Catholic Converts: What was the last straw that made you left the Protestant Churches?

[sandusky]

Strawman. No Catholic has ever claimed that all its members will be faithful to the teachings of the Church. We do claim to be sinners who can be self-willed and ignorant. The unity is in the teachings of the Magisterium, not in individuals.

And really, it’s the same in every religion in the world. Why? Because human beings are fallen creatures, that’s why. Not because the Catholic Church doesn’t have and hasn’t always had a unified teaching to which all Catholics are expected to adhere.

In order to bring the thread back on topic, I’d like to add that unity wasn’t the thing that brought me into the Catholic Church, but authority did. I realized that Christ meant it when he established the Church upon Peter and the Apostles, and that his promise to lead his Church into all truth was either true or he lied to us by letting his Church apostatize, which was/is unthinkable. Unity was a side benefit for me.

Amen; for the n-c, the unity is in the teachings of the scripture, not in individuals.

 

[Writer]

I’ve honestly heard this too, it’s absolute baloney, the argument is majority based on trying to undermine the Sodom narrative. once that is “done” they then try to argue about weather or not the law(Sin) God outlay ed in Leviticus, the one where he said being gay was “abominable and worthy of death”(which is funny considering God says the acts committed in Sodom were “Abominable and worthy of death”) was over thrown by Jesus.

Pointing out that Jesus actually came along to give us a better understanding of god’s moral laws and NOT to change them, seems to fall on deaf ears. So does pointing out that Jesus only overthrew the old Jewish practices rather than the moral laws of God.

We heard the same kind of arguments when we were in the Episcopal Church. I once had an assistant to the Episcopal Bishop in Oregon declare that we should ignore Saint Paul’s writings altogether when I was writing them about the Gene Robinson situation. His comments were so chilling that I took them to our Episcopal priest, and he confided that he was also considering a move to the Catholic Church–but he never did so, as far as I know.

You know one thing that is wonderful about being Catholic? My family doesn’t have to fight for what’s right anymore–not the same way, at any rate. We don’t need to write the letters or make the calls, because the Catholic Church is not blown by the winds of popular culture and moral relativism.

The Gene Robinson ordination was the begining of the end for us, but there were many other “last straws”, too. If you want to read more about our story, you can check out the link below.

catholic.com/thisrock/2007/0701dr.asp

 

[pismopal]

Nella

Maybe I should live in a jar but I don’t, thats what is important. On the subject of the Church and what to believe, our Church has a Catechism and if your “belief” is quite different from what is described there…well you are free to go or stay gone as the case may be.
Have a nice life!

 

[Jan2]

I was formally initiated into the Roman Catholic Church Easter Vigil 2002 – I grew up Methodist and when my husband and I were married, Iconverted to the Lutheran church. After witnessing the love/relationship that a dear lady experienced with Jesus, I wanted what she had and I prayed for it and I began to experience it. I became a different person and desired to know everything about Him. I started attending Bible studies. The key here is studies, not study. After a few years of attending Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) which claim to be non-denominational, although our leader always made sure during her lecture period to let us know the reasons why Catholic teachings were wrong (she was a former nun), I became very offended. The dishonesty of what this organization said they were and how they were deceiving unsuspecting people such as myself finally sunk in (I had really loved BSF) and I decided to quit.

As I said, I was involved in Bible studies and became more and more aware of the many points of view of what everyone thought Christianity was and wasn’t and all the whys and why nots. This really started to work on me. I loved Jesus and wanted to do His Will. I started to pray that He show me TRUTH. I had faith that He would show me. It was unthinkable to me that God would have all of us running around here trying to figure out what we were supposed to be doing.

What I think is the most important thing that happened to me during this time is that I became very “homesick” for the Eucharist! I can’t explain it, but when I was just out of high school, I went to South America for several months so I knew what it felt like to be homesick and this feeling didn’t even come close. My children and I would go to the Lutheran church on Sunday mornings and the Catholic Church was down the street and it was a real interior struggle. I eventually started going to the Catholic Church. I am from a small town that I had grown up in all my life, so let me tell you this wasn’t an easy thing to do. I always felt like someone was going to ask me if I missed my turn. No one ever did.

