This is an interesting topic, so I'll throw my two cents in to add even more confusion. It's nowhere near relevant to the current conversations of the day, but I wanted to share it as it is a small interest of mine and deals with Christian beliefs.
As a Catholic, I find Protestant ideas to be interesting as they give perspective on our own ideas. Our scriptures are relatively the same for the most part, yes. But culturally, Catholics and Protestants have other differences that interesting to go into.
For instance... Saints and the idea of a Church that is larger than "us". I recall having a conversation with a Protestant friend of mine and I was kind of interested in this idea as I never did much research into my own faith. I don't want to pretend like I fully understand Catholicism or that I am a scholar of any sort, so please take what I say here with a grain of salt. A note before I begin, when I refer to saints, I simply refer to the idea that any Christian is a saint. There is also the idea that a saint is someone who is recognized by the Church to be a particularly upstanding Christian or a matyr of the faith. This too is correct, as they sort of stand as a blueprint of how one should conduct themselves and as a signpost if you will in our faith.
We(being Catholics) are in a community of sinners/saints, people who are to be aware that A) Sin and B) Can still be redeemed. Degree of sin is debatable, and not the focal point of this particular vein conversation. The focal point of this conversation is how we treat this fact. Alongside the more traditional confess your sins, repent, and conducting acts of contrition; we have this sort veneration, or deep respect for saints; both living and dead. We believe, that even though they are gone, their prayers for us can still reach and aid us. Essentially, we ask for others to pray for us, living or dead, so that we might be healed/guided/helped along our way, a type of prayer we call intercession. (Whether this is actually successful is another debate, but at the very least prayers and thoughts of prayers can be rather comforting for those in dire straights.)
My friend had a very different viewpoint. She was a Protestant of unknown denomination, I never could quite remember. But her views was that when a person died, they were in Heaven and cannot/do not respond to prayers. This was a view that I was never exposed to so I found it interesting, albeit somewhat disheartening due it contradicting my own beliefs.
But I'm still curious, so I'm wondering what other people make of this concept. Thoughts?