The Full Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-17

 

•10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

•11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

•12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

•13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

•14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

•15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

•16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

•17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

 

This thought has been used by many over the years but something I heard the other day made me realize something very special about this passage. Each piece not only has a specific job to do; that is common sense. None of these can stand alone. This is why Paul writes we need to put on the full armor of God. This is not to say that God has a weakness. It is to say man has a weakness. Any “armor” we put on that is of flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). Any opening we give to the enemy is vulnerable. God wants us to completely trust in Him. Without trust in God our faith is weak. Without using all of the armor we show lack of trust or even worse, self pride. But what does each piece mean?

 

Helmet of Salvation. Why do we wear a helmet? To protect our head of course. Our eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Four out of our five senses are located in the head. It gives us direction and collects our bearings. They think, guide, and reason. So we have to protect these things if we want to protect our lives against the evils of this world. But there is a deeper meaning to this. Salvation! A helmet covers us. God’s salvation covers us. Our sins are covered. It starts at the top. It is the beginning. We all wash from head to toe. When our heads are covered, the rest follows. Since our sins are covered, the rest of salvation and the fight can begin.

 

Shield of Faith. Believing in our cause. When things of this world try and break us and tear us apart we have something that can block the attack. Our faith can get us through the worst of times. Paul tells us that when all things have passed away faith, hope, and love will remain. It is eternal. It is always here for us to use. But there is the catch. We have to use it! And the larger the shield, the better. Many of us have small amounts of faith. We can take small attacks in our lives but the more battered the less we feel safe with that shield. The larger the shield, the more we can defend with. The stronger the material, the more battering it can take. We need to build our faith each day so that nothing can break it or batter it. And we get a stronger faith by reading the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

 

Sword of the Spirit. Paul specifically tells us this is the word of God, scripture. It is our greatest weapon. With the Word in our hands we can stand against the enemy. Notice one major thing here; Paul writes about many defenses we have but we have one offense---SCRIPTURE! Everywhere in the Bible when the word “scripture” itself is used it means something that has been written down by God, etched in stone. What God has said nothing can overrule it. God’s word is final. When satan tries to tempt you and you want to fight back then quote scripture.

 

Shoes of Readiness. Sometimes we have to be mobile. Sometimes the path we have to take is rocky and hurts. Paul tells us to put on shoes that can protect our feet from the path we have to take. Breastplate of Righteousness. Your most vital organ is your heart. Many times we are told we have to protect our heart. God judges us by our hearts. If we love, forgive, show compassion, and trust then we have righteousness. This righteousness protects our hearts.

 

But after all of this the most important thought is still to come. Think of a soldier (from Paul’s time). He can put on a helmet but nothing else is protected. He can carry a sword but has to defend twice as hard. He can put on shoes and run if he needs to. He can carry a shield and wear a breastplate for better protection. But there is one thing that allows the armor to be fully connected. It connects offense with defense. The Belt of Truth! It attaches the upper and lower extremities. It keeps you from falling over your cloak. IT CARRIES YOUR SWORD! Without truth, nothing matters! If you do not have the truth, then what are you defending? Why would you need an offense? The truth of God is what the cause of Christ is all about. Jesus is the way, the TRUTH, and the life. Because Jesus died (truth) and because He was the Son of God (truth) and because He rose again (truth) we have life. He showed the way by living the truth. We need to live the truth. We need to wear the full armor of God. And above all remember our struggle is not against flesh but against the spiritual forces that hate you.

Quid est Ecclesia?

What is the Church?

Old Testament terminology equates it to the Temple. The first temple was the Tabernacle or the Tent of Meeting. Everywhere the Jewish nation went they would set up a place to where the priests and Moses could go to God and talk to Him, sacrifice, pray, and worship God. When the physical Temple was built by Solomon all of the symbols and items from the Tabernacle were placed inside, most importantly the Ark placed behind the Veil. The Temple was divided into parts. Depending on who or what you are is where you could go inside the Temple. But only those close enough to God were allowed to go behind the Veil, the curtain that symbolicaaly separates man from God, which Jesus's death caused to be torn in two. For more information on the temple see http://ideasoftimreligion.blogspot.com/2008/08/iv-worship.html. The point here being that no matter where God's people are there is God as well, permanently.

