Catholics leaving to become protestants

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Someone on my Facebook friends posted on their status:
“Over the last few years, some Catholics have left the Catholic Church and turned to the Protestant dinominations of Christianity. More importantly, some who leave the church seem to develop an actual resentment bordering on hatred toward Catholicism. I’m curious to hear why regarding both leaving and the seeming hatred?”

And, one person responded with this:
“To me, the difference is that Catholics believe and go by things that MAN has said and is not in the Bible. Protestants stand on the Bible alone. For instance, suicide and the so called mortal sins? Praying to Saints, Purgatory? No wher…e in the Bible. I was raised Catholic, but strayed away when they wouldn’t do my Aunt’s funeral because she killed herself. You can still go to heaven - even if you are not baptized if you have taken Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. On the other hand, Catholics appear to believe many things that are not part of the religion. A good book - “What Catholics Really Believe” by Karl Keating”

There were a couple more people who were going on to agree with that response, and one person didn’t necessarily agree but blamed other Catholic people for Catholics leaving because “protestants are more knowledgeable in their faith”

I don’t agree with either of these responses, but can any of you offer any resources or scriptures to back up a good argument? Or, just your opinion on this
 
What you will find is that not an insignificant number of Protestants, when they are properly educated, come to believe that the Catholic Church is made by God, not by man. When Protestants ever discover that the Catholic Church put the Bible together, they lose all their authority in saying Bible alone. Obviously, It’s Church first, and then the Bible, since the Church wrote the Bible and collected its books over four centuries before the canon was finally settled once and for all.

Clearly, at the Council of Jerusalem, when Peter, Paul and the other apostles met to do business, the Gospels had not even been written. It was the Church settling the matter of Circumcision for the Gentiles, not slavishly following the practice of the Jews in the Old Testament, which would have been a Bible-only approach to settling that matter.
 
Cupcake143 said:
Someone on my Facebook friends posted on their status:
“Over the last few years, some Chaldean Catholics have left the Catholic Church and turned to the Protestant dinominations of Christianity. More importantly, some who leave the church seem to develop an actual resentment bordering on hatred toward Catholicism. I’m curious to hear why regarding both leaving and the seeming hatred?”

And, one person responded with this:
“To me, the difference is that Catholics believe and go by things that MAN has said and is not in the Bible. Protestants stand on the Bible alone. For instance, suicide and the so called mortal sins? Praying to Saints, Purgatory? No wher…e in the Bible. I was raised Catholic, but strayed away when they wouldn’t do my Aunt’s funeral because she killed herself. You can still go to heaven - even if you are not baptized if you have taken Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. On the other hand, Catholics appear to believe many things that are not part of the religion. A good book - “What Catholics Really Believe” by Karl Keating”

There were a couple more people who were going on to agree with that response, and one person didn’t necessarily agree but blamed other Catholic people for Catholics leaving because “protestants are more knowledgeable in their faith”

I don’t agree with either of these responses, but can any of you offer any resources or scriptures to back up a good argument? Or, just your opinion on this
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I know someone who left to go “try out” protestant churches. I am gonna ask her why cause now I am curious. Anyhow, after about 6-8 months she came back home. I knew she was not going to be happy anywhere else.
 
Cupcake143 said:
Someone on my Facebook friends posted on their status:
“Over the last few years, some Chaldean Catholics have left the Catholic Church and turned to the Protestant dinominations of Christianity. More importantly, some who leave the church seem to develop an actual resentment bordering on hatred toward Catholicism. I’m curious to hear why regarding both leaving and the seeming hatred?”

