What Made You Switch??

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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!!!
:blessyou:
 
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

Edit to change “what kind of Protestant” to “which . . .,” meaning which Protestant ecclesial community do you belong to?
 
I saw a bumper sticker for a local Catholic Radio station. After listening for a while I started to actually study the Church and found out a lot of what I thought Catholics believed was wrong (not that I knew that much about it to begin with.) The more I read and studied, the more I came to see that it was indeed Truth. Not to mention the fact that the Catholic Church was the only church for the first thousand years of Christianity. Reading some of the Church Fathers also fortified my beliefs that the Catholic “got it right”
 
Jim_Dandy said:
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.

What kind of Protestant are you, Protestant Me?

Jim Dandy
Former Protestant, agnostic, atheist
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The Bible was written in 400 aD???
but it didn’t exist per se until the end of the fourth century, produced by the Catholic Church.
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???
 
Pfaffenhoffen said:
The Bible was written in 400 aD???

???
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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
 
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
 
When I switched from Catholic to Evangelical years ago, it was exciting. Like a little child running away from home and running the hills free as a bird. What made me switch back?
  1. Maturity. Not trying to be glib, just honest. As people age what excites them when they are young loses its luster. As the magnet toward Rome was getting stronger, I was still attending occasionally a Christian Missionary Alliance church. They had great, uplifting, hand clapping, hand-raising music. Very emotional.
    As the Sundays rolled on, I found myself almost running to the car when the service ended. Everyone was having a great time. Except me. I was bored to tears and it all seemed so lifeless and artificial. What would have attracted me years before, had no more meaning to me. I knew then I was no longer evangelical.
  2. Education. The more I read, the less Protestant I became. I remember thinking as I read the ECF “Why are they Catholic?!?” As if somehow I could make them something they obviously were not.
  3. Honesty. Again, not trying to be glib. I could not and would not revise history to my image and opinion. I could no longer pretend to believe in something I knew was false.
    I could not lie to myself, I could not pretend. Once I knew the truth, I had a responsibility to act on it.
    I didn’t ‘switch’.
    I came home.
 
Protestant_Me said:
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!!!
:blessyou:
Click to expand...
I left the Catholic Church because I was scandalized by the publicized priestly sex scandals in the 80s. I was also brought up in a very progressive home parish, where we weren’t taught about true Christianity, but were real good at making felt banners. I became a short term missionary in the evangelical churches, thinking that there was no such thing in the Catholic Church.

I came back because every bible question, doctrine question, dogma question was already asked and answered in a completely biblical manner by the Catholic (Magisterium) Church.

Asking questions into the internet search bar kept bringing up faithful Catholic answers.
 
Pfaffenhoffen said:
The Bible was written in 400 aD???

???
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The Hebrew Scriptures (and the Greek translation known as the Septuagint) were written over a period of about a thousand years, ending a couple of centuries or so before Jesus was born. The Church (some of the leaders of the Church or their disciples) wrote the NT during the last 50 years or so of the first Christian century. There was no collection of wriitngs called the Bible until the Catholic Church selected, canonized, and formed 27 of her own writings and 46 books of the Septuagint that she inherited from Christ and the Apostles into a Book she named the Bible at the end of the fourth century at the Councils of Rome (A.D. 382), Hippo (393), and Carthage III and IV (397, 419). This was done so that only authorized writings would be read aloud at the Church’s liturgy.

Edit: I didn’t say that right. The Septuagint (a translation into Greek of the Hebrew Scriptures) dates from about the middle of the third century B.C. It was the Hebrew Scriptures that were written over a thousand years.
 
Jim_Dandy said:
The Hebrew Scriptures (and the Greek translation known as the Septuagint) were written over a period of about a thousand years, ending a couple of centuries or so before Jesus was born. The Church (some of the leaders of the Church or their disciples) wrote the NT during the last 50 years or so of the first Christian century. There was no collection of wriitngs called the Bible until the Catholic Church selected, canonized, and formed 27 of her own writings and 46 books of the Septuagint that she inherited from Christ and the Apostles into a Book she named the Bible at the end of the fourth century at the Councils of Rome (A.D. 382), Hippo (393), and Carthage III and IV (397, 419). This was done so that only authorized writings would be read aloud at the Church’s liturgy.
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I knew what you meant. 😉
 
Protestant_Me said:
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!!!
:blessyou:
Click to expand...
But shouldn’t truth be the reason anyone converts to anything?

