Calling all converts

[Evlogitos]

I was raised by an extremely Fundamentalist Evangelical mother. She was about as radical in that doctrine as you could get; completely antisacramental, to the point, e.g. of questioning not only the necessity, but the expediency of baptism, not believing that going to church was a necessity as long as you spent enough time praying and reading the Bible, etc. Jack Chick was the equivalent in our house of the Early Fathers.

Obviously, there are many spiritual disadvantages to such an upbringing. The one thing I did get, which I appreciate to this day, is an unyielding commitment to pursue the whole Truth no matter where it led me.

Another good thing my upbringing brought me, ironically, was a deep respect for the “traditional.” My Catholic grandparents would occasionally take me to church with them, and while I didn’t really “get” the Mass, it gave me a chance to sing some of the great old Protestant hymns (good old Novus Ordo ), and went a long way toward weakening the anti-Catholic strain in my indoctrinated worldview.

Fast-forward a few years. I realized I had absolutely no idea what Scripture truly taught on a whole host of issues, so I dug in and quickly rejected the charismatic movement and Calvinism. My ongoing researches quickly led me to realize that Jack Chick was full of hoo-ha on a whole host of issues, which permitted me (thank God!) to broaden my perspective considerably. It dawned on me that I was clueless about Christian history from the Apostles to Martin Luther, so I decided to go read the primary sources for myself to find out how the early Church lived and worshiped.

Long story short, I quickly found myself no longer Protestant, particularly after sitting down and hardheadedly challenging myself on the epistemological validity of sola scriptura. My historical quest eventually led me to a showdown between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and Orthodoxy won out, on the history as well as on some soul-shaking and very unexpected spiritual experiences (growing up as a non-charismatic Protestant who prided himself on his hardheadedness on the supernatural, this was something entirely new to my experience).

So I was baptized (yes, I’d never been baptized! One of those little “amazing graces” with which God has so richly blessed me) into the Holy Orthodox Church on the Leavetaking of Theophany. I am now happily Orthodox, with a great burden on my heart of praying for and acting toward the reunion of Christendom.

Pax,

Seraphim

 

[AlessandraRose]

I came from the Islamic faith. My DH is still a Muslim.
What turned me away from my faith was many things.

What brought me here was truth.

Hello,

Are there any converts from one faith to another, or from one denomination to another? What turned you away from your previous faith? and what is it that made you chose your current faith?

 

[wisdomseeker]

It is the spooky side of Satanism, not the Humanistic LaVeyan stuff—the demonic entity worshipping stuff (Lucifer). You know like Rosemary’s Baby? I think it was a 60’s thing. It borrowed from Crowley and Kabbala and Medieval nightmares. The kind of thing that most Evangelical Christian sects are afraid is happening in basements and abandonned warehouses, but honestly in the years I spent in the pagan and goth scene since 1990 I have never seen anything come close to what I experienced as a child. If you Google ‘Luciferian’ you get a bunch of wannabe ‘vampyre’ cults with members of the median age of 15. JW during the day and Luciferian at night, the only thing they had in common was an extreme hatred of the Catholic Church, which in the end is what led me to it. I wanted to figure out why they hated it so badly. So I rebelled and became Catholic.

wow! this just made me realize how much we as catholics need to be praying for our Church. i never really saw that way that satan does seek to destroy this Church because his hatreth for God. that is why Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against it, Jesus knew that satan would come after His Church. now i see why so many comes against Jesus Church. there is no other explanation for it but it is the work of satan himself.

Jesus remember your promise and continue to bless your Church. Amen.

 

[wisdomseeker]

This could be a long post so I’ll keep it as succinct as possible
Born and raised devout Catholic.
Asked god for help during a terrible period of my life, and things after that got significantly worse.
Felt abandoned, so I delved into Catholicism: mass, adoration, retreats, rosaries, to get closer to my faith and heal.

Took a class on Asian Mythology. Was surprised at the complexity of it, and how there were unique, creative stories ‘explaining’ many parts of life. Was fascinated by the psychology of religion, and how and why religion spread, which I never really thought about till then. And these creation myths and the religion was believed! I realized that if I was critically looking at other faiths, I needed to critically look at my own; that to be a strong Catholic, I needed to be absolutely sure of what I was placing my trust in, and that if someone asked me, I needed to have a good answer to this conundrum. Besides, the likelihood of being born into the “correct” religion was not large, so to be a good Catholic, I needed to get rid of these concerns. Continued with research, Bible readings, and talking with others.

Realized I had significant qualms about major tenants of the faith, most glaring was that I strongly disagreed that faith should play such a large factor for gaining salvation. It made no sense to me. It repulsed me that good people could be sent to Hell simply because of lack of faculty for belief for something as similar as choosing a wrong answer on a vague test question.

I found that with my understanding of science, I could not read stories of the OT such as Noah, or Adam/Eve, and believe it actually happened. Other parts of the OT did not make sense to me, when considering God as omnimax, such as that God got angry – why would God get angry, or change his mind, when he knew what was going to happen? Why did god have to intervene so much, when God should have been able to make a perfectly self sustaining population? Why would a perfect God resort to stooping to such primitive, violent measures to get things done, which invoked massive suffering (I don’t accept the retort that that was the only way the people would understand)? I realized I had to look at a major part of the Bible as being allegory/cultural/linguistic/etc in order for it to make any sense. Then wondered that if I was taking a majority of the Bible as allegory, what was stopping the whole thing from being just a story? Other issues started to crop up such as the issue of omnipotence/free will. Visited a couple of boards of other religions, and the people of those faiths each had their reasons about why they were the correct religion – these were very devout people. Comparative religion is pretty interesting stuff. Started to see Catholicism as just as valid as Asian Mythology.

Got scared with that thought and tried to force myself back to full belief. Did more retreats, praying, adoration, reading, having others pray for me, etc. Would lie awake at night crying to God, hearing nothing.

Started reading both “sides” of debates, instead of just the Catholic side, to see if I could enhance my faith by seeing non-rational counters to Catholicism. Found that the atheist/agnostic side actually made a lot more sense to me.

Finally came to the understanding that faith is not an option, that I can not force myself into it. Also resigned myself to the fact that I could not continue to call myself Catholic, as that would be a lie.

A friend said it so simply to me, that I had problems with religion, not with god. This clarified things for me a great deal, and now, after over a decade of a crisis of faith, I consider myself agnostic. I do all I can to be a good and loving person… I grow further away from Catholicism with each passing day.

This seems to me more of a crisis of faith in God than anything else. you lost your faith somehow. faith means something. faith is to believe on the unseen. you looked for evidence and lost your faith. think about it. Bless are those who did not see and believe. you consider yourself good enough therefore you do not need God, according to your statement. the CC is here for a reason otherwise Jesus would not have built it, if it wasnt important to Him. although i respect your position in life, i certainly hope that God have mercy on you and bring you back to His loving care again.

 

[tris183]

I grew up Methodist and was confimed in 6th grade then my family stopped going to church. When I got to high school I dated a Christian that took me to his church. As highschool relationships go we broke up, but the thought of religion intrested me so I started going to every church in town. Some Sunday’s I would go to 3 different churches. I did this for 2 years by Junior year I was going pretty consistantly to a non denominational and a Baptist church, whom I had great love and respect for, but I still felt that there was something missing. We had great bible classes and bible studies but I thought a lot about my Methodist back ground with communion on the first Sunday of the month and wondered why these churches didnt do it too. So I went back to the Methodist church and the paster was nice but a sermon on Christmas really bothered me, and didnt seem to line up with things I was learning in the Baptist church, so my soul was uneasy again. I never durring this time ever considered the Catholic church and didnt even go there because my parents told me Catholics were evil. Until at the end of my Junior year a friend from school took me with him. I went becuase I wanted to see this “evil” that was happening there. I was blind sided by the mass. It was a lot like the Methodist service but I kept hearing verse after verse from the bible through out the liturgy and was suprised to find out that the Catholics do use the bible! So I signed up for RCIT (for teens) classes to find out what this church actually believed. Sunday after Sunday I was shocked to learn about the church. I was very skeptical at first and did my research after every class, and decided that after about 3 months of classes this is the true church that Christ established. Now a senior in HS I told my parents I was converting and they said no! They made me take the classes again to make sure this was the true church, so I did. I went through RCIT again and became Cathoic on the Easter Vigil of 2002. My dad started going back to the methodist church shortly after but my mom refuses to have any part in religion. But some times it is hard being the only Catholic in my entire family. My dad’s family roots run very deep. The first person came over in the 1700’s as a minister and most of his family is Southern Baptist. So yea I came here because God called me and gave me the grace to see the truth. Thank goodness for youth, becuase with out an open heart this conversion might never have taken place