Anyway, after about a year, with much praying and reading, I knew what needed to be done and I joined RCIA and my kids went to RCIC and that morning during rehearsal, when my children and I were asked to bring up the gifts at Easter Vigil, I broke down and cried, actually it was sobbing and I couldn’t stop. My children were embarrassed, as was I, but I couldn’t help it. For the first few years, every time I received the Eucharist, I would cry. I would like to note that my husband does come to Mass with us and he has been very supportive.

There are many people who are Catholic and do not adhere to Catholic teachings, as we all know, but the teachings are there and they are not man made teachings, they are Christ’s teachings. I am so thankful for the grace I was given to see through all the “stuff” When TRUTH was presented to me, I knew what it was. There was no denying it.

Thank you to all you faithful Catholics for not giving up on Christ’s Church and being there for people like me to find it. Words can never let you know how much I appreciate it! God Bless You!

 

[qui_est_ce]

I’ll tell you why I love the Catholic Church. I am a cradle Catholic. The older and wiser I get, the more I read, the more I realize the Catholic Church contains the fullness of Truth.

I love my parish, I love Scripture Study, I love the Eucharist, I love Confession, I love our priests, I love my fellow parishioners, I love singing beautiful hymns and ancient chants in choir.

I have become addicted to reading the about history of the Christian Church from the time of Jesus to today. Then two St. Louis University theologians moved in down the block. I LOVE listening to them. I don’t understand all of it, but it makes me realize what great intellect and love there is in our CC.

Where would Christianity be today, had not the Catholic monks devoted their lives to evangelizing by preserving Christian treasures such as the Holy Bible before the invention of the printing press?

If I were not a Catholic, I would have read myself into the CC by now! I have been born again Catholic through the Christ Renews His Parish Retreats.

So great is my love for the CC and her teachings, I worked my fingers to the bone to put my two children through twelve years of Catholic schooling. College, with scholarships, is cheaper than Catholic HS. But I would have given blood if that’s what it took to keep them there. Now my oldest is in a State University, where his Catholic foundations will be challenged. But he is well armed in the Marianist tradition!

Praise be to God for all the gifts and blessings he shower upon all of us every day. I thank the Lord for giving me the Grace to Faith (verb) everyday.

Love this forum. Isn’t it great that the cc is sponsoring such a great way for all to communicate and share ideas.

 

[qui_est_ce]

After a few years of attending Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) which claim to be non-denominational, although our leader always made sure during her lecture period to let us know the reasons why Catholic teachings were wrong (she was a former nun), I became very offended. The dishonesty of what this organization said they were and how they were deceiving unsuspecting people such as myself finally sunk in (I had really loved BSF) and I decided to quit.

I experienced the exact same thing! I was in the BSF too. I joined with some nonCatholic friends in the neighborhood. I was told Catholics don’t read the Bible, while I was in Bible Study! :tsktsk: One woman told me that she would only marry a Christian, so before she would marry her then Catholic boyfriend, she made him go out on the balcony and shout, “Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior!” and renounce his Catholicism and become Christian! She said that right in front of me. They also told me, charitably, that I was the only Catholic they knew who MIGHT be saved. Most of my friends quit after that session, but I stuck it out, because I figured the Lord put me there for a reason, but I quit after a few years and started a Bible study at my own parish. We had a great group for about five years, and then I moved out of state.

There are many people who are Catholic and do not adhere to Catholic teachings, as we all know, but the teachings are there and they are not man made teachings, they are Christ’s teachings. I am so thankful for the grace I was given to see through all the “stuff” When TRUTH was presented to me, I knew what it was. There was no denying it.

Amen Sister!
Jan2;2627052:

Thank you to all you faithful Catholics for not giving up on Christ’s Church and being there for people like me to find it. Words can never let you know how much I appreciate it! God Bless You!

And we are so blessed to have you here :bowdown:

 

[St_Violet]

A protestant told me he converted to Catholocism because he really liked the catholic assassin movies, i know he was just joking and all but does anyone know of these “catholic assassin movies”?

 

[guanophore]

I just love this. Whenever I address a comment to one person, several others jump on me like a pack of dogs. I’m not surprised though.

You should not be surprised, so long as you continue to behave in a manner that violates the forum rules. Your very first post was off topic. In fact, you are not a convert, and you have no answer to the topic thread, but you posted provocative bits of opinion anyway. Then, upon reading other appropriate posts, you criticized Catholics about what you imagine they are thinking while sitting in the pew. In addition to being uncharitable, you appear to be attempting to derail the thread.

