Baptist church

[Roblox84]

Great post CHI… I think i will use that logic on my girlfriend as well.

Thanks,
Matt

I’m glad to hear that there are others in the same boat as me. Although it really does stink, here I find myself a great, loving and caring girl which I thought I would mary only to find out it would be troublesome to be with her. Although sometimes I think that God may just be working through people like her to realize how special my own faith is and to learn more about it or maybe to bring her into the correct faith.

 

[Art321]

Great post CHI… I think i will use that logic on my girlfriend as well.

Thanks,
Matt

Indeed!

 

[Matthew_P_Muehl]

I’m glad to hear that there are others in the same boat as me. Although it really does stink, here I find myself a great, loving and caring girl which I thought I would mary only to find out it would be troublesome to be with her. Although sometimes I think that God may just be working through people like her to realize how special my own faith is and to learn more about it or maybe to bring her into the correct faith.

Hey Rob… I know where your coming from. I’ve been going through this over four years now.If she truly loves you she should have some interest in the catholic church. For me kids are not in the picture. But for you thats another matter all together! If you Stick to your guns she will have more respect for you and may have more interest in your church for the sake of the marriage. She must at least meet you halfway or there is no chance of this lasting!
You have much to consider here and good luck.

May the holy spirit guide you through this:thumbsup:

Matt

 

[jlhargus]

Well I wouldn’t wait for them to find God as adults, I would make sure that they would be taught and embrace God from childhood like my parents did for me. But then when they get older they would be able to determine if they want to stay in that religion or become Catholic but this is why I was wondering if they will just teach anti-catholic doctrine every Sunday which would prevent my children from making a good decision. She doesn’t mind if the kids would be baptised in the Catholic church but I wouldn’t want that only for them to go to a Baptist church.

JL: First if you are honest with the priest as you are here, no priest worth the name, would baptize a child who is NOT going to be raised in the Catholic faith. If you don’t even know the faith as you say how can you bring up a child in the faith. If the child is not going to attend religion class and you do not attend mass every week but most of the time a Baptist service they will be raised Baptist. It would be more honest to baptize them in your kitchen sink.

I converted from a bible church similar to Baptist. You certainly fit the stereotype of a Catholic, which most Baptist’s have, along with many other misconception, about the Catholic Church that most bible type churches hold.

There are two books I recommend you both read. The first is on the mass, The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth, by Scot Hahn. The second book , Crossing the Tiber, by Stephen K. Ray who was a Baptist convert. You can find both books on Amazon Book.

Those books would be good for you both. Hopefully they will get YOU started with knowing and loving your own faith. I will pray for you both, God Bless.

 

[Roblox84]

JL: First if you are honest with the priest as you are here, no priest worth the name, would baptize a child who is NOT going to be raised in the Catholic faith. If you don’t even know the faith as you say how can you bring up a child in the faith. If the child is not going to attend religion class and you do not attend mass every week but most of the time a Baptist service they will be raised Baptist. It would be more honest to baptize them in your kitchen sink.

I converted from a bible church similar to Baptist. You certainly fit the stereotype of a Catholic, which most Baptist’s have, along with many other misconception, about the Catholic Church that most bible type churches hold.

There are two books I recommend you both read. The first is on the mass, The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth, by Scot Hahn. The second book , Crossing the Tiber, by Stephen K. Ray who was a Baptist convert. You can find both books on Amazon Book.

Those books would be good for you both. Hopefully they will get YOU started with knowing and loving your own faith. I will pray for you both, God Bless.

Yes unfortunately I was the type to not pay attention in mass when I was younger, and I forgot a lot of the stuff that was taught to me as a kid because I didn’t think it was that important at the time. Through my actions I probably did worsen the stereotype, but my only hope is that the Catholic teachings will speak for itself without my actions getting in the way.

