The protestant does not need to be convinced that White is right - he already believes it. And the Catholic already believes that Madrid is right. When the two clash, few people in the audience will question their beliefs based on what is said on stage (though seeds can be planted).
Well-stated David. Especially in regards to a single debating point.
But the two-sided analogy isn’t necessarily applicable when looking for the FULLNESS of truth.
In other words if you have 1000 Protestants all in one room with their Bibles attempting to come to the fullness of conclusions on absolute truth, the best you can theoretically possibly do, is have 999 of them all in error somewhere (and we know it is all 1000).
At this point they just surrender to relativism and say: “Well, we all affirm the basics so that’s good enough.” And if you try to pin them down on “the basics” you see the result: “church splits”.
They have to think this way otherwise the cognitive dissonance that follows would drive one out of their faith. And since Catholicism is so often rejected out of hand without a critical intellectual venture (as it was in Protestant Christians within my own family), there is seemingly nowhere for these poor folks to seek absolute truth so they cling to the relativism and (thankfully) believe much anyway, (but sadly) knowing interiorly, this is not the “fullness of truth”.
The Catholics’ whole foundational principles are different. This massive foundational movement is one reason why it is so hard for someone in Protestantism to come into Catholicism (it’s beyond “hard”–it is a great grace). Yet it is relatively easy to Protestants to go “Church-hopping” from one denomination to the next looking for what they FEEL is the best preaching, music, fellowship, or whatever (a large emotional element).
This is NOT consistent with Jesus telling us the Counselor whom He will send, will lead you into all truth.
**JOHN 15:26-27, 16:13 ** 26 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; 27 and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. . . . 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
As Gary Michuta has said using a math class analogy, and authority (I’ll paraphrase):
Our Protestant friends have the math book (most of it anyway), but they all disagree to some extent as to what the answers are. They all have to be their own interpreters and can really never solve issues definitively. This is why they must embrace religious relativism and end up in unity only in defining themselves by what they are not (“We are NOT Catholic”).
With the Catholic Church, we too have the math book, we also have the teachings orally. We DO come to our own answers too. But then the teacher comes around in the classroom looking over your work and can (if necessary) tell you if you have the right or wrong answers so you can correct them.
The teacher also has the (God-given and protected) authority to ignore things in us, such as the student who mis-spelled a word when transcribing a math word problem that is inconsequential to the math problem (notice the teacher taught the word correctly, it was the student who merely transcribed it incorrectly. But if the inaccurate transcription is consequential, the teacher corrects that too). The teachers can also allow legitimate diversity in other areas—i.e. the brand of pencil you favor—because they have the authority and charism to KNOW if this is part of the deposit of faith or not.
The Church is such a great gift!
