It’s the July Installment of the Bad Evangelists Club!

This months installment of the Bad Evangelist Club comes from David Gray who talks about how Protestants view “the essentials” and how Catholics misunderstand their views.

One habit of the Protestant mind I have noticed again and again and again it the “Heads I Win, Tails the Church Loses” ploy in discussing what is and is not “essential” to the Faith:

It works like this:

1. If a thing is condemned by the Church, but permitted by the Protestant (say, gay marriage) the demand is for an explicit text forbidding it (“Show me where Jesus said one word about not allowing gay marriage! That’s just the Church imposing its purely human ideas on what Jesus came to say.”).
2. Conversely, if a thing is allowed by the Church but condemned by the Protestant, the demand is for an explicit text commanding it. So, for instance, we get demands like, “Where in the Bible do you find anyone asking us to pray to dead people? That’s just the Church imposing it’s purely human ideas on what Jesus came to say.”

What’s surprising is how seldom Protestants are aware they do this and who surprised they often are when you call their attention to it.  I certainly was when I realized I did it.