Protestant – Of Course!
“Protestant” means to hold forth the truth of God’s Word, specifically, the sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ’s saving work and the sufficiency of God’s Holy Word in the life of the true catholic (universal or “Christian”) Church. So yes, of course, we are “Protestant”.
We don’t think using the word “Protestant” to describe ourselves is wrong despite the popular impulse for everyone to “get along” in this “Post-Everything” age.
If fact, we think it’s a positive BENEFIT.
Let’s be honest. At the end of the day when all the ecumenical back slapping and supposed male bonding at the big city stadium for the latest, greatest event for men is over, we can never agree with Roman Catholics that the Pope
1. Has the ability to speak infallibly
2. Is the head of the Church on earth whom every other Christian MUST obey or risk damnation
3. Has the ability to go beyond the Bible to authorize teachings as true and necessary for salvation
And we also deny that salvation comes in any other way than through the merits of Jesus Christ alone!
Judging from our personal interactions, pretty much every broadly “evangelical” Christian agrees on these points but the act of actually calling ourselves “Protestant” sounds so, well, “exclusive” or perhaps even “negative” that we fail to speak the crucial truth about our genuine differences.
We’ve decided we’re tired of people saying that holding forth the Gospel and beliefs of the Reformation is “negative”. Our message of Jesus Christ is the most POSITIVE thing in the world. That’s why we call ourselves Protestants!
As Christians, we love our Roman Catholic friends and wish them well. But – honestly – we don’t buy into the things we’ve outlined above. Warm fuzzy feelings just won’t change that. And Jesus Christ and His Word are too important to let our differences go unstated! To fail to speak this truth would be absolutely unloving!
Hey, it’s not like there aren’t plenty of Roman Catholic men’s groups that wouldn’t let US join because we can’t swear allegiance to the Pope and won’t. Let them do their thing, we’ll do ours – as Protestants upholding the truth of the Bible and the Reformation!