New Testament terminology equates it to us. This new temple is what we are. The Church are not individuals though. The Church is a body. Some are hands. Some are feet. Some are speakers. Some are seers. But these both have something in common and its the same connection the Old Testament Temple had; God is always there. And if God is always there how can you let worldly ideas and actions into the Church and/or Temple?

Keep in mind, the church is not the Church. Small "c" means thet building. Capital "C" means Christ's body.

The Church is suppose to be:

1. Spirit-led, not man-led
2. Glorifying God, not humanistic
3. Use of gifts to help serve people and God, not show casing human ability
4. Holy, not worldly
5. An organism, not an organization
6. Loving, compassionate, hospitable
7. Witnesses!

But what has the Church become?

1. Leaders with egos that can not see past their own accomplishments to see the hurt in some.
2. Worried about growth in numbers instead of growth in spirit.
3. Entertainment focused and "jamming" instead of true worship (putting God first).
4. Lost in culture and becoming immune to the world's sickness.
5. Business and less personal, more worried about reputation than character
6. Divided, hypocritical, worried about reputation instead of character
7. Bad examples because the world sees no difference between living a Christian life and a non-Christian life.

The Church is supposed to be separate from the world for we are not part of this world. Yes, we have to live in it and deal with it but nowhere in the Bible does it say we are to become part of it. The book Animal Farm, although not about Christianity, ends exactly the way what the Church has become.

• "Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to, and from pig to man again but already it was impossible to say which was which."

The pigs who were supposed to be different and make a change ended up taking on what the humans were doing and in the end became just as bad as humans. Now, we are all sinners, so do not take away from this Thought that Christians are "better". That is far from the truth. What it is saying is we are supposed to act better. We are supposed to change the world. But the Church has become so liberal and weak, has watered down the message of Christ so much, has lost the true meaning of worship so much, that the culture ended up changing it. We have allowed the culture to change sermons, our service to people, our charity, our education, and the worst is we allowed it to change our worship. A non-Christian would say that is a good thing because it would make the Church easier to deal with. But due to this changing the Church has become insincere and less relevant to this world. Ask Europe. http://ideasoftimreligion.blogspot.com/2008/10/xiii-church-of-culture.html

Yet, the big problem is those who are supposed to be temples do not live holy and don't see the problem. They want to justify their own beliefs and actions. Church leaders get egos and prideful and blinded. They look for validation from friends and family. The people find excuses to not live outside the culture. The Church is dying because it is not being the Church. The Church is supposed to be a witness to the world. The Temple (you) is with God always. So, how can we as the Church as a whole or as an individual Temple allow the culture inside?

And the last thing, the Church is not INSIDE a building. It goes OUT to the world. Too many people think the church building is the place to get saved. No, technically the church building is for the Church. You get saved in your heart, not a building. But still the church building is there for a reason as well. It is a place of worship and education but it is also a place where people can feel safe and comforted; a haven, if you will. The building is a symbol of where someone cango who is feeling down and out because the world has beaten up on them. When people come into the church building they want to feel safe. They want to forget their troubles that the world and culture has caused them. Yet, what does the Church offer? Programs, sermons, and worship that is filled with the same culture that destroyed the individual in the first place, and mostly just to get a good reputation in the community. It's like an alcoholic goes to church and the Church offers them a drink and people think the church is cool then.

After reading this many will try and rationalize that reaching the culture means we have to use their ways to bring them in. Jesus went into the culture, He did not become part of it. This is not to say that church buildings cannot hold fun events and be entertaining to crowds. But the event has to be real and sincere, it is not a place to showcase one's talents for their own glory. Coffee and donuts never saved anyone. How far can worship service use secular ideas before true worship is sacrificed? Where is the line? Answer: it should stay out as a piece of worship, unless there is a point to it.

