If Protestants Were Right

Imagine if the protestant position was true. Imagine if the Apostles had all been protestants and taught protestant theology to their people (which, I know, is an anachronism because if there were no Catholics then there is nothing to protest, but bear with me for the sake of the argument). The history of the last five hundred years gives us a pretty good picture of what would have happened. Division, factions, infighting and splintering would have been the norm.

The Canon of Scripture would never have been finalized because they could not have agreed on it. The doctrine of the trinity would never have been formulated because they would have so many heresies running unchecked that there would be no consensus on even the term "trinity". The Nicene Creed would never have been written because no one would have had the authority to call the council together. The Christian culture of the medieval times would not have developed because there would be no Christian influence on society other than quarreling. No heresy would have been stopped because every heretic would just run off and start his own denomination. The list could go on practically forever.

If the Church had been protestant before A.D. 1500, it would not even be here today. Although it is impossible for them to admit it, the protestants are completely dependent on the Catholic Church being Catholic! What protestants do not realize is that they need the Catholic Church; everything good that you can find in protestantism (and there is not a lot) was stolen from the Catholic Church (remember protestantism is intentionally a truncated version of Catholicism--in fact this is exactly the description given by the early reformers!).

The protestant explanation of history is not only wrong, it is impossible. If the early Church had been protestant in its theology, there are only two options as to what things would look like today. First, there would today be millions of denominations and billions of heretical sects with no single true Church to be found anywhere. Christendom would be in total chaos. Second, there would be no Christian Church at all. The divisions and fighting would have destroyed it long ago; as there is no means of truly resolving heresies in protestantism other than starting a new denomination, everything would slowly degenerate and people would have given up on it long ago (as we are starting to see in today's protestant culture after only five hundred years!).

Thank God for the promise of perpetuity that He has given to the Catholic Church and His grace which makes it possible.