 

[jenfire]

Response to Aleei,
I will pray for your crisis of faith and for you to grow closer to God. I met a woman once, a convert from Hindu or Buddhism to Protestantism to Catholicism. She (an american) cited problems of moving from a christian background to eastern religions. I believe she explained it as an incompatiblity of archetypes…I’m sure she could explain it better than I can. Having studied Buddhism long before my conversion, I am well aware of similarities in the religions, but of course there are differences too, trying to blend them/compare them may be the root of your difficulties. Just pray for truth and God will lead you to it!
God bless,
Jennifer

Pray, hope and don’t worry. Padre Pio

 

[peacelight]

I went from Catholic, to Wiccan, to Quaker, to kind of a random Christian, to random new age belief, to where I am now which is generally skeptical.

Why did I switch? I just didn’t belong. Except for being a Quaker. I left that because I split up with my girlfriend at the time. In the division of all the stuff, she got the church.

Hey there I have a link here I want you to visit if you interested - testimony from a former psychic - he talkes about new age belief and many others. I hope you take the time to read his testimonies how he found his way back to the Catholic Church
geocities.com/rick_g22/newage/psychic.html

God be with you.

 

[peacelight]

This could be a long post so I’ll keep it as succinct as possible
Born and raised devout Catholic.
Asked god for help during a terrible period of my life, and things after that got significantly worse.
Felt abandoned, so I delved into Catholicism: mass, adoration, retreats, rosaries, to get closer to my faith and heal.

Took a class on Asian Mythology. Was surprised at the complexity of it, and how there were unique, creative stories ‘explaining’ many parts of life. Was fascinated by the psychology of religion, and how and why religion spread, which I never really thought about till then. And these creation myths and the religion was believed! I realized that if I was critically looking at other faiths, I needed to critically look at my own; that to be a strong Catholic, I needed to be absolutely sure of what I was placing my trust in, and that if someone asked me, I needed to have a good answer to this conundrum. Besides, the likelihood of being born into the “correct” religion was not large, so to be a good Catholic, I needed to get rid of these concerns. Continued with research, Bible readings, and talking with others.

Realized I had significant qualms about major tenants of the faith, most glaring was that I strongly disagreed that faith should play such a large factor for gaining salvation. It made no sense to me. It repulsed me that good people could be sent to Hell simply because of lack of faculty for belief for something as similar as choosing a wrong answer on a vague test question.

I found that with my understanding of science, I could not read stories of the OT such as Noah, or Adam/Eve, and believe it actually happened. Other parts of the OT did not make sense to me, when considering God as omnimax, such as that God got angry – why would God get angry, or change his mind, when he knew what was going to happen? Why did god have to intervene so much, when God should have been able to make a perfectly self sustaining population? Why would a perfect God resort to stooping to such primitive, violent measures to get things done, which invoked massive suffering (I don’t accept the retort that that was the only way the people would understand)? I realized I had to look at a major part of the Bible as being allegory/cultural/linguistic/etc in order for it to make any sense. Then wondered that if I was taking a majority of the Bible as allegory, what was stopping the whole thing from being just a story? Other issues started to crop up such as the issue of omnipotence/free will. Visited a couple of boards of other religions, and the people of those faiths each had their reasons about why they were the correct religion – these were very devout people. Comparative religion is pretty interesting stuff. Started to see Catholicism as just as valid as Asian Mythology.

Got scared with that thought and tried to force myself back to full belief. Did more retreats, praying, adoration, reading, having others pray for me, etc. Would lie awake at night crying to God, hearing nothing.

Started reading both “sides” of debates, instead of just the Catholic side, to see if I could enhance my faith by seeing non-rational counters to Catholicism. Found that the atheist/agnostic side actually made a lot more sense to me.

