It has often occurred to me that Protestants and Catholics seem to be in perpetual conflict. What exactly do we have against each other? To put it imprecisely, the majority of things we come into conflict about are either misperceptions or semantic disagreements. The truth of the situation is that the majority of theological values are beliefs we hold in common.
Let's start with a little ancient history. When Jesus was resurrected, He spent forty days teaching his disciples how to be His Church. These first century Christians, who called their movement The Way, carried on the work that Jesus had begun. News of the gospel spread far and wide, and soon the church Jesus established began to be referred to as Christianity. The Church had as its head Peter, whom Jesus had given the authority to preach, teach, heal, forgive sins and to lead. The rest of the twelve, with the exception of Judas, had received all of the gifts Peter had except for the position as head of the Church. As word spread and more and more people converted to The Way, the Apostles appointed faithful men to teach the new christians how to be The Church. There were issues that had to be settled when misunderstandings about doctrines and practices arose, and Peter had the final word. After the death of Peter in Rome, the Bishop of Rome (a man who had learned directly from Peter or one of his students) held the position of primacy in the Church. Thus each successive Pope (Bishop of Rome) is the successor of Peter. The Church is a human institution as well as a divine one, and through the centuries there have been good and bad, sinful and holy men and women in The Church. Regardless of the personal sanctity of its members, the core teachings of The Church and the Holy Scriptures have remained intact for two thousand years. When the Protestant Reformation began, these teachings were intact within the Church, though they may have been sometimes obscured by leaders who behaved badly. The most famous of the reformers, Martin Luther, was actually in agreement with The Church's magisterium. In fact, he had been a vehement supporter of orthodox teaching. Initially, his primary bone of contention was with the selling of indulgences. Church scholars of his day were apt to support his contention. Martin Luther lost his temper, and then his supporters within the church when he refused to submit to the authority of those over him. This made him a vow-breaker. From the point of his excommunication forward, his anger toward the leadership of the Church foments. He worked at revising the Bible and removing passages and even whole books that did not fit his personal views.
Fast-forward nearly five hundred years, and there is still the Catholic Church, still teaching the core Christian principals and still observing the worship described in the New Testament, but there are also tens of thousands of Protestant denominations. What Martin Luther could never have guessed or foreseen is that once the interpretation of scripture becomes an individual exercise, the Church is no longer unified. When scripture is proclaimed and studied within the context of the Church, it is more difficult for errors in understanding to persist. Someone who correctly understands is prone to say "that is not how the Church has always taught it".
With that said, there are things which every mainstream christian church hold to be true. The Apostles' Creed is one important example. The canon of scripture that Protestants use comes entirely from the Catholic canon. The practices of Communion and Baptism are common. The belief that christians receive the assistance of the Holy Spirit is also held in common. The understanding that we foster an intimate relationship with God through prayer, scripture study, obedience and meditation on scripture is also a common belief. These common beliefs in the gospel mean that at the core, we hold the most important concepts of the faith in common.
We agree on far more than we disagree. Here is the bottom line: Jesus said that He was leaving one Church. If we cannot agree to be unified into a single Church, let us at least agree to be unified enough to stop tearing each other down!
