Leaving the Catholic Church and Family Reaction

[Balance]

JDeL:

We do not need to go to the social hall or gymnasium to have our emotional needs met. Everything we need is right there in the tabernacle.

JD

mmm, i agree with you, but…

the but is that, being human, actually, we do need other humans. at least, most of us do, becuase most of us are not so far advanced along the path of holiness, of union with God, that we are so healed and whole that we don’t need the presence of other humans. yes, Christ is all we need. to be with Christ is all the healing, all the friendship, all the emotional needs we need, but he most often works first through people, I think. how did you come to your faith in the Real Presence? because people baptised you and then taught you about Christ.
don’t forget that Christ is as present in the human body sitting on the bus next to you as he is in the Sacrament.
so, yes, seek Christ in the Eucharist. spend time on your knees in front of him there. but also seek him in other humans, and know that other people may need you to meet their needs for emotional support first, before they can come to faith in the Blessed Sacrament.

 

[Leon_Miguel]

dragonfly:
God also warns us in the bible to beware of false prophets, teachings and doctrines!

Agreed, but the presence of false prophets does not rule out the presence of a true one. Without straying from the topic of the thread, how does the original poster know that his pastor is not teaching false doctrine? Is a prophet or teacher who arises from nowhere more likely to be true or false?

Also, keep in mind that a prophet is not just one who predicts the future but one who speaks on God’s behalf.

 

[Mijoy2]

Austin83:

The Catholic faith to me felt so hollow and empty, I didn’t feel I had a connection with God at all. I would leave every mass empty, I just didn’t get anything out of it, it was just saying some prayers from memory every Sunday.
Austin

Austin, please read the first chapter of the Lambs Supper (I believe it’s the first chapter). You will read what happened when a dynamic protstant minister probably much like the man you are now conversing with, expereinced when he became aware of the Catholic Mass.

Please read this before you believe your mass and your litergy experience is empty and hollow. The Catholic mass is heaven on earth.

Please read this.

 

[Michael_Francis]

Merged dupe threads into the one in Apologetics.

 

[Church_Militant]

Originally Posted by Church Militant

and if you don’t take the time to check that out then you will regret that for all eternity, because even if you make it to heaven, you will know that you did not obey Christ and remain in His church.

Balance:

While we’re on the same wavelength Church Mil, I don’t agree with the way you’re saying this. if someone makes it to heaven, they HAVE obeyed Christ and remained in his Church. they wouldn’t get to heaven otherwise. fact is, you DON’T have to be a Catholic to get to heaven. we all know that even nonChristians will get to heaven if their heart belongs to God, if they have lived out - or attempted to live out - Christ’s command to love God and love nieghbour.
so we’re talking, really, about Austin’s earthly life, and how attempting to get to the guts of what it means to be Catholic and Christian, and so encounter Christ there as fully as he possibly can, will lead to fullness of life here and now.

I appreciate what you are saying, but I think you misunderstand my meaning. I was talking about the fact that we all will give account of our actions to God, and if at judgement He calls us to account for having bailed from the church that He built and intended for us to be part of, will we not feel regret at our disobedience?

Also, speaking from personal experience, I can say that I have much regret for the many wasted years outside the fullness of truth. As Christians are we not responsible to learn to know and love God to the fullest? IMO that means the pursuit of the truth with the courage and conviction to follow it wherever it leads, and since that fullness of truth is found in the Catholic Church…

Austin’s problem seems to be that he likes the emotional high that he gets from this church, and I’ve been there and done that myself, but that is wrong. “Feeling good”, though nice and all, is not a good guide for our spiritual journey, and that is what I’m trying to get him to consider.

The train will run with or without a caboose. However, it would be useless to attempt to pull the train by the caboose. In the same way, as Christians we do not depend on feelings or emotions, but we place our faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God and the promises of His Word.

That’s from our friends over at Campus Crusade for Christ, and they certainly have that right.

