According to one Protestant apologist, the genius of Protestantism is that
.
. . Protestants are not in principle schismatic or factious. Why?
Because they do not presuppose in the midst of inevitable differences between
administrative and organizational bodies that those outside of their
administrative bodies are necessarily outside the Church considered as the Body
of Christ. For example, the mere fact of being, say, a Confessional Lutheran
does not necessitate a claim by the Confessional Presbyterian that said
Lutheran is outside of the Body of Christ and therefore damned, and vice versa.
In other words, merely being “not Presbyterian” does not mean that one is
outside of the Church, not Christian or not saved. (Joshua Schooping, Disillusioned:
Why I Left the Eastern Orthodox Priesthood and Church [Russellville, Ark.:
Theophany Press, 2022], 33)
The reality, however, is far from
the case. Protestants are divided over issues that are salvific, not simply “minor”
issues, such as baptismal regeneration. If the Lutheran is correct in affirming
this doctrine, the Presbyterian is denying the ordinary instrument of the regeneration
and the remission of sins; of the Presbyterian is correct, the Lutheran is “adding”
to the gospel, similar to the Judaizers who were put under an anathema (Gal
1:6-9) (this is a charge critics of the doctrine make against LDS, Catholics,
and Eastern Orthodox). 500 years later, Protestants are still divided over
this, largely, in part, due to their sub-par ecclesiologies resulting in their inability to definitively settle this and other issues for all Protestants.
All Protestants are also united
in affirming a doctrine that is also unbiblical: Sola Scriptura. On this, see:
Not
By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura
