Why are you a Catholic(or just Christian)?

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QuietKarlos

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So I started believing in Catholicism a couple of years back when my religion teacher in school showed us a video about new death experiences proving religion is true.

I think it might have been a slightly unjustified reason to come to the faith. Although I do think new death experiences do give a good case.

I have other reasons for believing in God and Catholicism now: Eucharistic miracles, Fatima, Jesus’ historicity, proofs of God and also even when taking the Eucharist it does feel like it is special.

I was wondering why do people become Catholic(or just Christian in general)?
 
QuietKarlos said:
I was wondering why do people become Catholic(or just Christian in general)?
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That is where we find God.
Accepting Jesus as our saviour for His passion, and living the life God has dictated with His law.
 
OurLadyofSorrows said:
That is where we find God.
Accepting Jesus as our saviour for His passion, and living the life God has dictated with His law.
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I mean I just never understand things like this. I’m not saying you’re wrong but I am just wondering like: Why would that lead you towards believing that there is a God?
 
Christian in general, because it is the only religion, that thrived against all odds. The founder was killed, the inner circle of followers were killed, many followers the same for 300 years. And in spite of all that, it became the pillar of western civilization. So Truth must be in it.
Catholic, because they are the original Christians. They have all the history, good and bad. They can trace back to Jesus and the Apostles, while Protestants can’t.
 
QuietKarlos said:
I mean I just never understand things like this. I’m not saying you’re wrong but I am just wondering like: Why would that lead you towards believing that there is a God?
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Great question. As soon as we recognise Jesus died for our sins and rose again, defeating death and Satan, we become Christian in our heart. Jesus said repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Jesus then gave us the example of Baptism and appointed Peter head of His church on earth and first Pope.
We become Baptised into the Church and become the church community of which Jesus is its head.
 
I became Catholic because of the arguments in favor of it, along with the Catechism.
 
NO ONE is “just a Christian”, mostly, when I hear people say that, they just don’t want to call themselves Protestant. Anyway, history. I figured, if I was going to be Christian, I’d have to be the original.
 
I always knew that I deserve God’s wrath. I tried to suppress my conscience by louder dhikr and Qur’an recitation. It only worked temporarily, though, because before long, my conscience would awaken and speak to me a little louder than before. When I left Islam, I looked for a new path. Christianity is similar to Islam, so I decided to consider it.

Islam says that Christ was not crucified, but to believe that is a kin to intellectual suicide. Every historical source of that time period says that He was crucified. Moreover, there were numerous communities that believed in the resurrection in the days of Paul. If the crucifixion and resurrection were both false, why in the world would it be so widespread, so quickly? It’s because the early Christians believed in both of those things.

I was so in love with the idea that God came to Earth to die for my sins personally. The god of Islam is so distant and there’s never a chance to be intimate with him. The God that the Bible talks about is near to His servants via the Holy Spirit. I have heard God speak to me on many occasions. When I was a muslim, I would scoff at the idea that God would [directly] speak to people. There’s no god that speaks to people, as far as Islam is concerned. Allah is a very distant god.

Lastly, and I’m sorry for rambling so much, but I would like to say that I have found fulfillment in the Pentecostal school of thought. Pentecostalism is similar to Sufism, in a sense. That was very appealing to me because I used to be a sufi muslim. Both Sufism and Pentecostalism emphasize ecstatic experiences as well as spiritual gifts. Pentecostals don’t want to wait until they die and go to Heaven to experience the Lord – they want to hear and experience God now. While we’re here on earth, let’s seek God’s presence and blessing over our lives. Let’s seek God here and now.
 
Finding out that there was a God, and He is a loving father, isn’t that the best news ever?
Jesus paid my ransom. THAT is what love looks like. I don’t love like that. Not even close.
 
I am a cradle Catholic. I left the Church in high school. I was estranged from my family, homeless, jobless, destitute, angry with God.

I embarked on a journey of religious seeking. I ate prasadam with ISKCON devotees, one of them remarked that St. Francis of Assisi is his hero. I read tracts by Jack Chick spreading vicious lies about the Church, the Jesuits, and the Eucharist. I received bread and grape juice at the First United Methodist Ecclesial Community.

But then I came to my senses, and I found the Catholic Church. It was like the first time I had ever seen her true form. She is Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. I made my Confirmation and here is where I stay. This is my family, this is my life. This is the fount of salvation.

John 6:68
 
Because Christianity makes far more sense to me than any other religion does, especially when compared to the religion I was brought up with (Buddhism), and Catholicism is the most legitimate form of Christianity, with unbroken apostolic succession from St. Peter, the No. 1 apostle out of all.
 
new-kirishitan said:
Catholicism is the most legitimate form of Christianity, with unbroken apostolic succession from St. Peter, the No. 1 apostle out of all.
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Agreed, except there is a common misconception lurking here.

Apostolic succession could derive from any of the 11 Apostles. It does not derive exclusively from Peter.

