Hi from Toronto

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Superstar905

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Hi everyone, I am not new to the forums but new in registration and posting. I have been Catholic all my life and for the most part taken it for granted. Thankfully though, God’s plan for me is shining through and I have now realized the gift of the faith I was born into and how lucky I really am.

I would like to formally invite my girlfriend here, who is Evangelical (born again Christian) and someone truly seeking out the truth, seeking out God. I’ve promised not to get involved in her journey which I intend to respect, but I want to at least provide her with an avenue to learn about the faith of the Apostles who can answer her specific questions and help her work through some of her difficulties she has with the faith (which believe me, there are many, lol). Whether or not she finds it in Catholicism remains to be seen, however I hope that you all can show her your love, and welcome her to the forums.

Her handle is SKATTAS. Work in Love. I’m now going to formally invite her and give her this link, and hope that she uses it. Thanks everyone.

p.s. people like Marineboy, who come across as rude and takes an abrasive approach please stay away. Thanks.
 
A formal welcome to you and your girlfriend! :tiphat:

Don’t feel you totally have to step out of her learning process. Pray for her to find the truth and be there for questions.

St. Francis said it best, “Preach always, use words when necessary.”

Peace,
Jen
 
Hi Skattas…just a word of caution. Some members can be downright rude, some can be unloving, some can be hurtful. Believe me, they are in the minority. You’ll have to develop some thick skin for some stuff, but overall this is a fantastic place to learn.

The only advice I can give you, is your approach and the tone of your questions will dictate the type of response you will get. If you use sarcasm, if you are rude, or if you come across as someone who is not seeking but looking to ignite an argument, then you will be responded to that way.

Based on what’s been presented by your boyfriend, that’s not likely the case, but I thought you should at least be warned beforehand!!!😃

Welcome aboard!!!
 
Hello from Montreal!

I am Superstar’s girlfriend, and I want to say thank you to all those who welcomed me! I am an Evangelical Christian, and I have been my entire life (even though I was baptised in the Orthodox Church as an infant.) I have been seeking out the Catholic faith for the last year and a half, and unfortunately, through much prayer and reading, I have found that God has not directed my heart or life onto that path. I feel that my inability to overcome my ‘obstacles’ (as many people may think they are) (i.e. Praying to Mary, Purgatory, etc…) has not been due to lack or research, but legit reasoning and feeling. I am so fulfilled in reading an interpreting the Bible. I am so satisfied and positively overwhelmed by the fact that our Lord and Savior has given us a direct route to him, like a child to a father!! He truly is an amazing, compationate, and loving dad. Over my journey to seek this faith out, I have met such wonderful and helpful people that have truly added to my endeavor. Unfortunately, I have also met what I like to call the ‘dark side’ of Catholicism as well; the people who are self-righteous, ignorant, and intolerant. You all seem like such wonderful people, so I don’t have any doubt that I will be dealing with any darkness here!! 🙂 I’m not sure what to begin with, so maybe some of you can start this dialogue off, and I may have to pop in some random questions here and there (if you don’t mind!). Thanks for your desire to help everyone. I look forward to our chats! God Bless you all.

Your sister in Christ
 
Welcome from another Canajun, eh?

Theological discussions at our family get-togethers are fun. My father was a Baptist minister, two brothers attending Alliance in two different cities, one of whom fill-in preaches at another Baptist church, another brother in the Presbyterian church in Quebec, myself a Roman Catholic and a nephew who is Greek Orthodox and another nephew studying for the ministry at a Baptist seminary.

So welcome Superstar905 and welcome Skattas!
 
WOW Les, talk about a diverse belief system in your family. How the heck did that happen?

Skattas (I feel weird calling you that, but for privacy I will, lol), I think its better that you start a new thread in the appropriate category with a specific question, one topic at a time, and take it from there. This category is more like a first timers category to talk about anything not pertaining to one of the forum categories.

About those “dark side” Catholics, who are self righteous, etc…sometimes people may sound like that on email and discussion boards when they don’t intend to be, so just be careful with that…then again there are some people on these boards that are downright rude and not very good at witnessing lovingly as they should. I think Catholic Tom hit the nail on the head with the advise he gave.

Last but not least…SKATTAS, I LOVE YOU, AND I’M SO HAPPY YOU ARE HERE…and please, for everyone else, I do not want any opinions on my relationship with Skattas. I’d like to keep that to ourselves please.
 
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skattas:
Hello from Montreal!

I have found that God has not directed my heart or life onto that path. I feel that my inability to overcome my ‘obstacles’ (as many people may think they are) (i.e. Praying to Mary, Purgatory, etc…) has not been due to lack or research, but legit reasoning and feeling.
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That would be great of you to share this with us, and we can work through this together
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skattas:
I am so fulfilled in reading an interpreting the Bible. I am so satisfied and positively overwhelmed by the fact that our Lord and Savior has given us a direct route to him, like a child to a father!! He truly is an amazing, compationate, and loving dad.
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I whole heartedly agree, and no Catholic would disagree with you on this.
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skattas:
I’m not sure what to begin with, so maybe some of you can start this dialogue off, and I may have to pop in some random questions here and there (if you don’t mind!).
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You may want to start a thread in any of the forums relating to your specific questions (i.e. Mary would be better to be discussed in Apologetics section, and Purgatory can be discussed there too or even in the Scripture section).
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skattas:
Thanks for your desire to help everyone. I look forward to our chats! God Bless you all.

