I don’t think the claim that evangelicalism is “easier” is borne out in practice. It is probably easier to be an evangelical than to be a really serious Catholic. But it is easier in Catholic churches (and much much easier in mainline Protestant churches) to get by on the bare minimum. And most converts to evangelicalism are the sort of Catholics who go to Mass only when required, if that. To be a member in good standing of an evangelical church, you generally have to attend several times a week, study the Scriptures intensely, and show tangible signs of transformation in your life. Admittedly, evangelicals aren’t monolithic and perhaps I’m thinking too much of the very strict corner of evangelicalism in which I was raised. But while many of the new “seeker-sensitive” churches have lowered the bar drastically, I think what I’m saying is still broadly true, and is probably true of the evangelicals who are making converts in Latin America.
Consider a hypothetical Latin American male–let’s call him Pedro. Pedro drinks heavily, and sometimes as a result he loses his temper and beats his wife and kids. Occasionally he visits a prostitute, and he often sits outside his house and whistles at pretty women going by. He’s a tough fighter and has beaten up a number of guys in bar fights. He doesn’t go to Mass as often as he should, and he knows that he’s in a state of sin a lot of the time. But he does go to confession at least a few times a year, and when he goes he has no problem honestly saying that he wants to lead a better life. It’s just that his habits are too much for him. And after all, each time he receives absolution his sins have been forgiven. It isn’t as if he’s having a long-term affair or any other sin that he’s wilfully attached to. It’s just that once he comes out of the confessional his old life rushes back.
Then his wife Maria starts going to the Pentecostal church down the road. Pedro doesn’t like this–he’s a good Catholic, after all, and his wife has always been a much better Catholic than he is. He even beats her up a few times, but she keeps going. And eventually he goes along too. The people at the Pentecostal church all seem very happy to be there–they’re a lot more excited about church than Pedro has ever imagined being. And they tell him that if he accepts Jesus into his heart he will receive the power to live a different kind of life. Pedro balks for a while, but eventually he goes to the altar, he prays the prayer, and he’s rebaptized in the river. Now he’s part of a community that expects him to stay away from the bar. If his wife comes home and finds him with drink on his breath, or discovers pornographic magazines tucked away in a drawer, she won’t just say, “Oh, Pedro committed another sin–I hope he gets himself to confession soon.” She will be horribly disappointed because sins like that mean that Pedro is backsliding (remember, Pentecostals, who make up the majority of Latin American Protestants, don’t believe in eternal security) and is not living the Christian life. If Pedro goes back to his old ways, he will lose most of his friends and will have shown himself to be a total failure at something very important. Also, his wife is a lot happier. . . .
I know that this is a very stereotyped story–Hispanics on the board may even find it offensive. And I admit that I haven’t been to Latin America myself. But I’ve read books, I’ve talked to people who do have first-hand experience, and I’ve spent a lot of time in Romania, where the situation is very similar. So I don’t think I’m being entirely unfair.
It may be comforting to speak as if all Catholics are wonderfully devout Christians and evangelicals are bigots seducing them into a cheap parody of Christianity, but it isn’t true. Evangelicalism often provides a communal support for living the Christian life, and a clear set of long-term expectations, that you just don’t get in the average Catholic parish here or in Latin America. And evangelical soteriology, while it can be antinomian, thinks of people’s salvation or damnation in terms of a long-term commitment rather than individual acts. Sometimes this can be helpful in encouraging people to try to live a holy life.
OK, call me a bigot. In fact that I believe firmly that Catholicism is at the very least closer to the truth than any other form of Christianity except possibly Orthodoxy. I’m saddened whenever I hear of someone leaving the Catholic Church. But the problem of Protestant evangelism will never be solved as long as you blame the Protestants. You need to be evangelizing your own fellow-Catholics, and then the Protestants won’t get a foothold. Until then, God bless them–at least through them people are being delivered from alcoholism and immorality and taught to study the Scriptures. (BTW, the “you” is rhetorical–I’m sure lots of you are doing a great job already, and your reward will be great in heaven.)
In Christ,
Edwin
). But Greece has an abortion rate over double that of the U.S. and regular church attendance is around 5%. Greece needs major evangelization. I remember walking through the Plaka in Athens and seeing all these little shops selling pornographic postcards, right next to Icons! I saw the same thing in Napflion, Hania and Heraklion. So I would have been better off menitoning Greece in the first place. But the same can be said for many a Lutheran, Calvinist and Catholic country as well. I am not picking on Orthodoxy. But I can’t stand when people complain about missionaries going to countries that are nominally Christian at best, and you cannot tell me that Greece is a serious Christian country. I chose to mention Orthodox complaints because that is who I hear it from the most - since I am married into an Orthodox family. But I also know there are plenty of good Christians, like you, in Greece. But I also know that the Orthodox church makes things pretty tough on the Protestant and Catholic minorities in Greece. Just go visit the Greek Evangelical Church in Thessaloniki and ask them how tough the Bishops makes things for them.