Why Be Catholic And Not A Protestant/Evangelist?

  • Thread starter Thread starter AlainVanille
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

AlainVanille

Guest
Hi everyone. I’m posting this question is also for a friend who wishes to know Jesus but she is confused regarding the different denominations of Christianity.

I myself find myself to be siding with Catholicism as the true way, but she is afraid that Roman Catholicism is a cult, as she has been into a Mormon Church and somehow found that RC is similar to theirs (based on an evangelist website, which of course does not speak the full truth regarding the Catholic Church and her teachings.) and do not want to be misled.

I am also not yet a Catholic but I still believe that God has led me to defend His one true way and so I tried to refute the points stated by the evangelist protestant regarding the Catholic Church (which are not uncommon - the ‘worship’ of Mary, salvation through good works, authority of the Church vs. sola scriptura, etc etc.) from what I myself have learned, having going through the Apologetics forum…

But she is still not yet convinced, but by refusing to take up any denomination, by praying at home and not going to Church and just reading the Bible, is that not also a Protestant way?? :confused:
Just wondering… 🤷

And if so, what can be done to convince her?

I was hoping we could maybe go through RCIA together… O.o

Thanks for your help and God bless uu all!!
 
Give her the book “Rome Sweet Home” By Scott & Kimberly Hahn, if she’s willing to read it front to back I think it will change her view. It goes through Scott Hahn’s whole journey from when he was young and very anti-Catholic (He even would convert people away from Catholicism!) till when he was starting a family as a protestant minister and started finding all the truths in the church 🙂

It also goes through all the reasons why the Catholic church is right, compared to Protestant churches. I also recommend you read it too! It is a really good book 🙂
 
RCIA is a good idea, tell her to give the Church a chance to explain Her positions instead of listening to one person explain faith. Tell her the Catholic Church has been around ever since JESUS FOUNDED IT, so we must be doing something right.
 
I would also let her know that by doing RCIA, it doesn’t commit her to joining the Catholic church. I did RCIA twice. Once when I was exploring the denomination, the second when I made the active decision. My RCIA teachers were great. I didn’t have any pressure to join the church at the end. I was able quit at any time. A good RCIA teacher will understand it. I would shop around a bit if you can because some I was able to ask questions and I was with a great group. I suggest that you look into some spiritual direction for both of you. It will help you discern if this is the right path. In addition, if you are students, try joining some students groups such as Catholic and other. Do it together and make it a joint effort.

I would also suggest that both of you read “Why do Catholics genuflect” by Al Kresta. Dwight Longenecker’s books are also very good because there are some that take beliefs between the Catholic and Evangelical and discuss it.

Avoid at this point Scott Hahn’s books minus “Home Sweet Rome” until you have a solid understanding. I say this because his material as wonderful as it is, I wouldn’t recommend his books for beginners at least not in your case.

Remind your friend that the Catholic isn;t a cult. No denomination is place perfect but most of the established ones lead to Christ.
 
You say your friend is reading the Bible. Does she know that the New Testament is comprized of 27 of the Catholic Church’s own writings? Do you know that?

There’s a little book available from Catholic Answers (the website that brings you this forum) and from Amazon:

Where We Got the Bible, by Henry Graham.

It is also available on line:

catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/protestantism/wbible.htm

Jim Dandy
 
Be careful with RCIA as some of the instructors to not know or follow all of the Church’s teachings. I am not saying don’t go to RCIA classes, just be aware that all of those teaching the faith are not teaching the faith correctly - question them. Those teaching the faith correctly will have the answers or admit they do not know and get you the correct answer.

Get a the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” for answers and explanations.

I recommend signing up as a member of “RealCatholicTV.com.” They have hours and hours of wonderful instructions on the faith, especially in their Apologetic section (i.e. 2 hours each on the Eucharist, on The Blessed Mother, Scared Scripture, Morality, Sex, etc.).

EWTN, is excellent also. I am sure you know that.

The book recommended to you “Rome Sweet Home” is excellent. All of the books by Scott Hahn are excellent.

Please stay on your journey home. I pray for the day when you are a Catholic and are receiving the Blessed Sacraments. Oh, to receive the Sacrament of Confession and be absolved of our sins and then to receive our Lord, our God in the Eucharist.

Even though you cannot go to Communion and receive the Holy Eucharist you can go up with the others and receive a blessing from the Priest. Folded your arms with your hands on your shoulders as this tells the Priest that you cannot receive the Holy Eucharist but wish him to Bless you. Be sure and get in the line that goes to the Priest not one that goes to an Eucharist Minister.

With the Grace of God I know you will be a Catholic soon.

God Bless,
RDS
 
AlainVanille said:
Hi everyone. I’m posting this question is also for a friend who wishes to know Jesus but she is confused regarding the different denominations of Christianity.

I myself find myself to be siding with Catholicism as the true way, but she is afraid that Roman Catholicism is a cult, as she has been into a Mormon Church and somehow found that RC is similar to theirs (based on an evangelist website, which of course does not speak the full truth regarding the Catholic Church and her teachings.) and do not want to be misled.

I am also not yet a Catholic but I still believe that God has led me to defend His one true way and so I tried to refute the points stated by the evangelist protestant regarding the Catholic Church (which are not uncommon - the ‘worship’ of Mary, salvation through good works, authority of the Church vs. sola scriptura, etc etc.) from what I myself have learned, having going through the Apologetics forum…

But she is still not yet convinced, but by refusing to take up any denomination, by praying at home and not going to Church and just reading the Bible, is that not also a Protestant way?? :confused:
Just wondering… 🤷

And if so, what can be done to convince her?

