The new kind of Protestants are only dimly aware of The Catholic Church. They know there is a Catholic Church. They may even have Catholic ancestors. They feel Catholicism is simply another Christian group, much like their own. “Catholics are a little more formal than we are, with lot of rituals. But, they’re a lot like we are.”
That, of course, was truer when there were few Protestant denominations. A hundred years ago, most of the thousand or so Protestant groups shared Catholic positions on artificial birth control, abortion, euthanasia, divorce, and other hurtful things.
Who are the shallowest schismatics? Now, another type of Protestant has emerged, along with an additional 39,000 Protestant schisms. These new offshoots of Protestantism fancy themselves to be bold pioneers. “We have gone beyond simply being Catholic or Protestant. We are ‘Evangelicals’.”
The marketing cleverness behind their movement is such that no one knows exactly what that word means.
Evangelicals like that vagueness. Evangelicalism is an outward manifestation of internal confusion. It attracts those uncomfortable with any specific beliefs. “Our faith is an individual expression of ourselves. We believe in Jesus. We believe in God. Because we believe, we are saved. The Bible says so!”
When an Evangelical is asked, “If you believe in Jesus, why don’t you obey His Great pro-Catholic Command in John 6:53? ‘If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood you do not have life in you.’ Why do you ignore His clear, direct words?”
Their answer, or non-answer, is usually a variant of “The important thing is that I love the Lord! Do you love the Lord? Do you know the Lord? Do you really know the Lord? I love My Jesus!” When we see that they have few formal doctrines more profound than those, we must ask “How can their theology be that shallow?”
If we are fortunate, we may hear a reply to the implication that they have sunk into some bubble-headed nincompoopery: “You Catholics may think you’re real smart, with the Pope and being a really old religion, and Apostles, and everything like that. But, we Evangelicals do know this: The word ‘angel’ is contained in the word ‘Evangelical’. An angel is the messenger of God. What more proof do we need that we are right?”
Who are the shallowest schismatics? It is amazing anyone could abandon the firm, solid ground of Catholic teaching and doctrine, held dearer than life itself by generations of their ancestors, for sheer twaddle.
