Are You Sure About Your Protestant Protest?

For most of my life as a Protestant, I never questioned the legitimacy of my position in the Christian landscape. I took for granted that Protestantism was a faithful expression of biblical Christianity, that the Reformation was a necessary correction, and that my separation from the Catholic Church was justified. But when I finally examined the foundations of my own protest, I discovered something unsettling: I was standing on assumptions, not solid ground.

Being a Protestant is not a neutral position. It means, by definition, that you are a protester against something—specifically, against the original Church that Christ himself founded. That is no small matter. Jesus prayed that his followers would be one, as he and the Father are one (John 17:21). He established a visible Church, declaring that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). If we are to be part of a movement that has contributed to the fragmentation of Christendom, should we not be absolutely certain that our protest is justified?

For years, I thought I had such certainty. I assumed that the Catholic Church had strayed from biblical truth, that the Reformation was a necessary act of faithfulness, and that Protestantism preserved the purity of the Gospel. But these were inherited assumptions—things I had absorbed from pastors, teachers, and fellow believers whom I trusted. And while trust is a good thing, it cannot be the final word on truth. Even those who have imparted good things to us can be mistaken.

When I finally started investigating the foundations of my Protestant protest, I found myself facing a difficult realisation: I had far more reason to protest against my Protestant setting than against the Catholic Church. Many of the things I had been taught about Catholicism were inaccurate, incomplete, or misunderstood. And when I dug deeper, I discovered that Protestantism itself rested on a series of assumptions that could not withstand scrutiny.

If you are a Protestant, I urge you to ask yourself this: Do you truly know what you are protesting against? Have you examined the Catholic Church on its own terms, or have you only heard about it through Protestant lenses? If you are actively participating in the division of Christianity, shouldn’t you at least be absolutely certain that this division is justified?

What I found in the Catholic Church was not a corrupted institution weighed down by man-made traditions, but rather the Church that had preserved the faith for 2,000 years. It was a Church with answers to questions that Protestantism could not resolve—questions about authority, unity, the sacraments, and the very nature of the Christian life.

I am convinced that many Protestants, if they seriously examine the foundations of their protest, will find themselves in the same position I was in. They will see that Protestantism rests on a shaky foundation, while the Catholic Church offers something deep, consistent, and profoundly biblical.

The division of Christianity is no trivial matter. If we are going to participate in that division, we must be absolutely sure that we are doing so with full knowledge of what we are separating from. And if we are willing to ask the hard questions, we may find—like I did—that our protest is not as well-founded as we once thought.