What if?

Back before I converted and became Catholic, I had a discussion with another protestant about theology. We were trying to figure out a detail of the rapture (yes, I admit that I was once concerned about this!). At one point when we both felt the weight of the question and the difficulty of understanding the mind of God in Scripture, he said, "What if I get it wrong?" It was a frightening idea.

This question is the inner terror of everyone living without the infallible interpretation of the Church. "What if I get it wrong?" presumes that the burden of responsibility rests on every single individual, without any help from an authoritative source of truth, to determine what God is thinking (whether or not He has spoken to them and given them revelation).

To anyone (protestant or Catholic) who tries to go through life without trusting in the revelation of God through His Church, life can be miserable. A person in this situation is taking to himself authority (in Scriptural interpretation) that he does not have. It is like trying to run a race with broken legs and not even having a wheelchair or crutches.

I had completely forgotten about this reality until recently when I was counseling someone and telling them that we do not have to worry about many of the big questions that protestants struggle with every day. We have been given an amazing gift: the authority of the Church. Yes, that is a gift, and though at times it feels like a burden to our fallen hearts, it is a great gift.

We do not have to say "what if I get it wrong?" or even "what if the Church gets it wrong?" Jesus promises we will have the truth we need, and even if we get something wrong (or the Church makes a bad decision in something--which is possible in some areas), then Jesus will work it out. He does not put the burden on us, and we can fully trust Him in all these things.