What keeps you Catholic? Not being converted to other Christian sects

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It took me a long time to find the Catholic Church, I will never leave her. I was raised a protestant and for much of my time as a protestant it was always in the back of my mind that there had to be more to the story, more to faith, more to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Once I went to Mass I knew where the missing parts were, where the “more” was.

Of course going through RCIA and continued education in the Catholic faith has only made my faith stronger. The sacraments, especially the Eucharist make me stronger.
 
1neophyte said:
Uh…do you know many Protestants?
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ACTUALLY QUITE A FEW.

They tend to be militant vitriolic anti-Catholic.

I just ask them to read “Eucharistic Miracles” by Joan Carroll Cruz. [Good luck with that.]
 
For me, it’s not a problem of other sects tempting me. Christianity makes sense to me because Catholicism makes sense.

Doubt comes in the form of other things. What keeps me Catholic is the reality of love, the love I feel for others, and the ultimate extension of that.
 
Cradle Cat. and lifer here…but I did fall in love with a Protestant gal, and persuaded her to become my wife.

I had always been blindly loyal to the Church–but marrying a Protestant prompted me to ‘look under the hood’. She raised many of the typical objections; I was prompted to explore countless others.

…at every juncture, I found the Catholic Church’s position to be well founded and well grounded…while Protestantism rested on dubious foundations, beginning with sola scriptura–a doctrine which would require Divine Revelation to be held to the authority it is given in/by Protestantism, as it is not prophesied (nor even mentioned) in the Bible itself.

TBL: Christ hand picked 12 apostles, to whom He entrusted and expressly delegated, His authority, and upon whom He established His Church (ergo clearly prophesied).

The Bible distinguishes clearly between these Apostles and the disciples (a larger group which included the Apostles, but not all nor even most of the disciples, were Apostles)–signifying a hierarchy.

The Apostles replaced Judas with Mathias…and added St. Paul (signifying the ability of the Church to replace deceased Bishops, and add new ones–and how to go about doing so);

They were ordained by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, signifying Divine approval/blessing;

Christ wrote nothing down at all–so it seems quite counter intuitive, that He intended that the Faith be reduced to a writing;

The Bible tells of this Church, which Christ founded, while the Bible speaks nothing of ‘the Bible’ itself. All references to ‘scripture’ are to existing scripture (i.e.–the OT); it is through the Church, that the NT becomes ‘scripture’.

…then history backs up Catholicism–including the Great Schism, which shows a mirror reflection of the Church–where both ‘lungs’ are based on Apostolic succession (e.g.–the Sacraments, the prominence of Mary, inter alia).

Many other reasons–these are the most obvious, and the most compelling–to me, anyway.
 
I have been proselytized by many other “Christian” groups, especially Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, but once in a while I will get in a discussion with a Protestant. The truth is I find Lutherans to be the easiest to talk too, in fact if you ask why they are Lutheran and not Catholic the answer is more on a traditional line than theological. Calvinists will give you a whole almost evil testament about the Catholic church, that the Pope is the Antichrist and such, with no real merit but that they are sola scriptura, only believing the Bible to be God’s word, where as Catholics believe the Church was given authority and thus could set the Catechism through the ages. It is pointless talking to them, they are so brainwashed, even to the point of saying being Catholic isn’t even Christian, ironically the two traditions who can seriously claim to be the original church is the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. All Protestantism was devised by men, whether Luther, Calvin, etc. And later denominations were devised by people who changed doctrines that were already created by man. Thus they are truly off course. I find the easiest ones to let go the ones who actively try to get converts the most, JW and Mormons. They are easy to dismiss, really every one of their teachings is basically blasphemy, anyone who believes the Joseph Smith story is one step closer to lunacy as a Scientologist, the BOM is ridiculous and has absolutely no historical basis, not to mention it is innacurate with weapons portrayed, animals depicted, that didn’t even exist in the Americas at the time. JW changed their Bibles to meet their own needs.
 
tawny said:
Being able to receive the Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity of Our Lord in the Eucharist.
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This is it, for me, too.

