Saintly questions. There are few things more mystifying than the naming of Protestant Churches after Catholic Saints.
Saints were officially canonized as Saints by the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The Protestants who attend St. Someone’s Church, by their very attendance, give credence to The Church with the power to confer sainthood.
If the Roman Catholic Church had the authority to canonize the Saint after whom their church is named, why isn’t it good enough to be taken seriously in more, if not all, regards?
Despite the teachings of a particular church, naming it after a person who was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church leads one to the conclusion that even the most diehard Protestant thinks there is credibility in Rome.
What if a Protestant church named, for instance, after St. John, is in a pro-choice denomination? We know that St. John and The Roman Catholic Church are pro-life. Will St. John, who hated hypocrisy, work in Heaven to punish them? Attendees, if they think about it, must find themselves in the odd position of hoping they named their church after a man who has no power in Heaven.
It is confusing to attend a church named after a man whose teaching has been abandoned. It is worse than confusing to attend a church named after a saint whose teaching they contradict.
Not far away from where this is being written, is one of the great mysteries of my life.
It is named “St. Peter’s Lutheran Church”.
