Protestant - Catholic - Protestant?

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nickybr38 said:
No… the difference between a Protestant and the CC quoting Scripture is that a Protestant reads the one verse and ignores the rest of Scripture… whereas when the CC quotes one particular Scripture they are keeping the whole of Scripture in mind and interpreting that ‘cherry picked’ Scripture in the light of all of Scripture.

You might want to consider what ‘cherry picking’ is. To me, cherry picking is grabbing a verse and ignoring context.
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Confessional Lutherans allow scripture to be its own interpreter. The key concepts include awareness of and practice of: ancient texts, historical documents, literary, syntax, immediate context, broad context, figurative language. Historical - grammatical method of hermeneutics.
 
I went from Protestant to Roman Catholic to Gnostic Catholic… But I don’t think I would ever return to Protestantism. I did have a friend in high school who converted to Catholicism about the same I did, back in 1999, who ended up going back to Protestantism after her conversion. As far as I could tell, she bought into all the anti-Catholic polemics and convinced herself that Catholicism wasn’t true Christianity. I can’t really speak much more about her experience though, and I haven’t seen her in years, so I don’t where she’s at now with her spirituality.

As for me, I started going to the Roman Catholic Church when I was 15, and converted when I was 18. Then, at about 20 or 21 I became disgusted with Christianity altogether, and focused on an entirely different religion. After a few years, I discovered a Gnostic church here in Seattle, and since I’d always been fascinated by Gnostic scripture, I started attending. It brought me back to Christ, and showed me that the problems I’d had with Christians for so long weren’t necessarily representative of all Christians – and in fact, it gave me a deeper appreciation for my Catholicism as well. I think all this time I’ve been searching for what I truly believe, and what appealed to me with Catholicism was that it was older, and therefore seemed a more authentic form of Christianity. But Gnosticism, while even older, answered a lot of questions I still found myself asking, and I was satisfied with the answers I found. I feel I’ve finally found my spiritual home.
 
What about Protestant - almost Catholic - Protestant and by almost Catholic I mean going through RCIA and doing everything you need to do short of confirmation.
 
awantz said:
What about Protestant - almost Catholic - Protestant and by almost Catholic I mean going through RCIA and doing everything you need to do short of confirmation.
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Ah, my mother was one of those. I don’t consider that a conversion because she never accepted all the teachings of the church. 🙂
 
nickybr38 said:
Ah, my mother was one of those. I don’t consider that a conversion because she never accepted all the teachings of the church. 🙂
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That’s probably why you don’t see a lot of PCP, because they do what your mother did.
 
Geza Vermes is a world class scripture scholar. He has written a famous book on the historical Jesus and another on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was born a Jew. His whole family converted to Roman Catholicism in 1931. He was ordained a priest. In 1957 he left the church and returned to his Jewish roots. He is now a professor of Jewish studies at Oxford.
 
cath4alltime said:
I did. I was Protestant converted to Catholicism through no coercion by anyone (no girlfriend or anything and throughly studied Catholicism) and than went back and came back to Catholicism. I never know what the future will hold and my doubts while mostly dormant for now always return strong when they do.
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Yea, but in the end, you came back home, which im glad 🙂
 
awantz said:
That’s probably why you don’t see a lot of PCP, because they do what your mother did.
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You know that doesn’t actually make sense because there are plenty of P to C converts… I’m looking for PCP… but those who join RCIA and leave aren’t P to C because they don’t actually convert and… you know what? I’m going to let it go.

BTW, I considered Gnoticism for some time but didn’t convert… but can I now say that I was P to G to C? Oh gosh my head hurts now.
 
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
Not a quote from the Bible but makes a lot of sense.
 
