The Curious Protestant

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Guy - What a beautiful description of the Church. She is indeed a jewel 👍

Peace
James
 
Guyparker said:
I was raised by parents that frequented the Church of Christ and the Southern Baptost churches on Easter and Christmas. When I met my future wife, I was exposed, for the first time, to Pentecostals that acted like Disciples of Christ when they weren’t at church! They helped me to a realize a brilliant epiphonal experience during my potential deployment to a war zone in the early 90’s.

The line of demarcation surrounding the Pentecostal way, ie, tongues and condescension, led eventually to my exploration of other paths to God. Next I wrestled with a disconnect between the small church pastoral leader and his destructive tendency to seperate the body (church) from the disparate needs of our local community.

I have a hard time understanding those who prop up their revelation, tongues or otherwise, when a unified collective of individuals can do so much in a dying world. The church had cyclical patterns of growth and shrinkage, but at the end of the day, the leader was ever ready to lead us around the same old introverted mountain.

I hope this is is helpful for you. I am so tired of the church “as usual”. I recognize, for the first time, the logical relevance for an organizational hierarchy that holds to accountability and accountability. The Catholic church seems to me, so far, a brilliant jewel deep in a mountain…worthy of a diligent and hearty effort to expose in my life, and hopefully in the lives of my awesome wife and sons.
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As you collect your veritable library, there is one reading room that will far exceed all others: the chapel when our Lord Jesus Christ is present in the Blessed Sacrament. Please consider calling a local parish and inquiring when they offer adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Once the bread is consecrated by the Priest of Bishop at mass, some of it is reserved for the administration of communion to the sick, etc. It is kept in the Tabernacle, which should be behind the altar in most parishes. That consecrated bread (“host”) is no longer bread, and is not dead, but alive. It is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. On adoration days, a consecrated host is placed in a monstrance (like my avatar) and set atop the altar for our adoration.

This will be quite foreign to someone form outside the Catholic faith, but it is the best kept “secret” in Catholicism. I can suggest only going and spending time reading there. Pray. Reflect. Ask our Lord to reveal that He is there. Then, simply be as patient with Him as He has been with you. You might be amazed sooner, or you might be amazed later. But, when He answers, you will be changed. Each time I go (tomorrow), I am moved to repeat the words of Thomas: “My Lord and my God”!

May Christ’s peace be with you.
 
Guyparker said:
I am new to the forums. I hope that this is the best place to ask some questions. First, a bit of background is warranted. I have been a Protestant for over twenty years. In the past three years, I have been through a great deal of searching for more clarity. I have been taught that Catholics are, by and large, worshippers of many things-from relics to The Virgin Mary, and are deceived and Hell-bound. I decided to do some research for myself, and thankfully discovered Patrick Coffin’s radio show. It didn’t take long to dispel much of the preconceptions I had accepted at face value. I would love to dive into some foundational reading that would shed further insight into the Catholic Church. What books would you recommend?
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The Life of Christ by Fulton Sheen. – His knowledge of scriptutre, life in 1st century Judea, and existing histories of the time, make the Savior’s life come alive.

Sheen is good at showing how Christ’s words pertain to US, and to all people at all time.
The most important aspect of being a Christian is knowing Christ. This book helped me on that. It is not a Catholic vs. Protestant thing … if that’s what you were looking for. But
you’ll get answers you haven’t even asked if it hit you like it hit me. Challenging at first, my questions in the margins (?) became (!) as I went along.

**Imitation of Christ ** by St. Thomas a Kempis is a series of literary conversations between “Jesus” and a person trying to serve Him day by day. Beautiful. Insightful.

This site is good for apologetics and explaining the faith. “Ask an Apologist” for more formal answers is one to check out. A lot of the tougher “Catholic questions” that confuse people have been explained there.

May your inquiries be blessed Guyparker. Seek and you shall find. 🙂
 
Guyparker,

You may find the following resource helpful - it is some selections from the past 15 years from Australia’s premier Journal of Catholic Culture - ANNALS AUSTRALASIA:

jloughnan.tripod.com/portal.htm

There you will also find books, pamphlets and articles from the prolific Catholic Apologist, Rev. Dr. Leslie Rumble, M.S.C.
 
Thank you! You have done so much to direct me in my quest to know Him more. Blessings to you!!
 
If you like history, and the early roots of Christianity interest you…

begin at once with THE (EARLY) CHURCH HISTORY, by Eusebius…about 15 $ @ Amazon.
An amazing read of first 300 years of Christianity, u cant put it down !!
 
Here is an interesting one on miracles.
“Reason To Believe”, by Ron Tesoriero.
 
InigoMontoya said:
Subscribing, because I’m also interested.
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I see that you describe yourself as “Catholic by birth”. Techinically speaking this is impossible.

We are called “cradle Catholics” because we are brought into the faith in baptism, usually as infants.

Do I understand correctly that you are wanting to better know that faith into which you were baptized? Have you also been contaminated by anti-Catholic calumnies?
 
I would recommend any of the books written by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVl. 🙂

He has written on a wide range of topics from the readily accessible, to those which really stretch the mind and challenge the soul.
 
I just finished “If Protestantism is True”, by Devin Rose. I am excited by the truths she laid out so simply and clearly. I will jump into the next book, “Catholicism and Fundamentalism” by Karl Keating, that was mailed to me by a generous member of this forum. I have purchased several others based upon your recommendations.

