Johnny

Johnny is an ex protestant. Throughout his life he often doubted whether Protestantism is the truth and wondered if something else is true instead. There are several reasons why he started thinking that.

To begin with, this convert from Protestantism told me that in Protestant churches people often seem less serious. I observed this too in some university christian societies, where many Protestants frequent. They are less serious about the importance of their faith, but at the same time they talk a lot about how great Christianity is and how important it is to spread it. In general, I would say that there are certain contradictions in their behaviours.

Moreover, certain views that Protestantism teaches often change through time. A belief that did not exist in the past is, for example, the fact that women are now allowed to be pastors. This was not allowed in the past, but as society changes, certain views that Protestantism has also change. They may even change quickly. For example, there were already many changes when my friend was a child in comparison to when he was an adult. How can a religious doctrine that changes its teachings be the truth? There is only one truth and it is always the same. If the doctrine is truth, why would its teachings need to change when the views of society change?

Also, there are some inconsistences in dogmatic teachings of Protestantism. Protestants generally believe that if someone asks from God to be saved, he will be saved. So, basically if I pray and ask God to save me, He will save me and He will do this regardless of what happens next. If I go out and commit a murder tomorrow, He will still save me. After I asked to be saved, He saves me and nothing changes that.

If this belief is true, then what does someone gain from going to church and following God’s commands? If someone has no other reason to follow commands (e.g. if he does not mind about the fact that murder is not moral), then he may easily just ask from God to be saved and then he has no need to have any good behaviour or worship God. This really didn’t make sense to Johnny.

Some Protestants have attempted to find some explanations to this, but someone may not necessarily find them satisfactory. Johnny didn’t find them satisfactory. In contrast, he finds orthodoxy satisfactory because there are no inconsistences in its teachings (see post “Why-orthodoxy?” for more information).