 

[SteveVH]

I do love God and my Church more, so I am going to see my priest on Sunday and hopefully get some guidance from him too. I know that I am not going to drop my faith, that isn’t even an option. I will have to tell her that if we have kids they will have to be raised Catholic, it’s just a matter of bringing it onto her lightly and intelligently and not how I used to do it by just arguing why her faith is wrong. It probably won’t turn out good unless her parents decide that they wouldn’t mind the kids being Catholic, and then I have struck home. It’s hard to convince someone to become Catholic when they aren’t into the whole ritual thing at my church.

Roblox, you belong to the most beautiful religion the world has ever known. For many years I pretty much satisfied my Sunday obligations and left it at that. Without going into lengthy conversion stories, suffice it to say that I ended up falling in love with my Church. I studied its history, theology, doctrines etc. The closer I looked, the more beautiful it became. The difference is that the Church, Christ’s presence on earth, became the center of my life rather than something I did once a week. Learn about your Church and you will find that it is essential for your children’s lives and that you have a responsibility to give them the fullness of truth found in the Church. I can think of nothing more important. Learn your faith and live it and I think you will find that your girlfriend will be attracted. It is something beautiful to be shared and when lived authentically it is irresistable.

 

[Roblox84]

Roblox, you belong to the most beautiful religion the world has ever known. For many years I pretty much satisfied my Sunday obligations and left it at that. Without going into lengthy conversion stories, suffice it to say that I ended up falling in love with my Church. I studied its history, theology, doctrines etc. The closer I looked, the more beautiful it became. The difference is that the Church, Christ’s presence on earth, became the center of my life rather than something I did once a week. Learn about your Church and you will find that it is essential for your children’s lives and that you have a responsibility to give them the fullness of truth found in the Church. I can think of nothing more important. Learn your faith and live it and I think you will find that your girlfriend will be attracted. It is something beautiful to be shared and when lived authentically it is irresistable.

Well, I will try and tell her next week that our children would have to be Catholic, and we’ll see if she’ll want to stay with me or not. I just have to find a good way to start a conversion about it. So if anyone has any good ideas, feel free to share them.

 

[Anna_Scott]

twiggymoo,

Could you do us all a favor and condense your thoughful post into a few short sentences that would be useful in helping the OP with his decisions?

Jon,
Here is the short for OP- Baptists and Catholics are not compatible.

I know I went off in a tangent - sorry. But if OP intends a future with this Baptist lady - he has to know it will be very difficult unless they come to terms and he gets serious about his Catholic faith or goes over to the Baptist side.

Twiggymoo,

There was nothing wrong with the length of your post. The OP needs to hear what you have to say.

I am Catholic and have been going to a baptist church with my girlfriend for some time. . . .

Roblox84,

I formally resigned from the Baptist Church in January, after a long estrangement and much study and prayer. I am visiting a very conservative Episcopal Church, at present.

I attended a large Southern Baptist Church of about 12,000 people. I found so much prejudice there, against Catholics and just about anyone who didn’t accept Baptist beliefs. You aren’t “saved,” until you “get saved” their way.

Ironically, the very Baptist ministers who ridicule the Catholic submission to the authority of the Pope/CC, demand even more obedience from their congregations–depending on how extreme a particular Baptist Church may be.

I was told by my Baptist Bible Class Teacher that I had a faith issue, because I do not believe in a literal 6-day creation. The Baptist Church even has periodic courses on how to talk to your children about creationism, and how to keep them from accepting the possibility of evolution or other scientific explanations for creation. Your children may end up feeling like they have to choose between God and Science–this should not be.

You really have no idea how far the Baptist grasp can reach into your life, and what they will teach your children.

Please pray, talk with your Priest; and have serious discussions with your girlfriend–women often have intentions of changing and remaking their husbands when the marriage is official–never a good idea, but it happens far too often.

I would also spend some time on the Southern Baptist Convention website. Here is the Link to Southern Baptist Faith and Message:
sbc.net/bfm/default.asp

Search the articles on creationism, intelligent design and evolution, as well.

If you marry, just make sure you go in with eyes wide open. And–by all means, listen to the wisdom of your Catholic brethren, here.