I too, thought I knew what the Catholic Church teaches and only 34 years later did I discover that I was largely dead wrong. I’m simply trying to get the man to do more than a cursory look into the Catholic faith before abandoning it.

If he takes the time to research just the error of Sola Scriptura, he cannot in good conscience leave the Catholic faith, and I don’t believe that he has confronted that yet…or we wouldn’t be havin’ this discussion, now would we?
Pax tecum,

 

[Lost_Found]

NonDenom:

Hey CM
Why do you keep being so hateful? All anybody has to do is read your post’s to realize you need some lessons in loving your brother. You say that you are no expert, but yet claim to know what is absolute truth. The only thing that you have to go by is what other men have told you or what you have read, and you claim that to be all truth but we are all wrong. I feel sorry for your attitude.
In Him and Only Him.

Hello NonDenom
Count yourself lucky the mods tolerated your unwarranted ad hominis attack on our respected member. That member will not stray off topic to tell you so, but I will. You should always keep to the topic, otherwise it makes you look like you have nothing to stand on.
Just something for you to think about when you say we are going on what other men have told us or what we have read: That is such a false argument. Our Church was founded by Christ, all others by men. I’m sure you try to circumvent this by saying you are non-denominational, but that doesn’t really work either because you lack the historical backing & evidence, making you rely exceedingly on modern men’s words to determine what the bible is saying.

 

[Church_Militant]

Hey CM
Why do you keep being so hateful? All anybody has to do is read your post’s to realize you need some lessons in loving your brother. You say that you are no expert, but yet claim to know what is absolute truth. The only thing that you have to go by is what other men have told you or what you have read, and you claim that to be all truth but we are all wrong. I feel sorry for your attitude.
In Him and Only Him.

You sir, need to stop reading what you want to into my remarks. I am a long way from hateful though I know you and some of the other “ex-Catholics” and a-Cs on here like to portray me that way. (The last such PM that I got had me laughing so hard I could hardly type my response and that person and I are now friends. )

Let me rephrase my remarks for you. I’m more of an expert on the Catholic faith than you are Non-Denom…and SoloChristo, …and Austin too. I didn’t get that by osmosis, I studied (and still do), the same way that I studied “to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2nd Timothy 2:15). I know both sides of the debates and doctrines and I know which one I have found more consistent with the Word of God. The Catholic Church.

The only thing that you have to go by is what other men have told you or what you have read,

If by this remark you mean to imply that I am recounting the teachings of men that a-Cs love to allege against us Catholics I will point out that I’m not the one who espouses the teachings of men within the last 500 years and who took the liberty of editing 7 books out of the word of God and then wrongfully alleging that the Catholic Church added them, nor am I the one espousing the errant teaching of Sola Scriptura, which has led to so many other errors.

I am the one who can from the writings of the early church rest assured that what I believe and have been taught by the Catholic Church is the same faith that those members of the early church wrote about, lived by, and were martyred for, so I feel like I’m in pretty good company and I am prepared to face that same fate rather than abandon the fullness of truth.

You are perfectly free to feel whatever you please concerning me and my supposed “attitude”, but you attempt to portray me as some kind of bad guy because I repeatedly point out the errors in what you know about Catholicism and refuse to sit idly by while you and others attempt to plunder My Master’s flock with your errors.
Now that would be wrong.

 

[Church_Militant]

Lost&Found:

Hello NonDenom
Count yourself lucky the mods tolerated your unwarranted ad hominis attack on our respected member. That member will not stray off topic to tell you so, but I will.

You should always keep to the topic, otherwise it makes you look like you have nothing to stand on.I’m afraid that I may have disappointed you this time L&F. Sorry about that, but I have attempted to tie my remarks into the discussion by (again) pointing out that the problem here is that Austin (and others like myself who left the faith) really had such a miserably poor knowledge of our faith that we were “easy pickins” for Bible thumping, non-Catholic evangelists.
http://bestsmileys.com/religous/3.gif
In conclusion, all I can say is that those who wish to portray Catholicism as something that it is not will always find me and guys like me right up front, lookin’ them in the eye, and answering their rhetoric with facts.

