as James says, faith without works is dead. True faith isn’t just belief, but is a passionate force expressed through good works, and avoiding mortal sin. For even the demons believe, and shudder. The words “faith alone” are never in the Bible, that is an invention by Luther to push his personal theology.

3) purgatory - Catholics believe none of us die in a perfect state of grace, and after death there is an undefined period where our imperfections must be cleansed before we can be in the presence of God. The time frame is not defined, it could be an instant. And all souls in purgatory will go to heaven, it is not a permanent place but a temporal purification. It is scriptural from the deuterocanonical books, which Protestants removed from their bibles in the reformation, because Luther didn’t like the doctrine.

4) prayer - prayer and worship are entirely different things. Catholics only worship God, period. We only ask Saints for intercessory prayer. Protestants also ask their family and friends for intercessory prayer - is that wrong? Of course not. Neither is asking Saints (including Mary) to pray for us. We also ask God directly to answer our prayers, having more people pray for you is a good thing, I’m not sure why this is even an issue.

5) the Church was established by Christ when he hand picked his apostles and sent the Holy Spirit to them at Pentecost. The Church gave us the Bible, not the other way around. Long before the Bible there was a thriving church community, taught by oral tradition. Church tradition continues to this day. The Church is made of its billions of Saints, with Christ as its head. The sacraments, instituted by Christ, are gifts of reconciliation and love for God’s people.

Can a non Catholic Christian be saved? Yes, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear on that. But you are missing the fullness of Christ’s Church by being outside of the Catholic Church. I pray that you study the Church, especially the early church fathers and their practices, you will see that they were thoroughly Catholic.

[johncox]

Faith alone as a stand alone belief comes out of the Protestant movement and is not historical Christianity. We need faith AND works. Scripture says that salvation is a process, not just a destination. St Paul tells us that it is a race that needs to be run and we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

[alexandreamcclure]

Also we do not pray to saints we show respect and show veneration to the saints. You are right about good works and salvation.

[TheDjcarter]

1) Believing in the Authority of the Pope is not required for salvation in the RCC. Scriptures are indeed an authority in the Church as they are a cornerstone of the Magisterium.
2) Catholics don't add to the merits of Christ, his grace is sufficient, what Catholics and many protestents actually don't believe is you can say a prayer at ten years old and then never live for Christ and follow his teachings but expect to enter into heaven
3) Purgatory not a million years of pain and suffering, there are still consequences and punishment for sin its just for the believer it is not eternal
4) As far as prayer you 100% mis stating Catholic doctrine, no prayers are made to saints or Mary. Catholics believe we are all part of a communion of saint and as such we ask them to prayer for us, to intercede on our behalf. Protestents ask fellow believer to pray for them they just don't think those dead in Christ are part of that community.
5) There is only one Church, that is Christ's church, the body of believers. Full fellowship and communion of that body is found within the Church, salvation is possibly outside the Church but why wouldn't you want to fullness of what Christ offers within the Church.

[TitoSilversax]

Unfortunately a cursory and shallow analysis of Catholicism

[mr-wxlv]

I agree with him, but how come, there is one Roman Catholic church doctrine and 38000 protestant denominations?

[thomasjust]

It seems some Christians are confused, we Catholics do not pray to Mary or to the saints
a) Catholics only pray to God, we call it "Latria" Exodus 20:1-5,
b) To mary we offer respect "HyperDulia" (Luke 1:48)
c) Saints we also offer respect "Dulia" (Romans 13:7)
I repeat, we do not pray to Mary/Saints, if someone does, that person is not following the true Catholic teachings

[debiolivetree]

My thoughts, for what they are worth: I think that if someone truly wants to know what the Catholic Church teaches, they should speak to someone active in the Catholic Church. I think that if you want to know what Protestants teach... you should go speak to someone at a Protestant Church. If you want to know what ANY Religion teaches... go to people who ACTIVELY PRACTICE THAT FAITH! Don't go to those who maybe did a little reading on the Religion, or to someone who left a Church, and now all they can talk about is how corrupt it is. Please don't go to a person, preacher, influencer etc. to hear *their* version of another Faith's belief system. We all can do the research for ourselves -- the right way, and then make our own educated decision on which path to go. There is no reason to do comparisons. It just causes hurt feelings, and animosity, which perpetuates disrespect for others beliefs. RESPECT OTHERS, no matter what they believe. Discuss, but do not debate or insult others. God knows the hearts of people, we do not. He will be the one who draws sincere people to him, and he allows us to decide whether we want to serve him or not.

[ramonpalacios]

1. Catholics hold the Bible as an authority as well. This should say that Catholics hold authority in the pope and Protestants hold authority in themselves.
2. Catholic “works” are a cooperation with God. It is all God’s work.
3. His understanding of purgatory is just laughable. Purgatory is never given a time frame and focuses more on the idea that nothing unclean can enter into Heaven.
4. Catholic prayer to saints is akin to what Protestants do when they ask others to pray for them. Catholics do NOT think that the saints are gods.
5. Jesus wants us all to be One church. He only founded ONE church.

The other major problem with his video is that there is no definitive Protestant view. Therefore, not only is everything said about Catholics only partially true, everything he said about Protestants is only partially true.

[pmaz-]

You know not what you speak. For one, Catholics do not worship the pope nor revere him for eternal salvation. He is the leader of the Catholic Church just as a president is of a corporation or country. Please get your facts straight. May God bless us all!