I think this is a good test...The Catholic religion says to believe us (their Magisterium) because God told them the truth to pass out onto us...
A Baptist church will say, 'this is what we believe but don't take our word for it...Search the scriptures (like the scriptures tell you to do), the actual words of God that you know whether we are telling the truth'...
Perhaps like a lot of people, I relate to the prodigal son. His path is/was/is my path and I tend to see his side of that story.
In a way, especially from having grown up in the buckle of the Bible belt South in multiple family situations, but none as a Catholic, I see the Protestant/Catholic divide as a similar sort of family struggle with the Protestants being the prodigal son.
People celebrate the prodigal son's return, but a big part of the story for me has always been why he left in the first place.
My experience/imagination has him saying "Well, if you had a sanctimonious, holier than thou, suck up older brother like I did, controlling everything and making your life a living hell, you'd have left too!" or something like that.
(Imagination is a wonderful thing, but dangerous in the wrong hands)
In other words, however bad his leaving is and however much it hurts Dad and the family, the split is not just the fault of one side, the protesting, "bad" boy who bailed. You know this by the attitude of the older brother when his prodigal brother finally comes back home.
There are real, legitimate reasons for the split, but the trouble is, family is stronger and complete together. Divided and separate, each brother is missing something, no matter how much of the whole they each might legitimately lay claim to.
With regard to our Christian family struggle, I am once again adopted into a family that's still trying to get back together. I'm new here and not taking sides.
Instead, I'm trying to figure out the bothers, get all the pieces to this family puzzle, see what fits together and then see what it looks like.