Belief Matrix

This post is one of those which has languished in my “Drafts” folder for far too long. Fortunately, a recent article by Joe at Shameless Popery reminded me of this topic and prompted me to finish what I had begun…

I had been preparing a couple of apologetics posts and, to save me some typing, I had been digging through my past correspondence with Protestant friends and acquaintances.

A while ago I mentioned an email exchange I had with a chap called Jay. I was looking through some of our early correspondence and I came across something I had written to him which I thought deserved its own blog entry.

Unanswered Questions

I had asked Jay a series of questions to which he had not responded. Rather than answer my questions about his own worldview, he wanted to jump right in and debate topics such as Mary, Purgatory and Papal Infallibility. Because every Protestant group has a different set of beliefs, I had to understand Jay’s worldview in order to meaningfully interact with it. Here’s what I wrote:

“[Jay,] please address my questions so I can understand where you’re coming from. If you want to know what I believe you can just crack open the Catechism. [This will concretely tell you what I believe and give you a good idea as to why I believe it]. 

[I can’t do the same for you. Your particular matrix of beliefs is your own]. I don’t have such a simple way of finding out how your theology hangs together and exactly what you believe (“Once Saved Always Saved”? Understanding of Sola Scriptura? Sola Fide? etc.)“

A House Divided

Among mainstream Protestant denominations you will find significant diversity in belief on many issues. When I’ve spoken to Protestants about this, I’m usually told something like “It doesn’t matter, we’re unified on the essentials”. The trouble is, who’s to say what’s “essential”? Across the different denominations you find wild variance on subjects which include salvation, ecclesiastical authority, significance of the Eucharist, the meaning of Baptism etc. These don’t sound like peripheral issues to me. It unfortunately results in a confusing cacophony of conflicting voices.

Even knowing a Protestant’s denomination is often only of limited help since membership of a denomination doesn’t necessarily mean that the person subscribes to all the beliefs and articles of faith of that denomination. Each Protestant has the potential to hold a matrix of beliefs completely unique to himself. You really have to ask each person point-by-point what he believes.

If nobody is Pope, then everyone is Pope…