Why are you persuaded that Catholicism is the true Christian faith?

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Grant, This is a new tack. It might have been nice, neat and clean if Jesus would have handed a book to the disciples and told them everything you need to know is in this book. That is not what he did. Jesus teachings are not simple they are very complex. They are not all in the book the church wrote.
 
God gave us a mind and a wonderful complex and beautiful mystery to solve - the mystery of His love for us.
 
We will have to disagree which is fine.

He said to feed sheep, He said to forgive sins, He said to spread the good news… He had the opportunity to insist on unity and He didn’t. He didn’t give they keys to those others but he made clear the apostles didn’t have to worry themselves over such things. Let’s look at this in a practical way. He first came for the Jewish people already divided into groups thinking they were the elect following every rule perfectly. It wasn’t about perfection in the rules. It wasn’t the group doing it the most or absolutely inspired way. Course He came for all Israel, heck all people even the gentiles. So when Jesus comes again will He be really that upset at the the Baptist for having picked the wrong church?
 
When I moved from simply researching the Catholic Church to taking steps to enter through RCIA, I was really taken aback by some of the things I really latched onto.

Mary was the first one. Initially, I just wanted to “accept” Mary but not be highly devoted to her. I think I was concerned about what my family and friends would think, since I may just confirm the Catholic stereotype of a “Mary worshipper”. Through some readings on the dogmas and some powerful experiences praying the Rosary, I sort of went crazy for Mary.

Adoration was the other big thing. Once I got over the weirdness of looking at a, according to my eyes, wafer and realizing it was Christ before me, I fell in love with coming before it. Then I felt called to spend time doing that in Adoration, and the early experiences were enough to make me look forward to my weekly hour with Jesus.

There have still been some rough spots at times, but those two in particular have helped a lot and were a bit unexpected. I knew I was going to get the Eucharist and full communion. I didn’t expect I’d get so much more.
 
To answer the OP:

I became a Catholic as an infant because that’s what my mom was (my dad is non-religious). I left the faith in high school after being Confirmed, and I came back after having a powerful experience at Mass while away at college as a freshman. I stayed Catholic rather than look for “a church up the road” because it’s all I’ve ever known, and I didn’t know what I believed yet. I had hardly read the Bible in my life, so I started there. Then I found this place and had all of my “beginner questions” answered.

Since then (that was two years ago), I’ve been engaged in private study. Virtually everything I read these days is theological in nature. I read all 73 books of our Bible, and I’ve been reading up on Church history. “I was Catholic because I was raised Catholic. I am Catholic because of what I’ve found in the early Church.”

I accept infant baptism because of my understanding of Covenant theology (sound odd? It doesn’t anymore if you understand one key- though easy to miss- element of God’s covenants).

I accept the Eucharist because we understand Jesus’ death to be a sacrifice- and in Judaism, a sacrifice wasn’t unless it was eaten. (In other words, a sacrifice only occurs if you eat it)

I accept the priesthood because I accept the Eucharist (there’s no priests without a sacrifice. Likewise, a sacrifice requires priests).

I accept the Papacy partially because of Peter’s preeminence among the apostles in Scripture (but mostly because of his confession in Matthew 16, and what Jesus said to him afterward).

But for me, it ultimately all comes down to, what does the Church say?, and everything I know of the Catholic Church is in harmony with the early Church.
 
My husband and I and 4 kids came into the church 2 years ago. It was a process that took about 8 years all told and included heavily studying the early church, writings by the early church fathers as well as didache, reading books by people such as Dr Scott Hahn like the Jewish roots of the Eucharist, learning about the meanings of the original Greek words that the NT was written in and how they favor the catholic interpretation (for example having to do with Jesus speaking of the Real Presence in John 6, and how “do this in memory of” had a different meaning than many take that to mean today). In the process of all of that I also learned a lot about the Jewish faith as it was during and before Jesus’s time and how they too prayed for the dead, which supports the belief that it is correct to do so, and the body of Christ includes the living and the dead and we aren’t cut off from each other. And then there is the fact that there can only be ONE truth for any issue and so obviously the Bible isn’t supposed to be personally interpreted and followed just based on what each person thinks. I truly feel like if a person studies everything with an open mind, especially early church writings and the original Greek translations, and keeps in mind what Jewish society was like and how it prefigured the Church, that they would not be able to remain Protestant. I could write a lot more but I feel like I’m starting to ramble. Suffice it to say that I feel like the Catholic Church is absolutely the church that Jesus founded, and it is beautiful.
 