If that is the wrong “attitude”, then tell St. Paul, since I got it from him.
Pax vobsicum,

 

[alekzander]

Austin-why so much faith in your 'Johnny come lately church". Can your church trace it’s roots back to the apostles? The Catholic Church can and it’s artifacts are currently on display at the Milwaukee public museum.Who was the pastor before your pastor and so on since the time of Christ.

 

[Austin83]

Well I must say I am overwhelmed by the responses here. I figured this whole thread would get maybe 6 or 7 responses but nothing like this. It’s good to see there are Catholics out there who visibly care about their faith, if only more Catholics were like that. Maybe the Catholic faith has a future afterall. I commend you all for your obvious devotion to the faith.

 

[mosher]

Austin83:

Well I must say I am overwhelmed by the responses here. I figured this whole thread would get maybe 6 or 7 responses but nothing like this. It’s good to see there are Catholics out there who visibly care about their faith, if only more Catholics were like that. Maybe the Catholic faith has a future afterall. I commend you all for your obvious devotion to the faith.

Of course it has a future. Christ stated that the gates of hell woud not prevail against it. Christ is steadfast in His promises.

 

[alekzander]

The church has survived heretical teachings,persecution in many violent ways…my moneys on the Catholic church. It’s like the energizer bunny 2,000 yrs and still going!! LOL!

 

[Celia]

Austin83:

Well I must say I am overwhelmed by the responses here. I figured this whole thread would get maybe 6 or 7 responses but nothing like this. It’s good to see there are Catholics out there who visibly care about their faith, if only more Catholics were like that. Maybe the Catholic faith has a future afterall. I commend you all for your obvious devotion to the faith.

Please study, with an objective, open mind, what the Catholic church truly teaches before you leave. In my heart I don’t believe anyone that does this can leave Christ’s church with a clean conscience. (Does anyone know who that quote is from - about people disliking what they think the church is, not for what it really is?) What’s a little studying? It won’t hurt. www.scripturecatholic.com is a great site to start with. If you have any further issues there would be plenty of people here willing to help.

Don’t confuse emotions and feelings with the Truth of the way God wants to be worshipped, not the way us humans decide is the right way to worship. I’m not trying to be patronizing, but I feel like you have blinders on and the rest of us are trying to get you to take them off.

I think you’ve recieved a lot of responses because a lot of people see themselves in your posts, well, where they once were. And they want to save you from the struggle they went through with protestantism and assure you that you were born in the right place after all. Perhaps, though, you need to make your own way, and come home on your own.

I’ll pray for you.

 

[NotWorthy]

Austin83:

Well I must say I am overwhelmed by the responses here. I figured this whole thread would get maybe 6 or 7 responses but nothing like this. It’s good to see there are Catholics out there who visibly care about their faith, if only more Catholics were like that. Maybe the Catholic faith has a future afterall. I commend you all for your obvious devotion to the faith.

Austin, I’m glad you’re back. I wasn’t sure we would see you again.

I’m curious why you posted on this site. You could have asked your new Pastor (any four of them) what to do and they would have told you.

If you look at the responses and looked at a common thread, what do you notice? You see a bunch of people that have followed the trail you are now on. Now, granted, there are numerous that never returned, but the ones that did return, all share a common theme. They realized that Christ’s message was never about feeling good. He ruffled quite a few feathers. No, the ones that returned, studied what each religion teaches, and found that the Catholic Church most closely resembles the teachings of Christ, as evidenced through the early church and continued for the last 2000 years.

Is Church history important to the Evangels? NO! Because they don’t have any.

Is Apostolic Succession or Sacred Tradition necessary? Of course not!!! If I didn’t have that, I’d minimize it also.

