Tell me your conversion, reversion, or other -ersion stories!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Eucharisted
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I was raised in a Landmark Baptist church that became increasingly unconvincing as I became a teenager. I stopped attending at 15 or 16 and begin to call myself an agnostic.
When I was 19 I got my first grown-up job at a hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy I liked to go into the chapel and I was intrested enough to teach myself the Rosary unfotunantly I was also intrested in sleeping with my boyfriend, drinking and doing drugs on the weekends. We were married and quickly divorced and by then I was an atheist.
Just this year I was studying the Middle Ages. I began reading stories people then would have read, listening to Midieval music, and praying the rosary every day in Latin. Soon I added other Marian prayers.
This was the first time I had seriously studied the Catholic Church and I was soon convinced that this was the Church Jesus founded, but I was still an atheist. I wanted to know more about the Church, which basically never changes so I was researching Mass texts, watching Mass on EWTN; just getting as much information as I could. Atheist’s objections to God and the divinity of Jesus started to make less sense as I meditated on the Mysteries.
Trying to learn more about Catholicism I got a Catechism from Mike Humphery and he sent along a Brown Scapular. I wore it because “they would have done something like this devotion in the Middle Ages.” One day I looked at my three translations of the Bible, my Catechism, my daily Mass readings, list of Popes, and 'How to chant the Pater Noster" and realized I was changed. I thought, “I could put all this away, but I don’t want to, I wouldn’t be happy.” At that point I began to practice saying, “I’m a Christian. I’m a Catholic,” while looking in the mirror. And come Easter, I will be.
Kind of tedious; not very dramatic, but that’s my story.
 
(Edited)

eucharisted, how did jesus (pbuh) look like in your dream? 🙂

wasalam
 
To those who immediately put down someone’s experience as hysteria or one’s imagination, please tell me what it hurts you if someone else has a vision, whether or not you believe it is true?

Whether or not it is true, if that vision helps one to become a better person, what does it matter to you?

What do you get out of taunting and trying to discourage someone about an experience that was obviously very important to them?

If you are an Atheist, that’s your choice. But what does it hurt you if some people believe in God, and even believe they had a vision?

From what I know of Eucharisted, he probably won’t care about your comments in the least. But it really bothers me when someone intentionally discourages and tries to debunk another person’s personal experience, or calls them delusional because they dare believe in God.
 
kimbaichan said:
I was raised in a Landmark Baptist church that became increasingly unconvincing as I became a teenager. I stopped attending at 15 or 16 and begin to call myself an agnostic.
When I was 19 I got my first grown-up job at a hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy I liked to go into the chapel and I was intrested enough to teach myself the Rosary unfotunantly I was also intrested in sleeping with my boyfriend, drinking and doing drugs on the weekends. We were married and quickly divorced and by then I was an atheist.
Just this year I was studying the Middle Ages. I began reading stories people then would have read, listening to Midieval music, and praying the rosary every day in Latin. Soon I added other Marian prayers.
This was the first time I had seriously studied the Catholic Church and I was soon convinced that this was the Church Jesus founded, but I was still an atheist. I wanted to know more about the Church, which basically never changes so I was researching Mass texts, watching Mass on EWTN; just getting as much information as I could. Atheist’s objections to God and the divinity of Jesus started to make less sense as I meditated on the Mysteries.
Trying to learn more about Catholicism I got a Catechism from Mike Humphery and he sent along a Brown Scapular. I wore it because “they would have done something like this devotion in the Middle Ages.” One day I looked at my three translations of the Bible, my Catechism, my daily Mass readings, list of Popes, and 'How to chant the Pater Noster" and realized I was changed. I thought, “I could put all this away, but I don’t want to, I wouldn’t be happy.” At that point I began to practice saying, “I’m a Christian. I’m a Catholic,” while looking in the mirror. And come Easter, I will be.
Kind of tedious; not very dramatic, but that’s my story.
Click to expand...
Wow, that’s an amazing story! Welcome home! 🙂
 
I was a cradle Catholic. Baptised, First Confession, Penance and Communion. Then as a young adult I rebelled and left any semblance of a holy life. 😦 I was “saved” 10 years later. I KNOW the Lord was using that to reach me but was never fully satisfied. I bought the whole anti-catholic stuff hook line and sinker. 😊

