Catholics VS Protestants Debate Thread

[Edward John]

Welcome to the Catholic VS Protestant Discussion Thread on atheist forum! This thread is all about debating which form of Christianity is true, Catholic or Protestant. Feel free to discuss any topic relating to Catholicism or Protestantism(all denominations 33,000+ Welcome!)for or against arguments.
I Catholic will start this off. Questions Catholics usually ask protestants. There’s more to it than just these.
·        If Jesus intended for Christianity to be exclusively a “religion of the book,” why did He wait 1400 years before showing somebody how to build a printing press?
·        If Christianity is a “book religion,” how did it flourish during the first 1500 years of Church history when the vast majority of people were illiterate?
·        Where did Jesus give instructions that the Christian faith should be based exclusively on a book?  The Doctrine of Sola Scriptura is not taught anywhere in the Bible.
·        Where in the New Testament do the apostles tell future generations that the Christian faith will be based solely on a book?
·        Where in the Bible do we find an inspired and infallible list of books that should belong in the Bible? (e.g., Is the Bible’s Table of Contents inspired?)
·        some Protestants claim that Jesus condemned all oral tradition (e.g., Matt 15:3, 6; Mark 7:813). If so, why does He bind His listeners to oral tradition by telling them to obey the scribes and Pharisees when they “sit on Moses’ seat” (Matt 23:2)? 5) Some Protestants claim that St. Paul condemned all oral tradition (Col 2:8). If so, why does he tell the Thessalonians to “stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thes 2:15) and praises the Corinthians because they “hold firmly to the traditions” (1 Cor 11:2)?
·        If the meaning of the Bible is so clear—so easily interpreted—and if the Holy Spirit leads every Christian to interpret it for themselves, then why are there over 33,000 Protestant denominations, and millions of individual Protestants, all interpreting the Bible differently?
·        If the Bible is the only foundation and basis of Christian truth, why does the Bible itself say that the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim. 3:15)?
·        Who in the Church had the authority to determine which books belonged in the New Testament canon and to make this decision binding on all Christians? If nobody has this authority, then can I remove or add books to the canon on my own authority? Scriptura, why do the creeds of the early Church always say “we believe in the Holy Catholic Church,” and not “we believe in Holy Scripture”?
·        If the Bible is as clear as Martin Luther claimed, why was he the first one to interpret it the way he did and why was he frustrated at the end of his life that “there are now as many doctrines as there are heads”?

[FatAndFaithless]

Oh boy. That first bullet point is exactly the kind of thing I'd expect from both a Poe and a delusional believer.

[Catholic_Lady]

Intriguing concept, though I'm personally not interested in debating with our brothers, the protestants.

We have a member here who is in the process of converting from protestant to Catholic. Perhaps he'll have some interesting points to add.

[Crossless2.0]

Anything less than a Thirty Years' War is unacceptable.

[John V]

Alex, I'll take Poes for $800.

The answer is: this Poe started a thread on catholicism v. protestantism on an atheist forum.

Edward Johns.

Phrase it in the form of a question please.

Who is Edward Johns.

Correct!

[Minimalist]

This thread is all about debating which form of Christianity is true, Catholic or Protestant

This poll desperately needs a None of the Above option.

[ApeNotKillApe]

We have a member here who is in the process of converting from protestant to Catholic. Perhaps he'll have some interesting points to add.

Considering he doesn't realize the obvious: that Protestantism is a daughter of Catholicism, not likely.

[FatAndFaithless]

There's something alpha and I can agree on at least.

[LastPoet]

Its like bald men, fighting over an hair brush.

[Aegon]

· If Jesus intended for Christianity to be exclusively a “religion of the book,” why did He wait 1400 years before showing somebody how to build a printing press?

Why did he wait [x] years before showing somebody how to build a camera? I mean, man, imagine how many followers he'd have if we had photo evidence of the walking on water.