Plus, we can also spend time with the Lord both at church and at Adoration. 🙂
 
Having been a protestant for 13 years, there is no objection they might have about the Church that I didn’t once raise myself.

People generally do not dislike the Catholic church, they dislike what they THINK the church is.If they read the Catechism with the hater glasses removed from their faces, they would likely agree with about 85-90% of it. And that remaining 10-15% can be explained to satisfaction if they care enough to explore. 🤷

Protestant Churches are generally based on the sermon given. And IMO the pastor is given too much leeway in the pulpit as a result. I have heard some really good ones like John Hagee - when he is preaching gospel it’s hard to find a better preacher. Unfortunately he also preaches prosperity gospel and seems obsessed with Israel to the point where it looks like he is worshiping it.:mad:

So yeah, in the Mass, Christ is the focus 100% of the time. Nothing will ever pull me away from that, nice as some of the protestant churches are, they can not compare.

Pax
 
Another very useful book:

“Hard Sayings – A Catholic Approach to Answering Bible Difficulties” by Trent Horn.

Very helpful.

You can just dive in anyplace.
 
souldiver said:
Many will convert you to their sect or at least any Protestant sect, it’s shocking to see them showing that Catholicism is unbiblical or opposite to the Bible or the church is involved in a conspiracy, these are some of their strength, makes you want to believe right away.
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But there are people who seems unmoved by these*. What’s your reason for remaining a Catholic Christian despite all of these?
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People who [get/got] picked off, [didn’t/don’t] know their faith. I know my faith. That’s why I remain Catholic and will so forever
 
I find my faith to be biblical, historical, and the truth. To be honest, if I wasn’t Catholic I would go Orthodox, not Protestant.
 
souldiver said:
Many will convert you to their sect or at least any Protestant sect, it’s shocking to see them showing that Catholicism is unbiblical or opposite to the Bible or the church is involved in a conspiracy, these are some of their strength, makes you want to believe right away.

But there are people who seems unmoved by these. What’s your reason for remaining a Catholic Christian despite all of these?
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Nothing stopped me. I left the Church as an agnostic for many years, became a believer by seeking in various ways-the bible was instrumental-later became a conservative Protestant, and then many years later, returned to the CC much to my own surprise. But only because I kept asking, kept studying, kept an open mind, and God kept bestowing grace.
 
Wesrock said:
I find my faith to be biblical, historical, and the truth. To be honest, if I wasn’t Catholic I would go Orthodox, not Protestant.
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Amen! If anyone ever proved to me that the Catholic Church took the wrong path then the Orthodox was the only way to go and remain in Apostolic union.
 
If I believe in the existence of God at all, I would have to be either Jewish or Catholic. The Old Covenant began with Abraham and continues to Christ. And Catholicism is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. So here I am. When I got to first year of college I took a course based on Frank Sheed’s Theology for Beginners, and I thought, “well, it all comes together now and makes sense.” It didn’t make my belief any stronger but it gave me a sense of the intellectual unity and integrity of Catholicism. There is nowhere else to go.
 
JimG said:
If I believe in the existence of God at all, I would have to be either Jewish or Catholic. The Old Covenant began with Abraham and continues to Christ. And Catholicism is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. So here I am. When I got to first year of college I took a course based on Frank Sheed’s Theology for Beginners, and I thought, “well, it all comes together now and makes sense.” It didn’t make my belief any stronger but it gave me a sense of the intellectual unity and integrity of Catholicism. There is nowhere else to go.
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Along these same lines, I would have to say if I were to leave the Church (pray God it never happens) it would be for agnosticism rather than for a non-Catholic sect.

To my mind, it’s kind of an all or nothing deal.
 
drforjc said:
Along these same lines, I would have to say if I were to leave the Church (pray God it never happens) it would be for agnosticism rather than for a non-Catholic sect.

To my mind, it’s kind of an all or nothing deal.
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same here.
 
To leave the Catholic Church for any other destination, I would have to renounce Christ. He is present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Other than in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, He is not Sacramentally present. That is a deal breaker.
 
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