What are reasons people convert?

[Crystal_H]

Okay…

While I was in my 20’s I left the Catholic Church because…

1. I felt that they “taught” the word of God.
2. I really liked the “praise and worship”
3. I felt I was closer to Jesus.

A few years back… I came HOME to the Catholic Church because…

1. The Church gave us the Scriptures in its complete form.
2. I can truly worship Jesus “face to face” in the Blesses Sacrament!
3. How much closer can you get than to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament!

This is the abridged version.
Crystal

 

[novatrix]

I realize this is an older thread, but the subject matter is very interesting.

Has anyone else heard of someone with this reasoning for converting; The spouse was raised Catholic, and they have a child who was baptized in the Catholic church. The non-Catholic spouse wants to be able to participate fully in any church activities while the child is growing up.

 

[ralphinal]

I realize this is an older thread, but the subject matter is very interesting.

Has anyone else heard of someone with this reasoning for converting; The spouse was raised Catholic, and they have a child who was baptized in the Catholic church. The non-Catholic spouse wants to be able to participate fully in any church activities while the child is growing up.

I have. It is not as common as you think. Too many times, the non-Catholic spouse comes to church once and a while. But, it is not unheard of.

 

[Pixie_Dust]

I realize this is an older thread, but the subject matter is very interesting.

Has anyone else heard of someone with this reasoning for converting; The spouse was raised Catholic, and they have a child who was baptized in the Catholic church. The non-Catholic spouse wants to be able to participate fully in any church activities while the child is growing up.

My RCIA “team” was pretty adamant that they did not want people to convert just because a spouse is Catholic. If someone becomes Catholic it should be because the Holy Spirit is leading them to do so, not just a feeling of being “left out.” That may be the initial reason, but that kind of feeling will fade if one is not fully convinced that the Catholic faith is True and revealed by God. It’s a sure-fire recipe for a cafeteria Catholic, if you ask me.

 

[James1982]

I am sure the reasons are as varied as the people that think them up.

One thing I will say is that Christianity is a religion where you need to “feel it.” If you don’t “feel” God, you look for places where you can. To some extent it is cultural preference. I prefer solemnity when approaching God, the mysteries and pomp and circumstance are what attract me. My wife is more of a choir girl/socializer. Those types of preferences pull different people in different directions.

Some want church to be more fun and less of a chore to them. Some just haven’t had someone put things together for them, intellectually, so they can make some kind of sense of their faith.

This is a failing of nearly every church to some degree, and that is a general failure to teach children in ways where they gain an actual understanding of what their religion is.

I remember when I was little. The little anecdotal bible studies in sunday school meant nothing to me, aside from being cute kid’s stories. There was little to no doctrine to actually give the stories their intended meaning.

Then you get to teenage/confirmation classes, and that’s when the doctrine comes, mostly given in the form of out of context bible quotes with little explanation behind them.

So when you have people who have grown up with no logical background of what their faith really means, with at best a disjointed view of the “why” we do what we do, you get people who are easily disillusioned and prone to looking elsewhere. By the time they are adults, we often look to them to get themselves involved, so you don’t really have a good way of approaching the education issue until they ask for it or when you see them already half out the door.

Then it becomes a matter of them trying to find God by themselves, and that can lead them into the den of many a snake oil salesman.

 

[Lilyflower]

If you are Catholic, what are reasons you think people convert to a Protestant denomination?

Because they were never really Catholics in the first place.

Blessings and peace

 

[Lilyflower]

Because they were never really Catholics in the first place.

Blessings and peace

Actually my cousin fell out with the local PP and as a result, turned her back on the Catholic Church, becoming a committed Anglican.

The PP fell out with me but I went along and talked it through with him to resolve the conflict

 

[novatrix]

Actually my cousin fell out with the local PP and as a result, turned her back on the Catholic Church, becoming a committed Anglican.

The PP fell out with me but I went along and talked it through with him to resolve the conflict

In reference to the above post; I thought it very thought provoking when in his sermon, the Priest recently spoke of not placing our faith in man, but in God. Man is fallible, but God is not. We may not agree with the man or his actions, but it does not mean that we throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Another thought along the lines of why people convert; I agree that there can most definitely be faulty reasoning behind a desire to convert. But too, I often wonder, who is to say how the Holy Spirit works in bringing people to a decision? God does work in mysterious ways. A desire to convert may start out as one reasoning, but become something else much deeper, particularly with the worthy and loving desire to be a fully participating parent to one’s child, or with a spouse. And one should not draw a direct conclusion that someone who is considering converting was not spiritual before, or that they have not attended church regularly.

 

[HashemEchad]

When where Jews forced to convert to catholicism?

In the Middle Ages…and we have not truly trusted the Catholic church ever since.

My mother’s entire family was forced to either convert or leave Spain. They chose to leave Spain. Then when the Spanish Inquisition caught up with them in Sicily and S Italy, they decided they were tired of running, and so converted outwardly, but kept being Jewish in secret. Such people were called “marranos”, or more properly, anusim (Hebrew for “those who were forced”.)

As for conversions, I am much more familiar with Judaism than most Jews, and I know my faith too well to want to convert to another one.

I also owe a debt of respect to my maternal ancestors who were driven from their homes rather than convert, then did it because they were tired of being driven from one land to another…and they risked their lives by continuing to be Jewish in secret, because if the Spanish Inquisition found out, it would be a burning at the stake for them.

With a history like that, why in God’s Name would I even THINK about joining the Catholic church, or indeed, any branch of Christianity? I’ve had many on this very forum openly proselytize me, and all I can think to myself is, “They are asking nicely because this is not the Middle Ages when they were able to force me to convert”. I truly believe, based on some of the things I have read people say on this forum, that if they could legally force Jews to convert, they would. Sorry, I’ve read too much here the past few months to think otherwise (though there are some decent people here who respect American freedom of religion.)

 

[Lion_of_Narnia]

To crib from Peter Kreeft, there is one and only one HONEST reason to believe anything…

Beacause you think it’s true

 

[Pug]

One thing I will say is that Christianity is a religion where you need to “feel it.” If you don’t “feel” God, you look for places where you can.

People are so different. What you describe here was never a motivation for me in the past. I merely knew that I needed to get my act in gear and become an active member of a church. I had read Jesus’ words enough times that it was clear to me that I must act, and not just sit there listening. I had no desire to seek *another *religion. I hadn’t really understood it as switching religions at all. At the time, I thought all the denominations were Christian, so I didn’t think in terms of switching. It was more that I was taking the next step to become a more active Christian, which I had been told involved getting confirmed as the next step. So I sought confirmation. I sought it in the Catholic Church. That choice is difficult to explain. God suggested to me that I do so there, and I just said yes. I count that as probably the only decision I have ever made truly, fully correctly. I didn’t make it for any pressure reasons, to satisfy any human, to obtain anything earthly, or any other of my typically stupid reasons.

 

[novatrix]

God suggested to me that I do so there, and I just said yes. I count that as probably the only decision I have ever made truly, fully correctly. I didn’t make it for any pressure reasons, to satisfy any human, to obtain anything earthly, or any other of my typically stupid reasons.

And this, to my human understanding, seems like the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.