Have you found that Roman Catholic converts..

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caoindealbhan

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… have become un-Christian towards the faith they were originally from? I’ve met converts to the Roman Catholic Church and they are filled with zeal for their new found faith, but they don’t always seem to speak in a Christian manner towards the church they came from?
Code: 
   Example:  I heard a Roman Catholic deacon(ex-Lutheran) railing AGAINST Lutherans from the altar in my church.  I was very embarrassed by his venom.  Certain things shouldn't be said from the altar.

    Banner put outside the Catholic Church:  "Don't listen to your neighbors!  Come in and find out about the Truth for yourself".  Another divisive example.  Unnecessary and antagonistic.

   I am happy that the Holy Spirit has led them home.  But that does not give them license to denounce other Christian faiths.
 
caoindealbhan said:
… have become un-Christian towards the faith they were originally from? I’ve met converts to the Roman Catholic Church and they are filled with zeal for their new found faith, but they don’t always seem to speak in a Christian manner towards the church they came from?

Example: I heard a Roman Catholic deacon(ex-Lutheran) railing AGAINST Lutherans from the altar in my church. I was very embarrassed by his venom. Certain things shouldn’t be said from the altar.

Banner put outside the Catholic Church: “Don’t listen to your neighbors! Come in and find out about the Truth for yourself”. Another divisive example. Unnecessary and antagonistic.

I am happy that the Holy Spirit has led them home. But that does not give them license to denounce other Christian faiths.
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Merry Christmas to all.
in my experience it’s the other way around. my own sister who converted to SDA (after 25 yrs being married to one) took to task evangelizing my other siblings about her new found faith. i spoke to her privately and told her not to try and convert us to her faith for reason that Catholic has the fullness of truth. i know she and her husband will come back home sooner or later. she vehemently denied that it’ll happen, but we pray for her and let the Holy Spirit guide her back. 👍
God bless.
 
As a convert from a fundamentalist group, and one who knows other converts, I have not found that to be the case. As I, most love those people and know they are wonderful and sincere Christians.

I just think I have been blessed to come to the fullness of faith in recongnizing the one fellowship which Christ sent, the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Chruch.

Some people may have had a bad experience with there former fatih group. I do agree that those views sould not be aired at mass.

On the other hand my experience with former Catholics who have converted to evangelical groups tend to be anti-Catholic.
 
I have found that converts to Catholicism and ‘born again’ Protestantism both (from ‘born again’ Protestantism and Catholicism, respectively) tend to show a poor understanding of their former faith on some important, defining, decisive issues. It seems that, more often than not, it is mental caricatures of the positions of the other side which adds the fuel to the fire of converts’ vehemence and venom.

In all honesty I really can’t say that Protestants-turned-Catholics are any less guilty of this ignorance of their former faith than are Catholics-turned-Protestants (although it often seems that way, Catholics-turned-Protestants tending to be louder and more vicious, calling Rome a Satanic, pagan church, sending its believers on a fast-track to Hell, etc. Nasty anti-Catholicism is like an theological/ideological tenet in many Evangelical circles). I have simply seen too many Protestants-turned-Catholics, in their critcisms, show a serious lack of genuine understanding of Protestant-Evangelical doctrines like Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide. Even Scott Hahn and Jimmy Akin – guys who should know better – strawman the heck out of those doctrines in their supposed refutations of them.
 
Cajetan said:
I have found that converts to Catholicism and ‘born again’ Protestantism both (from ‘born again’ Protestantism and Catholicism, respectively) tend to show a poor understanding of their former faith on some important, defining, decisive issues. It seems that, more often than not, it is mental caricatures of the positions of the other side which adds the fuel to the fire of converts’ vehemence and venom.

In all honesty I really can’t say that Protestants-turned-Catholics are any less guilty of this ignorance of their former faith than are Catholics-turned-Protestants (although it often seems that way, Catholics-turned-Protestants tending to be louder and more vicious, calling Rome a Satanic, pagan church, sending its believers on a fast-track to Hell, etc. Nasty anti-Catholicism is like an theological/ideological tenet in many Evangelical circles). I have simply seen too many Protestants-turned-Catholics, in their critcisms, show a serious lack of genuine understanding of Protestant-Evangelical doctrines like Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide. Even Scott Hahn and Jimmy Akin – guys who should know better – strawman the heck out of those doctrines in their supposed refutations of them.
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I see it work both ways too. There are a few ex-Protestants here at CAF that exhibit a shallow knowledge of the faith they left behind and certainly don’t demonstrate much charity in their discussions about the faith. I have also seen it work the other way. I certainly know several ex-Catholics who are rabid anti-Catholics now. I guess it depends on the person.

