Choosing a non-Catholic denomination?

[Emeraldlady]

I have a question for Catholics who leave Catholicism for another Christian denomination.

How did you choose the version of Christianity you now subscribe to?

Is it down to the theology or random choice?

 

[jericho777]

Theology first and foremost.

 

[awesomecatholic]

It should not be random choice,you could end up in a place you really don’t like. I chose the Catholic church because of it’s theology.

 

[LutheranScholar]

Theology has to take the driver’s seat when one chooses what branch of Christianity one is to follow…

 

[huck]

It would be the desire for a coherent theology for me.

 

[PJH_74]

Is it down to the theology or random choice?

Not a random choice. I’m certainly on the liberal side of what theology I believe the Church needs to strive for. I find the argument against homosexuality to be warped up in the patriarchal culture of the time. It’s interesting to me that what passages are often used to support a stance against LGBTQ people fail to mention women. This is with the one exception in of the writings of Paul. It mentions lesbian relationships as a sign of how bad things got beyond just male homosexuality. It is clear to me that biblical homosexuality focused more on condemning male behavior that ceded male power and emulated the social and sexual function of women.

 

[joyfulandactive]

I know I am not the audience for your question but I chose the Catholic Church from atheism because they were always willing to stand for what Jesus taught, all of it, even when it was unpopular and they were highly criticized. I also was fascinated with John Paul II when he came to visit my country, I think he evangelized me. I also found a great deal of beauty and attractiveness about the church and Catholic culture, which I now see is imbued with the Holy Spirit. But mostly because what the church taught I believed to be true.

 

[prayerrider]

It’s capital C Catholic Church. If you can manage to capitalize God and Bible you can show basic respect on a Catholic forum.

 

[TomH1]

Catholics do believe in the Word of God in the Bible. It was the Catholic Church that compiled the Bible. What the Catholic Church does not do is say everyone can read the Scriptures and decide what particular passages mean for them. In the Catholic Church we accept the interpretation of the Bible, in the light of Tradition, from the Magisterium of the Church. In many Protestant churches each individual can interpret the Bible for himself. If you go to, say, a Baptist chapel on Sunday morning and there are 50 people present how do you reconcile the fact that among those people they could, between them, hold 7 different interpretations of a Biblical passage? What happens if you subscribe to an interpretation that turns out to be wrong? When you die how do you give an account of yourself for being wrong in deciding for yourself what the Bible says? In the Catholic Church we accept that the Church founded by Christ will give us the proper interpretation of what can often be complex literature that does not always mean what it seems to say.

 

[redbaron162]

Unfortunately most of the Non-Catholic Christians I know choose a church for some flippant reason (in my eyes) such as “The music was nice” or “the preaching was good” or “it was entertaining” instead of whether what that church taught is true or not. This is of course not true for everyone but is just my personal experience. For example I grew up Methodist and became Catholic after much scripture and history study. Years later my parents left the Methodist church and became Baptist because…they liked the preacher. I even asked them once what the difference was between what a Methodist believes vs. a Baptist and they had no idea.

That all being said I find it difficult to believe that a well informed and educated Catholic could consider most mainline protestant churches. If they were to leave I can only imagine the only thing they could be would be Eastern Orthodox. It is so completely apparent from early church history that Christians believe from the earliest days the real presence of the Eucharist. I don’t know how any devout Catholic could even contemplate leaving the actual presence of Jesus Christ.

 

[Horton]

catholics did not believe the literal word of God that is presented in the Bible. So I decided to go somewhere that taught the word of God as it is in the Bible.

John 6:51-57.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

52The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”53Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.57Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

So what is your literal translation of the above passage?

 

[AlNg]

Unfortunately most of the Non-Catholic Christians I know choose a church for some flippant reason (in my eyes) such as “The music was nice” or “the preaching was good” or “it was entertaining” instead of whether what that church taught is true or not.

Some may go to the Eastern Orthodox Church because of the beauty and reverence of the Eastern Liturgy.

 

[Bushum]

So what is your literal translation of the above passage?

That one doesn’t count. You see in this instance Jesus was just speaking symbolically for some reason. It also doesn’t count when Jesus confers the power to bind and loose, when James says faith without works is dead or generally any of the hundreds of verses that validate Catholicism. It’s hard to explain as it takes a certain level of cognitive dissonance to truly understand how after 1500 years of Christianity, the Protestants finally got it right when everyone else misunderstood.

 

[lilypadrees]

When I began looking for a church home, I ruled out returning to the catholic church because I was given the impression that catholics did not believe the literal word of God that is presented in the Bible. So I decided to go somewhere that taught the word of God as it is in the Bible.

I can understand that. When I was staying with my paternal grandparents during my parents divorce, I felt that I was the only one in the family who took our Catholic faith seriously and took the Bible literally.

 

[lilypadrees]

Oh no, Bushum. Jesus wasn’t speaking symbolically. He spoke literally. That’s why many left Him that day. They knew He was serious.

 

[jericho777]

Off the top of my head Catholics don’t believe the Genesis and Noah’s accounts as real and literal although it’s repeatedly quoted by others in scripture as real and literal. Subjecting scripture to third party sources denigrates its authority. The bible time and time again quotes itself as the authoritative, definitive, standalone word of God apart from anyone or anything else.

I would think Baptists are very much in sync as their interpretation of scripture goes especially on fundamental issues of faith. I do know firsthand for certain that many Catholics do not believe what they are told to believe by the church.

 

[lilypadrees]

For my paternal grandmother, it was a case of walking around and finding the church she said needed her money the most.

 

[Bushum]

Yes I’m well aware I was being facetious. I think the remainder of my post made that clear.

 

[lilypadrees]

Off the top of my head Catholics don’t believe the Genesis and Noah’s accounts as real and literal although it’s repeatedly quoted by others in scripture as real and literal.

Ahem THIS Catholic believes they were real and literal. Believed from the first moment I heard them and will always believe.

 

[Bushum]

Ah but two can play at this game. Many Protestants don’t believe Jesus when he LITERALLY said this is my body and blood, repeatedly. They don’t believe Jesus when he said he is building his Church upon Peter and gave him the keys to the kingdom. They don’t believe Jesus when he gave the apostles the power to bind and loose. They don’t believe James when he repeatedly says that faith without works is dead. And when they aren’t ignoring verses or cherry picking which verses are figurative versus literal they just completely omit canonized books of the Bible altogether.