Catholic conversion versus protestant born again

[Layp3rs0n]

y mother left the true church when she remarried invalidly in the methodist ecclesial community. She has since been “born again” and says she feels following God and prayer much easier. She seems to get anything she prays for. Even for me. Yet I am upset. How? I am still catholic. I still struggle mightily to not live in the world. I sin often, and often mortally. I’ve asked God to help me, to change my heart. I’ve been baptized, and confirmed. I’ve literally and sacramentally been born again yet…

 

[Layp3rs0n]

(typing on a flip phone, won’t allow many characters) …yet I have not received the same reduction of concupiscence. I know my theology and apologetics like the back of my hand. So why does my mother, an excommunicated protestant, still have a closer walk with God than I? I have the mass, she has a service, I have the Eucharist, she has bread and grape juice. Why do I struggle to be good. I shouldn’t need to be “born again”, I already was! How can she walk so close to God while I am a catholic and can’t?

 

[Layp3rs0n]

She is serene, i am angry. She asks and receives, I do not. She has been excommunicated, where does she get such grace? I sin, she remains pure (excepting her bad marriage). Do I really need to ask God to be “born again”?

 

[Layp3rs0n]

So where then, is my conversion? where is my peace? I do not dare question the Church Christ established. I just don’t get it. I’ve asked for a change of heart. Begged for it. Where is it?

 

[PennyinCanada]

When we struggle with sin and persist in following the commandments of God, there is great merit for us. We can gain graces for others. We are certainly working the field for the kingdom of God. It’s when it’s hard to follow Christ that we really show that we mean business and God is there. When we are babies, we can only handle milk and our mother has to serve us night and day. When we’re older we must put aside the baby things and begin to be challenged and grow. We all struggle, we all have our cross to carry. God strengthens us.

Let you mother soak in the graces of God. She may find herself so hungry to receive the Bread of Life in the Eucharist one day that she will return to her Catholic roots and take many church friends with her. When we wander off the path that God has for us, He can use that time. You may find that she returns later with a new appreciation for what she had in the beginning. Lets hope so.

In the mean time, offer up all your joys, sorrows and sufferings to God, in union with Christ, for the salvation of the world, the conversion of sinners. May God strengthen and encourage us who are struggling today.

 

[SecretGarden]

As a Christian who has experienced both in different forms on different occasions. First of all it is possible to be born again and remain a devoted Catholic. I know several born again die hearted Catholics who love God with all of their hearts. To be born again basically means you have accepted Christ as your personal savior and you have invited him and asked him to be part of your heart and you basically devote yourself towards following his teachings. There are prayers online you can pray but they aren’t to be prayed until you are ready.

When some people become born again, they have this high and they feel as if they are on fire. It is wonderful to watch but one also has to be careful especially with the prayer requests because sometimes one gets so used to getting what they wanted that when God stops giving them what they want, they can become cold and first class jerks. I’m not saying that this will happen to your mother but I have seen it happen with other Christians.

Secondly Catholic conversions vary because sometimes they will be big hahah moments where suddenly everything makes sense and other times it is a quiet conversion as God is slowly and directing one inside the direction they are meant to be at. God uses these conversions to show himself and help us grow in maturity as well as grow closer to him. n

As for yourself, I would be patient because I have been where you are at. I had years where I prayed for God to change me and the situation I was facing. He did answer those prayers but it took a few years until I was ready to embrace that gift he had planned.

There is so much I can’t say on the public forum but to summarize to be born again means to have accepted Christ as your savior. That’s all it is. This prayer will affect people differently. For me, it later opened the doors towards joining the Catholic church. If you have questions, message me.

I would love to help you in anyway I can.

 

[Kal2012]

As other posters have mentioned, you can be “born again” and find your way to Catholicism.

Practically, conversion is harder in the Catholic Church than a lot of Protestant denominations. A lot of it is saying that you believe. There’s no Easter Vigil type ritual or rite of passage.

Everyone has seasons where they think that God isn’t listening to them.

Coming from a Baptist background, there’s a part of me that misses the emotional appeals made to convince people that they should have a relationship with Christ.

I miss that “feeling”. However, I know that Catholicism is true and would never go back on my conversion.

It sounds like you are looking for a feeling that you think you should have.

This is one of those instances where you shouldn’t compare your experience to other people.

I love those moments when I feel like God is really present in my life and it’s really empty if He’s not there. However, those feelings, like any other feelings, aren’t supposed to last forever. Feelings and relationships fluctuate.