Catholics obey Jesus’ clear, emphatic, often-repeated Instruction, “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood you do not have life in you.” Protestantism is a such collection of reasons to ignore Jesus that we may define it: Protestantism is “Jesus Avoidance”.
Those who willfully choose to ignore Jesus’ clear command have not been blessed with the full understanding of His greatness. They choose not to “have life in” them.
Many resent that fact. “We are just as good as you!”, they tell we who encourage them to greater obedience. They ignore us, even while admitting, “Jesus did fulfill the Prophet’s predictions. He is God, Son of God, Second Person of The Holy Trinity. Still, I am not going to do what He says I must do to ‘have life in’ me. I am NOT going to take Catholic Communion.”
Instead of obeying, Protestants, particularly professional Protestants with comfortable careers, tend to say the same sorts of things: “God loves everyone. We should all get along.”
When those simplistic bromides are properly dismissed for the shallowness that they are, we see an underlying desperation.
“Catholics worship Mary. Catholics worship statues. The Bible says ‘Call no man Father’. The Vatican is made of solid gold. Home churches kept Christianity alive after Constantine invented the Catholic Church and killed a hundred million early Christians. I believe in The Bible and I don’t want to hear any factual history about The Catholic Church having decided what Books would be in it and which of many translations would be used.”
Why do they work so hard to justify disobedience? Contradictions are at the heart of every mental disorder. Can any contradiction be greater than “I believe Jesus is God, but only when I choose.”
Our duty remains: remind ourselves and others of the need to obey Jesus’ emphatic instructions, repeated over a dozen times. “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood you do not have life in you.”
Why would anyone in their right mind ignore Jesus’ clear instructions? One of our jobs is to ask. And ask. And, ask.