Finally came to the understanding that faith is not an option, that I can not force myself into it. Also resigned myself to the fact that I could not continue to call myself Catholic, as that would be a lie.

A friend said it so simply to me, that I had problems with religion, not with god. This clarified things for me a great deal, and now, after over a decade of a crisis of faith, I consider myself agnostic. I do all I can to be a good and loving person… I grow further away from Catholicism with each passing day.

Hey there. I want you to know that God never abandon you. You may not know or realized it but he cares about you. I have a website here I want you to look at it is a about a former Psychic Journey back to the Catholic Church. He touched many issues from Psychic to New Age. If you are interested to read what he said here is the link geocities.com/rick_g22/newage/psychic.html

God Bless You.

 

[macleod]

raised a soft agnostic (not antagonistic to religion in particular just never discussed).

Married into the RCC (Roman Catholic Church)

Decided to make my faith “my own” and began studying “religions” to determine which one was the correct one.

I am now (and plan to always be) a bible believing Christian with no plans to ever return to the Roman Catholic Church or agnosticism.

 

[tundramom]

Mine is also a long story but here’s the short of the long…

5th generation “we came across the plains with handcarts and don’t you forget your heritage” Mormon

Never had a crisis of faith, just got lazy and started exploring

met a Baptist online and started trying to argue Mormonism with him. (2 years!)

Born again experience when I finally surrendered to Jesus without knowing what that meant or where I should go.

Became "bible-thumping-gotta-convert-the-world-catholics-need-to-wake-up Assembly of God (with a Cradle Catholic husband!)

Attended A/G and Catholic church with hubby all the while trying to “wake up” those pew-sitting Catholics Also known as my period of spiritual whiplash

Asked God to “hit me over the head” during prayer and He always delivers!!! OUCH

Finally Home to Rome and not looking back and grateful for how God has led me on this wonderful/painful/experience right into what one of my good friends calls “burying my face in the mane of the Lion of Judah.”

in Christ
Steph

 

[HashemEchad]

Hello,

Are there any converts from one faith to another, or from one denomination to another? What turned you away from your previous faith? and what is it that made you chose your current faith?

I was born Jewish, and investigated many other faiths as a result of something that took place when I was a child (I’d been beaten up by Catholic kids and called a ‘christ killer’–I wanted to study their religion to find out what in it made them hate me so much.) I wound up studying all religions, and going on to receive (as an adult) a degree in comparative religions.

Of all nonJewish religions, I studied traditional Catholicism most, partly because this had been my mother’s religion of birth, and half my family is Catholic.

Although I was a secular Jew for many years, I returned to religious Judaism and have been here ever since (this was about 25 years ago.)

My mother was a Catholic convert to Orthodox Judaism in 1944, and my husband is a convert to Judaism from the Baptist church (1983).

 

[Aleii]

This seems to me more of a crisis of faith in God than anything else. you lost your faith somehow.

While I may be currently wavering on starting a crisis of faith in God, the majority of my path has been a crisis of faith in Catholicism, and my prior post focused on this.

faith means something. faith is to believe on the unseen. you looked for evidence and lost your faith. think about it. Bless are those who did not see and believe. you consider yourself good enough therefore you do not need God, according to your statement.

I know what faith is, and I did not look for evidence. I looked for ways to strengthen my faith, and in part because of that, I lost it. Although those two statements may not seem that different, they are. According to which statement did I say I was good enough and did not need God? Are you merely spouting a stereotype of those who have left Catholicism? (There’s a lot of em out there, sigh)

the CC is here for a reason otherwise Jesus would not have built it, if it wasnt important to Him. although i respect your position in life, i certainly hope that God have mercy on you and bring you back to His loving care again.

To regard your statement as true, you must first believe that Jesus was the messiah, the Bible is the inspired truth, and that the Catholic Church as it stands today is the closest to being correct. I believe that if God is real, he will look at my actions and intentions, and judge it accordingly, and that will be what matters. I can not see the justice in any other way, as salvation by faith (and good works, but mainly faith) with minor hope for those outside the ‘correct’ faith, massively contradicts my view of right and wrong. I can choose to believe the Catholic god is true, just as much as I can choose to believe a blueberry is actually a cat.

