Taking The “Protestant” Test
Posted in Religion on | 10 minutes | 12 Comments →
So there’s a website that offers a quiz to test the extent of one’s “Protestantism.” I thought it would be interesting to take the test and post the results here. I’m using a “1” to denote “guilty,” and “0” to denote “not guilty” or “insufficient question.” I encourage you to take the test yourself, and report your scores at the end.
1. You have to believe that Jesus Christ did NOT set up the Catholic Church in Matthew 16:18.
Guilty.
2. You have to believe that your man-made Church of the 16th Century is the one true Church that Jesus created in Matthew 16:18.
Not guilty. I don’t believe Jesus was referring to any man-made church in Matthew 16:18. I believe he was referring specifically to the universal body of believers, throughout time.
3. You have to believe that the gates of Hell overcame the Church that Jesus started in Matthew 16:18.
Insufficient criterion. Loaded question. I don’t believe Jesus set up the Catholic Church in Matthew 16:18. I do believe Hell hath prevailed against the Catholic Church, to a very large degree, so in that sense, guilty. However, hell can never prevail against the universal body of believers, so in that sense, not guilty (I’ll assign a “.5” for this one).
4. You have to believe that there is no liturgical priesthood in the New Testament, with no altar sacrifices, in spite of Matthew 5:23-24, 1 Corinthians 9:13, 1 Corinthians 10:18, Hebrews 13:10, Revelation 6:9, and Revelation 8:3…
Insufficient criterion. Again, poorly worded. Are there allusions to liturgy in the NT? If that’s what they mean, then, not guilty. OTOH, does the NT teach that altar sacrifices should persist after the Resurrection? I don’t think it does. If that’s what they mean, then, guilty.
You have to believe that you are saved by faith alone, in spite of James 2:24-26.
Guilty. “Justification” is distinct from “salvation.” We are saved by faith. Works are the fruit.
6. You have to believe that Catholics perform good works in order to be saved, instead of what is really true – Catholics do good works because Jesus said to do them in the Sermon on the Mount.
Insufficient criterion. That’s a silly criterion that asks the reader to make unfair generalizations about all Catholics. Without doubt, there are Catholics who perform good works because they think they will save them. Do all Catholics think that? Of course not. So, I can’t answer that one either way.
7. You have to believe that the Eucharist is only a memorial, not a sin-forgiving sacrificial meal that is the hidden manna mentioned in Revelation 2:17.
Guilty, with a caveat: I’m open to the idea that something meta-worldly takes place when people eat the bread and drink the cup. However, I do not believe this practices atones for sin, and I don’t think Revelation 2:17 refers to the bread eaten at Eucharist.
8. You have to believe that saints in heaven are dead, and not alive, like the Bible says in Luke 20:36-38.
Luke 20:36-38 doesn’t say that saints are alive in heaven. That’s a warped interpretation of the verses. OTOH, Scripture is clear that some, like Enoch, went straight from Earth to Heaven. So I don’t know how to answer here. I definitely don’t believe there are dead saints in Heaven, so, not guilty, I guess.
9. You have to believe that Jesus is the one mediator of intercessory prayer, instead of the one mediator of the New Covenant, like the Bible says in Hebrews 12:24.
Insufficient criterion. Again, vague at best: I agree that Jesus is mediator of the New Covenant, but what do they mean by, “one mediator of intercessory prayer?”
10. You have to believe that the great cloud of Witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 12:1 do not witness on our behalf, because they are dead.
Insufficient criterion. Alright, this is getting boring. Hebrews 12:1 doesn’t say that the witnesses witness for us. Rather, the writer simply points to the faithful throughout the Old Testament and uses them as a point of encouragement to remain faithful. This is another loaded question.
11. You have to believe that intercessory prayer to the saints is tantamount to conjuring up the dead to seek arcane knowledge, like King Saul did with the Witch of Endor.
Not guilty. I don’t equate the two practices. However, I don’t believe it’s Scriptural to pray to the saints, or Mary, so that would probably count as “guilty” to the issuers of the test.
12. You have to believe that statues in church are evil, in spite of the fact that God told Moses to make 2 Cherub statues to put on top of the Ark of the Covenant; King Solomon had all kinds of statues in his Temple; and Moses made a statue of a serpent with healing powers in the desert to heal snakebite victims.
