Protestants vs Reason

I have been accused in the comments on some of my videos, more than a few times, of being someone who relies too much on human logic and reason and not enough on scripture or revelation to make my case.
Or if that accusation isn’t made outright, I’ll often see complaints from people saying that I didn’t cite any or enough bible verses and that this is a typical problem with Catholics – we aren’t fluent enough in the Bible so we have to rely on fallible human logic.

And whenever this accusation arises, it’s usually at the hands of someone who is clearly aligned with a protestant theological position. And not all protestants would be motivated by this instinct, but for those that are, I would say they come by it honestly as something inherited from a tradition of thought that goes all the way back to Luther.

[assffghjjugg]

"Relevance isn't a virtue." Good line.

[sleppynoggin]

I was born Catholic then left became an atheist then Catholic again for about a month then became protestant. I originally found your channel when i was a protestant and watched your video on why you arent protestant. You made very good points but i was blinded by pride. I reverted back to Catholicisim a month ago when i went to Eucharistic addoration. i could not deny that the Eucharist was Jesus. I could no longer be a protestant after, im glad to have a united community in Catholisism as well like Jesus prayed for. happy to be home :).

[cyntogia]

"Come now, and let us reason together, " Says the LORD - Isaiah 1:18

[askmemakeup]

Jesus as THE LOGOS was one of the major reasons I reverted back to Catholicism. At the very early stages of my journey I had already decided that relativism was stupid, that there is objective truth... I may not know what it is, but I could be humble enough to pursue it. I learned the idea that Jesus is the Logos and how that relates to consciousness... the ability to reason. We can know truth by use of logic. We have truth because God IS Truth, in the same way that we have love because God IS Love (philosophical particulars vs universals vs THE Universal). 

In my journey back the question was on the table of protestantism or catholicism. I stumbled upon where the idea of relativism began - the idea of the "double truth" proposed by Marcilius of Padua. Luther was a fan. Marcilius said that there are some things you can know by faith like the creed and some things you can know by reason like science and they can contradict each other and both be true. When I dug further into this idea I saw that one way this was proven was by showing that the concept of The Trinity was inherently illogical by using a deductive reasoning formula. But they made an error in their calculations!!! Eventually Luther took these ideas, called reason the "devil's handmaid" and warned people against using it. Reason cannot be inherently evil if Jesus is the Logos! Therefore, protestantism is founded on the splitting of faith FROM reason. Catholics believe in faith AND reason... Multiple truths vs one objective truth.

Jesus is the Logos, ie. Divine Reason and creative order. Relativism is chaos... just look at our world. When you look at how logos process/ordering works you realise you place objective truth outside of yourself, humble yourself enough to agree you need to learn it, and journey toward it. You place as your highest value something that is outside of yourself. This is the very premise of what is the model of EQUAL OPPORTUNITY. It is this that western civilisation is built on... hence we are logos-centric. The opposite of this, which is the model of relativism, is to not place the locus of truth outside of yourself but within yourself, think your truth is yours and no one can change it thereby not work towards refining which leads to idol worship of the self. It is the very premise of the model of EQUAL OUTCOME. Protestantism at its foundational core, which began with the alteration of the definition of truth itself, leads to a kind of idol worship of the self... in a way that stunts growth in holiness. Hence sola fide takes primacy in their doctrine... (and even that can be refuted scripturally very easily.)

God bless all you protestants... really I do love you and pray constantly for you. As Scott Hahn describes it, it's a kind of schizophrenia of truth. Hence chaos. So some of what is believed is very true while other ideas are like half truths or incomplete truths. I personally cannot accept this idea of double truths and relativism. I love my protestant friends, but I do not love this idea. I truly do understand We live in really confusing times as these ideas now have percolated for centuries and are the predominant modern worldview. I just don't think it's true.

[grandpamullet]

You nailed it when talking about "Secular Stage Production", Bands, Smoke Machines and lets not forget in house coffee shops, I am going through RCIA and will join the Church this Easter. I never dreamed I wouod be converting to Catholicism until I walk into a Catherdral on a whim for Mass, no coffee, no band (just a beautiful choir), no talking, just silent reverence and kneeling before our Lord, The whole Mass was dedicated to worship, not a bumch of frivolous distractions followed by a brief feel good message, I have not looked back since. I God everyday for leading my wife and I to the Catholic Church. You have a new subscriber, love your videos!!