In Christ,
Anna

 

[SteveVH]

Well, I will try and tell her next week that our children would have to be Catholic, and we’ll see if she’ll want to stay with me or not. I just have to find a good way to start a conversion about it. So if anyone has any good ideas, feel free to share them.

One of the great things about the CC is that its history is well documented, both the good and the bad. You might just want to start at the beginning. Jesus started a Church, founded on Peter (our first Pope) and promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. If that is true, and Christ said it was, then where is that Church today? We can provide a written record of succeeding Popes going back to Peter. These are not just claims, the CC has the evidence. It is the only Church on the planet that does have the evidence.

I have to admit that when my wife became pregnant with our first child my perpective changed profoundly. What was I going to teach him? That is when I really started learning about my faith. I will always have a lot more to learn. I think the main thing is you need to decide how important this is to you and to your obligations as a father. If you consider those things you’ll make the right choice. God bless.

 

[Roblox84]

One of the great things about the CC is that its history is well documented, both the good and the bad. You might just want to start at the beginning. Jesus started a Church, founded on Peter (our first Pope) and promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. If that is true, and Christ said it was, then where is that Church today? We can provide a written record of succeeding Popes going back to Peter. These are not just claims, the CC has the evidence. It is the only Church on the planet that does have the evidence.

I have to admit that when my wife became pregnant with our first child my perpective changed profoundly. What was I going to teach him? That is when I really started learning about my faith. I will always have a lot more to learn. I think the main thing is you need to decide how important this is to you and to your obligations as a father. If you consider those things you’ll make the right choice. God bless.

I definately think my views will change when I have children, and that is why i’m studying all of this now. When I talked to her before all I said was that God created the CC and I was stuck. She then would tell me that God didn’t invent religion, it was man. Of course later I learned that it wasn’t actually known as “Catholic” as it is today. But as someone mentioned before, what is a good explanation for someone that might think that “Church” means all believers in Christ and not the “Church” that Christ founded.

 

[Roblox84]

Sorry, I totally messed that last post up. I meant how to show someone that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ and not a bunch of church’s.

 

[SteveVH]

Sorry, I totally messed that last post up. I meant how to show someone that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ and not a bunch of church’s.

If she is a good Bible believing Baptist then I would start with the Bible.

“But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter said in reply ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’. Jesus said to him in reply ‘Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father’. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keyes to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”. (Matt 16:15-19)

It is clear that He started a church with special authority going to Peter the “rock” upon which Christ would build His church. He gave the church “authority”, the power to bind and loose (forgive sins) and the “keys” to the kingdom of heaven. It is also clear that He did not start various churches, but only one. Nor did the Bible fall out of heaven with a note that said this is the word of God, good luck. He started a Church to guide His people and to be His presence on earth.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[twiggymoo]

hi twiggymoo. wow what a story. sounds like your having a rough time of it. hang in there, the Holy Spirit, will speak to you in a still quiet voice. not in the thunderstorm, or the fire, or the tornado. just read about elija. a still small voice. i will be praying for your situation. i escpecially liked the part where they start a camaign called greater works… all of us can learn a lesson from this. how can we go on to greater works, when we still have to finish the small works? staying out of debt practicing love of God and our neighbor etc. peace to you and God bless you. by the way i appreciate your integrity and honesty

Thank you benidict - I appreciate your prayers - my wife is very anti-Catholic.

D

 

[twiggymoo]

Twiggymoo,

There was nothing wrong with the length of your post. The OP needs to hear what you have to say.

Roblox84,

I formally resigned from the Baptist Church in January, after a long estrangement and much study and prayer. I am visiting a very conservative Episcopal Church, at present.

I attended a large Southern Baptist Church of about 12,000 people. I found so much prejudice there, against Catholics and just about anyone who didn’t accept Baptist beliefs. You aren’t “saved,” until you “get saved” their way.

Ironically, the very Baptist ministers who ridicule the Catholic submission to the authority of the Pope/CC, demand even more obedience from their congregations–depending on how extreme a particular Baptist Church may be.

