Posted by Wayne Parham [ 192.35.232.241 ] on May 23, 2006 at 14:36:03:
In Reply to: Re: My sister`s friend and other stories posted by manualblock on May 23, 2006 at 12:05:17:
Protestants include Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Pentecostals and many others. I would loosely describe these as being slightly more gnostic and less ritualistic than Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Each of these groups is in general agreement on the main points, but several details are seen differently. One of the main things is that a Protestant does not find special authority given to the Roman Catholic Church, and instead, believes that a man may approach God directly, and find answers and salvation through his own relationship with God. A Protestant believes that he does not have to "go through" the Catholic Church to get to God, he can access God directly through his meditation, prayers and studies.
Catholics believe that the Pope is Christ's representative here on Earth, sort of a stand-in for the almighty. This gives a hierarchal power structure and a sort of chain of command. The Catholic believer should approach his Church, who will then instruct him on the matters at hand. In early times, most people could not read or write, so Church scholars were really the only ones qualified to interpret scripture and so this structure made sense. Whether it does today is a matter of personal opinion.
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