Why does protestantism appeal to people?

Answer 1

The Protestant Church is very widespread and cannot be regarded simply as 'Protestantism' as if 'protestantism' was one united and homogenious unit. The styles of worship within Protestantism are very varied, from lavish ritual of Anglocatholicism, through to the rousing preaching of the Methodist Church, the charismatic Spirit-led worship of the Pentecostal or even the silent, meditative worship of the Quaker. Therefore, whatever style of worship is most appropriate for your own personality, somewhere within Protestantism is you will feel at home. Therefore it may well appeal to more people that, say, the Catholic mass where it is almost a case of 'one size fits all'.

However, with matters of doctrine, the great appeal of the Protestant Church is that the doctrine is invariably solely based on scripture and reason and far less, if at all, on the teachings of the heirarchy of the Church. This means that the vast majority of Protestants reject utterly doctrines that they believe are unBiblical and which have crept into the Catholic Church over the centuries causing corruption, and, often heresy within that church. These doctrines include the idea of purgatory, praying to saints, the over-adulation of Mary, the veneration of relics, the acceptance of non biblical doctrine (eg the assumption of Mary) as fact and many more. This makes them more appealing as it unites them more to the early Church immediately after Christ before corruption and these other doctrines crept in. By feeling closer to the early Christian Church they believe that they can be truer to their faith and more tru to God.