I was told by my Baptist Bible Class Teacher that I had a faith issue, because I do not believe in a literal 6-day creation. The Baptist Church even has periodic courses on how to talk to your children about creationism, and how to keep them from accepting the possibility of evolution or other scientific explanations for creation. Your children may end up feeling like they have to choose between God and Science–this should not be.

You really have no idea how far the Baptist grasp can reach into your life, and what they will teach your children.

Please pray, talk with your Priest; and have serious discussions with your girlfriend–women often have intentions of changing and remaking their husbands when the marriage is official–never a good idea, but it happens far too often.

I would also spend some time on the Southern Baptist Convention website. Here is the Link to Southern Baptist Faith and Message:
sbc.net/bfm/default.asp

Search the articles on creationism, intelligent design and evolution, as well.

If you marry, just make sure you go in with eyes wide open. And–by all means, listen to the wisdom of your Catholic brethren, here.

In Christ,
Anna

Thanks Anna,
Yes, OP needs to know how much Baptists can reach into your life and how they operate without tradition and how they use the Holy Spirit card to manipulate. Pray for us.

 

[Third_Day]

=Roblox84;6280761]The one thing she did say is that she doesn’t disagree with the teachings at my mass. But the one thing that is that she doesn’t like is the whole ritualistic function of mass

,
Read the writing of the first christians and you will see that they had a liturgical form of worship…the Mass. In Acts of the Apostles it tells us " And they devoted themsleves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers" St. Paul writes about the Mass in 1 Cor 11:23. This is how God wants to be worshiped.

she much prefers her church were the pastor comes in and say’s “I was going to preach about this topic but the holy spirit blew another topic my way and told me I should preach this instead”. She thinks its way more personal then at a Catholic church, so it will definately be a hard time overcoming this. But I will def. be praying hard about it.

The whole point of going to Church is to worship God and make God the center of our attention. What you just described makes the preacher the center of attention, it’s all about him and how good a talk he can give. Ask yourself this. When you go to the Baptist church why doesn’t anyone kneel and pray to God?
In my opinion you need learn your Catholic faith better and share it with her and with the grace of God she will come into the Church with you.

 

[Darron_Steele]

I am Catholic and have been going to a baptist church with my girlfriend for some time. We mostly go to her church but sometimes we go to my church also. We agree on many things, although I believe that you need the church to fully understand the bible and most protestants don’t. I previously had no problem with the baptist church because the pastors would preech things that would most likely bring the people closer to God. The pastors bible translations were somewhat skewed because he would pretty much give his opinion on what the passage might have meant, but his translations were never to lead the people away from Christ. I have been going there for about 2 years and I have been noticing the pastor would talk down on other religions, not much, but enough for me to notice. For example, he would say something of the matter that Catholics don’t believe something the way it was meant in the bible and the way they(baptists) do it. Now, I have been going to a Catholic church and I have never heard them talk down on any religion and they actually embrace the protestant as the “seperated bretheren”, so I was just wondering if they do that at protestant chruches because they are trying to hide something and so that people will remain anti-catholic as so not to loose attendance or is it in their mission statement of the church. I am worried about this because we plan on marrying and she doesn’t want to raise the kids Catholic. I had no problem with that but now i’m not sure because I could only think that the baptists will teach our kids from a yound age how to hate Catholics and that their way is the only right way. Also, I don’t want them to be taught anything that is contradicting to the bible. Any help from a Catholic or Baptist that would ease my mind would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Yes, there are Baptists who are locked in grudges over things that happened hundreds of years ago. That cannot be helped. Keep in mind that they are aging, and the poison is not very hereditary; their kids are not inheriting it at a high rate. It seems like with the passage of time, it is going to diminish in relevance.

One thing to make your life easier: try agreeing on a Baptist congregation whose preacher is
a) more interested in urging people to serve the Lord – Hebrews 10:24-5,
b) than in criticizing other church groups.
I think that the Book has more than enough in it to keep a preacher busy for life. If he is more interested in using criticisms of other church groups for sermon material, then he is too lazy to be worth substantial portions of my time.

