Many find that Catholic teachings are “too much”. For instance, shortly after Cardinal Newman left the Church of England and became a Catholic, The Church put forth the Doctrine that Mary had ascended bodily into Heaven.
Newman thought that would discourage more people, especially “reasonable” people, from converting to Catholicism. The Church, from the beginning, has always been a living assault on what mere humans think is “reasonable”. When Jesus said, “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood, you do not have life in you.”, all but twelve of His followers abandoned Him for being beyond what they thought was “reasonable”.
“That’s just too much!”, one can hear them saying. We continue to hear those words, today. Then, The Catholic Church was the only large denomination in Western Europe that reflected the Christian religion. Those who left it left Christianity, and all hope of saving their souls.
God, The Loving Programmer, may have allowed the various not-Catholic denominations to come into being simply to provide “safety nets”. He knew that Henry VIII’s assault on Catholics would cause many weaker souls to leave The Church. He also knew that vicious attacks on The Church would begin in many Catholic nations.
It’s reasonable to conclude that He programmed the Protestant denominations that embrace Catholic teachings to act as “safety nets”. They catch a great number of those who leave, or who have been forced away from, The Church. Those Christ-based organizations keep many from falling into perdition.
Many of us were born and raised in such Protestant “safety nets”. We are foolish not to be grateful that they were there for our ancestors and ourselves. It’s much easier to get from them back to The Church than to make that pilgrimage from places that are much closer to the Pit.