And, one person responded with this:
“To me, the difference is that Catholics believe and go by things that MAN has said and is not in the Bible. Protestants stand on the Bible alone. For instance, suicide and the so called mortal sins? Praying to Saints, Purgatory? No wher…e in the Bible. I was raised Catholic, but strayed away when they wouldn’t do my Aunt’s funeral because she killed herself. You can still go to heaven - even if you are not baptized if you have taken Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. On the other hand, Catholics appear to believe many things that are not part of the religion. A good book - “What Catholics Really Believe” by Karl Keating”

There were a couple more people who were going on to agree with that response, and one person didn’t necessarily agree but blamed other Catholic people for Catholics leaving because “protestants are more knowledgeable in their faith”

I don’t agree with either of these responses, but can any of you offer any resources or scriptures to back up a good argument? Or, just your opinion on this
Click to expand...
It would be nonsensical to think everything Christ did or taught could be contained in one collection of books (The Bible). As Saint John said: “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written.”—John 21:25. Paul commends the Corinthians for holding fast to the written and oral instruction handed down to them 1 Cor. 11:2. We Catholics believe that these other things are important since we hold everything Christ did as being important to us. Also in other places in the NT you can read the Apostles and Jesus Himself using Sacred Tradition when teaching and preaching. Not everything they talked about or wrote about was recorded in the OT Scriptures so we can see there is Scriptural evidence of the early members of the Church and Christ Himself using oral Tradition that was passed on in the Church. The Bible itself is a product of Sacred Tradition since the Canon (the list) for the Bible can not be found anywhere in the Bible. This fact alone should show anyone the logical reasons for why Sacred Tradition is necessary.

For the other topics I will refer you to this site as a resource but also to another one and that is www.scripturecatholic.com. It’s a very good site and I think you will see that there is plenty of Scriptural backing for all of the beliefs of the Catholic Faith. How can there not be? After all the Bible is a Catholic Book.
 
Cupcake143 said:
Someone on my Facebook friends posted on their status:
“Over the last few years, some Catholics have left the Catholic Church and turned to the Protestant dinominations of Christianity. More importantly, some who leave the church seem to develop an actual resentment bordering on hatred toward Catholicism. I’m curious to hear why regarding both leaving and the seeming hatred?”

And, one person responded with this:
“To me, the difference is that Catholics believe and go by things that MAN has said and is not in the Bible. Protestants stand on the Bible alone. For instance, suicide and the so called mortal sins? Praying to Saints, Purgatory? No wher…e in the Bible. I was raised Catholic, but strayed away when they wouldn’t do my Aunt’s funeral because she killed herself. You can still go to heaven - even if you are not baptized if you have taken Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. On the other hand, Catholics appear to believe many things that are not part of the religion. A good book - “What Catholics Really Believe” by Karl Keating”

There were a couple more people who were going on to agree with that response, and one person didn’t necessarily agree but blamed other Catholic people for Catholics leaving because “protestants are more knowledgeable in their faith”

I don’t agree with either of these responses, but can any of you offer any resources or scriptures to back up a good argument? Or, just your opinion on this
Click to expand...
When you consider the competitive side to catholic v. protestant, look what the protestant is up against - a church founded on a man named luther, and many churches sprouted from his church. Since they know they are competing with “the church” they are much more aggressive in “knowing” more about christianity, thus the saying “protestants worship from the neck up, catholics the opposite direction.” Anyone, including ex-protestant minister turned catholic evangelical layperson, steve wood, who founded dads.org, will tell you, once you read the early church fathers, and we are talking back to 90 a.d. and later, christ’s church is the catholic church. I would recommend that you send your errant catholic friends who went protestant to visit: catholicscomehome.org . . . to paraphrase jfk, an errant irish catholic himself, “ask not what your church can do for you, but what can you do for the church?” :hey_bud::ballspin:
 
Two verses that I like that indicate the intercession of Angels and Saints are these two verses from Revelations (I have taken this from the Scripture Catholic Site).

***Rev. 1:4 – this verse shows that angels (here, the seven spirits) give grace and peace. Because grace and peace only come from God, the angels are acting as mediators for God.

Rev. 5:8 - the prayers of the saints (on heaven and earth) are presented to God by the angels and saints in heaven. This shows that the saints intercede on our behalf before God, and it also demonstrates that our prayers on earth are united with their prayers in heaven. (The “24 elders” are said to refer to the people of God – perhaps the 12 tribes and 12 apostles - and the “four living creatures” are said to refer to the angels.) ***

Also in the transfiguration we see Moses and Elijah talking to Our Lord about His Passion so there is communication between those in heaven and God. As Christ said he is the God of the living. 🙂
 
Among other things, a church is a community. What I have noticed is that most people who leave the Catholic Church do so because they prefer the community of the protestant church to that of their catholic church, not because they have been persuaded of sola scriptura or sola fide.