Other Thoughts you need to read for more explanation:

http://ideasoftimreligion.blogspot.com/search/label/Worship

Father of Lies

"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."-Jesus, from the Gospel of John 8:44

We live in a world that would rather believe in lies than believe in the truth. We do so because if we live the lie then we don't have to change who we are. Because if we have to change who we are then that means we have made mistakes and there is something wrong with us or we are doing the wrong thing or have the wrong ideas. And no one wants to admit that. We are satisfied living in darkness. We feel we know better than God. We feel gray areas are fine. This is why Jesus said some are of the devil. The world throws away righteousness and takes on evil masquerading as good. Paul says that satan masquerades as an angel of light. Many times the world calls good evil and evil good. They do not know the difference anymore. Listen to these lies that the accuser has given to us and that we believe:

He turns love into lust.

He turns a baby into a fetus.

He turns a bad day into depression.

He turns depression into suicide.

He turns pain into doubt.

He turns doubt into atheism.

He turns a bad habit into an addiction.

He turns a disagreement into hate.

He turns pornography into freedom of speech.

He turns a condition into an excuse.

He turns knowledge into rationalization.

He turns self-awareness into pride.

He turns humanitarianism into liberalism.

He turns your past into the present.

He turns discipline into abuse.

He turns fossils into evolutionary fact.

He turns civil rights into racism.

He turns community leaders into politicians.

He makes "being good" into "good enough".

He turns women into objects.

He turns children into punching bags.

He turns fathers into one-night stands.

He turns a marriage into a definition.

He turns tolerance into apathy.

He turns moral standards into a joke.

He turns a family into a village.

He turns faith into a religion.

He turns worship into an argument.

And worst of all he turns Christians into lazy, lukewarm, twice-a-year-pew-sitting hypocrites who listen to these lies.

Funny, though, because a couple of verses before the scripture above tells us how to get out of this mess. "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”- Jesus, from the Gospel of John 8:32. But unfortunately, no one wants to live in the truth.

Response to Homosexuality

http://weknowawesome.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/homesexuality-sin.jpeg

YES

I know this is a sensitive and weighty issue. With all the humility, love, and sincerity I have (which I know is insufficient), I affirm that homosexuality is sinful, and government should not recognize ‘homosexual marriage’ in its legislation. I find this poster emotionally intimidating because we subconsciously feel that if we assent to the 'logical' conclusions, we must also assent to the emotion behind the poster.

I want to ensure people deal with the real issues in this whole debate – partly by dismantling the abundance of straw men in this poster, and partly by highlighting true conflict where it exists. My main hope (and prayer) is that the Holy Spirit will work with my words – not to be logical, but to address the emotion and spirit, so that people will see Christ’s glory as surprisingly beautiful.

This is a relatively quick post, so it will be full of words and I will have missed a lot of pertinent verses. By all means research it yourself! And comment/question at the end!

If you don’t want to read the whole thing, skip to point 7) and the conclusion :)

1) The Bible defines marriage as 1 man + 1 woman, for life.

This is easy to defend from Scripture (Gen 2:24, Mar 10:1-12), and the purposes God designed marriage for: the raising of Godly children (Mal 2:15), and the demonstration of the relationship between Christ and the church (Eph 5:21-32). Also nature, and the history and tradition of most of humanity for most of history, testify that this is a reasonable point of view.

Polygamy (and rape) are against God’s design for marriage (1Ti 3:2, 1Co 7:2, Deut 17:17). God commanded marriage in the instances of rape or female slaves/prisoners of war, to protect women in an environment of male leadership (which He knew sinful men would abuse). It was enforcing the natural/traditional order for the good of those involved.

2) Jesus uttered many words relevant to same-sex relationships.

Its not hard to figure out Jesus’ point of view on it. He taught God's view of marriage (Mat 19:5-6), how to apply the Old Testament today (Mat 5:17, Mat 12:8, Joh 4:23-24, Mat 23:23), the importance of humility and selflessness, and ultimately finding more purpose and pleasure in God than sex (or any other earthly pleasure – Luk 18:22, Mat 19:29).

Under these principles, even the following are sinful to God: lust (Mat 5:28), adultery/fornication, polygamy, selfishness in 'traditional/natural' marriage, idolizing your spouse higher than God and His purposes. He raised the standard so high that we all need his grace - even pious 'naturally/traditionally' married people.