Guilty. This is a direct violation of the Second Commandment (the original one, not the Catholic re-renderings I’ve seen, which completely omit the part about graven images): “You shall not make for yourself any graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
13. You have to believe that you can confess your sins directly to God instead of to a priest, in spite of John 20:21ff (the New Testament does not say anywhere to confess your sins directly to God).
Insufficient criterion. This questions suffers from the false dilemma. We *CAN* confess our sins directly to God (1 John 1:9). However, the Bible also tells us to confess our sins to one another (James 5:16).
14. You have to believe that intellectual faith in God is the only kind of faith there is, in spite of the fact that Jesus said that “unless you have the faith of a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom.”
Not guilty.
15. You have to believe that you can have altar calls in your church, without an altar.
Insufficient criterion. Another terribly poor statement. What do they mean by “altar calls?” If they simply mean, “a call for sinners to repent,” then, no… you don’t need an actual altar for that. The Apostles didn’t carry an altar on their side, yet, they were calling people everywhere they could.
16. You have to believe that singing and preaching are the way to worship God on Sunday.
Insufficient question. Presents a false dilemma. Singing and preaching are one way to worship God on Sunday, and there is nothing un-Scriptural about that. The Catholic alternative is left unclear. However, many Catholics also teach that respecting the original Sabbath is “anathema,” so…
17. You have to believe that calling anyone on earth “Father” is sinful, at the same time you celebrate “Father’s Day,” and trying to obey the Commandment that says, “Honor your FATHER and your Mother.”
Insufficient question. I don’t think it’s sinful to call one’s dad “Father,” so, not guilty in that respect. However, I do see something wrong with calling priests “Father,” if by that we mean they occupy some special status as believers, so, guilty in that respect.
18. You have to believe that 15 centuries of Christianity doesn’t exist, and that Christian history leaps from the Bible to the creation of your church in the 16th Century, so as to be able to ignore the writings of the early Church Fathers, at the same time you believe the writings of Lucado and Graham…
Not guilty.
19. You have to believe that useless works of the Jewish law, like circumcision, are the exact same thing as good works, which are the fruit of our faith (Colossians 1:10).
Not guilty WRT circumcision. I don’t think it’s necessary. However, I suspect that many Catholics would also interpret Sabbath obedience as a “useless work of Jewish law,” and I disagree with that. Jesus and the disciples honored the original Sabbath, not the Sun-day desecration.
20.You have to believe that Jesus said to write everything down in a book, make sure everyone gets a copy, and whatever they come up with is OK, instead of Jesus creating a Church with the mission to go and teach all nations, making disciples of them, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Not guilty.
21. You have to believe that salvation is me and the Bible, rather than being found in the Primacy of the Church, from 1 Timothy 3:15.
Insufficient criterion. Salvation is neither. Salvation is faith in Jesus Christ, indwelling of the Holy Spirit, an act of grace from YHWH.
22. You have to believe that the Pope cannot be infallible, because he is only a man, at the same time you believe that your personal beliefs about salvation are infallible.
Guilty, guilty, and guilty, to the first half, that is. The pope is only a fallible man. However, I don’t believe my personal beliefs about salvation or anything else are infallible, so, not guilty in that sense. While I certainly believe my beliefs are generally Scriptural, I’m open to challenge, because I’ve been wrong on many things before (so I assign a “.5” for this one).
23. You have to believe that the necessity of eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood from John 6:48-58 is not necessary to have eternal life.
Guilty. The crucified robber never once partook of the Eucharist, yet, Jesus said that robber would be with Him in paradise. Also, this is interesting: criterion 6 implies that Catholics don’t believe good works are necessary to be saved, yet, this criterion implies that at least one good work is necessary (don’t get mad at me, I never said any of these made sense).
24. You have to believe that Martin Luther was right to start his own “tradition of man” church named after himself, even though Paul says that there shall be no dissensions among believers, and that all should be of one mind.
Not guilty. While I sympathize with Luther’s frustration, I don’t think starting a new denomination was the correct answer (and I’m not even sure historians would agree that Luther started Lutheranism).
25. You have to believe that Martin Luther was a great guy, even though he advocated the killing of peasants, the burning of synagogues, the expelling of Jews from Germany, and that committing adultery 1000 times a day could not separate you from Christ.
