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Where I stand:
-without question there are important thing that are not in the Bible which happened, or which the Apostles preached and did. These thing are crucial in a critical sense. And I want to partake and celebrate them. I just do not know which traditions are legit. But I am certainly not a “sola-scripture” kind of guy, and I am not even a Biblical literalist, with regards to the OT, with the NT I am a literalist.
-Guys, there have been some rotten Popes who have taught conflicting things, this is another sticking point for me. I realize that Popes are just human beings, but the infallibility thing is a near insurmountable hurdle for me.
These are just the first things off the top of my head. I realize that I am kind of all over the place here. Feel free to drop in and comment respectfully in any way that you wish. I love Jesus with all of my heart and I would do anything for Him but I am struggling to find my true church.
I will be writing more about some of my questions but I wanted to limit it to just a few points to start. It is my hope that this thread can thrive and help others who are also in my shoes. Thanks!
I’m an ex-Protestant, Catholic now for nearly 20 years, and I believe the Catholic Church is the
CLOSEST to the truth. That said, I have two issues that I don’t agree with - the Infallibility of the Pope is to me an unnecessary doctrine. The Church got along without it for nearly 1900 years, and suddenly in an age of Ultramontanism, with the Vatican threatened by rebellion and war right on its doorstep, it suddenly pronounced this doctrine, when they were frightened of “modernism”. Now they use computers, advanced medical technology in Catholic hospitals, and the Pope has Twitter.
It’s an immense and unnecessary hurdle to eventual reunification.
I also believe the contraceptive pill was
God’s idea, given at the very time population pressures were becoming a real problem in some parts of the world, just as we had concurrently developed the technology to do so (mere coincidence of course that God would restrict our technological development until we had need of it, and with population pressures an increasing problem since the pill was invented, largely by Catholic researchers), and recommended for use by married couples by
TWO committees set up by TWO popes, including bishops and cardinals, and overriden by the decision of one man. That ruling doesn’t impress me one bit.
Having said that, I still believe the Catholic Church is the closest to the truth. And will remain so.
As for corrupt popes - Christ hand picked 12 disciples, and one of them betrayed Him. If He got it so wrong, why shouldn’t a bunch of cardinals make mistakes from time to time (oh, whoops, sorry about the infallibility bit).
That’s just good old human nature at work - as my old Protestant pastor used to say, “One bunch of sinners is pretty much the same as the rest.” Even Peter, the first “Pope” demonstrated feet of clay on a number of occasions. For some strange reason, his fallibility is shouted very loud and clear in the Gospels. That wouldn’t have been a message for the future church would it?
You need to distinguish between the **OFFICE **Christ was setting up, and the person occupying it. There have been some less that excellent US Presidents as well, but so far no one has suggested removing the office, even if at least one US President was impeached in recent memory (well, for those of us old enough to remember it).
When Christ declared Peter the Rock, He wasn’t making all that noise just for Peter’s sake. He was setting up an
office, and giving the church authority at the same time. Or as my old pastor said again, “What’s the use of having a church if you’re not going to give it any authority?”
How much authority have the Protestant Churches got, compared to that of the Catholic? How often do you hear a Protestant official giving a statement on behalf of the united Protestant Churches?
So despite the fact I have these two items I disagree with (and rest assured a lot of other Catholics haven’t got much time for the pill ruling either - how many ten kid families do you see in Catholic Churches today? And they’re not using NFP either.), I still believe the Catholic Church is closest to the truth, so I’ll stay there.
And if other Catholics think I’m not Catholic because I don’t agree with every single ruling of the Church, my question to them is “Who set you up as my judge?”.
Last November I went to the funeral of the widow of the old pastor I quoted above a couple of times. Now for what it’s worth I had a vision of him some time after he died, when he appeared to me very briefly, and simply said, “The Catholic Church is CLOSEST to the truth.” And then he disappeared. So when I use the term “**closest **to the truth”, I’m not being entirely original - I actually got it from the vision, believe it or not.
A couple of months after the widow’s funeral, and she was a very devout Christian, I had a sense of her saying to me, “The Catholics are right.”
However that’s private revelation, and you may as well ignore it. But that’s where I stand.
And while we are talking, lets remember that we agree on the most important point, that Jesus loves and has saved us all.
for you.
Many, MANY Protestants have come home to the Catholic Church by doing that one simple thing.