God bless
 
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.
 
At it’s most basic, the thing that brought me back home is “Authority”, or put another way, Visible, Biblical, Legitimacy.

The Protestant arguments regarding bible alone, “invisible church”, local independence and such all rang hollow given the disparity of “bible alone” doctrinal positions.
The “fruit” of the Protestant Sola Scriptura approach was one of confusion on doctrinal matters both large and small - With no way to effectively “tell it to the Church” or to settle a given matter for the universal Church ala the Council of Jerusalem.
The more I dove into the biblical evidence the less evidence of a “protestant model” I found.

Then there is the Eucharist…and the mass. A huge draw home for me - and I did not want anything but the real deal which of course feeds back into the “authoritative” Church issue.
Second to the Eucharist - was confession - although I must admit to not recognizing this at the time. But upon coming home, the great graces I have been granted through confession cannot be underestimated.

Other matters branched out from there. But once I was settled that Christ founded an Authoritative Church and that the Catholic Church is that Legitimate, Authoritative Church, everything else came easily (well mostly 🤷)

Hope this helps you

Peace
James
 
CountrySteve said:
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
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The council of Trent was not in 400 AD - it was much later - 1545 to 1563.
It’s contribution to the Bible was that it reaffirmed the canon as set by earlier councils and officially “Closed” the canon - which was in response to the the “tampering” that was going on in the Protestant world.

Councils approving the canon:

Council of Rome (382)
Local church council under the authority of Pope Damasus, (366-384) gave a complete list of canonical books of the OT and NT which is identical with the list later approved by the Council of Trent.
Council of Hippo (393)
Local North African Church council in union with and under the authority of the Bishop of Rome approved a list of OT and NT canon (same as later approved by the Council of Trent)
Council of Carthage (397)
Local North African Church council in union with and under the authority of the Bishop of Rome approved a list of OT and NT canon (same as later approved by the Council of Trent)
Pope Innocent I, Bishop of Rome, 401-417 (405)
Responded to a request by Exuperius, Bishop of Toulouse, with a list of canonical books of Scripture; this list was the same as later approved by the Council of Trent.
Council of Carthage (419)
Local North African Church council in union with and under the authority of the Bishop of Rome approved a list of OT and NT canon (same as later approved by the Council of Trent)
The Council of Nicea (787)
The Council of Nicea II in 787 ratified the same canon as authoritative for the Eastern Churches.
Council of Florence, an ecumenical council (1441)
Complete list of OT and NT canon was drawn up; this list later adopted by the Fathers of the Council of Trent

Peace
James
 
Please stick to the topic of the OP please and post in a charitable way.
 
Protestant_Me said:
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!!!
:blessyou:
Click to expand...
It is not my intention to offend any fundamentalists or Evangelicals out there but in retrospect I would have to say belonging to one of these churches over time was a major influence in my decision in converting to Catholicism. The minimalist position the Eucharist had and the lack of reverence I subjectively experienced while in attendance contributed among other things.
 
JRKH said:
At it’s most basic, the thing that brought me back home is “Authority”, or put another way, Visible, Biblical, Legitimacy.

The Protestant arguments regarding bible alone, “invisible church”, local independence and such all rang hollow given the disparity of “bible alone” doctrinal positions.
The “fruit” of the Protestant Sola Scriptura approach was one of confusion on doctrinal matters both large and small - With no way to effectively “tell it to the Church” or to settle a given matter for the universal Church ala the Council of Jerusalem.
The more I dove into the biblical evidence the less evidence of a “protestant model” I found.

Hope this helps you

Peace
James
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Hi, Protestant Me…just piggy backing on James’ post…perhaps this true account of a missionary couple will shed more light on your question…“How I solved the Catholic Problem”…freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1858224/posts
 
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.
 
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