Uh… not sure what to do with this one. Some Catholics have advocated the killing by burning of heretics, so, I’m not really what they’re getting at here. Insufficient criterion, I guess.
26. You have to believe that it’s OK to see a man to heal your bodily ills at the doctor’s office, even though Jesus could heal you much better than the doctor, at the same time you think it’s heresy to go see a man to heal your spirit of its sinfulness in the confessional.
Hmmm… it is okay to see a doctor. It is also true that Jesus can heal better than any doctor. There’s nothing wrong with confessing sins to others. Insufficient criterion.
27. You have to believe that putting down Mary is somehow honoring Jesus, instead of calling Mary Blessed and realizing that her soul MAGNIFIES the Lord, not diminishes it (Luke 1)…..
Insufficient criterion, false dilemma. I don’t believe putting down Mary honors Jesus. At the same time, I don’t pray to Mary or say Hail Mary’s.
So there we have it: according to these criteria, my Protestant score is somewhere around 7.5. What’s yours?
Kwon Mega
says...1. You have to believe that Jesus Christ did NOT set up the Catholic Church in Matthew 16:18.
Yep.
2. You have to believe that your man-made Church of the 16th Century is the one true Church that Jesus created in Matthew 16:18.
Nope.
3. You have to believe that the gates of Hell overcame the Church that Jesus started in Matthew 16:18.
Nope.
4. You have to believe that there is no liturgical priesthood in the New Testament, with no altar sacrifices, in spite of Matthew 5:23-24, 1 Corinthians 9:13, 1 Corinthians 10:18, Hebrews 13:10, Revelation 6:9, and Revelation 8:3 …
Nope.
5. You have to believe that you are saved by faith alone, in spite of James 2:24-26.
Yep.
6. You have to believe that Catholics perform good works in order to be saved, instead of what is really true – Catholics do good works because Jesus said to do them in the Sermon on the Mount.
Somewhere in between.. I believe the fruit of Faith is good works, thus good works naturally come to true believers and the explicit effort to do them is unnecessary. Sooo.. I think the spirit of the question I would be Yep.
7. You have to believe that the Eucharist is only a memorial, not a sin-forgiving sacrificial meal that is the hidden manna mentioned in Revelation 2:17.
Still on the fence here, but I tend to agree with this. So, scoring a yes.
8. You have to believe that saints in heaven are dead, and not alive, like the Bible says in Luke 20:36-38.
Nope.
9. You have to believe that Jesus is the one mediator of intercessory prayer, instead of the one mediator of the New Covenant, like the Bible says in Hebrews 12:24.
Nope.
10. You have to believe that the great cloud of Witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 12:1 do not witness on our behalf, because they are dead.
Yes. I’m assuming this speaks to praying to the saints..
11. You have to believe that intercessory prayer to the saints is tantamount to conjuring up the dead to seek arcane knowledge, like King Saul did with the Witch of Endor.
I wouldn’t take it that far, I just don’t agree with the practice. (no)
12. You have to believe that statues in church are evil, in spite of the fact that God told Moses to make 2 Cherub statues to put on top of the Ark of the Covenant; King Solomon had all kinds of statues in his Temple; and Moses made a statue of a serpent with healing powers in the desert to heal snakebite victims.
I don’t believe they are evil in and of themselves, but rather wonder WHY they are there in the first place. They pique my curiosity as to whether they are idols or not, but I suppose that depends on how they are actually viewed by the people of the particular church in which they stand.. or more importantly the people who decided to put them there in the first place. (no)
13. You have to believe that you can confess your sins directly to God instead of to a priest, in spite of John 20:21ff (the New Testament does not say anywhere to confess your sins directly to God).
Yep.
14. You have to believe that intellectual faith in God is the only kind of faith there is, in spite of the fact that Jesus said that “unless you have the faith of a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom.”
Nope. I don’t see this practiced in the protestant churches I’ve attended either..
15. You have to believe that you can have altar calls in your church, without an altar.
I believe this is a symbolical way to show your commitment to Christ, so I suppose I agree that you don’t need an altar for this. (Yes.)
16. You have to believe that singing and preaching are the way to worship God on Sunday.
This is getting bad.. I believe that they are good ways to worship God, but not the ONLY way.. so no, not THE way.. (No?)