No, the only thing they have going for them is the Bible. And now they are one of the 1000’s of denominations that follow the “Bible alone”, even though they ALL interpret it to most fit "the beliefs they truly want in their religion."

So, yes, Christ may be leading you to the Evangels, if only to ignite a desire to learn more about Him. Do that!!! Learn all you can, and see what happens.

I hope to hear from you again someday.

Notworthy

 

[NotWorthy]

Celia:

In my heart I don’t believe anyone that does this can leave Christ’s church with a clean conscience. (Does anyone know who that quote is from - about people disliking what they think the church is, not for what it really is?)

Bishop Sheen - something like, “There are about 100 people that dislike the Catholic Church for what She teaches. There are millions that hate the Catholic Church for what they think She teaches”.

Notworthy

 

[alekzander]

The thing about the Catholic church…you could go to Africa,Mexico,phillippines…The mass would be celebrated the same way…talk about a UNIFIED body.

 

[Celia]

NotWorthy:

Bishop Sheen - something like, “There are about 100 people that dislike the Catholic Church for what She teaches. There are millions that hate the Catholic Church for what they think She teaches”.

Notworthy

Ah, that’s the one Thanks.

 

[cheeto1]

Evangel? I think that is the church that has the big

sign out front that says “Where Jesus Christ is Lord”.
When I see that sign, it’s so exciting. Would that Jesus Christ
could be Lord everywhere, like even the grocery store and the
bank. It is such a joy to be with others who believe that Jesus
Christ is Lord. It is exciting to worship the Lord loudly with joy,
I have been to a denomination called Assembly of God.

When you go to a place like this, it feeds two of your big needs:
to praise the Lord with joy, and to be with others who make
Jesus the Lord of their life.

What will happen is this: you will feel contentment and
excitement and grateful because you could have “wasted”
your whole life in the Catholic Church without ever having these
needs met.

But what happens after a person gets their needs met is this:
They start to think about Jesus’ needs. You see, God desires
more than just to meet your personal needs. He desires that
every man be saved. Further, He has provided all the information
you could ever learn in a lifetime of studying the Catholic Church.
He has even provided a government for the Church. It is true that
some people have great needs that haven’t been met by their
Church. We are Christ’s body now, and this is our job to meet
those needs in others, not to leave the Church to fulfill only our
own needs.

After your immediate needs are met, you must come back to the
one true Church. Your parents have done you a great service in
raising you Catholic. When you are ready to come back, just go
to confession. Maybe you will have learned from your other church how to meet certain great needs in people and will come
back to strengthen your brothers. You must realise that you are
not the only Catholic who feels these needs. Some are too
sensible to “throw the baby out with the bath water” and suffer
in silence.

There is another kind of emptiness in the other denominations.
They don’t have a mass. It’s just the service part. The part that
you get something out of. The true reason of the mass is not
what we can get out of it, but simply to worship God. Anything
we get out of it is just an extra. You may not have experienced
the true power of the Eucharist. That is missing in all the other
denominations. It is this kind of emptiness that will eventually
bring you back to the Catholic Church, if you continue to seek God, and not just a social life.

The church is here for you. It is your church. Don’t forget that.

 

[Church_Militant]

NotWorthy:

Bishop Sheen - something like, “There are about 100 people that dislike the Catholic Church for what She teaches. There are millions that hate the Catholic Church for what they think She teaches”.

Notworthy

“Few people in America hate the Catholic religion, but there are many who hate what they mistakenly believe is the Catholic religion—and if what they hate really were the Catholic religion, Catholics would hate it too.” Bishop Fulton Sheen

 

[Thal59]

I haven’t read all of the posts to this thread, but the more I read Austin’s, the more he sounds like an Evangelical pretending to have once been a Catholic.

His complaints are that of someone who does not know the church at all, and he has made accusations against the church that are standard fare amongst Protestants.

Or is it just me?

Thal59