My question arises from a conversation with a protestant friend. During this conversation she stated that her church takes the contents of the bible literally, and that we, Catholics, do not.
After the conversation, it occurred to me the following proposition:
Which is the doctrinal or theological error in Protestantism that has caused it to fracture into 40,000 protestant denominations worldwide and counting since Martin Luther, and all of them claim to have a literal interpretation of the bible, with equal number of different interpretations regarding Salvation, the Divinity of Christ, abortion, high church, low church, Communion, etc? It seems to me that protestant doctrine not only causes but promotes this never ending breakup. My specific question is one that could have been used as a warning to Martin Luther: “Mr. Luther if you postulate “this statement” the church that you are about to create will disintegrate, fracture, and splinter into thousands of denominations within 500 years”. What is it that Martin Luther wrongly proposed, that enables this continual disintegration?
If I am not mistaken, the error that I am enquiring about is not present in the eastern orthodox churches, since they appear to still be coalesced; and 2000 years later, there is still only One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
You seem to hold diversity, as something to be avoided, and choose to label it as disintegration.
Also, you hold that keeping the same thinking for 2000 years has merit, for you.
All right then, what about Confucius ?
His thoughts have been around for longer than 2000 years.
Do you have the same views, as your Grandparents ?
An army is structured differently than a university.
Thinking coming out of the army is less divergent, in turn.
Though the thinking may or may not exceed that of the university, the likelihood of it being expressed is greater, not due to the superior nature of its thoughts, but the superior infrastructure of its body to make present its thoughts.
Take another approach:
England is older than the United States.
Should the United States have broken away from Mother England ?
Age is no guarantor of truth or worth.
Youth is no guarantor of truth or worth, either.
The longevity of an institution may be an indication of staleness; the birth of an institution is no indication of freshness.
Your friend believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible.
You do not.
Well, maybe she is incorrect; but, what do you know of the Bible, yourself ?
I can only hope it is stronger than your knowledge of the Protestant Reformation.
Let me ask you this:
Does she believe that Jesus Christ is her Lord, Savior, and God ?
If so, why not take solace in your membership within the Catholic Church, embrace your friend as a cousin-in-Christ, and devote your energies to evangelize the Catholic Traditions to non-believers.
After all, your friend and all those Protestants, who the Lord judges believe in Him, are going to Heaven - but clearly, there are non-believers who are not, unless you reach them.