3) There is clear guidance in the New Testament (especially from Jesus) on how to apply the OT views of homosexuality to our lives today.

The specifics laws in the OT fulfilled several functions: to keep Israel safe and separated from surrounding nations (God's mission has shifted - for now - to be global), to point toward Christ (Heb 10:1 – we now aim to reflect Christ more directly), and to teach the character of God (intended to direct us to God rather than being a rigid legalistic program). Even the less relevant of these purposes are useful to show us what God is like. And it is easy (especially with the help of the NT) to tell which functions the various laws served.

One aspect to God's character described in the OT is that He is very holy, and jealous about his holiness. He defines good, not us (1Pe 1:16, Psa 16:2, Jas 1:17, Mat 19:16-17). Anything which clouds or muddies or opposes that 'good', is by definition bad for us and God - evil. So there really are no 'grey' zones. Natural/traditional marriage is clearly described for multiple reasons as being 'good' (Pro 18:22, Pro 19:24, Gen 2:18, 1Co 7:9) – anything which confuses this (including homosexuality) is ‘evil’.

4) Its fairly obvious what Paul’s view of homosexuality was.

Paul deliberately focuses not on the lack of commitment in a relationship, but on a lack of adherence and submission to God's character (Rom 1).

The Biblical understanding of sexual complementariansm is extremely protective of women, and challenges husbands to be the most humble, gracious, serving, sensitive, protective men on the planet (Eph 5:25). Marriage is meant to demonstrate two roles - the role of Christ (in loving leadership) and the Church (in loving submission). Both are challenging, sacrificial, and rewarding to do as Christ intends – and easy to abuse or refuse.

5) There is, in fact, an undeniable natural order of things.

The world has not evolved beyond the need for God's purposes. Especially one He thought was important enough to ingrain in our very DNA – male and female design. The only time God overrules his general purposes, is when he calls some (few) people do it out of necessity (not want!) for the sake of focusing on other areas of God’s mission. That’s why God allows people to remain single (1Co 7:34-35).

The fact that some animals commit homosexuality does not make it any more natural. They are usually showing signs of mental disturbance, and are obviously aberrant. There is also a clear natural selection disadvantage. Nothing natural about it. Besides, even truly 'natural' behaviors (such as many male animals eating their young) are grotesque when applied to humans. When you consider humans without a clear gender (e.g. with chromosomal abnormalities or ambiguous genitalia), applying the term 'homosexual' to them is nonsensical anyway. I'm only discussing committed homosexual relationships, as opposed to traditional/natural marriage.

History teaches us that accepting homosexuality as a way of ‘moving forward’ and defining ‘civilized society’, is probably a bad idea. All civilizations in history, no matter how glorious, have fallen into pride and moral and financial strife just prior to their dramatic (often shameful) decline. The hallmark feature of such decline has always been an excessive and increasing focus on experimenting outside traditional/natural sexual behavior. The Bible also predicts this progression (Rom 1).

6) God is the most tolerant and loving being in the universe.

We all deserve punishment for our sins, but God is being patient and continues to show common grace to all, which is meant to draw us to repentance and trust in Him (Rom 2:4). Don't trample Him underfoot by defending the sin He died to save us from. If we fail to understand God’s ways in fullness, at least trust that He knows what’s best for us, others, and Himself. Ultimately you will only find lasting delight in the display of God’s character to you and through you.

7) The Bible does not deny homosexuals the ability to choose.

There is a difference between allowing, and condoning or defending. Government may not have the right to force morality (unless it is harming others) – we have a responsibility to let people choose. But we also have a responsibility to encourage the best (God’s character on display in traditional/natural marriage), and to NOT condone anything which muddies, confuses, or opposes this.

Legal backing cannot be given to a nonsensical entity. Marriage has a meaning – two men cannot be married to each other, just like two bachelors cannot be married to each other. Gays are welcome to marry - find one member of the opposite sex and commit yourself to them for life in love and faithfulness. There are several stories of people with continuing homosexual tendencies (some of which were at one point openly 'gay'), living well in a loving, Christ-honouring, natural/traditional marriage.

