Former Protestants, what questions did you start asking?

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Here are some:

Q - What are we really supposed to do once we get saved? - Since we are “done” now, except for trying to be good (although its ultimately okay if we are not), and we offend so many of the unsaved by telling them they should be saved too?

Q - How come every Sunday the sermon is about telling us why we need to be saved, when surely 98% percent of us are, and have heard this message 98 times at least? Really, hundreds of times, most of us.

**Q **- What is the point of Baptism, anyway, since we are saved by faith? If its just a sign, and the only ones who see this sign are also baptized, what is this sign doing? It doesn’t seem like it has purpose. Why does Jesus want me to do something that doesn’t make sense?

**Q **- I wonder why Jesus wants us to eat this bread cube and grape juice?

Q* - How* do you grow in holiness?

[After stumbling across the Hahn’s conversion story, Rome Sweet Home]:

**Q **- Uh oh. “Faith Alone” is my doctrine. How come the only place in the Bible it says the two words “faith alone” is when it says, “Not by faith alone”.

**Q **- Uh oh. The Bible tells me everything I need to know for my faith. How come it doesn’t say that in the Bible?

Q - Uh oh. What if I research these things the Hahns said, and can’t find where they messed up? What will become of me?

. … . . ? . . . .

http://www.danheller.com/images/Europe/Italy/Rome/Vatican/st-peters-big.jpg
 
I had read, too, that Rich Mullins had committed to converting.

One of his albums makes it obvious that he was very “Catholic” in his thinking.

He was killed in near Peoria, Illinois, not too far from my city. May he rest in peace.

Sorry to derail my own thread!

I can answer the question about why so many salvation sermons. There are several hymns about telling The Story–“Tell Me the Old Old Story,” and “I Love To Tell The Story.” IMO, this is simliar to the meditations on the Rosary–no matter how many times we medidate on the Mysteries, we find that they become ever more wonderful. This is how Protestants feel about the Story of Jesus–we can tell or listen to the story thousands of times and it never gets old.

The question is–is it the CORRECT story?! 🤷
 
I’ve read all your stories and find them so inspiring! ❤️

For me it was something very basic indeed–do I trust my feelings or what is real.

I was a member of the Assemblies of God for about 20 years after I’d been brought up in the Episcopal Church. My mom converted to the AoG when I was a teen and we kids went with her (that’s just a bit of background).

All the while I was in the AoG we prided ourselves on our “heart knowledge” of Jesus, unlike other “spiritually dead” Christians who prided themselves, as we thought, on their “head knowledge,” which had no power to save them. To us having “accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior” was everything.

Then, fatally for my AoG beliefs, I read C. S. Lewis. It’s ironic really because Lewis was all but worshiped in the AoG at the time I was a member (in the 60’s–70’s). He didn’t support our “heart knowledge” idea in the least! To him truth was paramount, not feelings.

The next fatal blow came when I read “Lord of the Rings.” In it I saw an attitude and view of the world very different from the “us and them” attitude of my AoG church. Also, the people in it were able to draw on “grace” to aid them and yet could fail terribly–an idea utterly foreign to my church, and why they couldn’t understand how people could fall from faith.

Anyway, there were many twists and turns in my journey to the Catholic Church, including understanding Mary’s place in the life of the Church (something Tolkien’s writing had watered for me and which blossomed later).

But, what it came down to, in the end, was which Church teaches what is real and which ones don’t. Which Church doesn’t have to gloss over anything or ignore anything in order to exist? There was only one answer for me–the Catholic Church.
 
This is almost word for word what my Wife said led to her conversion.

Of course she’s the only Baptist I’ve ever met that believed that Jesus was truely present in the Eucharist and that the Pope was the Visible head of the entire Christian Chruch. So that helped too. 🙂

Chuck
Eliza10 said:
Here are some:

Q - What are we really supposed to do once we get saved? - Since we are “done” now, except for trying to be good (although its ultimately okay if we are not), and we offend so many of the unsaved by telling them they should be saved too?

Q - How come every Sunday the sermon is about telling us why we need to be saved, when surely 98% percent of us are, and have heard this message 98 times at least? Really, hundreds of times, most of us.

Q - What is the point of Baptism, anyway, since we are saved by faith? If its just a sign, and the only ones who see this sign are also baptized, what is this sign doing? It doesn’t seem like it has purpose. Why does Jesus want me to do something that doesn’t make sense?
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My biggies were:

Says who? How do I know for sure that* my *or your interpretation of scripture is correct? On what authority? You mean there is an actual authority that can trace all the way back to the apostles and Jesus Himself? And the only church that claims to do this is Catholic?

Then, I started studying the bible itself. Where did the canon come from? Catholics said what was supposed to be* IN* the bible? No way!

What did the first Christians do and think? I mean the ones BEFORE the reformation, obviously there were Christians for 1500 years, why did I only hear about the last 400 years or so? You mean they were Catholic? What?

