What's your market share?

 

 

I've always had a desire to distinguish myself from the rank and file around me.  When in my teens, it was because I thought I was better than everyone else; these days, I find myself trying to set myself apart from the worst of what I can be and act.  One of the hallmarks of maturity is finding a way to get away from yourself, hopefully by seeking and finding divine help, and that's what I have tried to do in the years since.

 

When I look at the jagged landscape of Protestantism today I see so much unhealthy individualism and destructive self-love.  Each church or denomination attempts to distinguish themselves from the others as if they are businesses competing for market share. See below for current market share percentages:

Top 10 religious denominations, Canada, 2001

	Number	%
Roman Catholic	12,793,125	43.2
No religion	4,796,325	16.2
United Church	2,839,125	9.6
Anglican	2,035,495	6.9
Christian, not included elsewhere1	780,450	2.6
Baptist	729,475	2.5
Lutheran	606,590	2.0
Muslim	579,640	2.0
Protestant, not included elsewhere2	549,205	1.9
Presbyterian	409,830	1.4
1. Includes persons who report "Christian", as well as those who report "Apostolic", "Born-again Christian" and "Evangelical".
2. Includes persons who report only "Protestant".

SOURCE: http://tinyurl.com/9xwdg

 

An attempt at rededicating myself to Protestantism is (quite ironically) what put my back on this road toward Catholicism.  Martin Luther's regret at having enabled so many "little popes", admitting that this was the logical, albeit unintentional, outcome of his revolution.  as I rededicated myself to this pursuit, I imagined what a truly re-formed (not de-formed as it is in its current state) church might look like.  "Agreement in essentials" is thought by many to be the key to Protestant unity, but coming up with a solid list of essentials has proven a task too daunting for all of Protestantism to complete.  Some find it difficult to get behind certain ideas that might decrease their market share while others have no interest at all in bowing to anyone else's definitions of religious concepts.

At first I felt guilty entertaining the idea of converting, today it feels more like a necessity with both the choice and its consequences becoming clearer every day.  I am motivated by this search for truth and the possibility of finding solid truth that really is "of God" through His voice in this world - His church.  I check myself for a rekindling of the old habit of trying to distinguish myself from those around merely for the sake of being different, and I admit that there is some of that in my motives.  There is a certain appeal in identifying myself with the faith that Thomas Merton, Marshall McLuhan, Peter Kreeft, and G.K. Chesterton all converted to.  Indeed, reason CAN be the devil's whole if she is not cared for properly; when she IS cared for she is a loving and submissive servant.  This hate and mistrust of the intellect (largely distorted from Luther's original intent) has done much to decrease the depth of people's faith and their knowledge of God. 

 

Where the Catholic Church is both deep and wide, Protestantism is both infinitely wider and yet infinitely shallower - so shallow in fact that when someone jumps in they are rarely covered from head to toe!