I have dear friend who was raised a Catholic, but ran furiously away from it. I asked him recently for some relevant reading supporting his position. He is quite the lay-scholar on the Bible, but all the emotions from his past trumped any intelligent discourse. He has chosen the lazy way, by stereotyping Catholics and their doctrinal stance in light of his personal experiences. Many of the positions he presumes upon the Church are inaccurate and thinly deduced.

I find it painful and irrational, the compromises one might be willing to laud as truth, when, at the end of all our days, He will ask why we chose our ways instead of His, just to prop up our meager rationalizations that lead us to isolate others who cannot see as we do.
 
My “used to be Catholic” friend says, the bible says no man should call another man, “Father”. Where is a good source of learning for this?
 
Church_Militant said:
Welcome aboard. Enjoy!
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Very good list. I would also add ANYTHING by Peter Kreeft. I listened to a CD entitiled "7 Reasons to be Catholic’ (Peter Kreeft) which was excellent. Also as previously mentioned the Catholic for Dummies and another STRONG recommendation to go to your local parish that has “Adoration”. Just sit there ( a whole hour at least, if not more) and pray and read . I am a recent convert (almost a year now) and I had been protestant longer than you. It took me 3 years of study before I decided I needed to become Catholic.(& very glad I did) I also especially think it would be beneficial to get any CD from the Catholic Bible Society (online, for free) They will send you free CD’s you can listen while in your car…very good! To close, although someone steered you away from St Augustine, I couldn’t recommend any better writer of the Church-Wow! He’s amazing to read. (but of course some aren’t able to read him easily - I don’t think so for myself) The other thing you might look for going into the local parish is CD’s that deal with many issues(Lighthouse)…these overall are very good! I’ve listened to so many. I could go on and on as I read so much more. I will try and remember to add more later- maybe. I’m tired and need to get to bed.

My prayers and blessings as you are in this journey,

mlz
 
I just finished Karl Keating’s “Catholicism and Fundamentalism”. It is interesting to read about the fundamentalists (I are one!). The dated material, mid-eighties, is a bit of a drudgery. So too, the detailed rebuttals to narrow-minded fundamentalists by name was laborious. The last third of the book, Keating truly shines. I appreciate the heart of the matter on those summary pages. He seems to have a long history as a Catholic, which lends to the inevitable sterotyping of fundamentalists. I am still excited about this journey, and sure that God is moving in me. I am more convinced…the move is in the direction of Rome. Bless you,
Mr. Keating for your posthumous assistance, and the rest of you in this forum who are covertly helping me along the way.
 
Guyparker said:
My “used to be Catholic” friend says, the bible says no man should call another man, “Father”. Where is a good source of learning for this?
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The idea that we could not call any man “father,” as you may know, comes from a hyper-literal Jesus’ indictment of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

The clincher, however, is that in the other NT books, people are called “father” or consider others their “children.” If we also read them hyper-literally, it would seem as if everyone just ignored what Jesus said, especially St. Paul. 🤷 A small sample:

When [Peter and John] were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

(Acts 4:23-30)

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’

(Acts 7:1-3)

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? …] [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

(Romans 4:1, 11-18)

I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

(1 Corinthians 4:14-17)

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

(Philippians 2:19-24)

I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.

(Philemon 1:10)

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

(James 2:20-21)
 
Guyparker said:
I just finished Karl Keating’s “Catholicism and Fundamentalism”. It is interesting to read about the fundamentalists (I are one!). The dated material, mid-eighties, is a bit of a drudgery. So too, the detailed rebuttals to narrow-minded fundamentalists by name was laborious. The last third of the book, Keating truly shines. I appreciate the heart of the matter on those summary pages. He seems to have a long history as a Catholic, which lends to the inevitable sterotyping of fundamentalists. I am still excited about this journey, and sure that God is moving in me. I am more convinced…the move is in the direction of Rome. Bless you,
Mr. Keating for your posthumous assistance, and the rest of you in this forum who are covertly helping me along the way.
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So glad that we are being of help to you.

Peace
James
 
Guyparker said:
I just finished Karl Keating’s “Catholicism and Fundamentalism”. It is interesting to read about the fundamentalists (I are one!). The dated material, mid-eighties, is a bit of a drudgery. So too, the detailed rebuttals to narrow-minded fundamentalists by name was laborious. The last third of the book, Keating truly shines. I appreciate the heart of the matter on those summary pages. He seems to have a long history as a Catholic, which lends to the inevitable sterotyping of fundamentalists. I am still excited about this journey, and sure that God is moving in me. I am more convinced…the move is in the direction of Rome. Bless you, Mr. Keating for your posthumous assistance, and the rest of you in this forum who are covertly helping me along the way.
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:eek:
Something happen to Karl???

peace
steve
 
Guyparker, I give my fellow welcome and second all the excellent choices my fellow forum members have suggested
 
Guyparker said:
I am new to the forums. I hope that this is the best place to ask some questions. First, a bit of background is warranted. I have been a Protestant for over twenty years. In the past three years, I have been through a great deal of searching for more clarity. I have been taught that Catholics are, by and large, worshippers of many things-from relics to The Virgin Mary, and are deceived and Hell-bound. I decided to do some research for myself, and thankfully discovered Patrick Coffin’s radio show. It didn’t take long to dispel much of the preconceptions I had accepted at face value. I would love to dive into some foundational reading that would shed further insight into the Catholic Church. What books would you recommend?
Click to expand...
You must get Peter Kreeft’s “Catholic Christianity” It is a catecism… it details are the essentials beliefs of the Catholic faith in plain simple but inspirational language. Please buy it. It is the last book I read before crossing the Tiber
 
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