C
Cat
Guest
First a brief background. I was evangelical Protestant from childhood until age 47. I grew up in a Conference Baptist church under some of the most famous evangelicals in the U.S. (Evelyn Christenson, Gary Smalley, Irwin Lutzer, Bill Bright, etc.–these people were either on staff at our church or frequent guest speakers at our church).
I was extremely active in my churches, usually involved in something involving my church at least 5-6 days/nights per week.
So I know evangelical Protestantism well. That means, of course, that I know my Bible well. I’ve not only read and studied through the entire Bible many times, but also been involved in Bible studies all of my life, usually at least two-three per week.
Yet in spite of all this, I and my husband converted to Catholicism on April 10, 2004.
We are extremely joyful in our Church and love being Catholic Christians.
What I want to know is why Protestants try to convince Catholics that our “religion” is false and that we need to “become Christians?”
When I was Protestant, I never did this. I accepted Catholics as true Christians.
I read Jack T. Chick’s tracts about Catholicism and realized that they were fiction. I still liked a lot of the other Jack T. Chick tracts (Somebody Loves You is excellent.) But I didn’t go along with everything JTC said or wrote.
I read other Protestant apologies against Catholicism, and I never believed them. I knew Catholics and I knew that the stuff in those apologies wasn’t true.
I didn’t go after Catholics. If someone told me they were a Catholic, I would ask, “So you’re a Christian?” and if they said “yes,” I was cool with that. I didn’t try to talk them out of Catholicism and explain the “truth” of Protestantism.
If a Catholic didn’t know Jesus, THEN I would try to talk to them about their faith. But I didn’t try to persuade them to give up Catholicism, I just tried to persuade them to embrace the Jesus their Church proclaims.
From what I understand, the Rev. Billy Graham never tried to talk Catholics out of their church. Neither did Dr. Bill Bright (I know this from personal experience–when the “I Found It!” campaign was done in our city, three Catholic churches were part of it! Isn’t that nifty?!)
So why do YOU feel it is necessary to try to persuade Catholics that their Church is in error? Are you getting some kind of reward in heaven for this? Can’t you just accept Catholics as fellow Christians who practice their faith differently than you do and rejoice with them?
I personally think the devil must be laughing his head off. He is convincing Christians to witness to Catholics, who are fellow Christians, instead of pagans who are lost in their sins and don’t know Jesus. Tragic.
I was extremely active in my churches, usually involved in something involving my church at least 5-6 days/nights per week.
So I know evangelical Protestantism well. That means, of course, that I know my Bible well. I’ve not only read and studied through the entire Bible many times, but also been involved in Bible studies all of my life, usually at least two-three per week.
Yet in spite of all this, I and my husband converted to Catholicism on April 10, 2004.
We are extremely joyful in our Church and love being Catholic Christians.
What I want to know is why Protestants try to convince Catholics that our “religion” is false and that we need to “become Christians?”
When I was Protestant, I never did this. I accepted Catholics as true Christians.
I read Jack T. Chick’s tracts about Catholicism and realized that they were fiction. I still liked a lot of the other Jack T. Chick tracts (Somebody Loves You is excellent.) But I didn’t go along with everything JTC said or wrote.
I read other Protestant apologies against Catholicism, and I never believed them. I knew Catholics and I knew that the stuff in those apologies wasn’t true.
I didn’t go after Catholics. If someone told me they were a Catholic, I would ask, “So you’re a Christian?” and if they said “yes,” I was cool with that. I didn’t try to talk them out of Catholicism and explain the “truth” of Protestantism.
If a Catholic didn’t know Jesus, THEN I would try to talk to them about their faith. But I didn’t try to persuade them to give up Catholicism, I just tried to persuade them to embrace the Jesus their Church proclaims.
From what I understand, the Rev. Billy Graham never tried to talk Catholics out of their church. Neither did Dr. Bill Bright (I know this from personal experience–when the “I Found It!” campaign was done in our city, three Catholic churches were part of it! Isn’t that nifty?!)
So why do YOU feel it is necessary to try to persuade Catholics that their Church is in error? Are you getting some kind of reward in heaven for this? Can’t you just accept Catholics as fellow Christians who practice their faith differently than you do and rejoice with them?
I personally think the devil must be laughing his head off. He is convincing Christians to witness to Catholics, who are fellow Christians, instead of pagans who are lost in their sins and don’t know Jesus. Tragic.
:bible1: This also describes me! By the way, I go to an adult Sunday school class at my church (Catholic). It is a Bible study. We are currently studying Romans and Galatians. One woman in my class actually was part of the last Billy Graham crusade in my city (Cleveland, Ohio). She was one of the representatives from the Catholic Church. Billy Graham always wanted people to come to faith in Jesus Christ and to have a real relationship with Him. He did not care if that person was Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox. My friend from church was a prayer partner and also gave people literature about Catholic Churches after the people made a commitment to Christ at the Billy Graham crusade and chose to commit or recommit to a Catholic Church. She had nothing but positive things to say about the Rev. Graham. I also had some friends from college (Catholic college) attend the crusade. They became more deeply involved in their faith as Catholics.