What Made You Switch??

[Rhuarc]

This is the brief watered down version please ask if you want me to go into more detail.

I was originally a protestant baptists, I got this faith from my great grandparents who didn’t push it on to firmly they did say “Jesus loves you” quite a bit and I went to a few vacation bible schools when I was 8 and 9. I discovered the internet when I was around 11 and really got immersed into youtube and listening to christian video makers who likewise were protestant and had no real denomination that they were pushing just general christian stuff and debating atheists and be lay apologetics.

When I was 15 or 14 I remember reading about the supposed ground zero mosque. I got so frustrated and angry at the people that opposed it because a)the muslims already owned the property and b)to not let them build it would encroach upon their first ammendment right. So I took up a staunch support for the Muslims and from there I started to read things about Islam I read a few chapters from the Qu’ran and was immidiatly hooked.

Now the funny thing here is that I remember being in a freshman history class and it was starting with an intro to the world religions and I remember Islam and thought “Man if there was ever a religion I was not going to convert to it would be Islam” I basically hated the religion for no reason. So anyway I converted and in turn became the thing I once hated.

Fast forward to august present day and cut to me being in a hospital at my grandmas death bed. I was emotionally distraught as I have never had anyone so close to me died in my life. So I notice a sign that shows where the chapel is in the hospital, it was a catholic hospital and therefore the chapel was catholic. At this point I didn’t care what religion the thing was dedicated too I just needed some place holy to go to pray.

I went in there and was awed and amazed at the statues the stained glass the pews and the altar. I should also mention I entered in with my cousin who is about in his mid 30s and he at one point in his life was immensely catholic but now has sort of drifted away from the church although still identifies as catholic. So he is in there and he explains a little bit about things such as stations of the cross, the Eucharist, real presence of Christ, holy water, etc… Well about 30 minutes pass and I am just taking in the environment he and I go back to the waiting room but I still feel drawn to the chapel.

My great grandma (the baptists I talked about previously) walks in and announces that my grandma is now on her way to dying. She breaks into tears and people rush up to comfort her. I couldn’t take it seeing her cry like that and I run to the chapel again tears streaming down my face. I quickly bless myself with holy water as my cousin showed me and sit in a pew set down the kneelers and start to pray. I must have been praying for 20 minutes or so asking God to accept her into his kingdom and praying that he help me through the process of grieving. Then suddenly I say amen look up and see this statue of Jesus being comforted by an angel and I swear to you it is like something struck a chord inside me I went into frantic sobs and this word stuck in my head “Divine Mercy”. I repeated the word out loud as I cried and pondered upon Gods Divine Mercy for all of his creatures. We are not worthy of him but he has mercy for us. I then felt a great lifting off of my shoulders darn near physically and in that moment though I didn’t know it yet Jesus lifted up my burden and comforted my grieving soul.

I had never had such a powerful experience in my life I mean sure converting to Islam was good and all and that was a change but I never felt how I felt when I prayed to Jesus as my God. Now go forward about 2 weeks in time and I am reading this pastors blog of him basically defending the catholic faith and he quotes the verse from revelations 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” All the time I was a Muslim for all of about a year I always felt a longing in my heart a hole especially when I gave up Jesus. I knew then that that hole was Jesus knocking at the door of my heart.

Amen I say to you that since that day I have given my life to Christ Jesus the Lord. I am now a catechumen in the Catholic Church and am due to be baptized next Easter. That is how I came to the catholic faith and I have not and will not look back ever since.

I realize after writing this that this ins’t really the watered down version so yeah its basically all encompassing. Still feel free to ask any questions.

I forgot to mention that 6 months into Islam I did pick up a bit of paganism/shamanistic beliefs too and have sense renounced them too.

Peace and Blessings to you all and have a good day!

 

[Link0126]

the authority and structure of the Church is what brought me back. I went to a non-denominational service, I had been to plenty before that, but this particular one opened my eyes to the fact that any person could make themselves a preacher of a church and do whatever they wanted, being accountable to no one. That’s when I started looking at the Catholic Church again.

