I'm a Protestant. Well, technically, I belong to a non-denominational church. The church had began in the Baptist tradition and later chose to leave the denomination. My point is that I don't share many of the beliefs and traditions found in Roman Catholicism. I don't believe they are the original church or that Peter was a pope. I recoil at the excessive reverence toward Mary and the claims that she and her mother were sinless. I don't believe in papal infallibility.
All this is said with my sincere belief that Roman Catholicism does teach from the Gospel. Many Catholics are, in fact, Christians. I do believe that the Pope is a sincere servant of Christ. This is not a popular view among some of my peers, who believe that Catholicism is idolatrous, legalist, and promotes salvation being achieved through good works. From Rome's point of view, this isn't the case. They revere Mary, but she isn't a god to them any more than the Trinity is polytheistic.
I do have a major problem with the Roman Catholic Church and it pertains to none of things above. My problem is that the Catholic Church doesn't do a good enough job with explaining what salvation is and how it works. Many Catholics, in their ignorance, believe that living a good life is what guarantees them a place in Heaven. This is where denominations come in.
For those not familiar with Christendom, the Protestant Reformation was a point in history where an explosion of theological dissent from Roman Catholicism occurred. Up until the 15th century, there were only two dominant churches; the other being the Orthodox Church. The Reformation was a call for Christians to reject Catholic authority and to acknowledge the corruption occurring within it. Martin Luther is considered one of the fathers of the movement, posting his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. This sparked further protests.
The Church, that is, Christendom, needs followers of this stripe. You'll hear a lot of, "Why can't we all just get along?" in today's culture. We're obsessed with unity, yet have little to no knowledge of what came before. It's yet another example of anti-intellectualism within the Church. I'm not asking for every Christian to be an Augustine, but they need to have the passion to know and understand the convictions and conflicts of our forefathers. The Church is not a country club. There's no place for the half-hearted. If the Church is to flourish, we must have thinkers. We must have brothers and sisters that will challenge the churches. Denominations serve in that purpose. Unity will only homogenize and, eventually, water down the Church.
There's a conflict over the Calvinist doctrine of Preservation of the Saints, also known pejoratively as "once-saved, always-saved". Roman Catholicism objects to this teaching, believing that a Christian essentially gets a hall pass to do whatever he desires. Luther, a believer in said teaching, countered that if a man truly has Christ in his heart, his desire will be to please Him.
I love that! I love that people within the Church can and will care enough about the Word to argue over these things. The Bible should not be approached frivolously. It's meant to be studied. We have the benefit in today's world to debate peacefully. We need to take advantage of that gift. While there are absolute deal-breakers existing within theology, it's debate that will bring Christians together in their mutual love for desiring Christ, not the abolishment of denomination.
-L. Travis Hoffman
9/30/2015
