Protestantism is a form of Christianity that originated with the 16th-century
Protestants and Catholics in many ways have similar religious beliefs, with a few differences. We are all Christians and belong to the “family of God” after we are baptized. Papal authority, purgatory, the Virgin Mary, reconciliation, and the Eucharist are most of the differences. Personally, I don’t understand why Mary is such a problem, we all love our mothers and Jesus was no exception. He loved her dearly and elevated her directly to Heaven. Oh yes, and Catholics DO NOT WORSHIP MARY. We worship Jesus and honor Mary his mother. We pray the “Hail Mary” that in no way worships her. It does however ask Mary to “Pray for Us“.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
Purgatory or purging a person of their sinful remnants should not be an issue either. Jesus does not allow anyone in Heaven unless they are perfect – perfectly sinless.
Some sins are not as deadly or mortal warranting hell, so where do these people go when they die if not directly to Heaven or Hell? God our merciful Lord and Savior has created a place for them. Remember He is God and He can do what he pleases and so there must be a temporary place for people who die with a stain of sin on their soul, it’s called purgatory. The idea many protestants are taught “Once Saved, Always Saved” sounds wonderful, and it is when this event actually occurred when say a child is 10 or 12 years old. At that time, if they would have died, the probability they would actually have gone directly to heaven. However, as the child grows up, and becomes an adult the chances are they will commit some kind of sin, and if they died at that time the question is what would happen to their spirit?
If it was something serious like pre-mediated murder without any sort of repentance, Catholics are taught they would probably go straight to Hell. Deeply repenting of such a sin may help a person avoid Hell, but what else is involved here? That is what is referred to as the stain or remnants of such a sin that still remains on the soul. Even though the sin itself is forgiven by God, the soul is still not spotless and remnants of forgiven sin remain. It is certainly possible someone “Once Saved, Always Saved” could actually commit a murder, fail to repent, die and go to Hell. That same person may still repent but Christians are taught that the gate to heaven is narrow and no one enters unless the spirit is spotless or perfect before we can see God. Even though Jesus taught us to repent doesn’t mean smooth sailing straight into heaven.
Therefore, our merciful Lord and God knew this could happen and He actually created an intermediate place we call purgatory. The meaning of the word is to “purge” and that is exactly what happens to the souls of those who die imperfectly. They must pay every penny, a word Christ Himself used before anyone enters heaven. Catholics are taught more about this. 1. you cannot get yourself out of purgatory, but others, saints already in heaven and relatives and friends still on earth can pray and help those souls still in purgatory.
This brings up a Catholic doctrine “The Communion of Saints”. The communion of saints is the spiritual solidarity that binds together the faithful on earth, the souls in purgatory, and the saints in heaven in the organic unity of the same mystical body under Christ its head, and in a constant interchange of supernatural offices. Christ is the Head of His One True Church or all of His Family (those baptized belong to Him). The church is all of His people; those who are still living on earth, those who have died and are in purgatory, and those who are in Heaven.
It is interesting that our journey on Earth en route to Heaven is deterred by Satan. Remember he hates God and tries to drag us down to Hell where he will be. There is a constant battle going on over our own souls as long as we live on Earth. Therefore, we must strive every day of our lives to resist his evil-minded ways. Jesus left us with many of the tools we need to guide us on the pathway toward Heaven. He commanded us to KNOW Him and to know Him we would love Him as we must. He actually came down here to Earth to be with us, as a man who could look like any one of us. This man however was also the Son of God. He came to rescue us from Satan and his sinful attractions, the world, the flesh, and the devil himself.
We can learn much about Him from the stories in the bible. He raised Lazarus from the dead, no ordinary man could ever do this. He changed three barrels of water into wine his first miracle. Jesus and his Mother went to this wedding and they ran out of wine. Mary told Jesus they run out of wine and Jesus replied it was not yet His time. Even so, Mary told the servants to do as He said. They filled three barrels with water – and Jesus changed that water into wine. He healed the blind, and the deaf, and cured the paralytic. One of the most profound miracles was when to gave the keys to the kingdom to Petter and said whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven.
During the Last Supper, He raised the bread up to Heaven and said, “Take this all of you and eat of it, for this is my body that will be given up to you”. This caused a great deal of controversy, how could this be possible? This is the same thing we see at every Mass celebrated in every Catholic Church all over the world daily. The Mass comes in two parts, the liturgy (biblical teaching) and the eucharist (prayers) leading to this moment where the priest raises up the bread just as Christ did at the Last Supper and said, “Take this all of you and eat of it, for this is my body that will be given up to you”. That piece of bread actually becomes the body and blood of Jesus. It is Jesus who created the Eucharist so He can come to live within us.
“Today, Protestantism constitutes the second-largest form of Christianity (after Catholicism), with a total of 800 million to 1 billion adherents worldwide or about 37% of all Christians.[12][13][f] Protestants have developed their own culture, with major contributions in education, the humanities, and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, and many other fields.[15] Protestantism is diverse, being more divided theologically and ecclesiastically than the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, or Oriental Orthodoxy.[16] Without structural unity or central human authority,[16] Protestants developed the concept of an invisible church, in contrast to the Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East, which all understand themselves as the one and only original church—the “one true church”—founded by Jesus Christ.[15] Some denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country.[16] A majority of Protestants[g] are members of a handful of Protestant denominational families: Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans/Episcopalians, Baptists, Calvinist/Reformed,[h] Lutherans, Methodists, and Pentecostals.[12] Nondenominational, Charismatic, Evangelical, Independent, and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestantism.[18][19]”
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism