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If you know me personally or have followed my blog in recent months, you are probably aware that I have done a LOT of deep-diving into essential matters of my faith and my church's history. As I've mentioned before in this post, I can't even recall now what exactly precipitated this journey; I suspect it was a myraid of factors. You see, I felt as though I was a product of divorce--a divorce of Christiandom--and I had never had the rightful opportunity to decide for myself which parent I had wanted to live with all those years. It was a frightening proposition to lay down absolutely every tenet I held dear and prayerfully sort it all out; but I see now that it was a very necessary process for me.
I was telling my husband just the other day that I feel as though I am on the backside of a contraction, so-to-speak. A year or so ago, I felt so tightly squeezed--my world (and my mind!) was spinning such that I could barely catch a breath between all the questions:
What (or who) is the ultimate authority on faith and morals? Is it the Bible, the Church, or both?
What exactly did the early church fathers believe?
How many books does the Bible really have?
What do I believe about the Lord's Supper?
Once saved, are we always saved?
Who are "saints" and do I need them to intercede for me?
What is my relationship to Mary?
Why is there a Pope?
What, as a Protestant, am I protesting...exactly?
It seemed as though one question would lead to three more! It was an intense journey, for sure, filled with books, attending Mass with friends, meeting with my pastor, reading more books, peppering every believing friend and family member I knew with questions, listening to audio sermons and homilies, and reading more books. (Have I mentioned the books LOL! Protestant books, Catholic books, books about the similiarities and differences between Catholics and Protestants, books on church history, memoirs written by Catholic converts...well, you get the idea!)
And while I was breathing through it all and praying and breathing and praying, I feel as though now that intense period of questioning is lessening and I am beginning to anticipate the birth of a whole new faith, a faith I've always known, but a faith that has weathered a LOT of intense analysis at the end of the day and has come out stronger than before.
I couldn't possibly write down every question and every answer and every verse and every source text that I have come across over this journey and map it all out for you. But I will do my best to summarize what I have come to believe and know...and know that I know...about my Protestant faith.
Please forgive the bullet points, but I will use them for ease, in case you, too, would like to explore more on a particular topic. And as always, feel free to click on the bold print linked to previous blog posts for further explanations. I am NOT an expert and will never begin to unravel centuries worth of disputes within and between the Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Christian faith traditions. But, I have come to have peace--spiritually and mentally--on these matters listed below.
- What (or who) has the final authority in matters of faith and morals? The Bible. I came to realize the major theological difference between solo scriptura and sola scriptura (and it is NOT just one letter LOL!)
- What exactly did our church fathers believe? Expect a blog post about this in the future, but suffice it to say that there were NOT unanimous beliefs on matters such as the Eucharist, the biblical canon, Marian doctrine, and more. And there was LOTS and LOTS of heresy! I am thankful to our church fathers for diligently throwing out heretical theologies through all the early councils and creeds of the church. (Four of these councils and three creeds are agreed upon by both Protestants and Catholics, by the way!)
- How many books are in the canon? Sixty Six. The Deuterocanical books (aka apocrypha) were written after the OT books, but before the time of Christ--that is to say, they are Jewish property. The Jewish community has never accepted these books as inspired Scripture. The text contained in these books do not make that claim, nor are they ever quoted by Christ or the apostles. In fact, many early church Fathers, including Jerome, the great biblical scholar and translator of the Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate rejected them! Once I became very confident they are not inspired Scripture, the issue of purgatory and praying for the dead became a non-issue for me (mentioned in 2 Maccabees), as it is found no where else in Scripture (in fact, praying for the dead or conversing with the dead is condemned).
- As for the Eucharist, you can find more about that here. My current understanding conforms most with the Reformed view that the Lord's Supper it is not merely a symbolic meal (Baptist view), nor does it contain transubstantiated (Catholic view) or consubstantiated (Lutheran view) elements, but rather it is a spiritual presence of Christ where we can truly experience Christ and receive spiritual nourishment.
- So, if we are always saved, what is the relationship of works to faith? I thoroughly explore that here. Do works save? No! Do they matter? Yes!! We will be held accountable for them and rewarded based on them in Heaven.
- A piggy-back question to that: What is the difference between how Protestants and Catholics view righteousness? Check out this post for a deep-dive on that one!
- The Pope and Mary and the Saints? Expect a future blog post about this one, too; I can't possibly discuss this in a bullet point! However, a better understanding of church history and geo-political history helped me a lot on this one. (What do you do when thousands of people defect due to severe persecution? I can see now where the concept of penance developed within the church to help parishioners get back into the good graces of the church family. Likewise, I can see how those who remained faithful to the church were placed on pedestals as "saints" who could dispense extra grace to those who were not. However, the Bible does not speak to these things; instead, it teaches that we have but ONE mediator in Christ and that His atoning sacrifice paid for it ALL on the cross.)
Now, why go through all that? To beat it over the head of those who disagree with me? NO! In fact, I strongly believe that while we may not be able to "clasp hands" with everyone on matters of faith, we DO need to "lock arms" and cooperate with our fellow orthodox Trinitarian Christian brothers and sisters to further the gospel of Christ. We need to do this for the revival of our nation and the shalom of our cities!
Perhaps this is a necessary exercise for you, too, dear friend! Perhaps you need to labor through some tough questions about what you really believe and why. After all, we are coming up on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation next year. Could you say, right along with Luther...HERE I STAND? If not, why? If so, what exactly are you protesting? Do you even know? I'd encourage you to take time today to get with the Lord and discuss these essential matters of salvation and faith.
Blessings on YOUR faith journey, dear one! May it birth rich fruit in your life! And if you have any questions...well, you are in GOOD company here!
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