Went undercover to a Baptist church today

[hosemonkey]

I went to one of our local baptist churches not long ago, I think that is was a funeral or something. Well, the first thing that I noticed was that they had put the holy water fonts way out of sight somewhere, that or someone had forgotten to fill them. Anyhow, some goof tripped over me when I genuflected before taking my seat, and then there were no kneelers! Well, I got to looking around and saw that some rock band must have used the place the night before, 'cause they had left a drum kit and all their guitars up on the stage(sanctuary) next to the pulpit. They had moved the altar off to one side and I did not see the first statue. Nor crucifix. Soon that rock band came back and I thought that they were just going to pick up their instruments, but no, they tuned up and started to crank out some pretty lively stuff. Well, they came rolling the dearly departed up the aisle and started singing and kicking out the jambs and went on for two or three tunes. By and by the preacher came on and while he had on a cheap suit instead of vestments, I could see that he was the main speaker. He went on about the dearly departed(who I knew personally to be a major sinner) and before I knew it, he had that man not only skipping hell, but purgatory too and dancing straight into heaven! Anyhow, we had two or three more rousing tunes and while they wheeled the guest of honor out, everybody remarked about how natural he looked. We all adjourned for fried chicken in the hall and I was left wondering about the meaning of it all. Seems like they are missing an awful lot. Rock bands and fried chicken is no substitute for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.:nope:

 

[mesl4]

The “Holy water fonts” don’t exist in Protestant churches because I guess we/they don’t believe in that. I’m noticing a huge difference between the Catholics and Protestants in my debate over converting. Growing up Protestant, everything has been more spiritual/symbolic of the spirtual taking place…meaning, not tangible. ie. We don’t make the sign of the cross, we don’t kneel (unless we want to of course - it’s free form), we don’t believe baptism saves us, but our faith saves us. The baptism is what we do out of faith and obedience as a sign. The communion/Eucharist is symbolic of Christ’s body and blood, his death and passion for our sins, our confession is between us and God, and of course, whoever we offended. We have a cross - usually w/out Christ on it, because the crucifixion is meaningless w/out the resurrection. With the empty cross, we focus on his resurrection rather than keeping him stuck in death. It’s hard to not feel superstitious w/the holy water/medals/rosary beads, candles/incense, etc. If God really established his church w/peter and literally wanted an organized religion to run things on Earth, that being Catholicism, I will go for it 100%, but I’m having a hard time coverting all these symbolic practices I’ve had, and becoming more “superstitious”/ ritualistic/ faith in things rather than God. Is that how Catholics view their faith? Do you believe the Holy Spirit lives in you and will never leave you? That your body is his temple? That’s what the Bible teaches and what I believe, but I haven’t found that as evident in the Catholics I’ve come across.

 

[hosemonkey]

The “Holy water fonts” don’t exist in Protestant churches because I guess we/they don’t believe in that.

Growing up Protestant, everything has been more spiritual/symbolic of the spirtual taking place…meaning, not tangible. ie. We don’t make the sign of the cross, we don’t kneel

The Catholic church will give you strong meat and strong wine to drink. Protestantism will give you weak beer and a tiny Cross. The Catholic Church is the Marine Corps. Protestantism is the Brownies. Nothing against the Brownies, they just won’t get you to Heaven.

It is the responsibility of each and every Catholic to carry that message to the world, some of us do a better job than others . Peace
[/QUOTE]

 

[dolphinlove]

[SIGN]Hosemonkey for president!!![/SIGN]

 

[hosemonkey]

[sign]Hosemonkey for president!!![/sign]

Please! I have a few principles left.

 

[hosemonkey]

My Baptist church has communion available every week. There’s an altar/table at the front, and in back that we are welcome to whenever we want.

What does this “communion” mean to you? Is it sacred? Do you tremble and cry when you receive it? Or is it just crackers and grape juice to be trodden underfoot and tossed out with the trash? Catholics have given up their lives for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Would you give up your life for something just “symbolic?”

So, why would I have any reason to believe my prayers would be less effective or worthy or meaningful to God than Mary’s? She was full of grace, but he has poured out his grace on all of us as well so we are like her, aren’t we?

Oh yes! The old gaffer DOES recognize that we DO need to be more friendly with the Founder of the Catholic Church, thank you for noticing that. “Better friends with Jesus?” That is the most patronizing thing I have heard lately. The Catholic Church has ALWAYS been close to her Founder, since the very beginning. Free yourself of these Protestantisms and explore the very Truth handed to us by all the Holy people and Saints of the Church under the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus Christ Our Lord Himself. You are in for an earth-shattering experience.

 

[mesl4]

What does this “communion” mean to you? Is it sacred? Do you tremble and cry when you receive it? Or is it just crackers and grape juice to be trodden underfoot and tossed out with the trash? Catholics have given up their lives for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Would you give up your life for something just “symbolic?”
.