I read through alot of the threads and comments regarding this question. It is also a trend that I have seen on the other side of the spectrum- being a protestant. I had wondered if many protestants converted to Catholicism. It’s hard to find that phenomenom bc their is so much fear in picking up the wrong “religion”. Catholics usually become Protestants in my opinion bc the Protestant way of doing things seems more fun, worship time is more lively, more activities, etc. Also when you go to a protestant church even as a visitor, from the moment you get there the church usually has a plan to keep in touch with new visitors by using visitor cards and than following up with you. I’ve never experienced any of that in a mass. Now I’m in a spiritual transition. I grew up protestant, was a missionary, preached Jesus- never really had an major issues with Catholicism- just wasn’t a Catholic. I had a faith shaking experience, which we all have but this one was so terrible that it caused me to question all that I knew. I came to realize that I couldn’t find the sense of sacredness, seriousness, depth, and answers in Protestant Christianity as I could in the Catholic Church. The word is stability. I still have not been confirmed as I want to be completely sure before I take that step. But I thought I would share bc I felt it applied in someway. I guess the way that it applies is that for a Protestant who is taught continually that Catholics have it wrong and that they are idol worshipers and prefer to pray to saints rather than God directly, etc, it is a more difficult process making that decision. I think that Catholics who become Protestants are dropping parts of their faith and may find a more entertaining environment- not to say that Catholicism is boring- it is more thoughtful- less of an emotional experience- and provides truths that are to be thought out and considered. This is my opinion- it may not be true across the board. I look forward to continuing my rcia classes and having the courage to take my sacraments. Though it’s a little scary crossing that bridge, but I know that God will confirm His truth and I feel that week after week as I am ministered to in mass.
 
Victoria1985 said:
I read through alot of the threads and comments regarding this question. It is also a trend that I have seen on the other side of the spectrum- being a protestant. I had wondered if many protestants converted to Catholicism. It’s hard to find that phenomenom bc their is so much fear in picking up the wrong “religion”. Catholics usually become Protestants in my opinion bc the Protestant way of doing things seems more fun, worship time is more lively, more activities, etc. Also when you go to a protestant church even as a visitor, from the moment you get there the church usually has a plan to keep in touch with new visitors by using visitor cards and than following up with you. I’ve never experienced any of that in a mass. Now I’m in a spiritual transition. I grew up protestant, was a missionary, preached Jesus- never really had an major issues with Catholicism- just wasn’t a Catholic. I had a faith shaking experience, which we all have but this one was so terrible that it caused me to question all that I knew. I came to realize that I couldn’t find the sense of sacredness, seriousness, depth, and answers in Protestant Christianity as I could in the Catholic Church. The word is stability. I still have not been confirmed as I want to be completely sure before I take that step. But I thought I would share bc I felt it applied in someway. I guess the way that it applies is that for a Protestant who is taught continually that Catholics have it wrong and that they are idol worshipers and prefer to pray to saints rather than God directly, etc, it is a more difficult process making that decision. I think that Catholics who become Protestants are dropping parts of their faith and may find a more entertaining environment- not to say that Catholicism is boring- it is more thoughtful- less of an emotional experience- and provides truths that are to be thought out and considered. This is my opinion- it may not be true across the board. I look forward to continuing my rcia classes and having the courage to take my sacraments. Though it’s a little scary crossing that bridge, but I know that God will confirm His truth and I feel that week after week as I am ministered to in mass.
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I suppose that’s why I have a hard time imagining P-C-P converts… because moving from Protestant to Catholic is such a difficult transition. It’s not like moving between Protestant churches or even like moving from Catholic to Protestant.

Many Protestants are taught from birth that Catholics are doomed to hell… it would be like a Protestant converting to Islam… it’s just a very difficult transition and I can’t imagine anyone going through such a difficult transition just to say later: Whoops, wrong faith, going back where I came from.

I guess it would be different for Protestant who came from churches that didn’t despise the Catholic Church though.

Oh! And I wish you the best in your faith journey. 🙂
 
Calgar said:
I’ve never been catholic, but there are many in my church.
Although I don’t encourage them to spend a lot of time on why the became Southern Baptist (as you can imagine sometimes emotions can run high and I do believe that catholics are Christians and speaking negatively about Christians = offending God.) I have heard a range of answers.
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Calgar,

Those so called catholics that are in your church, were never truly Catholic, they are seeds just blowing in the wind.