Your sister in Christ
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You’re welcome, and good luck on your search. There are many Protestants seeking the Catholic faith due to various reasons, all of which may differ. I think it’s a good thing that you are here seeking, provided you are truly seeking. It’s important, as Catholic Tom pointed out, to take the right approach, and if I may give you some advice, start of each post with a little blurb stating that you are evangelical that is searching so that someone doesn’t mistaken you as someone who is not open to truth and looking to pick a fight(which sadly many people come here to do).

God bless you in your search, you seem like a wonderful person. I myself am a convert here, and have found this site to be God’s way of breaking down my barriers and truly accepting what I believed internally all along.
 
Hi Skattas!

Glad to see you here!
Hope your experience on this forum is a good one.
🙂
 
I know that accepting the authority of the Catholic Church was the biggest problem for me. Do you find that Skattas? Undoubtably you do. Once I accepted that, and understood it properly (I was misled growing up from my entire family, my dad was a pastor) there was nothing that could hold me back. Mary and Purgatory ended up being the easy parts, once you learned what and why the church taught.

Can you imagine, your heart finally telling you that this was God’s will? that he left us more than a book to confuse all his followers? that he left us a church to teach and guide us in the scriptures?

That is the realization I came upon, especially when my studies taught me where the bible came from and how it came to be.

I suppose that if you are going to privately interpret the scriptures, you will need to understand many concepts including Jewish culture and language, the concept of covenant, you must entirely understand the Old Testament to be able to properly understand the New Testament or invariably you will draw a wrong interpretation. Last but not least…Do you believe that Jesus came to Abolish the Old Testament, or to Fulfill it? That is an important distinction. I would recommend though that you take this discussion into another forum.
 
Here is how the bible came to be. It didn’t fall out of the sky, and the books that should have been in the bible were not obvious to the scholars, it took discernment, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ45.HTM

This is a prime example of the authority that was given to the Church to:

-Protect Scripture from being destroyed
-Teach Scripture
-Discern which scripture is inspired, and which is not

Basically, the point is, if you are accepting the Holy Bible as the Word of God, it is because you accept that the only Christian church that existed is the Catholic Church, and was started by Christ with the Apostles.
 
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Superstar905:
WOW Les, talk about a diverse belief system in your family. How the heck did that happen?
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Just a quick come-back. Let’s just say it didn’t happen all at once. My own experience is the one a I can really talk about but it is probably more appropriate in another thread, ie. Protestant converts to the Church.

If I could give a one-liner to sum it up; because I had been a rebel all my life, when I was finally fell on my knees before God and committed myself to obedience, I could never go back to a church that was part of a movement born out of rebellion, even though it was 500 years ago.

There’s a lot more to it than that of course.

Incidentally, it is amazing how close the evangelicals (in my experience growing up) are to Catholics on social and moral issues. They stand shoulder to shoulder with us in abortion protests as one example. So there is some common ground where you might least expect it.
 
Hi everyone…I’m back!

Been pretty busy, but I finally have the chance to ask my first question.
Now, I know a lot about Mary and the Catholic belief on why you pray to her for intercession and so on, but as many people who know my faith, know that we believe otherwise. Here is where we come from: Heaven is a place of pure peace, solitude, and perfection, free from the troubles the world brings about. I’m sure many of you believe that as well, so I think this is a good starting point. My problem arises when this is contradicted by the notion of being able to talk to and ask those who have passed on (Mary, the Saints—people who were exactly that:people), and concern them with the troubles of the world. With this said, another problem arises: why would I pray to Mary or any other, when I can talk freely to Jesus himself? The way I look at it is: ‘Why would I talk to the bouncer when I know the owner of the club?’. God is a loving Father. All I know is that a loving father would welcome his child to come speak to him directly. Jesus does not need extra persuasion from his mother to do something for his child. Mary will not tell him anything the all-knowing Father wouldn’t already know. He is the source of all knowledge, generosity, empathy, and kindness. No one can add to what the Lord knows and sees. God’s decisions are final and just…because of his infinite wisdom and love. In this respect, what benefit is there in believing that Mary or any of the saints could have more of an impact than your own personal prayers, or of those still alive?
Well, I’m sure that the questions and topic will expand from this point on, sorry if it’s a little confusing!
Thanks again for listening everybody, and for helping.
God Bless you all.
 
I mentioned this before, but this should probably be moved to a different thread in the relevant forum. Great questions though. 😉
 
Hey skattas & Superstar - Welcome!

Having spent a couple of years in Canada, I feel I have a special connection. Also, I grew up in New York State, just across the border from Fort Erie, ON in the Buffalo area - almost Canadian!

As for your questions, you may want to just start a new thread in Apologetics or where appropriate. There’s lots of good answers for your questions that you’ll get from some good folks here.

Again, Welcome!
 
Tim in MI:
Hey skattas & Superstar - Welcome!

Having spent a couple of years in Canada, I feel I have a special connection. Also, I grew up in New York State, just across the border from Fort Erie, ON in the Buffalo area - almost Canadian!

As for your questions, you may want to just start a new thread in Apologetics or where appropriate. There’s lots of good answers for your questions that you’ll get from some good folks here.

Again, Welcome!
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Hey Tim, thanks for the welcome. I was just at my cousin’s cottage in Fort Erie, right near where you grew up!!!

You must love us crazy canucks eh!!!
 
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