The bread and wine is simply bread and wine to me. What it symbolizes is sacred and meaningful. We give up our lives for that, not the bread and wine, but for the true Christ. Taking communion does make us cry when we are meditating on Christ and his love for us. That is what we do when we receive communion. We confess our sins/clear our consciences first to as you might say, “be in a state of grace,” we pray, meditate on God, eat and drink , and continue this for a few minutes. Noone should partake without realizing those steps or they would be receiving it vainly. It’s not really necessary I argue all of these points though because I’ve already reasearched the Catholic doctrine and early church fathers enough to understand most of them/accept most of them. The hardest one for me to get over is the view of Mary as Mediatrix/Co-Redeemer though.

 

[hosemonkey]

The bread and wine is simply bread and wine to me.

What it symbolizes is sacred and meaningful. We give up our lives for that, not the bread and wine, but for the true Christ. Taking communion does make us cry when we are meditating on Christ and his love for us. That is what we do when we receive communion. We confess our sins/clear our consciences first to as you might say, “be in a state of grace,” we pray, meditate on God, eat and drink , and continue this for a few minutes. Noone should partake without realizing those steps or they would be receiving it vainly.

It’s not really necessary I argue all of these points though because I’ve already reasearched the Catholic doctrine and early church fathers enough to understand most of them/accept most of them.

If you believe that Jesus is, in fact, the Son of God, then you must believe that He has willed this role for His mother. This has been revealed and taught by the Church, who can neither deceive or be deceived.
You sound exactly like me. I came to the Church from professed athiesm, I studied Catholicism with a view toward disproving the whole “rotten system.” After all my arrogant study, I was left with one (to me) horrible conclusion. That the Catholic Church WAS the Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself and that She preached the Truth. I had no choice other than to become Catholic. My doubts were erased in an instant through the working of the Holy Spirit. That was 30 years ago, I have never looked back.

I know that it is scary, but the peace and joy that will be yours when you take that step is beyond compare. Have you considered RCIA? That is the best first step, you will learn what you need to know in order to make a truly informed decision, no strings attached. Or talk to your local priest or another well-informed Catholic whom you trust. You will never regret it.

 

[mesl4]

Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by mesl4
The bread and wine is simply bread and wine to me.

What it symbolizes is sacred and meaningful. We give up our lives for that, not the bread and wine, but for the true Christ. Taking communion does make us cry when we are meditating on Christ and his love for us. That is what we do when we receive communion. We confess our sins/clear our consciences first to as you might say, “be in a state of grace,” we pray, meditate on God, eat and drink , and continue this for a few minutes. Noone should partake without realizing those steps or they would be receiving it vainly.
Quote:
It’s not really necessary I argue all of these points though because I’ve already reasearched the Catholic doctrine and early church fathers enough to understand most of them/accept most of them.

Quote:
Then you accept the Catholic belief that the Holy Eucharist is, in fact, the actual Body and Blood of Our Lord?
If that is true, then it is not simply bread and wine, is it?

 

[hosemonkey]

Well, like I said, I’m coming around. Where I was totally opposed a few wks ago, I can now believe it. I didn’t even have communion at my Baptist church last wk because I want to wait until I’m sure one way or the other. I guess I’m 95% convined.

That’s the thing. I’m not convinced that the Catholic church is His Church yet. More so than I thought a few months ago, but maybe only 65% sure. I’ve been pretty trained in thinking of them as the anti-christ church or idol worshipers, etc, so I’ve come a long way from that. I’ve reviewed all the references on this catholic.com website to explain things I had disagreed with, I’ve read several books for “fudamentalists” or protestants, and am still hesitant that “what if I’m wrong?” "What if the Church really has been deceiving people for 2000 yrs? " That’s what scares me.

The idea that the Holy catholic Church has been deceiving people for the last 2000 years is preposterous. No other institution in the world has undergone more inquiry and scrutiny than the Catholic Church. It has survived that inquiry in spite of every effort to destroy it and has the admiration of even her enemies. Most of the objections that people have against catholicism come not from knowlege but from ignorance. “What if I am wrong?” I bear witness that you are not wrong. You may be afraid of change, because the Catholic Church requires a different way of thought and behavior.

Unfortunately, the quality of RCIA classes varies widely, there is no “canned” method and the quality and knowlege of instructors is not consistant. Please do not let this discourage you. Seek out a good priest or knowlegible Catholic layman to help you. But above all, go to Mass! You may not at this time be able to receive Holy communion, but the graces that you will receive are enormous.

So, I’ve found this forum to be the most helpful so far. A closer church, that I liked more actually, has RCIA next month weekly that I"m going to take. I also don’t like that the church does not consider my marriage w/my husband valid since it was not at a Catholic church. Why is this?

As to your marriage. If you were married in a protestant church according to the usual formula then your marriage was certainly valid. It will only have to be blessed when you and your spouse enter the Church. Whoever told you that it was not valid was mistaken. Please feel free to PM me if you have further questions.

 

[PatienceAndLove]

I think the biggest thing that disturbed me about the Protestant Church I visited (Lord forgive me) was that they had something called “come and go communion”

 

[JoeBlow]

Must be a different flavor of Baptist. I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church. And alot of the other baptist churches around there were about the same in their frequency - well the SBC were. Don’t know about the others. (Maybe some of the smaller ones around Baylor did, but doubt it.)

Then maybe it’s just the SBC in your local association.