 

[guanophore]

I just love this. Whenever I address a comment to one person, several others jump on me like a pack of dogs. I’m not surprised though.

You should not be surprised, so long as you continue to behave in a manner that violates the forum rules. Your very first post was off topic. In fact, you are not a convert, and you have no answer to the topic thread, but you posted provocative bits of opinion anyway. Then, upon reading other appropriate posts, you criticized Catholics about what you imagine they are thinking while sitting in the pew. In addition to being uncharitable, you appear to be attempting to derail the thread.

I left because of Scripture. As I said, the Catholic church may teach one thing a particular way and five Catholics will draw five different conclusions or beliefs from it. No different than from Protestant churches.

The difference, Nella, is that despite the sometimes erroneous or improperly catechized opinions of certain Catholics, the Catholic Church has only one teaching and one conclusion, and it has not failed or erred. Clearly your personal understanding of scripture did not agree with the meaning given by those who wrote it, so you felt compelled to leave. But this is not a thread about why people left the Church. It is about why they came in, or came back. That is why you are out of order.

 

[Nella]

You should not be surprised, so long as you continue to behave in a manner that violates the forum rules. Your very first post was off topic. In fact, you are not a convert, and you have no answer to the topic thread, but you posted provocative bits of opinion anyway. Then, upon reading other appropriate posts, you criticized Catholics about what you imagine they are thinking while sitting in the pew. In addition to being uncharitable, you appear to be attempting to derail the thread.

What exactly would you say has happened to my thread “Have you ever been to a Holy Eucharist service in the Episcopal church?” Many folks that have never stepped foot in an Episcopal church posted some very negative and derragatory comments. I guess that’s ok as long as it is a Catholic doing it to a Protestant and not visa versa.

 

[Nella]

You should not be surprised, so long as you continue to behave in a manner that violates the forum rules. Your very first post was off topic. In fact, you are not a convert, and you have no answer to the topic thread, but you posted provocative bits of opinion anyway. Then, upon reading other appropriate posts, you criticized Catholics about what you imagine they are thinking while sitting in the pew. In addition to being uncharitable, you appear to be attempting to derail the thread.

I may have been critical of the many different beliefs of the Catholic faithful from Catholic teaching and doctrine but that is because for many years I sat in those pews among all of those different opinions and beliefs. Don’t try and play it off like everyone in your church believes exactly the same way. They don’t. They have just as many different outlooks on church teaching as do Protestants. At least Episcopalians will admit to it.

 

[wanner47]

I may have been critical of the many different beliefs of the Catholic faithful from Catholic teaching and doctrine but that is because for many years I sat in those pews among all of those different opinions and beliefs. Don’t try and play it off like everyone in your church believes exactly the same way. They don’t. They have just as many different outlooks on church teaching as do Protestants. At least Episcopalians will admit to it.

Can you give an example of conflicting interpretations that are official Church teaching? Not an interpretation held by Joe Catholic in the pew, but conflicting interpretations found in official Church documents or the Catechism?

 

[pyropam]

I was raised in the “Church of God” a pentecostal church. I was always questioning the doctrine of the church and usually met with unkind remarks. The few people who did try to answer me seemed very un-educated as to the scripture and doctrine.

Even as a teenager I wondered why the church upheld these (what seemed really crazy) rules about women…NO Pants, NO makeup, NO Jewelry, NO haircutting…etc…None of this was in the bible yet we were informed it would send you straight to hell. Then as I became a young adult the church started changing their doctrine??? How can it change if it is biblical??? My grandmother upheld these beliefs until she died this year in March.

If you wanted to be a preacher…just tell somebody and they would let you preach…NO TRAINING!!

Why wasn’t I ever taught that I really needed to be baptised?? We had communion maybe once a year (with koolaid and crackers)… But we always had that little table in the front of the church that said “do this in rememberance of me”…lol … I thought it meant “Come to church”.

We went to church to hear how we were all being condemned to hell. They would even have “alter calls” at funerals!!!

I quit going on a regular basis when my children were young in the mid 80’s. In the late 90’s I started having this yearning for GOD. My children and I visited many churches trying to find what ever it was that I felt was missing… I couldn’t have explained exactly what that was at the time.

We visited many denominations, baptist, AOG, COG, methodist, nothing seemed right… They were all very condemning and just wrong (except the methodist church, I enjoied it but felt strange that we were eating breakfast during service).

