Something my wife said to me the other day really stimulated some thoughts. She said, "If someone honestly looks at it, the Protestant world is terribly fragmented and self-centered." She hit on two very poignant topics. First, fragmentation. Protestantism, by definition, is about protest and division. When someone disagrees with the church he or she is in, they can voice a protest and/or leave. To be honest, when Martin Luther began to voice his concerns with the Roman Catholic Church, he had no intention of leaving. But after being excommunicated, Luther and those that followed were all about division. Even Luther and Calvin, the foundation of the Protestant Reformation, did not agree and did not like each other.
Calvin left the Roman Catholic church and began preaching in Switzerland. The Anabaptist movement took the mentality even further and rejected everything the Roman Catholic church taught, including the sacraments. History has shown a horrific fragmentation ever since.
The second point brought up by my wife is closely tied to the first. The self-centered nature of Protestantism stems from divisiveness. If YOU don't like what your church is doing, leave and create something with which you agree. The very foundation of this is self. The historic church has always strove for unification. Of course there has been strife and disharmony in the church, but these problems are always addressed and worked out. Questions, attacks and hostility have been faced and answered (the ecumenical councils).
What is the whole point of this? There is the body of Christ (in every sense of the word) and it is not seen in division and self-centeredness. The love of God is in his saints. Humility, obedience and holiness will only come about when we learn to understand what it truly means to be the body of Christ.
Calvin left the Roman Catholic church and began preaching in Switzerland. The Anabaptist movement took the mentality even further and rejected everything the Roman Catholic church taught, including the sacraments. History has shown a horrific fragmentation ever since.
The second point brought up by my wife is closely tied to the first. The self-centered nature of Protestantism stems from divisiveness. If YOU don't like what your church is doing, leave and create something with which you agree. The very foundation of this is self. The historic church has always strove for unification. Of course there has been strife and disharmony in the church, but these problems are always addressed and worked out. Questions, attacks and hostility have been faced and answered (the ecumenical councils).
What is the whole point of this? There is the body of Christ (in every sense of the word) and it is not seen in division and self-centeredness. The love of God is in his saints. Humility, obedience and holiness will only come about when we learn to understand what it truly means to be the body of Christ.
The division within Protestantism is patently evident, by the observable variety of different denominations as well as the category of non-denominational. However, I find myself less than convinced that self-centeredness is a prominent factor, between different churches or even concerning the rift between the RCC and Protestants. If I recall correctly, there were doctrinal differences between churches even in the days of Apostle Paul but I don't recall him admonishing them about self-centeredness. And to build on that, I think his response was not that everybody should get on the same page about every last detail, but rather, to not let the observance/non-observance of this day or that tradition stand in the way of the big picture of loving God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We are told His ways are not our ways, so perhaps it is to be expected that many of us arrive at different perspectives on the divinely inscrutable or scripturally cryptic. And perhaps I assume too much, to believe that people attend this church or that church, not only because that doctrine makes the most sense to them, but primarily because they wish to serve the Lord they see in their minds eye. I think it just sounded like a fusion of a sweeping generalization, and throwing an entire category of people under the proverbial bus. If self-centeredness was the foundation of the division instead of the love of God, would people not simply stay home and watch football or sleep in? I disagree with many other believers, sometimes about small things, sometimes about large. But if said person loves God in the aforementioned manner, as well as his/her neighbor, all the doctrinal and theological differences take a backseat and I consider that person my brother or sister in Christ. As far as I know, that's the best way to make the body of Christ whole and I can't seem to assume many people don't ultimately prioritize as such. But I also don't get out much, so I'm open to correction...
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