Were this my only qualm with Catholicism, I might have somehow been able to find a way to ‘live with it’, but it is far from the only contention.

You can’t say I haven’t tried to force a change in my perceptions, and return to my old beliefs - it doesn’t work.

Response to Aleei,
I will pray for your crisis of faith and for you to grow closer to God. I met a woman once, a convert from Hindu or Buddhism to Protestantism to Catholicism. She (an american) cited problems of moving from a christian background to eastern religions. I believe she explained it as an incompatiblity of archetypes…I’m sure she could explain it better than I can. Having studied Buddhism long before my conversion, I am well aware of similarities in the religions, but of course there are differences too, trying to blend them/compare them may be the root of your difficulties. Just pray for truth and God will lead you to it!
God bless,
Jennifer

Pray, hope and don’t worry. Padre Pio

Thanks Jennifer. I do agree that there are multitudes of highly varied faiths, and paths of thought. I guess a lot of my comparisons have to do with the psychology of religion - why religions were created, what purpose they served, how they spread, their history over time, the passions of their people. I have prayed for many years. We will see what the future holds. Thanks for your consideration.

 

[Swan]

While I may be currently wavering on starting a crisis of faith in God, the majority of my path has been a crisis of faith in Catholicism, and my prior post focused on this.

I know what faith is, and I did not look for evidence. I looked for ways to strengthen my faith, and in part because of that, I lost it. Although those two statements may not seem that different, they are. According to which statement did I say I was good enough and did not need God? Are you merely spouting a stereotype of those who have left Catholicism? (There’s a lot of em out there, sigh)

To regard your statement as true, you must first believe that Jesus was the messiah, the Bible is the inspired truth, and that the Catholic Church as it stands today is the closest to being correct. I believe that if God is real, he will look at my actions and intentions, and judge it accordingly, and that will be what matters. I can not see the justice in any other way, as salvation by faith (and good works, but mainly faith) with minor hope for those outside the ‘correct’ faith, massively contradicts my view of right and wrong. I can choose to believe the Catholic god is true, just as much as I can choose to believe a blueberry is actually a cat.

Were this my only qualm with Catholicism, I might have somehow been able to find a way to ‘live with it’, but it is far from the only contention.

You can’t say I haven’t tried to force a change in my perceptions, and return to my old beliefs - it doesn’t work.

Thanks Jennifer. I do agree that there are multitudes of highly varied faiths, and paths of thought. I guess a lot of my comparisons have to do with the psychology of religion - why religions were created, what purpose they served, how they spread, their history over time, the passions of their people. I have prayed for many years. We will see what the future holds. Thanks for your consideration.

I agree with a great deal of what you say. Most of my family is Southern Baptist (two ministers) but there are also some Pentecostals. I converted to Catholicism with I was in my early 30s. I have been interested in the occult (from pagan to Demonolatry/Satanism) at various times and went back to that for about 13 years after Catholicism. I went back to Catholicism for a couple of years but just can’t square the infallibility thing, or the birth control thing, or the “only true church” thing. In fact, the more time I spend on this forum, the less it appeals to me. I’m now looking at the Quakers but am also interested in some aspects of Buddhism. I’m interested in mysticism/mystical experience. I also find some aspects of Native American spirituality, particularly the Navajo, very interesting. I would say I am spiritual but not religious. I do not believe that Jesus is the only way to “heaven”; I believe there are many different paths and actually resent being told by someone and/or some institution that they have the only “truth” – this is just opinion and cannot be proven objectively.

 

[Aleii]

Hey there I have a link here I want you to visit if you interested - testimony from a former psychic - he talkes about new age belief and many others. I hope you take the time to read his testimonies how he found his way back to the Catholic Church
geocities.com/rick_g22/newage/psychic.html

God be with you.

I read through the link. While I can’t easily relate to the information on psychics (and a large part of his testimony seems to center around his life as a psychic) and I disagree with some of his thoughts/premises, I am very glad that he found happiness and love.