 

[CopticChristian]

Interesting topic. I was raised in a very conservative, very traditional Methodist church. In 2007**, I converted to Catholicism **and truly loved being Catholic and loved the Mass, the people, the prayers, etc…until I began to teach in a Catholic school. I realize that there are bad people in all religions, but for some reason in Protestant churches, many are more “up-front” about it. I found that the Catholics who ran the school were not so Christian or Catholic when it came to that, but on Sunday they were, excuse the reference, “more Catholic than the priest.” That greatly disturbed me. Also, I had believed that at one time the Church fathers and other early Christians were solely Catholic and agreed on so many things, but after looking deeper into history, I found that that wasn’t always true. That also bothered me. I also, honestly, have a hard time believing in the Real Presence anymore due to many things. I also have found that teaching in a Catholic school, I see that, at least in our local diocese, the children are not taught the love of God at all and **they are growing up to absolutely hate Church, Mass, and Catholicism in general. Being raised a protestant and talking with other converts in my parish, they agree with me. A loving God isn’t really taught to the children in a way that makes them see God as love. Once we lose the children, we lose the church, in my opinion. These are just the few things that have caused me to go back to being Protestant. I feel more of God’s love in my Methodist church and my other family’s Protestant churches than I have felt as a whole in the Catholic church. ** I do believe that the Catholic church has some of the Truth, but I also believe that people can come to God and get to heaven in the Protestant church as well.

Also, I don’t mean to offend with anything in my post, this is just what I have observed and it has affected me very strongly.

How do you discern that these children “hate”.

As a convert you had catechesis.

You now state that you believe the Church has some truths. How do you reconcile that the Holy Spirit will lead to all truth?

 

[Marybeloved]

This is the brief watered down version please ask if you want me to go into more detail.

Your story is beautiful, Rhuarc. I myself was once very attracted to Islam, I attended their meetings for about a year and even at some point did make the shahada (although only half seriously) and returned to the woman an hour later to tell her that I did not make the confession seriously and I was still Christian.

The thing you said about giving up Jesus really struck a chord with me. Before my little fling with Islam, I had read some Catholic books. I was far from staunchly catholic, but I must have absorbed enough, because the ONLY thing that kept me from Islam was the fact that I knew that becoming Muslim would be denying Christ. The idea that I would be in a position to now look at Jesus as just a prophet like Moses but no more was so terrifying- I KNEW from the bottom of my heart that, that was one thing I could never do- Say that Jesus was not Divine, not the Son of God, not God incarnate! Never. The beauty of Islamic simplicity and piety that was so compelling simply could not beat Jesus. Put all the beauty on one side of a scale and Jesus with nothing else on the other, and I could not so formally reject Jesus Christ. I also had a devotion to the Virgin which got me through some tough times- I loved and depended on her greatly, though I lived like a pagan. I’m sure that this must have helped me somewhat.

Now that I’ve been Catholic for 9 years, the first 3/4 of which was spent not practicing (it was at this time that I had my little fling with Islam), and faithful for five years, especially the last two when by God’s grace I have discovered that mortal sin has fallen away from my life, Islam has zero appeal to me. Three years ago, I had a little falling out with Christ- I was heartbroken and a bit angry with God, but the Virgin rescued me after a year of lukewarmness. Now, I can look at both those times (The time with Islam, and falling out with the God) and rejoice that the Lord had graced me with enough conviction even in my sinful indifferent life, to find myself completely unable to say or believe that Christ was not exactly who Christianity claims he is- Praise God!! :extrahappy:
Peace!

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

he’s talking about the organized Bible as we know it today the books of the New Testament were written before 400 AD and the Old Testament before the time of Christ, but they were not universally used or organized into one book until the Council of Trent I believe which was in 400 AD. God bless

Big confusion. The Council of Trent started in 1457.

 

[Tony888]

I expect responses like this are why only one non-Catholic has replied to the OP
It’s why I decline to share my story.

How do you discern that these children “hate”.

As a convert you had catechesis.

You now state that you believe the Church has some truths. How do you reconcile that the Holy Spirit will lead to all truth?

 

[jmoneyideas]

Ex Protestant now Coming Home… What caused me to switch? Well it would be asking questions and doing my own research and pealing back all that was drilled into me over the past couple of years. I also Got a Satellite Radio and Started Listening to the Catholic Channel. This caused me to stumble onto Father Robert Barrons wordonfire.org site and watching his clips. Then I sent my Pastor a youtube clip I saw about Protestantism and The Authority. He responded back to me in Church with some of the usual Solo Scriptura things I have read so commonly in this site. This caused me to start to ask more questions and then one day Go to a Mass by myself. It was entirely what I felt Church should be, Traditional and Ritualistic. So thats what led me home and I start RCIA next week.

Also, I had a lot of issues with his interpretation of certain Scriptures… We took my pastors word for the interpretation and it was so to speak the Gospel. There was no real questioning his 2 hour sermons. Don’t get me wrong, I really re-found Jesus in this Church and bought my first bible because of everything he did for me, but I have a new set of beliefs that are a far cry from what my Pastor who is a Ex Catholic believes. Everytime I heard a Anti Catholic Stance or statement in the Church is caused me to grow more and more curious as to why they felt this way.