Recently I began to really ask the Lord to show me His truth. I just felt like something was missing. I had bought and subscribed to satellite radio and began listening to EWTN and the Catholic Channel. So many things have fallen into place. I have contacted the local Parrish Church and am scheduled to attend the RCIA(??) classes. They assure me I don’t have to “convert” back…but there are so many things I don’t know. Do I need to convert back??:confused:

This I know. I am home. I pray the Rosary am wearing a Scapular and have arranged an appointment to go to confession. I am so thankful to our Lord that he is SO compassionate, patient and merciful!😃
 
seekerlkf said:
I was a cradle Catholic. Baptised, First Confession, Penance and Communion. Then as a young adult I rebelled and left any semblance of a holy life. 😦 I was “saved” 10 years later. I KNOW the Lord was using that to reach me but was never fully satisfied. I bought the whole anti-catholic stuff hook line and sinker. 😊

Recently I began to really ask the Lord to show me His truth. I just felt like something was missing. I had bought and subscribed to satellite radio and began listening to EWTN and the Catholic Channel. So many things have fallen into place. I have contacted the local Parrish Church and am scheduled to attend the RCIA(??) classes. They assure me I don’t have to “convert” back…but there are so many things I don’t know. Do I need to convert back??:confused:

This I know. I am home. I pray the Rosary am wearing a Scapular and have arranged an appointment to go to confession. I am so thankful to our Lord that he is SO compassionate, patient and merciful!😃
Click to expand...
It looks like you still need to be confirmed in the Church, you did not list it above. Just follow the advise of the local Parish Priest, any classes that you attend will be helpfull. I will pray for you!
 
kimbaichan said:
I was raised in a Landmark Baptist church that became increasingly unconvincing as I became a teenager. I stopped attending at 15 or 16 and begin to call myself an agnostic.
When I was 19 I got my first grown-up job at a hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy I liked to go into the chapel and I was intrested enough to teach myself the Rosary unfotunantly I was also intrested in sleeping with my boyfriend, drinking and doing drugs on the weekends. We were married and quickly divorced and by then I was an atheist.
Just this year I was studying the Middle Ages. I began reading stories people then would have read, listening to Midieval music, and praying the rosary every day in Latin. Soon I added other Marian prayers.
This was the first time I had seriously studied the Catholic Church and I was soon convinced that this was the Church Jesus founded, but I was still an atheist. I wanted to know more about the Church, which basically never changes so I was researching Mass texts, watching Mass on EWTN; just getting as much information as I could. Atheist’s objections to God and the divinity of Jesus started to make less sense as I meditated on the Mysteries.
Trying to learn more about Catholicism I got a Catechism from Mike Humphery and he sent along a Brown Scapular. I wore it because “they would have done something like this devotion in the Middle Ages.” One day I looked at my three translations of the Bible, my Catechism, my daily Mass readings, list of Popes, and 'How to chant the Pater Noster" and realized I was changed. I thought, “I could put all this away, but I don’t want to, I wouldn’t be happy.” At that point I began to practice saying, “I’m a Christian. I’m a Catholic,” while looking in the mirror. And come Easter, I will be.
Kind of tedious; not very dramatic, but that’s my story.
Click to expand...
That is very dramatic 🙂 You are like a city on a hill!
 
Eucharisted said:
In truth, I wish I had never had it. I would have gladly said No if God had asked me if I wanted such an experience. I wish only for the faith of a peasant woman. Godwillingly, I will receive it.
Click to expand...
Are you a Eucharistic Minister?
 
I was born a Catholic and had all the Sacraments but after that, I really didn’t care about it. I thought church was boring etc…but I always believed in God.
One day my mother had a friend who had a relic of St. Padre Pio, his glove. For those of you who don’t know, this saint had the Stigmata for 50 years, he bled for 50 years. Anyway, I had never heard about him before and was reluctant to go.
I suddenly changed my mind and went. there were a dozen people there with a priest. Some were sick. We passed around the glove and prayed over it. I went home and that was that.
When I woke up I had an amazing, compelling feeling of going to confession, as all St. Pio did was hear confessions all day and night. I ran to a local church and I started to cry. I was probably in there for 40 minutes crying with joy and telling him my story about the day before. He said I was in a state of Grace. Then after that things just started happening to me. I couldn’t put down the bible, I read everything about the Apparitions of the Blessed Mother, the lives of the Saints, etc…then the utmost unimaginable happened to me.
It was on a Monday night and it was 2 weeks before Lent. I was sleeping and was interrupted by a voice. But it wasn’t a dream, it was audible and very powerful and authoritative and He said:
**“Above Everything Else, Have Faith”.
**I got up in the middle of the night and wrote it down on my tissue box with an eye pencil. I still have that tissue box. I went to my priest and told him and he said I had a gift of a “locution”. That’s the first time I heard that word.
Now I just love to study about my faith and I cannot get enough of it…i sincerely love the Catholic church and it’s holiness.
 
CalCatholic said:
It looks like you still need to be confirmed in the Church, you did not list it above. Just follow the advise of the local Parish Priest, any classes that you attend will be helpfull. I will pray for you!
Click to expand...
Confirmation is wonderful to receive, but you don’t need to receive in order to get into Heaven. Although it helps 99% 👍
 
In retrospect, I see how the Lord was calling me from a very early age. I was raised nominally Protestant (2 Church of Christ circuit preachers on my mom’s side) and was sent to VBS every summer. Our household, however, was practically atheist. “God” was brought out to trump arguments or contrary views.

I read the bible beginning at an early age (I taught myself to read the newspaper at age 4) and had the conviction of God’s existence from that and the nature of supernatural experiences I’d had. After a very troubled (and troubling) early adulthood I was drawn back to faith by the witness of one of our old postmen, who befriended me and walked me through the plan of salvation (protestant style). I am thankful for this kind man and because of him I rediscovered faith and was baptised in his church a year or so after we met. This was a Charismatic, non-denominational style of protestantism and after finding a church “home” I settled into various ministries and even played in the praise and worship team all over the western US. In my own studies, I’d begun to drift from the hermeneutics of my Charismatic, non-denominational pastors and began discussing these differences with them. They were a little taken aback, but assured me that they were open to correction and further deliberation. This puzzled me, and after their offer to open the pulpit to me (knowing my own severe lack of qualification) it struck me then as a sort of “bribe” to feed my ego and assuage my concerns with their doctrinal approach.

This experience put the impetus to my search for authentic authority, and so my study of history began in earnest. As Cardinal Newman said, “to be deep into history is to cease to be protestant.” This was my experience; but I stubbornly refused to accept that I had been duped by my protestantism all along. I had been engaged in apologetics for a long time by then and had begun to be disenchanted with the idea of secure faith, owing both to my encounters with unbelievers with very good arguments, and my own hypocrisies. This sent me into about a 5-year period of doubt and anger and eventually to many dark nights of the soul. One evening last summer, after many long months contemplating the course of my faith journey and wondering how it had gone so wrong, I remembered the revelation that discovering the Patristics had been. I recalled the wonder I felt in my first encounter with Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy.” And I pondered how much of my “self” had contributed to my sorry state.

I’d been teaching one of my daughters to play a few chords on the guitar and I came into the living room where she was strumming a simple three-chord I-IV-V pattern. She hesitated as I entered the room, as if slightly embarrassed, but I encouraged her to continue. As she did, a melody began streaming through my mind as if from “out of the blue.” I’ve written many songs over the years so I was familiar with a bolt of inspiration by the muse, but this was somehow different. I began to hum, and then words began to stream out as if not of my own imagination. I was not “writing” this. I began to sing (for lack of a better description) a prophetic song to my daughter as she played. In the midst of this my wife appeared from the kitchen with a look of astonishment on her face. I returned the look, because I was astonished too. I shrugged my shoulders towards her as if to say, “I don’t know where this is coming from” and we were both overwhelmed with emotion. She’d been praying all along.

Also in the midst of this my son, who loves to draw, had come into the room and began to draw a globe on a sheet of paper. As the song began to trail off, I glanced over at his drawing to see that he’d drawn a crude image of the earth with a large Cross towering above and half planted in the grounds and oceans. Only later did I realize the full significance of this, but even then I recognized it as a symbol of Christ’s authority and notably Catholic. My son had never had any exposure to this symbol, and was certainly not of the mind to be making religious art at that point in time.

The Incarnation suddenly made total sense, and in much greater clarity, revelation and implication than I’d ever considered before in my protestantism. I suddenly “knew” that Mary was the Mother of God, and why. I suddenly understood the Papacy. I understood the communion of saints, prayers for and to the “dead” and Purgatory. I understood the priesthood and why priests wear black suits with white collars. I understood the Eucharist as a re-presentation of the Sacrifice of the Passion and Jesus’ abiding presence (The Word made flesh) “even until the end of the age . . .” It all happened in a flash of revelation and I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t fully express what I was “seeing” because it was coming so quickly, as if from everywhere at once. It’s like every scripture I’d tended like prized roses over the years, and had judged through my own understanding or of those who agreed with me anyway, were ripped up by One far more knowledgable about botany and replaced with a towering forest of wisdom falling from every branch, brushing my face as I ran to and from, overthrown myself. It was inescapable and kept leading me back time and again to one simple truth. I did not invent this, like I had my own protest against it.

Last September, my wife, our four children and I began the RCIA process with inquiry classes, and then this last winter we began Cathecetical instruction. Pentecost Sunday, May 31st, our four children were baptized in the Church. We resume classes this September and will be received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church next Easter.
 
Convert66 said:
In retrospect, I see how the Lord was calling me from a very early age. I was raised nominally Protestant (2 Church of Christ circuit preachers on my mom’s side) and was sent to VBS every summer. Our household, however, was practically atheist. “God” was brought out to trump arguments or contrary views.

I read the bible beginning at an early age (I taught myself to read the newspaper at age 4) and had the conviction of God’s existence from that and the nature of supernatural experiences I’d had. After a very troubled (and troubling) early adulthood I was drawn back to faith by the witness of one of our old postmen, who befriended me and walked me through the plan of salvation (protestant style). I am thankful for this kind man and because of him I rediscovered faith and was baptised in his church a year or so after we met. This was a Charismatic, non-denominational style of protestantism and after finding a church “home” I settled into various ministries and even played in the praise and worship team all over the western US. In my own studies, I’d begun to drift from the hermeneutics of my Charismatic, non-denominational pastors and began discussing these differences with them. They were a little taken aback, but assured me that they were open to correction and further deliberation. This puzzled me, and after their offer to open the pulpit to me (knowing my own severe lack of qualification) it struck me then as a sort of “bribe” to feed my ego and assuage my concerns with their doctrinal approach.

This experience put the impetus to my search for authentic authority, and so my study of history began in earnest. As Cardinal Newman said, “to be deep into history is to cease to be protestant.” This was my experience; but I stubbornly refused to accept that I had been duped by my protestantism all along. I had been engaged in apologetics for a long time by then and had begun to be disenchanted with the idea of secure faith, owing both to my encounters with unbelievers with very good arguments, and my own hypocrisies. This sent me into about a 5-year period of doubt and anger and eventually to many dark nights of the soul. One evening last summer, after many long months contemplating the course of my faith journey and wondering how it had gone so wrong, I remembered the revelation that discovering the Patristics had been. I recalled the wonder I felt in my first encounter with Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy.” And I pondered how much of my “self” had contributed to my sorry state.

I’d been teaching one of my daughters to play a few chords on the guitar and I came into the living room where she was strumming a simple three-chord I-IV-V pattern. She hesitated as I entered the room, as if slightly embarrassed, but I encouraged her to continue. As she did, a melody began streaming through my mind as if from “out of the blue.” I’ve written many songs over the years so I was familiar with a bolt of inspiration by the muse, but this was somehow different. I began to hum, and then words began to stream out as if not of my own imagination. I was not “writing” this. I began to sing (for lack of a better description) a prophetic song to my daughter as she played. In the midst of this my wife appeared from the kitchen with a look of astonishment on her face. I returned the look, because I was astonished too. I shrugged my shoulders towards her as if to say, “I don’t know where this is coming from” and we were both overwhelmed with emotion. She’d been praying all along.

Also in the midst of this my son, who loves to draw, had come into the room and began to draw a globe on a sheet of paper. As the song began to trail off, I glanced over at his drawing to see that he’d drawn a crude image of the earth with a large Cross towering above and half planted in the grounds and oceans. Only later did I realize the full significance of this, but even then I recognized it as a symbol of Christ’s authority and notably Catholic. My son had never had any exposure to this symbol, and was certainly not of the mind to be making religious art at that point in time.

The Incarnation suddenly made total sense, and in much greater clarity, revelation and implication than I’d ever considered before in my protestantism. I suddenly “knew” that Mary was the Mother of God, and why. I suddenly understood the Papacy. I understood the communion of saints, prayers for and to the “dead” and Purgatory. I understood the priesthood and why priests wear black suits with white collars. I understood the Eucharist as a re-presentation of the Sacrifice of the Passion and Jesus’ abiding presence (The Word made flesh) “even until the end of the age . . .” It all happened in a flash of revelation and I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t fully express what I was “seeing” because it was coming so quickly, as if from everywhere at once. It’s like every scripture I’d tended like prized roses over the years, and had judged through my own understanding or of those who agreed with me anyway, were ripped up by One far more knowledgable about botany and replaced with a towering forest of wisdom falling from every branch, brushing my face as I ran to and from, overthrown myself. It was inescapable and kept leading me back time and again to one simple truth. I did not invent this, like I had my own protest against it.

Last September, my wife, our four children and I began the RCIA process with inquiry classes, and then this last winter we began Cathecetical instruction. Pentecost Sunday, May 31st, our four children were baptized in the Church. We resume classes this September and will be received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church next Easter.
Click to expand...
I am very happy for you and your family for finally coming home to the church established by our Lord and Savior. The Easter Vigil is so beautiful, you will love the holiness that night. Praise Jesus.
 
Convert66 said:
In retrospect, I see how the Lord was calling me from a very early age. I was raised nominally Protestant (2 Church of Christ circuit preachers on my mom’s side) and was sent to VBS every summer. Our household, however, was practically atheist. “God” was brought out to trump arguments or contrary views.

I read the bible beginning at an early age (I taught myself to read the newspaper at age 4) and had the conviction of God’s existence from that and the nature of supernatural experiences I’d had. After a very troubled (and troubling) early adulthood I was drawn back to faith by the witness of one of our old postmen, who befriended me and walked me through the plan of salvation (protestant style). I am thankful for this kind man and because of him I rediscovered faith and was baptised in his church a year or so after we met. This was a Charismatic, non-denominational style of protestantism and after finding a church “home” I settled into various ministries and even played in the praise and worship team all over the western US. In my own studies, I’d begun to drift from the hermeneutics of my Charismatic, non-denominational pastors and began discussing these differences with them. They were a little taken aback, but assured me that they were open to correction and further deliberation. This puzzled me, and after their offer to open the pulpit to me (knowing my own severe lack of qualification) it struck me then as a sort of “bribe” to feed my ego and assuage my concerns with their doctrinal approach.

This experience put the impetus to my search for authentic authority, and so my study of history began in earnest. As Cardinal Newman said, “to be deep into history is to cease to be protestant.” This was my experience; but I stubbornly refused to accept that I had been duped by my protestantism all along. I had been engaged in apologetics for a long time by then and had begun to be disenchanted with the idea of secure faith, owing both to my encounters with unbelievers with very good arguments, and my own hypocrisies. This sent me into about a 5-year period of doubt and anger and eventually to many dark nights of the soul. One evening last summer, after many long months contemplating the course of my faith journey and wondering how it had gone so wrong, I remembered the revelation that discovering the Patristics had been. I recalled the wonder I felt in my first encounter with Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy.” And I pondered how much of my “self” had contributed to my sorry state.

I’d been teaching one of my daughters to play a few chords on the guitar and I came into the living room where she was strumming a simple three-chord I-IV-V pattern. She hesitated as I entered the room, as if slightly embarrassed, but I encouraged her to continue. As she did, a melody began streaming through my mind as if from “out of the blue.” I’ve written many songs over the years so I was familiar with a bolt of inspiration by the muse, but this was somehow different. I began to hum, and then words began to stream out as if not of my own imagination. I was not “writing” this. I began to sing (for lack of a better description) a prophetic song to my daughter as she played. In the midst of this my wife appeared from the kitchen with a look of astonishment on her face. I returned the look, because I was astonished too. I shrugged my shoulders towards her as if to say, “I don’t know where this is coming from” and we were both overwhelmed with emotion. She’d been praying all along.

Also in the midst of this my son, who loves to draw, had come into the room and began to draw a globe on a sheet of paper. As the song began to trail off, I glanced over at his drawing to see that he’d drawn a crude image of the earth with a large Cross towering above and half planted in the grounds and oceans. Only later did I realize the full significance of this, but even then I recognized it as a symbol of Christ’s authority and notably Catholic. My son had never had any exposure to this symbol, and was certainly not of the mind to be making religious art at that point in time.

The Incarnation suddenly made total sense, and in much greater clarity, revelation and implication than I’d ever considered before in my protestantism. I suddenly “knew” that Mary was the Mother of God, and why. I suddenly understood the Papacy. I understood the communion of saints, prayers for and to the “dead” and Purgatory. I understood the priesthood and why priests wear black suits with white collars. I understood the Eucharist as a re-presentation of the Sacrifice of the Passion and Jesus’ abiding presence (The Word made flesh) “even until the end of the age . . .” It all happened in a flash of revelation and I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t fully express what I was “seeing” because it was coming so quickly, as if from everywhere at once. It’s like every scripture I’d tended like prized roses over the years, and had judged through my own understanding or of those who agreed with me anyway, were ripped up by One far more knowledgable about botany and replaced with a towering forest of wisdom falling from every branch, brushing my face as I ran to and from, overthrown myself. It was inescapable and kept leading me back time and again to one simple truth. I did not invent this, like I had my own protest against it.

Last September, my wife, our four children and I began the RCIA process with inquiry classes, and then this last winter we began Cathecetical instruction. Pentecost Sunday, May 31st, our four children were baptized in the Church. We resume classes this September and will be received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church next Easter.
Click to expand...
Now that’s an amazing story. 👍 Glory to God in the highest! Welcome home!🙂
 
seekerlkf said:
I was a cradle Catholic. Baptised, First Confession, Penance and Communion. Then as a young adult I rebelled and left any semblance of a holy life. 😦 I was “saved” 10 years later. I KNOW the Lord was using that to reach me but was never fully satisfied. I bought the whole anti-catholic stuff hook line and sinker. 😊

Recently I began to really ask the Lord to show me His truth. I just felt like something was missing. I had bought and subscribed to satellite radio and began listening to EWTN and the Catholic Channel. So many things have fallen into place. I have contacted the local Parrish Church and am scheduled to attend the RCIA(??) classes. They assure me I don’t have to “convert” back…but there are so many things I don’t know. Do I need to convert back??:confused:

This I know. I am home. I pray the Rosary am wearing a Scapular and have arranged an appointment to go to confession. I am so thankful to our Lord that he is SO compassionate, patient and merciful!😃
Click to expand...
This is similar to my Reversion, i was born Catholic, Baptized and all. After a few years i was very uninterested in Church, I guess “G-d” just didn’t cross my mind. then it was the year of my Confirmation (My Parents were Lax in faith kinda, they just wanted me to Confirm) i stopped going to CCD for years untill the year i was supposed to be Confirmed, I skipped years of CCD, but that last year of CCD made the difference for me. I was Confirmed, and I have a new Fire driving me, Christ is the Truth.

I struggled with sins of Lust during the time i was absent, i didn’t even know why, but i recall praying (Kinda the same thing over and over again) everytime i commited said act (I didn’t even know it was mortal sin untill my confirmation year) (atleast if i recall i didn’t know, my memory is bad) but I felt something was wrong, i prayed for forgivness, but I didn’t really know what I was doing or how wrong it was, it was just naturall guilt I guess.

I used to be Anti-Christian, thinking they stomped on everyone else’s beliefs, now G-d led me to the truth that is the Christ.

Glory be to G-d for his mercy. G-d bless his church.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top