17. You have to believe that calling anyone on earth “Father” is sinful, at the same time you celebrate “Father’s Day,” and trying to obey the Commandment that says, “Honor your FATHER and your Mother.”
Nope. Though I don’t agree with calling priests father.
18. You have to believe that 15 centuries of Christianity doesn’t exist, and that Christian history leaps from the Bible to the creation of your church in the 16th Century, so as to be able to ignore the writings of the early Church Fathers, atthe same time you believe the writings of Lucado and Graham…
Nope.
19. You have to believe that useless works of the Jewish law, like circumcision, are the exact same thing as good works, which are the fruit of our faith (Colossians 1:10).
Nope.
20.You have to believe that Jesus said to write everything down in a book, make sure everyone gets a copy, and whatever they come up with is OK, instead of Jesus creating a Church with the mission to go and teach all nations, making disciples of them, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Nope.
21. You have to believe that salvation is me and the Bible, rather than being found in the Primacy of the Church, from 1 Timothy 3:15.
Nope.
22. You have to believe that the Pope cannot be infallible, because he is only a man, at the same time you believe that your personal beliefs about salvation are infallible.
Since it requires yes to both, I’m scoring a No. However, I do believe the Pope is a fallible man like the rest of us.
23. You have to believe that the necessity of eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood from John 6:48-58 is not necessary to have eternal life.
Yep. I don’t believe there is anything I can do to earn my way into heaven.
24. You have to believe that Martin Luther was right to start his own “tradition of man” church named after himself, even though Paul says that there shall be no dissensions among believers, and that all should be of one mind.
I don’t agree that Luther wanted his own “tradition” bur rather wanted to get back on track after indulgences and other despicable acts were becoming the norm.
25. You have to believe that Martin Luther was a great guy, even though he advocated the killing of peasants, the burning of synagogues, the expelling of Jews from Germany, and that committing adultery 1000 times a day could not separate you from Christ.
I think he was a sinner like the rest of us.
26. You have to believe that it’s OK to see a man to heal your bodily ills at the doctor’s office, even though Jesus could heal you much better than the doctor, at the same time you think it’s heresy to go see a man to heal your spirit of its sinfulness in the confessional.
Nope.
27. You have to believe that putting down Mary is somehow honoring Jesus, instead of calling Mary Blessed and realizing that her soul MAGNIFIES the Lord, not diminishes it (Luke 1)…..
Nope.
I would go as far as saying that I am a protest-ant in the sense that I don’t agree with many of the practices in the Catholic church today, and would have likely been on the side of Luther in his spirit of getting the church back to it’s roots.
Score: 8.. I guess, lol.
SOrry about the format. I copied and pasted from Word, and it didn’t turn out the same, and I didn’t have time to re-format :(
Jude
says...More differences here
Thanks for taking the test….
Jude
Syllabus
says...Good grief, but those are some flammable strawmen.
cl
says...Kwon Mega,
No worries, it’s legible. Since you said you’re in a programming class, please excuse me for taking the liberty of telling you something you may already know: Word is a programmer’s worst enemy! Hidden hard returns, special characters… yuck. When I’m following good habits, I always paste something into TextEdit or some other plain-text editor first. But, who always follows good habits? ;)
Syllabus,
Which in particular stand out, and why do you say strawmen? I’m not disagreeing, I just want to know which ones rubbed you odd, and why. Like I said, I thought many of them were so poorly worded as to be genuinely unanswerable.
Syllabus
says...2. No, only an attempt to return to a less corrupt form of Christianity than the one which at the time dominant, and one which acheived that goal in part. And I say this as someone who thinks that the Reformation was equally as bad as it was good, in many ways.
6 is a basic misnuderstanding of Catholic theology, I think. Good works are, per the Catholic, the result of God’s grace, and are necessary for salvation. It’s madness to call this Pelagianism – though that hasn’t stopped people trying – and you’ll find Anglicans and Methodists who believe very similar things.
7, likewise. Many Protestants, though not Baptists and most non-denominational evangelicals, believe in the Real Presence, at least officially – Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, etc.
8, likewise, with Anglicans and – as far as I understand it – possibly some Lutherans acknowledging something bery much like what the Catholic means by the communion of the saints, though they don’t pray to them. 10 is more or less the same thing.
