When we boil things down, obedience is what separates sheep from goats.
Astute readers of The Bible see one reason why Matthew, Mark, Luke, and much of John precedes The Great Watershed: John 6:53-66. The earlier Books and Passages, build up to The Passage, the one that separates sheep from goats. John 6:53 is a clear instruction, a command of division in which Jesus clearly says: “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood you do not have life in you.” The Great Watershed divides all mankind into two groups. All must choose: Group 1 or 2.
Group 1: Obedient Catholics understand that Jesus was announcing what He was to provide at The Last Supper, a transformation of bread and wine into His Life-giving Body and Blood.
The Catholics also understand that Jesus was providing more than a largely pointless, one-time ceremony. He was establishing a Church for the Final Age. He empowered it to provide His Body and Blood to those who believed that He died to give the obedient faithful a Church that would re-present The Miracle of Transubstantiation at every Catholic Mass that would follow The First Catholic Mass at The Last Supper.
Over time, Group 1 has been symbolized by wheat, versus weeds. Catholics have been symbolized by sheep, instead of goats. Catholics recognize The Lamb of God, and frequently use that as a symbol of Christ. Catholics have also been symbolized by the sign of good fish, not those rejected by The Fisherman.
Group 2 is looked at by Group 1 in varying degrees of astonishment. “How can they be so blind? So self-centered? What is wrong with them?” Then, we realize: “Wait a minute! If I give in to temptation, I could end up in Group 2! It is only by The Grace of God that I am in Group 1. If He withdraws His Grace from me, then I will end up stuck in Group 2, and, likely the horrors beyond!”
Those whose vanity keeps them from believing that God was powerful enough to establish His Church with the power to provide Real Communion, Real Forgiveness, and Real Ordination until the End of The Age end up in Group 2.
What do Protestants in Group 2 actually protest? They “protest” the Power of God. <em>”God may have died for us, but He was not powerful enough to found a Church that could provide His Body and Blood down to, and past, this very day. God is NOT that powerful. That’s why I am a Protestant. I protest the very thinking that God could institute a chosen priesthood that would last to our own time, living links with the Apostles He ordained, to provide those Sacraments. I protest the idea that God could be that powerful. Instead of worshiping a God that powerful, I prefer to worship myself, but I do so in such a way to make it appear that I worship God.
