Hello friends.
I've been contemplating on posting this topic as I don't want to flare tempers, but it is something that has been on my mind as of late, and was hoping some of our resident Catholics could help me out. My intention is to keep things civil, as best we can.
I was born and raised in a non denominational church. As i got older I was baptized in a baptist church (in my teenage years) and as an adult joined into a Methodist church.
I recently married a catholic woman and have since been attending a lot of events in the Catholic Church (weddings, funerals, etc.)
Non Catholics are not allowed to take part in communion in the Catholic Church. Whenever I am going to attend one of these events, I'm aware that communion will be taking place and try to prepare myself mentally for the fact that I will not be allowed to take part but for whatever reason it always rubs me the wrong way that my choices are to either remain in the pew or go to the front of the church with my arms crossed and receive a blessing instead of taking communion.
I think my frustration centers around if Catholics believe that Protestants for the most part don't go to heaven. I've tried to research online and found that the commonly stated belief is that Jesus has the power to save anyone, including Protestants, but there is never a strongly given statement on if people outside the Catholic Church are in general saved. The general implication as far as I can tell is that they aren't.
My thought process is that Catholics believe (I think) that in order to be saved (for the most part) one must take part of the sacraments of the Catholic Church. Therefore if someone isn't able to take part in these sacraments (ie not take communion) then the probability of being saved and taken is into heaven is low, saving Jesus making an "exception" and calling you home.
Without getting into my personal biases, I'm just hoping our friends here can shine a little light for me on this. It's a difficult exercise for me to think through as I was raised outside the Catholic Church, but would like to understand their beliefs.
Thanks for the help.
I've been contemplating on posting this topic as I don't want to flare tempers, but it is something that has been on my mind as of late, and was hoping some of our resident Catholics could help me out. My intention is to keep things civil, as best we can.
I was born and raised in a non denominational church. As i got older I was baptized in a baptist church (in my teenage years) and as an adult joined into a Methodist church.
I recently married a catholic woman and have since been attending a lot of events in the Catholic Church (weddings, funerals, etc.)
Non Catholics are not allowed to take part in communion in the Catholic Church. Whenever I am going to attend one of these events, I'm aware that communion will be taking place and try to prepare myself mentally for the fact that I will not be allowed to take part but for whatever reason it always rubs me the wrong way that my choices are to either remain in the pew or go to the front of the church with my arms crossed and receive a blessing instead of taking communion.
I think my frustration centers around if Catholics believe that Protestants for the most part don't go to heaven. I've tried to research online and found that the commonly stated belief is that Jesus has the power to save anyone, including Protestants, but there is never a strongly given statement on if people outside the Catholic Church are in general saved. The general implication as far as I can tell is that they aren't.
My thought process is that Catholics believe (I think) that in order to be saved (for the most part) one must take part of the sacraments of the Catholic Church. Therefore if someone isn't able to take part in these sacraments (ie not take communion) then the probability of being saved and taken is into heaven is low, saving Jesus making an "exception" and calling you home.
Without getting into my personal biases, I'm just hoping our friends here can shine a little light for me on this. It's a difficult exercise for me to think through as I was raised outside the Catholic Church, but would like to understand their beliefs.
Thanks for the help.