14, for OH SO MANY reasons.
16. Eh, what?
17. Likewise, WTF?
18. For obvious reasons.
19. This conflates “works of the law” with “good works”, when the two are manifestly not the same thing, and many Protestants, particularly Anglicans and Methodists/Wesleyans, think that synergistic salvation necessitates sanctification.
20. As an Anglican, this is pure tomfoolery.
21. Manifestly false. Sensible Protestants have a deep respect for tradition, and even the Anabaptists – which technically shouldn’t be classed as Protestants, but they usually are – have the “community hermeneutic”, which seems to be a much more sensible version of the Magisterium.
22. Utter misunderstanding of the second bit.
24 and 25 utterly misunderstand what the thoughtful Protestant believes about the Reformation. Heck, even back in my anti-Catholic days I knew Luther was a screwed-up guy. You don’t need to be perfect to be right, though.
26. Again: eh, what?
27. Double facepalm. These particular Catholics think that if you don’t accept the virgin Mary as the greatest thing since sliced bread, you must therefore hate her. False antithesis.
Syllabus
says...Consider 8 redacted. It was off the cuff, and seems to be too unspecified and misleading.
Bob Prokop
says...I scored an almost-perfect 26 1/2 “No” score, so I guess I’m not a Protestant.
(I gave number 23 a half-no, because I think it was stupidly worded).
cl
says...Thanks all, for participating. I’ll probably chime in a little more in depth later, but for now, I’ll say a few quick things.
Syllabus,
We seem to be largely in agreement.
Gabe Ruth,
Now I’m a little alarmed to hear I remind you of this MacDonald guy… :) In all seriousness, his position strikes me as putting the intellectual power of man’s mind as the ultimate arbiter of which doctrines to accept. What would you say?
Bob,
In light of what Jesus taught concerning prayer in Matthew 6:9-15, how would you respond to the claim at #13 that “the New Testament does not say anywhere to confess your sins directly to God?” I have my own opinions about it, obviously, but I’m curious to hear how you’d field that one.
Bob Prokop
says...CL,
Where does Matthew 6:9-15 say anything about confessing one’s sins to God? there is certainly a lot about forgiveness but not a word about confessing. Now James does say “confess your sins to one another”, but that’s open to all sorts of interpretation. My view is that one can legitimately argue this issue both ways from scripture, but you will only convince those who already agree with you. This is indeed one of those cases where “proof verses” will get you nowhere.
cl
says...Bob,
No worries about the misplaced comment. It actually inspired me to look for a plugin to easily move misplaced comments, which led to the added bonus of users being able to edit comments after they leave them. People had asked about that on occasion before. So, turns out that was a good thing :)
So, is that a “yes” you agree that one should not confess to the Father? Or a “no,” you don’t agree? Would you say people should confess to a priest only? I’m just trying to find out where you stand. I’m not trying to shoot your position down or poke holes in it.
Bob Prokop
says...“Confessing your sins to God” seems to be another way of saying “acknowledging them to yourself”. After all, God already knows every last detail of our sins. There’s nothing new we can tell Him. I will confess (hah! no pun intended) that I’ve never given this particular issue any especially deep thought before. But thinking off the top of my head here, I imagine that the importance of confessing to another human being is part of mending our breaches within the community. It isn’t just God we’ve offended by our sins, but each other. I think Matthew 5:23-24 illustrates this point nicely. “Confessing to God” is perhaps like that gift at the altar. The worshiper needs to be reconciled with his fellow man first . But again, this is “seat of the pants” thinking.
cl
says...Bob,
I agree, but I wouldn’t say that there’s no value in confessing to the Father (I’m not implying you said or implied that, either). Doing so—if it is in earnest and from correct motive—would certainly show Him that we understand our error. It’s a form of verbal honesty.
I also agree with you that there is an importance in confessing to those we’ve offended, partly because of the “community building” principle you mention. For me, and like you I’m just thinking by the seat of my pants here, I would think that last part only applies to sins against others. Then again, one could argue quite persuasively that all sins are against others, because of the otherwise good things sin causes us to omit. For example, the compulsive gambler isn’t just sinning against the Lord, he’s sinning by way of omission against his family and others.
At least, that’s what came off the top of my head at this moment. As always, I appreciate your take.