I recently spent a great weekend with a group of Evangelical Christian men. I rediscovered the power of looking beyond our differences to the more important things we have in common.
I came into the Catholic church more than 20 years ago, but left a piece of my heart in the Evangelical Protestant world. I’ve never lost my love of the contemporary Christian music I first found there as a young man. And I’ve always liked Evangelicals’ great comfort in discussing their faith.
But I’ve found personal challenges to maintaining contact with the community I left. I’ve not attended an Evangelical Protestant gathering in years where someone didn’t object to my faith, or deliver a message that needlessly includes a negative reference to Catholics.
These objections routinely fall into a few categories:
• Scandal: Sexual abuse scandals and cover-ups.
• Catholic Worship: There is no praise music, mass is dull, and no one pays attention.
• Salvation: Catholics rely on a works-based salvation. They don’t get saved. (See Brother, Are You Saved)
• Inflexibility: There are too many man-made rules in the church (See Traditions of Man)
• Confession: Catholics reject holiness. They confess on Saturday, then sin through the week.
• Bibles: Catholics don’t know their Bibles and reject scripture.
• Former Catholics: Believing one or more of the statements above
Curiosity and Innocent Confusion
In most of my Evangelical encounters, I believe there is seldom an unkind intent in raising Catholic objections and stereotypes. Are there Protestants with strong anti-Catholic feelings? Definitely. And that’s been going on for more than 500 years.
But, in most cases – when I drop my defensiveness – I find genuine curiosity as few modern Protestants have encountered Catholics that “speak Evangelical.” There is a sometimes vast cultural and stylistic gap between Catholics and Evangelicals. However, my experience is that actual theological differences – while there – aren’t nearly so significant as our misunderstandings.
For instance, many Catholics are befuddled by the question, “Bother, are you saved?” That’s not because Catholics don’t “get saved.” It’s simply because those are not the words they use to describe salvation.
In most cases, wrong statements about Catholic beliefs are innocent. Protestants often learn what the Catholic Church teaches from other Protestants. That was certainly my experience.
Once I looked to Catholics to tell me what Catholics believe, I was surprised at how much I had misunderstood. In truth, however, I was also disappointed to discover that many “cradle Catholics” simply had no idea what their church believed. Some take that lack of knowledge with them to Evangelical churches.
United in Conversion
I believe that God has no grandchildren; we’re all first-generation converts to Christianity. That conversion begins with a life-changing encounter with Jesus. And, your encounter may look nothing like mine.
Often, upon conversion, we’re tempted to look over our shoulder and ask, “Why didn’t I know this sooner?” I was left asking, “Why didn’t my Evangelical brothers and sisters tell me this?” And, upon converting to Evangelicalism, former Catholics often ask the same of their childhood church. Looking backwards while journeying forward is not a great idea.
One of the things I loved most about my years in Protestant and Evangelical churches was the mutual bond of those with a common – though not identical – journey of conversion. David explains in Psalm 23 that this journey can be beside still waters and through the darkest valleys. This conversion and journey can be what unites Christians.
It’s easy to focus too much on what divides us, reinforcing the schisms that pain God’s heart. There are people of faith – both Catholic and Protestant – who identify most strongly with theological and stylistic disagreements.
I spent many years with a Catholic convert chip on my shoulder. Easy to be offended each time I heard an incorrect anti-Catholic sentiment expressed. This came from honest pain. I lost good friends when I became Catholic. But, I’ve decided to stop living in that pain.
The call I’ve felt lately is to spend more time with Christians of all types, rejoicing first in what unites us: A life of conversion and consecration … or “getting saved,” if that’s your preferred description. Since what we agree upon is life-changing, why would we hit the breaks with disagreement?
That does not mean my commitment to the Catholic Christian Church is wavering. It is not. Among sincere seekers and inquirers, I’ll always be willing to make an accounting for the hope that is in me. But let’s not forget to first rejoice together in what we have in common, our conversion journey.
Photo Credit: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Dove of the Holy Spirit (alabaster stained glass, Chair of Saint Peter, Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City), ca. 1660 Dnalor 01, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/at/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons
