Questions from Non-Catholics

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I really appreciated your commentary it helped me understand better some of these unresolved issues. I always enjoy listening to Tim Staples and that did explain the repetitive prayer issue. It makes a lot of sense
 
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Curious about your journey. What is leading you back to Catholicism?
 
It’s been a long journey I have been on. It started with a combination of factors.
  1. My adult daughter commented once that she feels the presence of God and a reverence when in a cathedral or Catholic/Orthodox church and not the same in the charismatic churches we have attended for years. (She does not attend church regularly anywhere right now)
  2. Realizing that Middle Eastern Christians were being beheaded for their faith. Do I know anyone here willing to do that?
  3. There was a church for 1500 years before Luther but it was never discussed what did the 1st Century church believe and what was their practice?
  4. Some preaching Catholics going to hell (not many but enough) really? Mother Theresa is going to hell? I don’t know anyone in the churches that would do what she did
  5. The Apostolic Fathers, I have been blown away by what I have read and it has caused me to read the Bible in a different way with much more intensity
  6. Hank Hannegraff becoming Orthodox. What would make him do that?
  7. Meeting a young family that used to attend my church and he was on the worship team, leaves and converts to Orthodoxy. Why?
Many other things too numerous to mention but also discovering Gregorian chant, reading about monks and friars laying down their lives for the gospel, Mt. Athos, Reading about pilgrimages, reading the catechism and understanding the truth of what the church says and not just accepting others views, also my curiosity about the local Abbey, all the great works the church still does and I could go on and on…
 
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Totally agreed. Worship is meant to be solemn and full of reverence. A party-style worship looks like nothing else but blasphemy to me, and it’s also what pushed me away from those American Protestant churches and gave me the opportunity to discover the fullness of Christianity found in Catholicism when I lived in London.
 
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John949 said:
Some preaching Catholics going to hell (not many but enough) really? Mother Theresa is going to hell? I don’t know anyone in the churches that would do what she did
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I’m just a little man. Un-important, unknown. Nobody.

Just saying, I remember the first time I saw Mother Teresa, & every time after that (when she was on this side of heaven). I saw Jesus.

If Jesus walked this earth in the 20th century, that’s what it would have looked like.

JMJ
 
John949 said:
It’s been a long journey I have been on. It started with a combination of f Some preaching Catholics going to hell (not many but enough) really? Mother Theresa is going to hell? I don’t know anyone in the churches that would do what
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Have you heard of Fr. Damien of Molokai?I was in a discussion with a Fundi and kept insisting catholics going to hell about works. So I asked him about the life of Fr. Damien, and had him reason out why he would not be in heaven. I also asked him if God would bless him for what he did. And finally I asked if he could find an example of anyone doing the same in his church. Anyway…he would not respond and kept on saying catholics are misguided.
 
new-kirishitan said:
Totally agreed. Worship is meant to be solemn and full of reverence. A party-style worship looks like nothing else but blasphemy to me, and it’s also what pushed me away from those American Protestant churches and gave me the opportunity to discover the discover the fullness of Christianity found in Catholicism when I lived in London.
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So glad you found the Catholic Church!

Your post reminds me a documentary I saw once about how many Catholics in South America are leaving the Church and joining “born-again” churches. Surveys reveal that - unlike the children of Catholics - the children of these defectors tend to not follow their parents into “born-again” churches, but drift into unbelief instead. The doco described so-called born-again churches as a “gateway to atheism”.

My guess is, many children are thoroughly turned off by what they see going on in many “born-again” churches and, thinking that is what Christianity is, decide they would rather be atheists instead. Very sad.

As for me, during my “wandering in the wilderness” days, I went along to a few “born-again” churches, but the vibe I felt there was unsettling and left me feeling slightly unhinged … not what I was looking for. His sheep know his voice.
I also suspect the drop-out rate in those churches is quite high - some get caught up in the (weird) emotions for a while but eventally that wears off and they end up in unbelief.
 
I have lots of respect for certain born again churches and many of them love our Lord with all sincerity. I found worship to be very profound, beautiful and deep where Holy Spirit moves on peoples lives. I have seen many lives converted to faith in Jesus and true repentance of sin. I believe we can say many negative things about the leadership in the Catholic Church as well and many Catholics who have had no true conversion experience. Many converts to Catholicism or Orthodoxy happens sadly not by being evangelized by Catholics but by their own searching for deeper truth and understanding. Tim Staples will say he still has great respect for many he has known in evangelical and Charismatic churches but it was through the reading and studying of the apostolic fathers that he came to understand the truths he found as so many others have.
 
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“4 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.”

2 Samuel 6:14-16
 
I was not. I was just young and did what I thought was expected of me not really having a conversion experience. I was told that if I got confirmed I didn’t have to go to Catechism anymore. That was my incentive
 
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John949 said:
I was not. I was just young and did what I thought was expected of me not really having a conversion experience. I was told that if I got confirmed I didn’t have to go to Catechism anymore. That was my incentive
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It raises the question: did any increase of sanctifying grace occur from the Confirmation and subsequent Eucharist?
 
My apologies I don’t know what you mean by that
 
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John949 said:
That makes sense but I find the most Catholics don’t know the Bible nor care to discuss it I
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Hello John. The Catholic faith is not based on Sola Scriptura, so most Catholics don’t study the Bible like many Protestants do Catholics don’t rely on the Bible for knowledge unto salvation - they rely on the Church to inform them and the Church teaches the correct interpretation of the scriptures they need to know. Then again, there are plenty of Catholics who know the Bible very well.

A lot of Protestants “don’t know the Bible” either - their false doctrines are a testament to that.
 
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John949 said:
I have issues with Marian doctrine and the saints (I know it is veneration) that is my main obstacle
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I was raised Catholic but gradually fell away from the faith after I left school. I became agnostic I guess and even got caught up in some New Age nonsense from a while.

Strangely enough, it was Jehovah’s Witnesses who got me interested in the Bible and from there I became a Christian again, wandering thru various Protestant denominations looking for a home. None of them satisfied me, so I decided that I may as well go back to the Catholic Church, even though I believed much of their doctrine was wrong.

But the Holy Spirit was at work in me and eventually I came to accept the Catholic Church as the one, true Church founded by Christ thru the apostles. I came to fully and unquestionly accept all Catholic doctrines, including those doctrines I previously thought were wrong. This acceptance was based simply on faith - I didn’t need to dissect any doctrine theologically or intellectually - I simply accepted them as nfallible truth because the Catholic Church is the “fullness” of Christ (Eph 1:22-23) and therefore cannot teach error.

Protestants make the grave mistake of decdding doctrine from themselves, instead of placing their trust in the supernatural authority of the Church.

Hope this helps re your difficulty in accepting certain Catholic doctrines.
 
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John949 said:
My apologies I don’t know what you mean by that
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
1229 From the time of the apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages. This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present: proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to Eucharistic communion.

1231 Where infant Baptism has become the form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has become a single act encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way. By its very nature infant Baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate . Not only is there a need for instruction after Baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth. The catechism has its proper place here.

1254 For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after Baptism. For this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. …
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Later at Confirmation (Roman Rite) the baptismal promises are renewed and the sacrament is received.
1303 … Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace: …
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So if a person is in a state of sanctifying grace when Confirmation or Eucharist is received, then there is an increase of sanctifying grace. Otherwise not.
 
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