Lastly since watching the Catholicism Series by Father Barron and attending Mass the past month I know I am in the right place now.

 

[Protestant_Me]

O and what made me switch is i grew up with the protestant faith, but I became a buddhist/NA pagan for awhile, then an agnostic, then i began to turn back to Christianity but as a seeker of truth i began studying and in the end i realized that it was the Catholic faith that was the true Christian teachings and yea now I’m waiting to turn 18 so i can join the Holy Church. God bless

Why can’t you join the Church until you’re 18?

 

[Protestant_Me]

I was a cradle Lutheran for over 5 decades. After various synod mergers and moving, I ended up in the ELCA. In time they went to women pastors, open communion, soft positions on abortion, soft positions on homosexuality. Finally, they officially accepted openly gay pastors. This was far from the Christian faith I knew (and far from some other Lutheran synods too).

I realized I was no longer Lutheran. I researched other Protestant churches first and half seemed little different than the ELCA. The other, more “orthodox” half had problems too. That left me with the Catholic Church which in my wildest dreams I would not have suspected ever considering, let alone joining. I studied and concluded it was the true Christian Church. So yes, “because it is the true way.” The truth matters.

On a previous thread I had, the Catholic members didn’t have a problem with open gay priests.

 

[Protestant_Me]

This is the brief watered down version please ask if you want me to go into more detail.

I was originally a protestant baptists, I got this faith from my great grandparents who didn’t push it on to firmly they did say “Jesus loves you” quite a bit and I went to a few vacation bible schools when I was 8 and 9. I discovered the internet when I was around 11 and really got immersed into youtube and listening to christian video makers who likewise were protestant and had no real denomination that they were pushing just general christian stuff and debating atheists and be lay apologetics.

When I was 15 or 14 I remember reading about the supposed ground zero mosque. I got so frustrated and angry at the people that opposed it because a)the muslims already owned the property and b)to not let them build it would encroach upon their first ammendment right. So I took up a staunch support for the Muslims and from there I started to read things about Islam I read a few chapters from the Qu’ran and was immidiatly hooked.

Now the funny thing here is that I remember being in a freshman history class and it was starting with an intro to the world religions and I remember Islam and thought “Man if there was ever a religion I was not going to convert to it would be Islam” I basically hated the religion for no reason. So anyway I converted and in turn became the thing I once hated.

Fast forward to august present day and cut to me being in a hospital at my grandmas death bed. I was emotionally distraught as I have never had anyone so close to me died in my life. So I notice a sign that shows where the chapel is in the hospital, it was a catholic hospital and therefore the chapel was catholic. At this point I didn’t care what religion the thing was dedicated too I just needed some place holy to go to pray.

I went in there and was awed and amazed at the statues the stained glass the pews and the altar. I should also mention I entered in with my cousin who is about in his mid 30s and he at one point in his life was immensely catholic but now has sort of drifted away from the church although still identifies as catholic. So he is in there and he explains a little bit about things such as stations of the cross, the Eucharist, real presence of Christ, holy water, etc… Well about 30 minutes pass and I am just taking in the environment he and I go back to the waiting room but I still feel drawn to the chapel.

My great grandma (the baptists I talked about previously) walks in and announces that my grandma is now on her way to dying. She breaks into tears and people rush up to comfort her. I couldn’t take it seeing her cry like that and I run to the chapel again tears streaming down my face. I quickly bless myself with holy water as my cousin showed me and sit in a pew set down the kneelers and start to pray. I must have been praying for 20 minutes or so asking God to accept her into his kingdom and praying that he help me through the process of grieving. Then suddenly I say amen look up and see this statue of Jesus being comforted by an angel and I swear to you it is like something struck a chord inside me I went into frantic sobs and this word stuck in my head “Divine Mercy”. I repeated the word out loud as I cried and pondered upon Gods Divine Mercy for all of his creatures. We are not worthy of him but he has mercy for us. I then felt a great lifting off of my shoulders darn near physically and in that moment though I didn’t know it yet Jesus lifted up my burden and comforted my grieving soul.

I had never had such a powerful experience in my life I mean sure converting to Islam was good and all and that was a change but I never felt how I felt when I prayed to Jesus as my God. Now go forward about 2 weeks in time and I am reading this pastors blog of him basically defending the catholic faith and he quotes the verse from revelations 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” All the time I was a Muslim for all of about a year I always felt a longing in my heart a hole especially when I gave up Jesus. I knew then that that hole was Jesus knocking at the door of my heart.

