What are the Difficulties of Being Protestant in a Catholic Country?

Hey Andy, what are the difficulties of being protestant in a Catholic country?

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Hi, you know, a better question might be how it feels to be a protestant in a predominantly Catholic world, because the RCC impacted a lot of (if not most) countries throughout the past 2000 years.

My Frustrations with the Image of Christianity and Catholicism Being the Same

One frustration I have is when people of neither assume that being Christian is the same as being Catholic – because they’re not the same. In fact, comparing Christianity and Catholicism can be like comparing Islam and Judaism in the sense of their origins and claims. For just as both Judaism and Islam claim one of Abraham’s sons as their origins, Christianity and Catholicism claim Christ as its origin. The differences though are really based on how we obey God, how we treat and obey the Scriptures, and what we base our salvation on.

For instance, in terms of how the church treated Jewish people over time, they now have no trust in us Christians, and anytime we try to explain to them about how they need Jesus, also, we’re considered as being anti-semitic. Jesus is nowhere near anti-semitic, but they think everything about Him is because the Catholic church so influenced countries over the years to treat them so poorly, even to the point of forced conversions (which are theologically-impossible), and death (which again, is theologically wrong, but were the ways of the Roman Imperial Empire). So, though it wasn’t the Protestants who treated them like that, but the Roman Catholic Church (under the Pope), and those who treated them in such ways were definitely not Christians, we’re shut down because of the similarities of the two, causing them to assume that we’re one in the same.

So yeah, to be a protestant Christian in a predominantly Catholic world, it can be frustrating, as well as difficult in terms of evangelism to those who don’t realize there there’s a huge difference between the two.

Comment by a reader (on Quora):

“Uh, no. Catholicism and Christianity isn’t like Islam and Judaism. Catholicism and Christianity is like Lutheranism and Christianity. Catholicism is a denomination. Surely they teach that in your seminary.”

My reply to the reader

Of course they do. But Lutheranism is also just a denomination. However, Christianity isn’t – Christianity is a relationship with God through Christ. Catholicism isn’t a Christian denomination at all, but a different religion altogether. In fact, when talking with Catholics, they’ll often tell me, “I’m not Christian, I’m Catholic”. I’d here the same thing when talking with Catholic priests. So they themselves are admitting that they’re not Christians, or simply a Christian denomination, but something different entirely. They also don’t consider protestant Christianity to be any part of them, but something completely different from them.

Similar Origins of Both Faiths

In terms of my comparisons with Islam and Judaism, they too are completely different religions/faiths, yet they both claim Abraham as their founder, and one of his sons as their right to him. See? Again with Catholicism, they claim that their origin includes Peter as their first Pope. Yet, they’re Roman, and it was Rome that killed Peter (remember Nero? He killed Paul, too), not honored him. And they reject James, the 1/2 brother of Jesus, even though the Bible mentions him, and the early church recognized him as one of the main leaders of the Jerusalem Church (and Peter was often afraid of James’ opinion). So if anything, you’d think the RCC would recognize James as the first Pope. But then, they can’t even acknowledge his existence because then it would interfere with their teachings about Mary, as well as their misunderstanding or misinterpretation on his claim to the Church being built upon Peter. They also base their theology, not on Biblical facts, but their own traditions (something Jesus scolded the Pharisees for doing).

Origin and Differences of Protestant Christianity

When asked, most people will say that Protestant Christianity began with Martin Luther. In a sense, it did, because “protestant” means “protest”, as Luther was “protesting” against the Catholic church’s faults and heresies. However, the root of protestant Christianity, which is Bible-believing, Bible-obeying, and Apostolic-taught (what the Apostles taught after Christ’s resurrection) has actually been around since Christ’s resurrection. I know, the Catholics say the same about them, but hear me out.

Unlike Catholicism, Protestant Christianity is based on the Bible (both Old and New Testaments). Unlike the Catholics, we also recognize James as Jesus’ younger half brother who was one of the several children born to Mary after Jesus’ birth; we honor Mary, but neither worship nor pray to her; we also don’t pray to anybody but Jesus (who is God). In terms of saints and sainthood, Paul called even the Galatians and Corinthians “Saints”, and if you read those letters, they were far from what saints are considered as today (and completely different from what the RCC considers such as). But most of all, we recognize what Jesus did on the cross and the fact that He’s been resurrected. And as the Bible teaches, salvation is through faith in Christ, not works (as with Catholicism). There’s no purgatory, and communion (Eucharist) is something all believers in Christ partake of together.

Protestant Christianity is Connected with Judaism

Another difference is that Protestant Christianity recognizes our connection with Judaism – the Hebrew Scriptures are all about Jesus the Messiah, the 2 “testaments” HAVE to connect (and do) in order for Christianity even to exist, Jesus was a Jew, the first “converts” were Jews (I used quotes because the first Christians weren’t converting from Judaism to Christianity, but simply accepting Jesus as the Messiah, thus fulfilling Judaism. In fact, the early Jewish community recognized this new “thing” as a sect of Judaism, not a different religion. And instead of calling people “Christians”, they were called “People of The Way”. So Judaism and Christianity are actually one of the same, and according to Paul, a “true Jew” is one who’s accepted “Messiah Yeshua”. Yet, throughout the past 2000 years, the RCC has done nothing but persecute the Jews (see this timeline for examples: Jewish persecution from 1200 to 1800 CE). The Jewish Virtual Library also has a take on how The Catholic Church persecuted them and claimed a new imperial church.

Protestant Christianity and Catholicism are NOT the Same

So back to the original question, Christianity and Catholicism are neither the same religion nor faith. Nor are either of them simply denominations, but completely different in nature, faith, beliefs, practice, treatment towards Jews, culture, methods, and origin. I honestly believe that Roman Catholicism is really just a disguised version of the Roman Imperial religion, where they added the Biblical names to deceive people into believing it’s Christianity. And from all the damage that the RCC has done over the past almost-2000 years, much of what I end up doing, when trying to share with people of other faiths about Jesus, is damage control—having to explain that Christianity and Catholicism are not the same, and that all the bad things that so-called “Christians” (or the Church) did to them and their ancestors were done so by the Catholic Church and its leaders, not by real Christians (and that there were real Christians out there during those times, they just had to remain quiet to avoid persecution or death (usually by being burned), which is what happened to others tho tried to talk out about the RCC’s wrongdoing – until Luther).

Differences Within the Protestant Church

Now, granted, there are many denominations in the protestant faith, and yeah, many are really messed up, many have gone completely off track, some tax on non-bibilical requirements, some use Scripture to support their own agendas, some treat people as would anybody who doesn’t know Christ, some claim the name of Christ while committing horrific sins/crimes, and many “religious leaders” claim Christianity, but really have nothing to do with Christ or His teachings. So what I’m explaining above obviously doesn’t pertain to all protestant churches/denominations, but is the essence of what being a Christian (not a Catholic) is (supposed to be) about, as well as the difficulties of being Protestant in a Catholic country/world.