Does conversion upset you?

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aidanbradypop said:
I am an Evangelical that attends a Assembly of God congregation. I love to see new faces walk through doors and worship.

I notice Protestants joining the Catholic or Orthodox Church on CAF and I am not angry about. Some of my Protestant friends becone outraged by this. I also notice how Catholics get angry when a Catholic leaves the and becomes Protestant. I have experienced that first hand on this forum. It saddens me but I move past it.

My thought process is this…I am happy that the person is in church and worships Jesus! If that individual find Jesus in the RCC or Southern Baptist Church then I glad to know they are seaking Christ in their life.

Do any non Catholics get upset when you see a Proestant joining the Catholic of Orthodox Church? Does it feel like “we lost one and they gained one” kind of mentality?

Please keep this civil and respectful. 👍
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I experienced this first hand coming into the Catholic Church from the Southern Baptist Church. My dad is a retired Southern Baptist preacher and my older brother is still preaching. I was a music minister in a non-denominational Protestant church for 7 years. When I announced to my family that I was attending RCIA and coming into the Catholic faith, a lot of my Baptist family and friends stopped talking to me. My dad told me that I was going to hell because the Catholic Church was the anti-christ. The minister at the non-denominational church where I worked emailed me when he found out that my babies were being baptized and criticized me for participating in infant baptism.

Honestly, I believe Protestants get so upset because they simply have a misunderstanding of Catholic doctrine and rather than research or ask a priest they jump to conclusions or assumptions. That’s where understanding our faith and being able to respectfully answer their questions really comes into play. I got my parents to eventually attend Mass with me (and didn’t complain once!) so anything is possible
 
jatkins29 said:
I experienced this first hand coming into the Catholic Church from the Southern Baptist Church. My dad is a retired Southern Baptist preacher and my older brother is still preaching. I was a music minister in a non-denominational Protestant church for 7 years. When I announced to my family that I was attending RCIA and coming into the Catholic faith, a lot of my Baptist family and friends stopped talking to me. My dad told me that I was going to hell because the Catholic Church was the anti-christ. The minister at the non-denominational church where I worked emailed me when he found out that my babies were being baptized and criticized me for participating in infant baptism.

Honestly, I believe Protestants get so upset because they simply have a misunderstanding of Catholic doctrine and rather than research or ask a priest they jump to conclusions or assumptions. That’s where understanding our faith and being able to respectfully answer their questions really comes into play. I got my parents to eventually attend Mass with me (and didn’t complain once!) so anything is possible
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I’m sorry you had to go through that.
 
aidanbradypop said:
I’m sorry you had to go through that.
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Thanks. I wouldn’t change anything had I known all of that was going to happen. I am extremely happy and blessed in the Catholic faith and would go through it again if I had to.
 
jatkins29 said:
Thanks. I wouldn’t change anything had I known all of that was going to happen. I am extremely happy and blessed in the Catholic faith and would go through it again if I had to.
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I am glad you are happy and found peace. 🙂
 
Whenever one of these subjects comes up I like to post this. Many have already seen this, sorry, but it is a good story.
 
Hi Dustin,
Just a few random thoughts off the top of my head…

Conversion stories don’t upset me, provided the Christian develops a closer walk with God through it all and deepens his or her faith in Christ and becomes a better spouse, parent, son or daughter through the process.

For example, I am seriously considering Catholicism – not because I dislike my faith tradition – but because I believe my faith may be enhanced and deepened through Catholicism and through partaking in all the sacraments that I believe are God-ordained that I currently don’t have. I also believe Catholicism has ties to the early church fathers, and I think the Catholic faith and Mass is closest to what the early Church taught and experienced.

I sometimes watch the ‘Journey Home’ program on EWTN and am genuinely happy for most of the folks because I get the impression their faith was deepened through their conversion.

I am also happy for folks like you, Dustin, because I get the impression you have benefited spiritually since joining the Assemblies of God. I know many godly folks in our faith tradition.

However, I am a bit saddened when I hear folks who leave their faith because they had a distorted view of it or just because of superficial reasons like preferring a different style of music or someone there hurt their feelings.

Perhaps their level of maturity was not sufficient to fully comprehend what they had at their previous faith yet they attribute any shortcomings in their experiences to the faith tradition they left instead of to themselves, where the blame sometimes belongs.

I believe that for those who love God with all their heart, soul, and mind, the Lord will direct them to where they need to be and it’s not always the same place for every person, provided that the faith tradition is Christian and not a cult like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Branch Dividians or something like that.
 
Tommy999 said:
Hi Dustin,
Just a few random thoughts off the top of my head…

Conversion stories don’t upset me, provided the Christian develops a closer walk with God through it all and deepens his or her faith in Christ and becomes a better spouse, parent, son or daughter through the process.

For example, I am seriously considering Catholicism – not because I dislike my faith tradition – but because I believe my faith may be enhanced and deepened through Catholicism and through partaking in all the sacraments that I believe are God-ordained that I currently don’t have.

I sometimes watch the ‘Journey Home’ program on EWTN and am genuinely happy for most of the folks because I get the impression their faith was deepened through their conversion.