Amen I say to you that since that day I have given my life to Christ Jesus the Lord. I am now a catechumen in the Catholic Church and am due to be baptized next Easter. That is how I came to the catholic faith and I have not and will not look back ever since.

I realize after writing this that this ins’t really the watered down version so yeah its basically all encompassing. Still feel free to ask any questions.

I forgot to mention that 6 months into Islam I did pick up a bit of paganism/shamanistic beliefs too and have sense renounced them too.

Peace and Blessings to you all and have a good day!

This is a beautiful story. Even though I am not Catholic and don’t share the same feelings you do towards it, I am very moved by your story. I am glad you found Christ in any religion and are so happy! I would like to hear more, but I don’t know what to ask you to elaborate on. Just anything insightful would be appreciated. Thank you so much for sharing! Peace to you also!!

 

[Protestant_Me]

I was reading the history of early Christianity when I realized that the first Christians – who learned their religion from the Apostles’ own lips – were Catholic. Protestantism is 16 centuries too late to be true – and there are thousands of conflicting and competing opinions in Protestantland about what is “true.” Jesus didn’t leave us a book when He returned to heaven. He left us the Catholic Church. All Protestant ecclesial communities (there’s only one Church) are based on different interpretations of the Bible – but it didn’t exist per se until the end of the fourth century, produced by the Catholic Church. The Church was the Agent of the Holy Spirit in writing the New Testament and compiling the Bible. She is nearly 400 years older than the Bible. The Bible is a Catholic book.

Which kind of Protestant are you, Protestant Me?

Jim Dandy
Former Protestant, agnostic, atheist

I’m not sure by telling you what my sect I am is going to affect, but I am a very strong Methodist! Have been my whole life!

Edit to change “what kind of Protestant” to “which . . .,” meaning which Protestant ecclesial community do you belong to?

 

[Protestant_Me]

Interesting topic. I was raised in a very conservative, very traditional Methodist church. In 2007, I converted to Catholicism and truly loved being Catholic and loved the Mass, the people, the prayers, etc…until I began to teach in a Catholic school. I realize that there are bad people in all religions, but for some reason in Protestant churches, many are more “up-front” about it. I found that the Catholics who ran the school were not so Christian or Catholic when it came to that, but on Sunday they were, excuse the reference, “more Catholic than the priest.” That greatly disturbed me. Also, I had believed that at one time the Church fathers and other early Christians were solely Catholic and agreed on so many things, but after looking deeper into history, I found that that wasn’t always true. That also bothered me. I also, honestly, have a hard time believing in the Real Presence anymore due to many things. I also have found that teaching in a Catholic school, I see that, at least in our local diocese, the children are not taught the love of God at all and they are growing up to absolutely hate Church, Mass, and Catholicism in general. Being raised a protestant and talking with other converts in my parish, they agree with me. A loving God isn’t really taught to the children in a way that makes them see God as love. Once we lose the children, we lose the church, in my opinion. These are just the few things that have caused me to go back to being Protestant. I feel more of God’s love in my Methodist church and my other family’s Protestant churches than I have felt as a whole in the Catholic church. I do believe that the Catholic church has some of the Truth, but I also believe that people can come to God and get to heaven in the Protestant church as well.

Also, I don’t mean to offend with anything in my post, this is just what I have observed and it has affected me very strongly.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience with me! I am unlike most Christians. I have done my fair share of research on this religion, and have been very open minded about it. But there are several things that I just don’t agree with. Going beyond the typical Communion and petty problems. I am also Methodist and I don’t believe it is too radical or strict a religion. Please feel free to enlighten me more!!! God bless!!!

 

[Newsy]

Interesting topic. I was raised in a very conservative, very traditional Methodist church. In 2007, I converted to Catholicism and truly loved being Catholic and loved the Mass, the people, the prayers, etc…until I began to teach in a Catholic school. I realize that there are bad people in all religions, but for some reason in Protestant churches, many are more “up-front” about it. I found that the Catholics who ran the school were not so Christian or Catholic when it came to that, but on Sunday they were, excuse the reference, “more Catholic than the priest.” That greatly disturbed me. Also, I had believed that at one time the Church fathers and other early Christians were solely Catholic and agreed on so many things, but after looking deeper into history, I found that that wasn’t always true. That also bothered me. I also, honestly, have a hard time believing in the Real Presence anymore due to many things. I also have found that teaching in a Catholic school, I see that, at least in our local diocese, the children are not taught the love of God at all and they are growing up to absolutely hate Church, Mass, and Catholicism in general. Being raised a protestant and talking with other converts in my parish, they agree with me. A loving God isn’t really taught to the children in a way that makes them see God as love. Once we lose the children, we lose the church, in my opinion. These are just the few things that have caused me to go back to being Protestant. I feel more of God’s love in my Methodist church and my other family’s Protestant churches than I have felt as a whole in the Catholic church. ** I do believe that the Catholic church has some of the Truth, but I also believe that people can come to God and get to heaven in the Protestant church as well. **

Also, I don’t mean to offend with anything in my post, this is just what I have observed and it has affected me very strongly.

