Meditation On Catholicism And Protestantism


In my meditations on Catholicism and Protestantism, it seems to me that the Reformers have watered down the True Faith and are trying to live life with only half (in some cases a lot less) of God's revealed Truth. A couple of points that come to mind are Justification and God's Divine Providence.

As Catholics, we believe that we are saved by Faith AND Works.
Protestants however, fall short and say we are saved only by Faith.
The Protestant view is contrary to Scripture and God's intent.
We see in Dueteronomy that God's law tells us that we are to believe in God. We are also called to obey the law. Christ is the perfection of the law. One can't say that they have faith and not obey the law, because by having faith they have obeyed the law.
Jesus himself tells us in the Gospels that we will be judged by the deeds we do. If we say "Lord, Lord" and not do the works of charity we are called to do, then we are damned. For even the demons say "Lord, Lord."
Faith without works is dead. Plain and simple.

As for God's Divine Providence, Catholics believe that God pre-destines and yet we also have free will.
Some Protestants say we do not have free will, but everything we do has been fore-ordained by God.
Once again, the Protestant view limits God's plan.
We can't say how we have the freedom of free will and yet God has pre-ordained all existence. That is one of God's mysteries.
We do know, however, that God has left the choice entirely up to us to acknowledge him or not. If there were no free will, everyone would believe in God. Why would God not want his creation to believe in Him?
Likewise, if we did not have free will, there would be no sin in the world. For why would God want us to be separated from Him, since that is what sin does?