Hard to say in words!
Yours in Christ
Terry
That is my basic answer too, but I will try!
My childhood was spent in High Church Anglicanism (but not Anglo-Catholic), then I left for several years in my teens, and returned after a powerful conversion experience. I am always grateful to Protestantism for this experience, and acknowledge that this was how I came to know Christ.
After my conversion experience I took my faith very seriously and started practising Anglicanism and also attended other Protestant services, particularly charismatic ones. This was the early '80’s.
I was somewhat a “blank page”, with few preconceptions, other than of a strong love of Christ and a wanting to “belong” somewhere. At first, it never occurred to me that something as institutional as the Catholic Church could have any relevance to my quest for belonging and for Truth.
While I was looking around I was reading the Bible steadily, and learning doctrine from my friends and pastors. The second part, ie. learning doctrine, started to become unsettling as I found that different denominations, and every individual within a denomination, had their own versions of Christianity, which were all equally credible and sincere in some ways, but equally non-compelling in others. I saw myself spending a lifetime just working out the basics! At the same time, as I was reading the Bible I kept noticing passages which seemed to point to Catholicism.
Things I read which pointed to Catholicism included: authority in the Church, the visible church, celibacy, the demand for perfection in heart and works, the position of Mary, sacraments, relics. Seriously, each of these things was apparent to me just from reading a passage and considering it on my own. For instance, a passage such as
Acts 19:11-12 or
Acts 5:12–16 would seem to be pointing to relics in Catholicism, while having no meaning elsewhere.
I also became conscious of the style of the New Testament which seemed to be accidental and to make no attempt to be a comprehensive and consistent statement of belief and practice. It was as if Jesus passed on an oral tradition, primarily, and so did the apostles.
There was one passage, above all others, which rang in my heart. No, it wasn’t Matt 16:18! It was 1 John 4:2
This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
This just astounded me. I saw that the Catholic Church, in its teachings, its practices, and, most of all, in it’s very existence, acknowledged “Jesus Christ come in the flesh” in a deeper and more fundamental way than Protestantism. The things which Protestants deny, such as sacraments, the visible Church, saints, relics, etc, were the very things which most emphasised the nature of Christ.
So, for me it was a movement of the heart, driven by a Biblical understanding of the nature of the Church.
It was less than a year from when I first started thinking “Maybe the Catholics aren’t all wrong”, till being received into the Church.
I very much miss my Anglican fellowship, and the music, but, after 30 years, there has never been a moment of serious regret or doubt.
My story was similar to
Evangelical Convert: Renée Lin who found herself confronted by several Bible passages, over a few years. Some of her passages were the same as mine, and others not.
Best wishes,
Edmundus
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