There exist Baptist congregations with ministers who are better than this. Further, you probably would not have to look very hard for a Baptist congregation where most people assume that practicing Catholics are Christians.

As for marrying this woman, and raising kids together, make it clear that you will not allow the kids to be raised to hate their father. If they are taught to hate Catholics, that is what will happen. Teaching people to disagree with Catholic precepts does not require teaching them to hate Catholics. She needs to understand both of these things, and be willing to take reasonable steps accordingly.

 

[Pixie_Dust]

Sorry, I totally messed that last post up. I meant how to show someone that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ and not a bunch of church’s.

Go to www.biblechristiansociety.com and download the MP3 entitled “One Church.” It’s free, and very informative. There is also a booklet you can print out to help you take notes while you listen to it. In fact, I would suggest you and your girlfriend listen to it together, if possible.

 

[Roblox84]

,
Read the writing of the first christians and you will see that they had a liturgical form of worship…the Mass. In Acts of the Apostles it tells us " And they devoted themsleves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers" St. Paul writes about the Mass in 1 Cor 11:23. This is how God wants to be worshiped.

The whole point of going to Church is to worship God and make God the center of our attention. What you just described makes the preacher the center of attention, it’s all about him and how good a talk he can give. Ask yourself this. When you go to the Baptist church why doesn’t anyone kneel and pray to God?
In my opinion you need learn your Catholic faith better and share it with her and with the grace of God she will come into the Church with you.

You know, that is a great statement because it really does seem that their faith is based on how well a preacher can preach and not based around God himself. I will def. have to use that logic on her.

 

[Jon_Hus]

Roblox84,

This Baptist at heart will give you credit for one thing. You are attempting to address the situation before the vows and not after. And no matter which side of the debate, there are ample posters responding that are informing you correctly that “mixed” marrages are difficult at best.

One of the sad truths about today’s conservative/evangelical/fundamentals in the Baptist mode of things is that they really don’t know their theology as well as they should. Those churches are not teaching the fundamentals of the faith as they used to.

Another aspect of this debate which is really not on track is that the Tiber crowd say all manner of critical things about us when in fact they are not as accuate as they claim. The RCC claims 2000 years of truth,Ok. But however long it has been in existence, one thing we can all agree on is this, the RCC has generated mountains of theological paperwork. It is easy to look into the archives to find a pronouncement about such and such and then find that same pronouncement counteracted at a later time. This is what Vatican II did, it basically reversed the historic course of the RCC.

There is a Baptist church literally down the street from where I live. I do not go there as I feel that they are not 100% on sound firm Biblical footing. Instead, I travel 25 miles each way to an Evangelical Free Church. My point, just because it’s Baptist doesn’t mean consistency. God gave us intelligence, reasoning skills, the Bible and His Holy Spirit and guidence to lead us where He wants us to be. I can tell you one thing, In my opinion and based on 35 years of Bible study is the Christian faith is very simple and anything that takes years to learn the basics is by definition complex.

God also wants us to be happy. But, we have to do our part and that is listening to Him. No matter what your feelings are for this lady, it is very possible that God has something different in mind for one of both of you and it is in both of your best interests to determin His will.

 

[Moscati]

Roblox84,

Another aspect of this debate which is really not on track is that the Tiber crowd say all manner of critical things about us when in fact they are not as accuate as they claim.

There is a Baptist church literally down the street from where I live. I do not go there as I feel that they are not 100% on sound firm Biblical footing. Instead, I travel 25 miles each way to an Evangelical Free Church. My point, just because it’s Baptist doesn’t mean consistency.

This is a good point–“Baptist”, as a descriptive term, may not mean much theologically, simply because the Baptist experience and tradition is so varied. Please forgive those Catholics who criticize you or your church inaccurately. It’s very hard to tease out what Baptists really believe, precisely because there are not really a lot of authoritative documents, and those that exist aren’t really binding on all Baptists. There’s no way to know what Baptists believe except by asking the particular Baptist (or perhaps a particular church body).