I am surprised of your assesment of Hahn, not that I disagree, but I haven’t found many on this forum who are unbiased enough to see the obvious. I read Hahn’s “Rome Sweet Home” (I may have the title wrong) and came away less than impressed.

I am in the middle of converting and it’s been a 10 year process. I have seen both the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Catholic Church as well as the Reformed church which I was a part of. I like to think that I am not looking at the Catholic Church through rose colored glasses and hope that I remain reasonable w/ regards to my old church.
 
Pwrlftr said:
I am surprised of your assesment of Hahn, not that I disagree, but I haven’t found many on this forum who are unbiased enough to see the obvious. I read Hahn’s “Rome Sweet Home” (I may have the title wrong) and came away less than impressed.
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I will say this:

Were the impetus behind Hahn’s breakaway from the Calvinist (Reformed) faith merely a matter of the arguments against Calvinism which he has presented – in Rome Sweet Home and elsewhere – he would have no valid reason for leaving Calvinism. There may be very good reasons for being Catholic over Reformed, but the ones I’ve seen from Hahn are riddled with caricatures of the latter. That’s not good. It’s likely not the case that he is being ‘dishonest’ about Calvinism; rather, for whatever reasons, he just lacks proper knowledge of important aspects of that theology.

I don’t mean to speak ill of Hahn specifically, because, as I said, this is extremely common in religious conversion generally. In any case, religious conversion really isn’t about knowledge or lack of knowledge. It has more to do with the ‘heart’ than the mind.
 
graceandglory said:
Merry Christmas, Pwrlftr!

Keep Swimming!!!

👍
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I am doing the back stroke now as opposed to treading water or doggie paddling my way through. I am meeting w/ my parish priest for 1 on 1 classes which is pretty cool.
 
Cajetan said:
I will say this:

Were the impetus behind Hahn’s breakaway from the Calvinist (Reformed) faith merely a matter of the arguments against Calvinism which he has presented – in Rome Sweet Home and elsewhere – he would have no valid reason for leaving Calvinism. There may be very good reasons for being Catholic over Reformed, but the ones I’ve seen from Hahn are riddled with caricatures of the latter. That’s not good. It’s likely not the case that he is being ‘dishonest’ about Calvinism; rather, for whatever reasons, he just lacks proper knowledge of important aspects of that theology.

I don’t mean to speak ill of Hahn specifically, because, as I said, this is extremely common in religious conversion generally. In any case, religious conversion really isn’t about knowledge or lack of knowledge. It has more to do with the ‘heart’ than the mind.
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I think Scott is a brilliant man and does a lot of good work but I am apparently of the same mind as you are concerning parts of his conversion.
 
caoindealbhan said:
… have become un-Christian towards the faith they were originally from? I’ve met converts to the Roman Catholic Church and they are filled with zeal for their new found faith, but they don’t always seem to speak in a Christian manner towards the church they came from?
Code: 
   Example:  I heard a Roman Catholic deacon(ex-Lutheran) railing AGAINST Lutherans from the altar in my church.  I was very embarrassed by his venom.  Certain things shouldn't be said from the altar.

    Banner put outside the Catholic Church:  "Don't listen to your neighbors!  Come in and find out about the Truth for yourself".  Another divisive example.  Unnecessary and antagonistic.

   I am happy that the Holy Spirit has led them home.  But that does not give them license to denounce other Christian faiths.
Click to expand...
If you think you have the truth and don’t speak out against what you see to be false, then you are doing your faith a dis-service.
 
I must admit, I do have to continuously watch myself to make sure I don’t become a “Catholic Taliban” member or Catholic snob (either label works) when it comes to dealing with my protestant roots.

It’s that zeal that consumes you, this excitement that I get from RCIA class, that can be used in a snooty non-Christian way. I guess one of the main reasons that there is so much resentment and bitterness harbored towards my southern baptist roots is that, after seeing the fullness of the faith that the RCC gives, I feel swindled by the lies, hateful words and misconceptions thrown at me about the RCC for all these years (makes me mad after years of hearing snooty hateful remarks, such as RCC members might not “be saved,” from different people in the baptist churches I’ve attended, and me just buying it without any questioning). It didn’t take much to see that a good number (though not all of them) thought the RCC, while filled with some good people, was a church that didn’t have the fullness of Christ and was sending people to Hell.