So what is it that makes so many catholic churches unwelcoming communities to catholics?
 
I always wonder when we are judged in front of Jesus upon our death who will realize they made a HUGE mistake in their earthly decisions. Just because some consider themselves “born again” but lead a sinful life are they expecting a heavenly reward or try to convince God in some way they were “right”? I guess we’ll all find out.
 
My cousin went from Lutheran to Catholic and back to Lutheran. I asked her why. She said Catholicism must be the hardest religion in the world to practice.

I think that says it all.
 
qOcOp said:
Two verses that I like that indicate the intercession of Angels and Saints are these two verses from Revelations (I have taken this from the Scripture Catholic Site).

***Rev. 1:4 – this verse shows that angels (here, the seven spirits) give grace and peace. Because grace and peace only come from God, the angels are acting as mediators for God.

Rev. 5:8 - the prayers of the saints (on heaven and earth) are presented to God by the angels and saints in heaven. This shows that the saints intercede on our behalf before God, and it also demonstrates that our prayers on earth are united with their prayers in heaven. (The “24 elders” are said to refer to the people of God – perhaps the 12 tribes and 12 apostles - and the “four living creatures” are said to refer to the angels.) ***

Also in the transfiguration we see Moses and Elijah talking to Our Lord about His Passion so there is communication between those in heaven and God. As Christ said he is the God of the living. 🙂
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I, as a protestant who wants to become Catholic, was never really convinced by those arguments. I believe them now, but remember that when Catholics would throw out the Revelation arguments, I never gave them any credit because we “can’t know for sure what Revelation is saying, so we can’t know for sure if the saints can offer up our prayers.”

However, recently when I was reading Genesis, in ch 48, Jacob was blessing Joseph. He says, quoteing from Gen 48:15-16 (RSV-2CE):
“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isac walked, the God who has led me all my life long to this day, the angel who as redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
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I was taken aback. Jacob actually asked an angel to bless the lads! Now I don’t think he was referring to God here because, in all honesty, wouldn’t it be an insult to God to call him an angel??? He is so much more than an angel!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought that this was a very good verse showing that we can ask something from angels, and therefore saints and still have it be to the glory of God.
 
Charlemagne_II said:
My cousin went from Lutheran to Catholic and back to Lutheran. I asked her why. She said Catholicism must be the hardest religion in the world to practice.

I think that says it all.
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Yes, people want an easy way out. This girl I used to be friends with awhile ago, used to always tell me how she was trying to become so close to God and that’s her main goal in life. Than maybe a month or so after she said that to me, we had a conversation about it and she said “it’s so hard to be religious” -she meant about Catholicism because that’s her religion. People think it’ so hard , but it’s not! Why is it so hard to be a good person? I guess people can’t resist temptation
 
Cupcake143 said:
Yes, people want an easy way out. This girl I used to be friends with awhile ago, used to always tell me how she was trying to become so close to God and that’s her main goal in life. Than maybe a month or so after she said that to me, we had a conversation about it and she said “it’s so hard to be religious” -she meant about Catholicism because that’s her religion. People think it’ so hard , but it’s not! Why is it so hard to be a good person? I guess people can’t resist temptation
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People can resist temptation but not without the help of God’s grace. Because we have a fallen nature we tend to gravitate towards the things which are evil. What I have noticed in Protestantism is that it does not have the message of the Cross. The Catholic Faith has this message and to be united to Christ we must die to ourselves so that we may no longer live but Christ lives in us as Saint Paul says. The Cross is about mercy, forgiveness, perseverance, sacrifice and selfless love (perfect unity with Gods will).

Its not going to be an easy journey but it will be worth all of it in the end.
 
jwakja said:
Just because some consider themselves “born again” but lead a sinful life are they expecting a heavenly reward or try to convince God in some way they were “right”? I guess we’ll all find out.
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Yes I must admit I never really understood this nor the “rapture.” I thought to myself if God didnt spare His only begoten Son from having to endure a Passion then why would He do so for us who are sinners? When you think about it you know that God in all His power if he so willed it to happen could have just moved His finger and paid the price for sin but he didnt. He willed to endure a Passion to show us how much He loves us and so we by enduring our own Passion can show Him how much we love Him. As Christ said no servant is above His master.
 