GrantKlentzman said:
Show me in scripture where a “church” needs to be there to interpret in order for the Holy Spirit to do its work.
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Imagine you were a Christian in the 2nd century & someone asks you, “Show me in scripture where God dies for our sins?”

“Show me in scripture where gentiles are adopted sons of God.”
 
GrantKlentzman said:
Show me in scripture where a “church” needs to be there to interpret in order for the Holy Spirit to do its work
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Acts 8
29Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” 30Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
GrantKlentzman said:
It does not say that it says that there was so much that Jesus said and did that not all the books in the world could record them. So I would say that we take what God’s Word says and judge it against everything else. Because the Bible is the sole infallible rule of faith for Christians.
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I’ve heard this said many times, & never understood. To me, this would mean the Bible is God’s greatest creation… If He created all things & subjected all creation to the Bible.

But it’s not. He created all things & made them subject to man… even the Sabbath. He built his church on man, & all things are subject to his church, the body of Christ.
 
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GrantKlentzman said:
How exactly does that prove the Catholic faith to be the true Christian faith?
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I don’t like the term “the true Christian faith.” I think it implies something no one really means. All who were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, & the Holy Spirit were baptized in the one true Christian faith. We are all one body.

But just like when Jesus fed the multitudes, many ate their fill & went home. Each one thinking they knew it all though they probably didn’t truly grasp all that Jesus taught in that sitting. They left & still the apostles were able to fill seven baskets then twelve baskets with what was left over.

Same thing today Jesus speaks to each & every one of us. Some of us have responded, listened, & accepted all that he says… Some of us have accepted some of what he says. I’m a Catholic & I admit I haven’t accepted all that he says. Some of it is very hard, & though I know it’s true I can’t assimilate it into my life right now, though I pray that day is coming. & I believe that day is coming because I trust the one who said it.
 
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I am convinced of Catholicism simply because it is implausible for me to believe that Jesus founded a church when he was with us, but nobody got it right until 1,500 years later.
 
Probably not that one, but rather some of the dietary laws, that is, eating certain (non-kosher) foods is called an abomination. Ah but that word “abomination” is an approximation of the nuanced variety of Jewish types of sin, putting the mere mortal and venial dichotomy to shame LOL.
 
What did Jesus mean by “church?” I’m not here to engage in mental gymnastics. You asked a question. I gave you an answer.
 
I asked you a question so that you can explain exactly what “a church” is.
 
Ah, well my apologies. I answered your original question. I’m not asking you to take the same stance as me. I just offered it as an answer to the thread title. Further discussion of this will only lead to us talking over each other. It won’t be productive. I grew up Lutheran, spent much of my youth attending Methodist services, back to Lutheran, then Episcopalian. I am now Catholic and Catholic I shall remain.

May you be blessed.
 
“But God has combined the members of the body…. [so] that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:24-27) “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:5)

“You are peter, and on this rock I will build my Church” (Matthew 16;18)

Thus if the Church is to be unified to the extent that the human body is one and it all started with Peter, it would make sense to assume the church is still unified by Peter…

So the Church, historically, and by Jesus himself, is the physical, visible Catholic Church.

Edit: Grammar
 
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This is one of the MAJOR reasons I believe Catholicism is the true church. Also, the early Christians/Church fathers were Catholics and believe in the real presence, which is actually found in some Protestant church history books if I’m not mistaken. If you’ve ever heard of Lizzie’s Answers on YouTube, she is a former Church of Christ member than studied her way into becoming a Catholic because she realized it was the true, original church (she even went to a Church of Christ college). I suggest watching her videos, because they explain a TON. Some of her earlier videos actually reject Catholicism, but she goes back to refute her own words in her later videos with incredible logic and Scripture.

The video I am linking is Steve Ray. He is a former Baptist who also studied his way into becoming a Catholic. He used to practically hate them. His explaination is incredible, to the point where I even used him as a source for my senior thesis. One of my ministers also knows him personally.

A lot of my reasoning is also gut, though. I’ve had a strong connection with the Blessed Mother since I was about 3 years old and have always been drawn to the Church. This I believe not particularly from influence, but because of the Holy Spirit.

God Bless!
 
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