G
GivenMuch
Guest
This is my very first posting. I have been reading threads on these forums for months now, and have followed this one diligently. I figured it is time to step up/step in.
I am currently in the RCIA program to come in full communion with the Catholic Church this Easter! This has been a long journey, as I had been a faithful Seventh-Day Adventist in my teens, went to SDA schools, and college, minored in theology and have had a lifelong passion for faith and religion. I lived in the Middle East a great portion of my life and have had friends and people I have loved stretched across the cultures and religions of the world. As I grew up, my Adventist “separatism” did not always settle well with me, as it seemed to require that I reject and deny ANYTHING outside of that framework. Having said that, I will forever testify to the great love for Jesus that was cultivated in my life through the SDA faith.
As I have read these months, the meandering of the debates that have been posted on these threads, I want to say this:
Thank you, to the faithful, loving Catholic believers who have diligently tried to bridge the vast ravine of misunderstanding and distorted truths that are frequently perpetuated by SDAs, and others who view the Catholic Church as the ‘Whore of Babylon.’ I have studied dilgently these past couple of years and know that the Catholic Church is truly the one, holy and apostalic Church, the bride of Christ and in her is the fulness of truth. You have been instrumental in helping to guide me with references and links throughout. Even as a few of you have stumbled along trying to make sense of Adventist language and loopholes(!), you have attempted and remained, for the most part, gracious and faithful.
To the Adventists, and other believers who are doggedly determined that changing their veiws about Catholicism would equate to heresy and hellfire: peace be with you. You have, in your attempts to discredit Catholic theology, given strength to me. It has made me search harder and pray more—and submit more fully to the Church. That is certainly the very last thing you want to hear, for in all of your best attempts, you have ultimately come across as defensive and threatening; more concerned with proving that the Church and it’s faithful are hell bound, and harboring relief that you are one of the “remnant” believers. I would have been unwillling to be counted among you even if I was still a SDA. As for playing the card of being the “persecuted ones,” I, for one, have faced more “persecution” as a Catholic than I ever did as a Seventh-Day Adventist. Not that it validates the journey, but I know now that I am willing to be counted in as one of the “poor lost souls” in the Catholic Church. AMEN and AMEN.
I am currently in the RCIA program to come in full communion with the Catholic Church this Easter! This has been a long journey, as I had been a faithful Seventh-Day Adventist in my teens, went to SDA schools, and college, minored in theology and have had a lifelong passion for faith and religion. I lived in the Middle East a great portion of my life and have had friends and people I have loved stretched across the cultures and religions of the world. As I grew up, my Adventist “separatism” did not always settle well with me, as it seemed to require that I reject and deny ANYTHING outside of that framework. Having said that, I will forever testify to the great love for Jesus that was cultivated in my life through the SDA faith.
As I have read these months, the meandering of the debates that have been posted on these threads, I want to say this:
Thank you, to the faithful, loving Catholic believers who have diligently tried to bridge the vast ravine of misunderstanding and distorted truths that are frequently perpetuated by SDAs, and others who view the Catholic Church as the ‘Whore of Babylon.’ I have studied dilgently these past couple of years and know that the Catholic Church is truly the one, holy and apostalic Church, the bride of Christ and in her is the fulness of truth. You have been instrumental in helping to guide me with references and links throughout. Even as a few of you have stumbled along trying to make sense of Adventist language and loopholes(!), you have attempted and remained, for the most part, gracious and faithful.
To the Adventists, and other believers who are doggedly determined that changing their veiws about Catholicism would equate to heresy and hellfire: peace be with you. You have, in your attempts to discredit Catholic theology, given strength to me. It has made me search harder and pray more—and submit more fully to the Church. That is certainly the very last thing you want to hear, for in all of your best attempts, you have ultimately come across as defensive and threatening; more concerned with proving that the Church and it’s faithful are hell bound, and harboring relief that you are one of the “remnant” believers. I would have been unwillling to be counted among you even if I was still a SDA. As for playing the card of being the “persecuted ones,” I, for one, have faced more “persecution” as a Catholic than I ever did as a Seventh-Day Adventist. Not that it validates the journey, but I know now that I am willing to be counted in as one of the “poor lost souls” in the Catholic Church. AMEN and AMEN.
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