[LucasKellis]

Getting confirmed this Christmas, your channel has been a major help in me understand the Catholic method of faith and spirituality, I can say from experience coming from a Pentecostal church i had arguments with my fellow church-goers because I tried to make a pro life argument, but from a secular philosophical standpoint, and they got mad at me for not defending the pro life stance by quoting the Bible, and this was well before I ever began exploring Catholicism, so yeah I can definitely relate to this annoying mindset.

[EXUD]

I'm finding less and less reasons to remain a Protestant.

Edit: I watched Brian’s supplementary video on why he converted to Catholicism. As he mentioned Matthew 7:21-23, I felt an overwhelming sense of dread; a realization that merely professing Faith in Christ is insufficient in order to be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven.

Second Edit: I wanted to update you all and say I made my general confession on August 7th and just was confirmed into the Catholic Church (August 11th, 2024) and received my first Holy Communion. Thank you for the initial nudge in the right direction, Brian 🙏

[poli-rev]

Yep- I was an atheist that eventually became Catholic *because* of their rich, rational, philosophical arguments... Quoting the bible at me wouldn't have done ANYTHING.

[wonkothesane]

As a catechumen, with a Baptist background, I'm learning more, not only about the Gospel, but the importance of Sacred Tradition as well as Sacred Scripture; along the way, I'm realizing what was missing in my Baptist experience, reasoning, logic, and the bonding of the Church by rituals and rites. Not bandage, which enslaves the mind and destroys the soul, but a unity of brotherhood, which strengthens believers and shows forth Christ in Christian love. I thank God for my new Catholic family, and I hope to prove a worthy disciple of Christ.

[faderlader]

As a Lutheran Protestant, I can definitely see where you're coming from.

[jamesmerone]

Protestants: That's not in the Bible






Also Protestants: *Removes 7 books from the Bible*

[OpusDogi]

In case you haven't already, you might want to read Pope Benedict's "Regensburg Address" which addresses the necessary role of reason in any concept of god.

[markhaydock]

Great stuff Brian, logic, reason, scripture and Thomas Aquinas is what attracted me to becoming Catholic.

[levisando]

I left Protestantism for Catholicism because I couldn't find a logical reason to stay (and many logical reasons I _should_ make the change) and all the while, various Protestants were saying that I didn't have enough faith that [insert their particular tradition here] was the right way and that I shouldn't use reason to make decisions like this.

[aarongronsman]

As a protestant, I am very surprised by the fact that your use of logical arguments more than anything else was opposed by protestants of all people, especially considering that I have found that rational argument consistently tends to be the most reliable way to debate and persuade non-Christians about many of our theological convictions, and have been encouraged by my church to use my reasoning for exactly this purpose.

[trailerparkwerewolf]

CS Lewis was actually pretty influential in my conversion

[AlexandreFrenetteJ]

Hold up, did you just use Steven Furtick as an example of "Conservative Christianity"?
Look up R.C. Sproul Sr., John MacArthur, Matt Chandler, Alistair Begg... Those men are genuine conservative christian pastors.

[Ryan]

Man, this channel, along with Catholic Answers Live, and Sensus Fidelium are fantastic!

[jonathanmorgan]

I'm a Protestant who highly respects Catholicism. I am having a hard time connecting with your critiques of Protestantism however. Reasoning from the scriptures was the primary reason for the Protestant reformation. My perception from Luther's 95 theses is less toward corruption from Paganism, but corruption from power, selling of indulgences etc. and misreading scripture that was available only to those who could speak Latin, those who dared translate it so that people could read the Bible for themselves being put to death. I realize that there may be Protestants who have something against reason, though this is not a uniquely Protestant problem. We find this in any major religion. Primary teachers within mainstream Protestantism encourage people to think, and most of today's top Christian apologists are Protestant. The encouragement for people to read and understand Scripture for themselves, to reason from it and bring their questions to God, is something that Catholicism has until very recently seemed to lack. Critical thinking and authoritarianism tend to be at odds with each other, and Catholicism's structure at the very least is more authoritarian, though high church models within Protestantism also tend to be authoritarian.

[samknobeloch]

Mentions conservative evangelical christianity, shows video of Steven Furtick 🙄