All my answers led to the Catholic Church. I had no choice but to become Catholic, as much as I tried to find different answers, none of them had any proof except the Catholics. 🤷 So here I am, happily Catholic, and closer to Jesus than I ever was before!
 
I agree with Della: Assembly of God for years (that’s where I became a Christian) and then I started reading C.S. Lewis (who, ironically, never converted to Catholicism).

For me the big questions were:
  1. Why are all my favorite authors (as in 100% of them) either Catholic or C.S. Lewis?
  2. If we have a doctrinal dispute between denominations, who resolves it? (I was told “The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth.” Even as a Pentecostal, I knew THAT couldn’t be the complete answer.)
  3. I was very interested in philosophy and began studying Thomas Aquinas and Augustine. You can’t do that very long and keep thinking Protestant-ish. (One dear woman told me once, “Well, at least today we know so much more of the Word than they did back then.” That was the closest I’ve ever come to biting my tongue off. 🙂 )
  4. Why the constant emphasis on the end-times, when our interpretations seem so wrong, not to mention bizarre? And that got me looking around: Let’s see–are there any groups out there who interpret prophecy differently? What I found were the Reformed churches and Catholicism.
  5. I began asking myself, “Why am I always the one defending Catholicism against the incorrect statements of all my friends?”
Eventually it all came together. (And, while I’m thinking about this, thanks to Dave Armstrong for his teachings on the relationship of Catholicism and the Bible.)
 
Cat said:
…
I can answer the question about why so many salvation sermons. There are several hymns about telling The Story–“Tell Me the Old Old Story,” and “I Love To Tell The Story.” IMO, this is simliar to the meditations on the Rosary–no matter how many times we medidate on the Mysteries, we find that they become ever more wonderful. This is how Protestants feel about the Story of Jesus–we can tell or listen to the story thousands of times and it never gets old…
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I think this is true, except, the point of the semon always was, “So you need to accept Jesus in your heart and I encourage you to do tht today, right now.”

I can understand it for Billy Graham, because with the Masses there would be many there who never thought of calling on Jesus, and the suggestion would be a unique one. But every Sunday to the same crowd?

It left me thinking: But what else is there? Isn’t there anything next?
 
Cat said:
Another thing that I started questioning was the unwritten but very real “list of things that you must do to be considered a real Christian.” This list included such things as daily Bible study and prayer, homeschooling children, not celebrating Halloween, not watching any secular TV or movies, etc.

I thought this list sounded a lot like salvation by works. But we were taught that works demonstrate a lack of faith in God. But if you weren’t doing these particular works on the “list,” then you probably weren’t a real Christian.
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I have never viewed the list of dos and don’ts that way before. Now since you mentioned it, the pentecostal church I belonged to was very works based.

Could not go to a movie theatre.
Women could not wear makeup.
Women could not wear pants.
Could not smoke.
Could not drink.
Men could not have facial hair.

Shedding tears while getting saved was proof of being saved. “shed no tears, you no saved”

If you did not tote a Bible to and from church, your christianity was questioned.

Just to mention a few.
 
Dissatisfaction with the “Once Saved Always Saved” doctrine led me to the Catholic Church.

I’ve always studied my Bible a lot. In fact, as a young man, I attended seminary to prepare for the ministry (didn’t attend long, but got a 4.0 GPA while I was there). It seemed that every time I studied my Bible, I found verses that disproved OSAS. I started writing them down, and presented them to several pastors - I eventually accumulated 26 pages of anti-OSAS verses!

My pastors twisted and contorted to explain a few of the passages, but even then, they couldn’t explain very many of them. The twisting always bothered me. In my opinion, scripture shouldn’t require such manipulations… it wasn’t written by lawyers!!

OSAS actually killed my Baptist faith. I stopped reading my Bible and going to church because I didn’t want to encounter any more anti-OSAS verses. I totally ignored the Lord for 6 years. Kinda an “ignore the problem and it will go away” mentality.

Recently, I decided to jump in again and resolve this OSAS issue once and for all… and this time I was willing to consider leaving the Baptist faith to do so. I started looking at Catholic doctrine (thanks to my Mom’s prodding - she became a Catholic 10 years ago), and realized that OSAS was only the tip of the iceburg. Pretty soon I became convinced that my old Baptist faith was also wrong in the areas of baptism, the Eucharist, faith alone, scripture alone, confession, etc, etc, etc.

My wife, kids and in-laws are still devout Baptists. In fact, my brother-in-law is the Sr. Pastor at my wife’s Baptist church, and my FIL is an elder. Their pride is intense - I’m constantly dealing with “jabs” against the Catholic church… yet they are entirely ignorant of what Catholics believe, and will not listen to me as I try to explain anything, and will not read anything that I send their way! Gee whiz… was I this arrogant when I was a Baptist?!
 
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