People can add legal backing to marriage if they like, but ultimately marriage is spiritual – God designed it from the beginning, and He defines, defends, and rejoices in it. The basis for opposing gays living sinfully together, is not that society or the legal system – or even Christians – think its sinful. Its that God thinks its sinful.

Finally, some notes about the emotion behind the poster.

Maybe some Christians are self-righteous, hateful, unsympathetic, and prideful. But the Bible encourages humility, grace, bearing eachother’s burdens, and respect. We are all sinners before God – we are all sexually broken in some way, and fail to delight in, pursue, or express the character of God as we ought (and need, for our satisfaction).

I don’t know where homosexual people come, what their experience of delight and struggle is, how they tick, or how broken they are. And I don’t pretend to. God alone knows that, and He cares. I just know my own struggles. But one thing I know – we will all only find true delight in God and His glory.

God alone knows ultimate outcomes, how characters will change, and what areas in life we will discover ourselves to be completely wrong about. He along has the ability to know what is ‘good’ for us. He made us so that we would find ultimate purpose and meaning and satisfaction and life and power, when we delight in the full display of His character to and through us. Marriage does this when performed God’s way – part of which means being traditional/natural.

Ultimately, homosexuality only matters because it is a sign of how we treasure Christ. To pridefully integrate homosexuality into your very identity, instead of agreeing with God about it, is evidence of (at best) a serious distraction from this, or (at worst) heartfelt prideful hatred toward Christ. Both of which condemn you like all sin outside of Christ, but both of which Christ can forgive and overcome if you will let Him!

I want God to enable Christians to come alongside homosexuals as fellow strugglers in the battle against sin and for our perfect delight in God’s glory. May we battle together with humility and love and uncompromising devotion to God.

The Addict

Why do people allow substances, feelings, actions, thoughts, or desires to overtake them? What causes people to turn to lifestyles they would not have normally turned to given any other circumstances?

Here is an interesting article, http://www.hbo.com/addiction/understanding_addiction/index.html?current=0. Perhaps the answers can only be answered by those who have had addictions. But here are the results from a poll taken at www.ideasoftimreligion.blogspot.com: Which of the following causes more people to have addictions than the rest?

• 37% said Emotional instability.
• 37% said Spiritual weakness
• 25% said Bad decisions.
• 0% said Physical illness, a disease.
• 0% said Genetics
• 0% said Bad childhood.
• 0% said Other.

First if all what needs to be remembered as you read is that addictions are not just about drugs. There are plenty of forms of addictions. There are drugs, alcohol, work, sex, money, power, crime, and others. All of the above cause pain in our lives, even the ones that no one voted for. The problem is not in the circumstances that shape our lives of pain. The problem is in the reaction to that pain. Some choose to seek new relationships. Some seek a higher power. Some seek medicinal treatments. Some seek physical pleasures or mutilation. These actions can cause addictions and could put many people on a path to destruction. We all have some sort of circumstance in our lives that could or have formed into some sort of addiction, so we all can have opinions on this topic.

Those who have emotion instability are usually ones that have had some sort of relational problem in their life. They have been hurt by someone in their life. Betrayal, abuse, and neglect (traumas) are usually not absent in cases like these. This one could be added to the choice of bad childhood and perhaps that is why no one chose the answer. They move on from relation to relation. They can't seem to find that someone who will take them away from all of the pain they have suffered in their own mind. When that person can't take the pain away they move to another person. This relation does not necessarily mean one that involves sexual action. This could be friends. They can't seem to keep the same friends over time. It could be parents. Children start to look for other father or mother figures to have someone in their life. If they can not find the "perfect" relationship they look for a way to cope with that relationship by finding an outlet. That outlet becomes the addiction.

Oddly enough, no one said that genetics are a leading cause of addiction. But as stated in the article posted here 60% of alcoholics have had alcoholism in their family history. But maybe we recognize that even though our family has had problems it doesn't mean that we will. And it definitely doesn't mean that we have to follow those footsteps. But you can see this as being true. If babies can be born addicted to crack they can be born addicted to other things as well, or at least predisposed.

No one said physical illness or bad childhood either. Physical illness can cause addiction by either someone trying to relieve the pain they have in their live. They over use the prescriptions such as many celebrities do. Or they are being so stressed out by some situation they feel like they have nothing else to lose.