It all comes down to bad catechesis. I’m not just referring to bad or inadequate content either- the delivery has to be effective. The people catechizing must truly believe that they are teaching something very valuable. They must show that God isn’t just some abstract figure to them- He is very much a real person, and He is very important to them- and that He truly is there in the tabernacle.
 
m134e5 said:
It all comes down to bad catechesis. I’m not just referring to bad or inadequate content either- the delivery has to be effective. The people catechizing must truly believe that they are teaching something very valuable. They must show that God isn’t just some abstract figure to them- He is very much a real person, and He is very important to them- and that He truly is there in the tabernacle.
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You are so correct if we don’t have good catechesis and good delivery of it you will have people who don’t know their faith.and therefore leave because they think they have found the Lord but what they don’t realize is that He has always been there in the tabernacle and he will always be there
 
m134e5 said:
It all comes down to bad catechesis. I’m not just referring to bad or inadequate content either- the delivery has to be effective. The people catechizing must truly believe that they are teaching something very valuable. They must show that God isn’t just some abstract figure to them- He is very much a real person, and He is very important to them- and that He truly is there in the tabernacle.
Click to expand...
You are so correct we have too many people leaving and going to protestant churches because they feel that they have found the Lord in these churches what they don’t realize is that they don’t have to go looking for him somewhere else because he is right there in the tabernacle and always will be.
 
m134e5 said:
It all comes down to bad catechesis. I’m not just referring to bad or inadequate content either- the delivery has to be effective. The people catechizing must truly believe that they are teaching something very valuable. They must show that God isn’t just some abstract figure to them- He is very much a real person, and He is very important to them- and that He truly is there in the tabernacle.
Click to expand...
Yes and no. I would say though the majority of the problem is bad catechesis. Some of that is probably due to people like myself that have the hardest time explaining the teachings. I know what I want to say but I always end up using the wrong anaology or terminology and completely miss the mark. Through my stupidity God will teach me humility lol:D
 
Bubba_Switzler said:
Among other things, a church is a community. What I have noticed is that most people who leave the Catholic Church do so because they prefer the community of the protestant church to that of their catholic church, not because they have been persuaded of sola scriptura or sola fide. So what is it that makes so many catholic churches unwelcoming communities to catholics?
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I hate to admit this but Bubba is right. Catholics really have dropped the ball on this and are typically lazy, high and mighty, like we are the chosen people so we don’t have to do squat to make people feel welcomed, even among themselves. I’m not saying this is true of all Catholic Churches, but more often than not, the typical Catholic Church is not motivated like many non-denominational christian churches to be welcoming in the christian-like manner we are led to believe we are supposed to treat each other. Again, I refer to an earlier post about the competition between catholic v. protestant . . . because we are “the church” the protestant churches have to try harder to prove they are better and are also “the church.” Because we are the church, we get very fat, very dumb, and very lazy about the christian love of one another - welcoming and loving one another in our Catholic Community. As Bubba says, it’s supposed to be a community. By the way Bubba Switzler, what is a Zen Catholic - is that anything like what Thomas Merton was trying to do studying among zen monks or something else? :hey_bud::ballspin:
 
Catholics leave for Protestant denominations mostly because they have not been educated in their faith. The faithful have done a wretched job of educating young Catholics.

read my articles at:

colewebbharter.com/
 
blackfirepro said:
Catholics leave for Protestant denominations mostly because they have not been educated in their faith. The faithful have done a wretched job of educating young Catholics.
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That is why I left and at present and still gone from the Catholic church. I could make your ears burn by some of the things I was taught as a kid. One in particular was that over your life, if you continue to sin and not be “perfect”, the bond between you and God can be destroyed for ever, regardless of confession.:confused: Yes I was told that as about a 3rd or 4th grader. It made such an impression on me that for many many years I gave up ever being good enough to be within Gods graces. So when a Protestant faith tells you that by committing yourself to Christ and accepting his forgiveness you can again be in God’s graces it sounds quite promising.
 
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