In September 2006 I (Thank God) was asked if I was interested in attending RCIA classes. I had been talking to a local business man because he was Catholic and I told him that my husband was a non practicing Catholic. My husband had attended church with me once at the AOG and said that he would never go back and watch those people jump and yell again. I wanted my husband to go to church with me on Sunday mornings somewhere.

I think that I entered the RCIA classes with the intention of proving them wrong or finding their flaw in the Catholic Church… Instead what I found was a service that was totally WORSHIPING GOD!! Imagine that!!! Normal people who come dressed in their work clothes, casual clothes, or dress clothes…and nobody cared how they were dressed. NO Condemnation of our soul!! Just praising and worshiping GOD.

My joy has spread to so many people around me. A total of six people followed me into the Catholic Church!!! We have more going next week to start RCIA. I wondered why all these other denominations don’t have something similar to RCIA classes to introduce people to their beliefs and traditions…BECAUSE EVERYONE WOULD RUN BEFORE THEY ATTENDED THEIR FIRST SERVICE.

I continue to thank God for leading me and my family to the Catholic Church!! A Church that doesn’t change its beliefs…

 

[Unitas]

I may have been critical of the many different beliefs of the Catholic faithful from Catholic teaching and doctrine but that is because for many years I sat in those pews among all of those different opinions and beliefs. Don’t try and play it off like everyone in your church believes exactly the same way. They don’t. They have just as many different outlooks on church teaching as do Protestants. At least Episcopalians will admit to it.

But that’s just it:

A protestant opinion is authoritative because there exists nothing else with any authority to correct it.

A Catholic opinion is merely an opinion. According to the Church, they are either right or they are wrong. A Catholic in name only isn’t a believer in Catholicism. That’s where you’re wrong.

Plus Catholics with different opinions don’t start their own churches to teach what they think the truth is. If they did that, they’d be protestant.

Now that you’ve been refuted several times over, can we please get back to the original topic?

 

[Mannyfit75]

I may have been critical of the many different beliefs of the Catholic faithful from Catholic teaching and doctrine but that is because for many years I sat in those pews among all of those different opinions and beliefs. Don’t try and play it off like everyone in your church believes exactly the same way. They don’t. They have just as many different outlooks on church teaching as do Protestants. At least Episcopalians will admit to it.

Then try not to be so darn offensive to our belief.

 

[The_Truthinator]

I guess it was when that darn feral cat came running out just as I walked out of my church. I tripped over it, hit my head, and then had an epiphany that the only True Church is the Catholic Church.

Hmm … Guess you’re never really as alone in these things as you think.

Actually, it had to do with doctrines like once saved-always saved, their views on baptism, sola Scriptura/sola fide, their incredible lack of history and of depth, and the terrible disunity among them.

What more is there to say?

(They have GREAT music, though! Wish our parish had such catchy tunes … Alas and alack, though. The Eucharist will have to do for now.)

 

[Indyann]

Can you give an example of conflicting interpretations that are official Church teaching? Not an interpretation held by Joe Catholic in the pew, but conflicting interpretations found in official Church documents or the Catechism?

This was directed to Nella

We are waiting for your answer. Where is it?
Must not be one.

 

[Mannyfit75]

The lies they spread about Catholicism. I’m a revert anyways. I just had to say about the lies Protestants say about the Catholic Church.

 

[SteveLy]

I’m not a convert, but am researching the Catholic Church. As a lifelong Protestant it has been a journey just to get to a point which I was open to looking at it. There are 2 things which moved me.

First a RC Deacon taught a class on Theology of the Body I attended. It got me thinking that the RCC actually had thought about these things, and done so in the light of scripture.

The second reason is that I’m a hospice chaplain and most of my RC patients have a seriousness about their faith which intriqued me and I wanted to find out what made them so passionate. I decided to research myself rather than relying on a purely Protestant viewpoint.

Peace,
Steve

 

[Nella]

This was directed to Nella

We are waiting for your answer. Where is it?
Must not be one.

This is an unfair and loaded question due to the fact that your church has an authority equal to scripture (in its eyes and certainly nobody elses) and mine does not. Folks are permitted to differ on beliefs in my church but are not in yours due to your churches authority. This still does not change the fact that there are Catholics that do not believe in the Real presence and others that are pro-choice and many that do not conform to the churches teachings. This is the real point. The church can use its authority to set certain beliefs but it cannot prevent its faithful to have beliefs that waiver from what the church beliefs are.