 

[Aleii]

I agree with a great deal of what you say. Most of my family is Southern Baptist (two ministers) but there are also some Pentecostals. I converted to Catholicism with I was in my early 30s. I have been interested in the occult (from pagan to Demonolatry/Satanism) at various times and went back to that for about 13 years after Catholicism. I went back to Catholicism for a couple of years but just can’t square the infallibility thing, or the birth control thing, or the “only true church” thing. In fact, the more time I spend on this forum, the less it appeals to me. I’m now looking at the Quakers but am also interested in some aspects of Buddhism. I’m interested in mysticism/mystical experience. I also find some aspects of Native American spirituality, particularly the Navajo, very interesting. I would say I am spiritual but not religious. I do not believe that Jesus is the only way to “heaven”; I believe there are many different paths and actually resent being told by someone and/or some institution that they have the only “truth” – this is just opinion and cannot be proven objectively.

Sounds like you’ve had quite a journey so far! I too find American Indian culture and spirituality fascinating. Though my knowledge on the subject is limited as there are numerous tribes, it is something I look forward to further researching.

Best to you.

 

[po18guy]

Hi strngrnrth,

do you have an explanation for that passage?
are there any other unexplained bible passages?

Most Eucharistic passages from scripture are glossed over, misinterpreted or just not mentioned in many “denominations”. To truly understand them is to confront the fact that Christ lives in the Tabernacle. This is not beneficial to the corner pastor’s livelihood, and so, does not get preached. Marcus Grodi formed the Coming Home Network exactly for the pastors who did come to recognize Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, who converted and lost their pastoral employment.

Christ’s peace.

 

[peacelight]

I read through the link. While I can’t easily relate to the information on psychics (and a large part of his testimony seems to center around his life as a psychic) and I disagree with some of his thoughts/premises, I am very glad that he found happiness and love.

That is okay Aleii. I will remember you in my daily prayers. Take care ya.

 

[jenfire]

Thanks Jennifer. I do agree that there are multitudes of highly varied faiths, and paths of thought. I guess a lot of my comparisons have to do with the psychology of religion - why religions were created, what purpose they served, how they spread, their history over time, the passions of their people. I have prayed for many years. We will see what the future holds. Thanks for your consideration.

Thanks Aleii for your response. God hears your prayers and God has a plan for you, I’m guessing a pretty incredible one from what you’ve already gone through with your faith. Trust in God.

Have you read any Spanish Mysticism: St. John of the Cross *Dark Night of the Soul *or St. Teresa of Avila Interior Castle? I think you would like them.

Also St. Monica comes to mind who prayed for what, something like 40 years for her son St. Augustine–someone please correct me if I got that wrong!

I will keep you in my daily prayers.

Jennifer

Let nothing trouble you.
Let nothing scare you.
All is fleeting.
God alone is unchanging.
Patience
Everything obtains.
Who possesses God
Nothing wants.
God alone suffices.

St. Teresa of Avila

 

[Izraphel]

born and raised a catholic, had religious education in school for 8 years, went to the mass etc…

somewhere around the age of 13 i converted to atheism, some years later i started believing in god but not the catholic one.

my story is incredibly close to aleii’s.

today i do not believe that jesus christ is god, i do not believe in heaven and hell, and i do not believe that institutionalized religion of any kind is right. every man must find god for himself, no person or book can tell you what god should be to you.

i continually grow further away from the catholic church, but also continually grow happier and a better person.

 

[minkymurph]

From second generation Jehovah’s witness to Catholic. LIke a previous poster, I could go on forever about my conversion but I have a belief, that there is no real or valid conversion without the action of the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe in what I call ‘head knowledge’ conversions. That is, I don’t believe you will ever truly convert someone else by convincing and clever arguement, faith and a relationship with God needs to be entered into. The call from God goes out in relation to whatever path he asks us to follow and once we are on that path, God reveals more and more in relation to his purpose for us, and it’s only when you are on that path that things begin to make any sense. Note I said ‘begin’. I don’t believe conversions which are full of resentment and anger in relation to the faith we have left are true conversions. It is very difficult to explain or put into words, but I believe I was ‘called’ to the Catholic faith and I could go on forever about why I believe that as well. I can’t explain why some respond readily to God’s call and others do not. That’s something only the Almighty himself knows.