If you are thinking of the Roman Pontiff, that is Petrine Succession, which does not mean that Pope St. John Paul the Great ordained Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who ordained Pope Francis.

So, apostolic succession is the hereditary line of who ordained whom, which we can trace usually to Cardinal Rebiba these days. Theoretically, each bishop alive today could trace his lineage all the way back to an apostle, not necessarily Peter.
 
I didn’t mean that apostolic succession only comes from St Peter. The Orthodox churches also have valid apostolic succession, as opposed to the Protestant churches. But St Peter is the #1 among the apostles, and is the one who was given the keys of heaven, making him the premier apostle. Since Peter was the first Bishop of Rome, all subsequent popes are successors to this premier position in the Christian world, while the Orthodox bishops are not, despite they also have the valid apostolic succession.
 
Dan_Defender said:
They can trace back to Jesus and the Apostles, while Protestants can’t.
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Of course, Protestants would have a very different perspective on this. Protestants would say that some time during the Middle Ages, Christianity in the West lost its way with the Mass, communion under one kind, confession to priests, purgatory, indulgences, shrines, veneration of saints, clerical celibacy, maintaining liturgy and scripture in a language that ordinary people couldn’t understand, an exaggerated role for the bishop of Rome, and so on. They would say that what they did was actually bring Christianity back to the religion of Jesus and the apostles. Protestants would therefore trace a direct line from themselves back to the earliest Christians. The Anglican Communion, notably, explicitly traces its origins to the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury, whose successor they believe to be the present archbishop of Canterbury, continuing an unbroken line of succession.
QuietKarlos said:
new death experiences proving religion is true.
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Do you mean near-death? You’ve typed “new” twice, so I’m not sure whether it’s just a typo. While some people do believe that these experiences offer proof for religious beliefs, many also believe that they can be explained as purely physiological phenomena. A.J. Ayer had a near-death experience, which did briefly make him consider the possibility of religion, but he quickly dismissed it as just normal brain activity during the final moments of life and went back to being resolutely non-religious.

I’m also not convinced that miracles and visions really prove Christianity to be true. I would say that believing in them is a matter of faith. Non-religious people are perfectly well aware of the claims that there are miracles and visions, but it doesn’t make them become Christians. Instead, they look for errors in the reporting of these phenomena and/or non-religious explanations.

Personally, I would say that the reason I am a Catholic was originally because my parents are Catholic. Subsequently, I would say that I decided to practice Catholicism independently because of the strength of the moral teachings of Jesus. It seemed to me that Jesus offers us the best opportunity to live well.
 
I am a Catholic because I have encountered Jesus in my life. Faith is sustained by a relationship that is experienced. Encountering Christ is undeniable because it is underpinned by truth to oneself.

Our predisposition to being open to the encounter is often referred to as a “search” for Gods presence. Whether we acknowledge it or not, it is innate in every human. Our predisposition to accepting this truth is colored by many of lifes experiences. Irrespective of these experiences, God does not hide from us. In fact, He does not give us a choice to encounter Him. If we do not (or cannot) encounter Him is His creation ie: both man and/or nature - then We will encounter Him in our suffering.

God in His infinite wisdom and love for us - becoming incarnate in Jesus - raised the human condition to participate in the Divine relationship. In paying for our sins, His suffering and passion, gives our suffering - in its proper context - redemptive status.

I am Catholic (Christian) because of this truth, goodness and beauty. I do not find such rational coherence - sustained by encounter of the living God - in any other faith. In our temporal lives as His servants, we are called to eternal life with Him - this is indeed “good news”.
 
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Teachings! I’ve come to believe that the Church teaches the Chrsitian faith most accurately and fully.

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6:67-68
 
Dan_Defender said:
They can trace back to Jesus and the Apostles, while Protestants can’t.
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Lineage is always an interesting discussion. Fundamentally, lineage is about family. Where did we come from? How did we get here? We use our family trees to bring us together - and sometimes to drive us apart. “I checked, and there’s not a drop of Hatfield blood in this McCoy family!”

St. Paul it seems was all about the “together” part of family trees. I like what he has to say about families here:

“26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

This is why the Catholic Church (and many mainline Protestant churches) only baptise one time. Like the Hatfields and McCoy’s, we can focus on what keeps us apart; or like St. Paul, we can focus on what makes us family (and God willing, have family dinner at His table again some day soon).

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
 
davidharper said:
Ever since I walked away from the RCC forty years ago I have been wondering why people remain catholic. The profound arrogance and stupidity of “Catholic Answers” has reminded me of why I left.
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It may be that they have come to see something, have been awakened to something, that perhaps you have not. Plus hey, Catholics do not have a lock on arrogance and stupidity. These are human failings, all too common in far too many of us.

If there is a God, I do not want to miss out on him. If there is one best way to him, then that’s the way I’m going to take.

I agree with you in part about arrogance. At least for me, I am deeply and profoundly impressed with the importance of humility to any sort of godly life. I really think it’s absolutely foundational.
 
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