I am also happy for folks like you, Dustin, because I get the impression you have benefited spiritually since joining the Assemblies of God. I know many godly folks in our faith tradition.

However, I am a bit saddened when I hear folks who leave their faith because they had a distorted view of it or just because of superficial reasons like preferring a different style of music or someone there hurt their feelings.

Perhaps their level of maturity was not sufficient to fully comprehend what they had at their previous faith yet they attribute any shortcomings in their experiences to the faith tradition they left instead of to themselves, where the blame sometimes belongs.

I believe that for those who love God with all their heart, soul, and mind, the Lord will direct them to where they need to be and it’s not always the same place for every person, provided that the faith is not a non-Christian cult like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Branch Dividians or something like that.
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I completely agree Tommy.

My small group that I run has two Episcopalians, one Methodist, one Catholic and my Evangelical self lol. Now of course we do not agree on everything,yet we can fellowship together and study God’s word.

One lady called me one day and asked me about the Episcopal church. She wanted to convert because she didn’t like how the RCC treated gay people. I had to ask her again so I could make sure I heard her correctly lol.
 
aidanbradypop said:
Debate doctrine but I can’t stand the bashing.
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I’m with you there, aidonbradypop! I just took about a half hour reading thru a thread that got very personal with someone.

I love to debate the doctrines as it has allowed me to learn much about my faith and that of others.

Bottom line, is we should be excited and thrilled that people are turning to Jesus because we are experiencing many examples of the end times that are described in the Bible. There is an urgency to get the message out and help people realize Christ did come to earth, did live among us and experienced what we do, did die on the cross and rise up on that beautiful first Easter morning.

And the best thing? He’s coming back for us!!
 
jatkins29 said:
Thanks. I wouldn’t change anything had I known all of that was going to happen. I am extremely happy and blessed in the Catholic faith and would go through it again if I had to.
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There are so many times as I’m reading through the threads and posts that I wish there were a “like” button as on Facebook.

This is one of those times so I’ll just give you a 👍.
 
aidanbradypop said:
I am an Evangelical that attends a Assembly of God congregation. I love to see new faces walk through doors and worship.

I notice Protestants joining the Catholic or Orthodox Church on CAF and I am not angry about. Some of my Protestant friends becone outraged by this. I also notice how Catholics get angry when a Catholic leaves the and becomes Protestant. I have experienced that first hand on this forum. It saddens me but I move past it.

My thought process is this…I am happy that the person is in church and worships Jesus! If that individual find Jesus in the RCC or Southern Baptist Church then I glad to know they are seaking Christ in their life.

Do any non Catholics get upset when you see a Proestant joining the Catholic of Orthodox Church? Does it feel like “we lost one and they gained one” kind of mentality?

Please keep this civil and respectful. 👍
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I think that, as with many other things, you find that some people go to one extreme and some go to another.

I don’t think that anyone ought to get upset about someone converting (or, at least, not very upset). But on the other hand, it seems to me that there is something wrong with a Catholic [resp Protestant] not being bothered at all by someone leaving Catholicism [resp Protestantism].
 
jatkins29 said:
I experienced this first hand coming into the Catholic Church from the Southern Baptist Church. My dad is a retired Southern Baptist preacher and my older brother is still preaching. I was a music minister in a non-denominational Protestant church for 7 years. When I announced to my family that I was attending RCIA and coming into the Catholic faith, a lot of my Baptist family and friends stopped talking to me. ** My dad told me that I was going to hell** because the Catholic Church was the anti-christ. The minister at the non-denominational church where I worked emailed me when he found out that my babies were being baptized and criticized me for participating in infant baptism.
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I wanted to address the bolded part.

When I left the RCC to return back to Evangelicalism, many Catholics said the same thing to me. Even a few on CAF. They no longer spoke to me and if the did it was usually hateful. I just look past it.

Many Catholics are still very nice and charitable to me. I am deeply grateful for that!

From being part of both churches, I can see why there are issues that cause tension. If we allow that to turn us against one another then the evil one wins.
 
Peter_J said:
I don’t think that anyone ought to get upset about someone converting (or, at least, not very upset). But on the other hand, it seems to me that there is something wrong with a Catholic [resp Protestant] not being bothered at all by someone leaving Catholicism [resp Protestantism].
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Care to explain?
 
aidanbradypop said:
I was Evangelical Protestant, converted to Catholicism and back home in Evangelicalism. I find myself correcting former Catholics that left the RCC. They often have bogus claims like wmscott was referring to and I have to correct them and say that is not what Catholicism teaches. Then they get mad at me lol.
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Why did you return to Evangelicalism? Are you in a denomination?
 
I am very glad when I hear that someone has found joy, peace and love for their fellow human beings through a relationship with God / Reality via Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, Hinduism, Islam or any other faith or belief system.

“By their fruits ye shall know them”
 
aidanbradypop said:
Care to explain?
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Sure. Although I’m not entirely sure how much words help: I can say that it would be indifferentism … and yet some/most people in the SSPX would say that I myself and guilty of indifferentism, simply by not seeking the conversion of NCs to Catholicism. So where to go from there …
 
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