That fules anger and resentment at myself, for just accepting those thoughts and beliefs without reading my Bible and formulating my own opinion. I never thought RCC was a bad church growing up (and certainly don’t now!), but I was like them: misguided about the church and the faith.

In my mind, the fictional conversation towards those people goes something along the lines of, “You lied to me and kept me away from this beautiful faith??? Why???”

Honestly, in my own life, that’s where some of the “bashing” comes from. I never come right out and say, “Baptists stink! Lutherans are awful! Why does God even bother with (insert protestant denomination here).” (in my personal thoughts, maybe, but never out loud to anyone!) 😉

Just yesterday, I had a Newman Catholic shirt on, and Mom suggested that I wear that shirt just to rub my Baptist families noses in it (I’m not sure If I am doing that). I apologized for giving off that vibe, and just explained that I am very excited about the faith, and changed shirts before our family get together (didn’t want faith to be a divisive thing). Not sure if that was the right thing to do, but arguing over religion is never good at a family get together.

I realize this was a rambling post that probably made me sound like a jerk for the honesty. In a nutshell, those are reasons that are probably shared by fellow RCC converts like myself.
 
I disagree OP… I’m very thankful of the years I spent in Protestant churches. I had wonderful Christian friends and learned so much about the Bible. For me, it wasn’t so much that Protestants were wrong - it was that they just had a “part” of the truth… as a Catholic I feel like we have it all.

I believe that ex-Catholics speak out so much more so against their former faith. I think they have ZERO good to say about it. I’ve heard ex-Catholics say in all their years of being Catholic, they never heard about Jesus … THAT is something I just don’t get at all. 🤷
 
yellowbird said:
I’ve heard ex-Catholics say in all their years of being Catholic, they never heard about Jesus … THAT is something I just don’t get at all. 🤷
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What church were they going to? I hear about Jesus each week at Mass and RCIA!
 
caoindealbhan said:
Have you found that Roman Catholic converts…

… have become un-Christian towards the faith they were originally from? I’ve met converts to the Roman Catholic Church and they are filled with zeal for their new found faith, but they don’t always seem to speak in a Christian manner towards the church they came from?
Code: 
   Example:  I heard a Roman Catholic deacon(ex-Lutheran) railing AGAINST Lutherans from the altar in my church.  I was very embarrassed by his venom.  Certain things shouldn't be said from the altar.
Click to expand...
Yes. I go to a Protestant forum where Catholics may not join. Whenever I read through the threads that bash Catholics, they are almost always by people who were Catholic and converted to Protestantism. (Very few are started by cradle Protestants.) In fact, cradle Protestants seem to come to the defense of us Catholics every now and then. Weird huh?

I think the former Catholics get nasty and bashing towards us because they may have had really bad experiences with the RCC and, quite obviously, need to justify why they left the Church to begin with.

Does this answer your question?

Jean
 
yellowbird said:
I’ve heard ex-Catholics say in all their years of being Catholic, they never heard about Jesus … THAT is something I just don’t get at all. 🤷
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I do not get it either.

I have also heard many former Catholics say they have never heard any Scripture in mass YET we have 2 Gospel readings from the old testament and one Gospel reading from the new testament. Plus, the priest gives a homily that revolves around the new testament reading and will even repeat some of the Scripture ontop of it.

How can a former Catholic of so long sit in the pews and never hear any Scripture? It makes no sense.

Jean
 
Jean_1958 said:
How can a former Catholic of so long sit in the pews and never hear any Scripture? It makes no sense.

Jean
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I guess they weren’t paying attention 😃

Also, I think the reason they say that is because someone at their new church fills their head with stuff such as “Catholicism isn’t biblically based,” or “The RCC puts church teachings above God’s word.” They start to believe that, and they decide that all they heard at Mass was Church teachings, not the Bible, hence their false views.
 
celticsfan1983 said:
I guess they weren’t paying attention 😃

Also, I think the reason they say that is because someone at their new church fills their head with stuff such as “Catholicism isn’t biblically based,” or “The RCC puts church teachings above God’s word.” They start to believe that, and they decide that all they heard at Mass was Church teachings, not the Bible, hence their false views.
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The not paying attention thing could be true, however, I think you are right concerning what gets filled in their head once they leave the RCC.

Jean
 
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