Probably the reason why no one said bad childhood is because it would be a redundant statement. Starting down a road that has plenty of bad decisions probably can not be pinpointed where it all started such as in your childhood. Besides one has to start making your own decisions and not blame the past for all the mistakes made.

The article has another page that talks about myths of addictions. Two of the myths are myths, in a way, that is. Science treats addiction as a disease. It's not a disease, but a sickness. But a sickness of what? The mind. The substance or action plays on the mind of the individual and the individual can not break free from this thought and thereby causing the person to make irrational decisions, changing the individual into someone they are not. The doctors try and treat the disease by using other forms of medicine. This is the myth that is a myth. The article said that many (when appropriate) are given medicine to curb their instincts, their brain functions back to normality. But then that means they will have to rely on the new medicine to stay functioning. That is better than the alternative but it doesn't cure the problem. The other myth-myth is that addicts are not addicted to all drugs. That is true for the most but there is an underlying factor here that is not mentioned. During an AA meeting at a rehabilitation center, after the prayer of serenity was said and all formalities out of the way, one patient said that he was glad he didn't escalate into other drugs and that he didn't start to substitute one drug for another. Meanwhile the room was getting foggier and foggier because everyone in the room had an average of about nine cigarettes in the hour meeting that was observed. Nicotine is a drug too. The man was substituting one for another but didn't realize it. That could be an example of how addictions are treated with other "medicines". The other myths seem highly accurate.

But the over all problem that causes addictions is the over all worldly problem of having spiritual weakness.

People turn to physical solutions when the real solution lies in the spiritual world. Places like AA, thank God for AA, even acknowledge that people have to recognize there is a higher power. But even as great as AA and other rehab centers are, there still needs that openness to not just accepting a higher power but embracing a higher power. Accepting a higher power is fine, but what is needed is a full surrendering to the higher power, because if you don't then you are still fighting the sickness. And yes, the higher power is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Divorce and Remarriage

I was thinking the other day that I would really like to get back into posting some thoughts, videos and articles on here. I have been listening to a lot of preachers lately including some Ken Boa as he goes through Ephesians (really great), also some from a local preacher Nathan Hawkins from the "Hub". i plan to listen to some more Piper or R.C. Sproul in the future. However, my wife and I listened to this video just this evening and I thought it would be a great start. It really is a great listen. It is from David Pawson's new website where he has made a lot of his teachings for free to ear :)
This is a hard topic to cover and I think he does superb.
Pawson must be pushing 82 years now and yet he continues to preach lively. He takes a hard line on this topic but preaches it with love as he is all so good at. I mean how do you get cheers and applause after a sermon like this one and while preaching a message that isn't exactly ear tickling for many of us? Or I suppose it depends on what you see as ear tickling.
May our desires become His desires :)

Divorce and remarriage

Defining Roman Catholicism

Had a really interesting conversation with a staunch Roman Catholic the other day. Interesting because (as I told him), I'm certain he would have been branded a Protestant and joined the Reformation if he was alive with Martin Luther and John Calvin. And I'm convinced he's saved.

He does hold to many 'official' Catholic doctrines which (I think) we all disagree with, but he holds them in a way which is ALMOST Biblical in my opinion (although I still disagree) :) Even more strange - he is certain that his beliefs are official Vatican-endorsed doctrine. Yet they differ drastically from what I think about Catholicism, based on my experiences with other Catholics, my readings from Roman Catholic authorities, and of course many Protestant teachers.

I'm not going to detail his beliefs here, as he may read this post. And I don't want to mis-represent his views! But I just found it extremely thought-provoking. And I wondered if it would be helpful to discuss it here:

1) What differences are there between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism?

2) Do these differences actually exist - for the Vatican, for all Catholics, for just some Catholics? Do they (or similar differences) exist between groups of Reformed Protestants?

3) Are these differences actually important? Why? Are they more important than differences that exist between groups of Reformed Protestants? Why?

4) Are there ways to hold to these points in Catholic doctrine, which minimize the difference or minimize its importance?

Please comment away!