The Catholic Church recognizes salvation outside the Catholic Church. Not trying to change your mind, just thought I would point that out.

BTW, as you said, there are non-practicing members in every church, thankfully we are not accountable for them. Again, just pointing out, a few bad members do not change the Church.

 

[eo_chibears]

If you were once Catholic and are now Protestant, what made you change frome one to the other? If you were once Protestant and are now Catholic, what made you change? Please don’t reply with “Because it is the true way,” because that isn’t helping me determine the reason you left.
Thank you!!!

Lots of research and reading and discussions led me to the Cathoic faith.

 

[domandcarols]

I love reading these stories.

 

[Newsy]

On a previous thread I had, the Catholic members didn’t have a problem with open gay priests.

Really doesn’t matter what they thought, it doesn’t change the Church’s teaching. Until the last 50 years or so, every christian church agreed that men were called to either marriage (1man +1 woman) or celibacy (no relations outside of marriage). Anything outside the covenant of marriage is a sin, no matter how some respond on a forum in cyberspace.

 

[agent_grey]

I read the bible several times and abandoned Religion entirely. As much as I hate that book, and anything that pushes such blasphemy; I gotta say if it wasn’t for the bible I would still believe.

Edit: I now consider my Christian/ Catholic upbringing as a form of child abuse. I suppose the fact that my parents lied to me about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, etc should have been a clear cue when I was little.

 

[Eugenius]

The Eucharist…

I was raised in the southern baptist church. I was just a kid, but remember that the Lord’s Supper (as we called it) only occurred several times a year. There was always a lot of fuss over who would prepare it, the white loaf bread had to be cut into tiny cubes and grape juice poured into little glass vials. There was more fuss over who was qualified to distribute it and then who had to clean up afterwards. It seemed that everyone became super reverant for a few minutes and then broke out of it and returned to thmselves. We never left the pew. I’m old enough to remember going to the fast food restaurant and they would bring your order out to the car on a tray that clipped to the side of your car. That’s what the Lord’s Supper reminded me of, mushy, bland, quick. Nobody went to the church during the week to pray, the church was locked.

During college I began attending the Catholic university parish with some friends. The Eucharist occurred at every mass. At first I thought it was ritualistic and idolatrous, after all it was just bread, right? Then I came to undertand that Christ is truly present. This wasn’t something that someone told me and I just said “ok.” it was one of those aha moments where you feel like somone has smacked you on the back of the head and you suddenly “get it” with every fiber of your being. Even if I didn’t already believe this, the idea that Christ has the power to be truly present if he wanted is still an amazing thing to think about. The Eucharist mystically puts us at Calvary where the crucifiction is eternal, not just something that occurred two thousand years ago and remember every now and then.

The Eucharist became the center of my worship experience at mass. I love the reverence that we give to the lord when we genuflect before the tabernacle and the comfort knowing that he is physically present there. I love that we use wine, a living, breathing liquid and not grape juice that has to be sterilized to prevent fermentation or, the worst, an artificial, grape flavored “drink.” The church was open at all hours and I could go there after evening classes if I wanted. I could go to mass every day. Without the Eucharist a Protestant church now just feels like a town meeting, with a professional, paid speech giver (often very emotional) and music as entertainment. I’m not saying this to be offensive, but it is the comparison that I feel emotionally when I have gone back to visit.

Anyway, I hope this gives you some insight. I could probably go on for several more paragraphs, but essentially it was the Eucharist.

 

[AngelRose81]

The Catholic Church recognizes salvation outside the Catholic Church. Not trying to change your mind, just thought I would point that out.

BTW, as you said, there are non-practicing members in every church, thankfully we are not accountable for them. Again, just pointing out, a few bad members do not change the Church.

The way I’ve always heard it (at least from our parishioners) is that once you leave the church you are in danger of Hell.

 

[sallybutler]

Why can’t you join the Church until you’re 18?

You can if your parents give their permission. Until you reach the age of majority or are an emancipated minor, it is your parents decision.