SAO PAULO, Brazil - About 3 million evangelical Protestants staged a huge rally Thursday in the heart of Brazil's biggest city, demonstrating their growing influence in the world's largest Roman Catholic country.
Crowding next to sound trucks blasting religious music, marchers wore T-shirts in the green and yellow colors of Brazil's flag advertising their annual "March for Jesus."
The hymn-singing evangelicals walked to skyscraper-lined Agenda Palest, Brazil's version of Wall Street, then gathered around a stage to hear bands play.
Sao Paulo police estimated the crowd swelled to 3 million, double last year's estimate.
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Maybe if each of those 3 million Prots had invited a Catholic, out of Christian brotherhood and NOT a desire to add more 'spiritual scalps' to their collections,...there might have been 6 million.
I'm not Catholic; neither am I a Protestant. I was never in the Catholic church so I have nothing to protest against.
When we follow your logic to its end, we find that Christ does not require you to belong to ANY congregation for salvation. The theif on the cross did not attend any church service.
So why do you, John, attend a church service?
People do not go to church to be saved. Saved people go to church. A church is for the edification of fellow believers through fellowship, sound teaching and worship in spirit and in truth.
You guys really are in dire need of psychological evaluation for stating that it matters what church someone who has received Christ as their Savior attends when membership in a visible earthly church is totally irrelevant in terms of salvation and gaining entrance into Heaven. When everybody stands before Christ after passing away He will not require for entrance into Heaven that everybody had belonged to a particular visible earthly church in addition to having received Him as their Savior. The only thing that Christ will require for entrance into Heaven is that everybody had received Him as their Savior.
John Y., you'd do well to learn a lesson from those wise Brazilian Protestants. I wouldn't call them lousy. Just goes to show the Lord will gather a flock together in a true congregation which takes the Bible alone for doctrine and Christ alone as its ultimate infallible ruler, and giving glory to God alone for grace and salvation, salvation being by grace alone through faith apart from works.
"Why do they think that they have to convert to Protestant Churches after receiving Christ as their Savior?"
We go to church not only for ourselves, but to help the babes in Christ through sound evangelism and instruction. I imagine those who are truly saved desire to belong to a congregation that facilitates Bible studies so that even though they are already saved, they might be able to enact the great comission.
The other reasons, of course, concern differences in doctrine.
From your own words the RCC is insane and the pope and clergy are off their rockers. Perhaps these people, unlike you, cannot deal with the insanity and unscriptural parts of the RCC.
However John, Church membership is required to enter heaven. For only those who are members of THE Church will enter heaven - certainly membership in a certain denomination is not required. Aren't Christians called to give up even the appearance of sin? If the RCC goes against God by promoting unscriptural things, doesn't attending such a Church give the appearance of agreeing with such sins? (Remember not everyone is as wise as you and can tell that believing unscriptural things is insane).
Those lousy Brazilians who convert to Protestant Churches from the Roman Catholic Church are totally insane to convert from the Roman Catholic Church to Protestant Churches. Why do they think that they have to convert to Protestant Churches after receiving Christ as their Savior? It is not necessary for RC's to convert to Protestant Churches after they have received Christ as their Savior because the church that someone who has received Christ as their Savior attends is totally irrelevant in terms of salvation and gaining entrance into Heaven. If church membership was required for salvation and gaining entrance into Heaven then the Bible would state so. But nowhere in the Bible does it equate church membership with salvation and gaining entrance into Heaven. The only thing that Christ requires for salvation and entrance into Heaven is to receive Him as Savior.
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