Ask these so called catholic in your Baptist church, tell them if they went to Mass every Sunday, went to confession at least once a month, Have special visit and sat there adoring the Blessed Eucharist whether it be 5, 10 15 minutes or longer. Tell them did they believe in all the teachings of the Catholic Church etc… etc… if they answered no, to any of the above then they were never Truly Catholics. Amen

Ufam Tobie
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ufamtobie said:
Calgar,

Those so called catholics that are in your church, were never truly Catholic, they are seeds just blowing in the wind.

Ask these so called catholic in your Baptist church, tell them if they went to Mass every Sunday, went to confession at least once a month, Have special visit and sat there adoring the Blessed Eucharist whether it be 5, 10 15 minutes or longer. Tell them did they believe in all the teachings of the Catholic Church etc… etc… if they answered no, to any of the above then they were never Truly Catholics. Amen

Ufam Tobie
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And here we have a difference of opinion. 🙂

Separate issue: Do you use the word Catholic in place of the word Christian? Do the words mean the same thing to you? Do you believe that Protestants are not Christian?

I’m just curious. If the only way I could bring someone to Christ was to bring them to the Roman Catholic Church then I would be grabbing a phone book and looking up the closest parish I could find.
 
I never cease to be amazed at how rigidly opinionated some Catholic can be about what it means to be “Catholic”. I go to Mass almost every day, have private devotions to the Blessed Sacrament, am active in several parish ministries, but flunk the litmus test of not going to confession frequently enough, or saying the rosary or wearing a scapular medal, or some other bright line test of Catholicity planted in the imagination of a true Catholic.

There are innumerable reasons for people to change religious affiliations. I suspect that for many of the former Catholics in the Baptist church are people with a strong Christian religious impulse, but found that their draw to Christ was not being feed or strengthen by the Catholic community they came in contact with. Some Catholic parishes are alive with great liturgies and outreach activities for faith formation and practice. Other parishes are limited and uninviting. Sure, the sacraments and private prayer should be enough to sustain a good Catholic even in a dry parish, but it just doesnt work that way for some souls. God works in mysterious ways, but his intention is the salvation of all his children.
 
gkrohm said:
I never cease to be amazed at how rigidly opinionated some Catholic can be about what it means to be “Catholic”. I go to Mass almost every day, have private devotions to the Blessed Sacrament, am active in several parish ministries, but flunk the litmus test of not going to confession frequently enough, or saying the rosary or wearing a scapular medal, or some other bright line test of Catholicity planted in the imagination of a true Catholic.

There are innumerable reasons for people to change religious affiliations. I suspect that for many of the former Catholics in the Baptist church are people with a strong Christian religious impulse, but found that their draw to Christ was not being feed or strengthen by the Catholic community they came in contact with. Some Catholic parishes are alive with great liturgies and outreach activities for faith formation and practice. Other parishes are limited and uninviting. Sure, the sacraments and private prayer should be enough to sustain a good Catholic even in a dry parish, but it just doesnt work that way for some souls. God works in mysterious ways, but his intention is the salvation of all his children.
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🙂 I’ve explained my position before but for some Prostestants the change from Protestant to Catholic is VERY DIFFICULT. I’m not sure you understand the gravity of how hard it is to join a religion that you were taught led straight to hell.

From what I understand, and I could be wrong, Catholics aren’t normally taught that Protestants are all going to hell… but that is what many Protestants (note, I didn’t say all) ARE taught about Catholics.

I try very hard not to judge who is and who isn’t a real Catholic. If you identify as Catholic I respect that. However, when it comes to converts, things get a bit more … twisty.

So I’m trying to find Protestants who went through the hard soul searching, the difficult transition from Protestant to hell bound Catholic, who later rescinded on that decision. That’s all. I’d just be interested to know the reasons, the experiences of these people.
 
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