I was hoping we could maybe go through RCIA together… O.o

Thanks for your help and God bless uu all!!
Click to expand...
Just to clear up any confusion about this: the term “evangelist” isn’t limited to Protestantism–it refers to anyone who spreads the gospel (“Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”, to cite the Mass). The term “evangelical”, however, is a subsection of Protestantism and would be what you’re thinking of.

About a year ago, when I registered for this website, I was confused myself–about whether to be Catholic or Protestant. Thanks to a whole lot of reading on these forums and elsewhere, I’ve come to see that Protestantism is simply untenable. Advise your friend to read Dave Armstrong’s work, and do likewise; he’s been offering a great bargain, twenty-one ebooks for $40. (You can avail yourself of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at his website.) I’ve come to see after all my research that, despite some very strong arguments from the Protestant side, the Bible and history are not in its favour, at all. The Early Church was nothing like what we see today among Baptists and Pentecostals (Anglicans and Lutherans are much closer), where the big questions are concerned. Christians believed in salvation by faith and works. They regarded sacraments as means of grace being simultaneously infused rather than signs of grace having already been infused. They saw themselves as members of a visible, hierarchical community with deacons, priests, and bishops appointed over them.

The Catholic Church isn’t a cult, either, and it doesn’t teach “Mary worship”, it condemns the heresy of Pelagianism, and it has biblical and historical ground to stand on to claim authority over its members, as do the other ancient churches, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox.
 
Wolniewicz said:
Give her the book “Rome Sweet Home” By Scott & Kimberly Hahn, if she’s willing to read it front to back I think it will change her view. It goes through Scott Hahn’s whole journey from when he was young and very anti-Catholic (He even would convert people away from Catholicism!) till when he was starting a family as a protestant minister and started finding all the truths in the church 🙂

It also goes through all the reasons why the Catholic church is right, compared to Protestant churches. I also recommend you read it too! It is a really good book 🙂
Click to expand...
Hey, thanks!
I see you too are undergoing RCIA! Good luck and God bless you!
 
James_Trevor said:
RCIA is a good idea, tell her to give the Church a chance to explain Her positions instead of listening to one person explain faith. Tell her the Catholic Church has been around ever since JESUS FOUNDED IT, so we must be doing something right.
Click to expand...
Yup, I’m trying to convince her and get her to come with me and just ‘give RCIA a go’ and see what it’s like to be a Catholic. I believe that God will open her eyes to the Truth.

Thanks! 🙂
 
SecretGarden said:
I would also let her know that by doing RCIA, it doesn’t commit her to joining the Catholic church. I did RCIA twice. Once when I was exploring the denomination, the second when I made the active decision. My RCIA teachers were great. I didn’t have any pressure to join the church at the end. I was able quit at any time. A good RCIA teacher will understand it. I would shop around a bit if you can because some I was able to ask questions and I was with a great group. I suggest that you look into some spiritual direction for both of you. It will help you discern if this is the right path. In addition, if you are students, try joining some students groups such as Catholic and other. Do it together and make it a joint effort.

I would also suggest that both of you read “Why do Catholics genuflect” by Al Kresta. Dwight Longenecker’s books are also very good because there are some that take beliefs between the Catholic and Evangelical and discuss it.

Avoid at this point Scott Hahn’s books minus “Home Sweet Rome” until you have a solid understanding. I say this because his material as wonderful as it is, I wouldn’t recommend his books for beginners at least not in your case.

Remind your friend that the Catholic isn;t a cult. No denomination is place perfect but most of the established ones lead to Christ.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info and advice. I see you are also a neophyte.

yes, we are students. college. 🙂

Hmm, I’ll try to look around in the local bookshops to see if they have these titles.
Hope they have them.
 
Jim_Dandy said:
You say your friend is reading the Bible. Does she know that the New Testament is comprized of 27 of the Catholic Church’s own writings? Do you know that?

There’s a little book available from Catholic Answers (the website that brings you this forum) and from Amazon:

Where We Got the Bible, by Henry Graham.

It is also available on line:

catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/protestantism/wbible.htm

Jim Dandy
Click to expand...
Yes I know that. That is why I’m quite perplexed on their insistence on sola scriptura. When it fact, the Bible came from the Catholic Church.
 
Trebor135 said:
Just to clear up any confusion about this: the term “evangelist” isn’t limited to Protestantism–it refers to anyone who spreads the gospel (“Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”, to cite the Mass). The term “evangelical”, however, is a subsection of Protestantism and would be what you’re thinking of.

About a year ago, when I registered for this website, I was confused myself–about whether to be Catholic or Protestant. Thanks to a whole lot of reading on these forums and elsewhere, I’ve come to see that Protestantism is simply untenable. Advise your friend to read Dave Armstrong’s work, and do likewise; he’s been offering a great bargain, twenty-one ebooks for $40. (You can avail yourself of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at his website.) I’ve come to see after all my research that, despite some very strong arguments from the Protestant side, the Bible and history are not in its favour, at all. The Early Church was nothing like what we see today among Baptists and Pentecostals (Anglicans and Lutherans are much closer), where the big questions are concerned. Christians believed in salvation by faith and works. They regarded sacraments as means of grace being simultaneously infused rather than signs of grace having already been infused. They saw themselves as members of a visible, hierarchical community with deacons, priests, and bishops appointed over them.

The Catholic Church isn’t a cult, either, and it doesn’t teach “Mary worship”, it condemns the heresy of Pelagianism, and it has biblical and historical ground to stand on to claim authority over its members, as do the other ancient churches, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox.
Click to expand...
Thanks! Just what I need!
Hmm, but I seriously thought it was the other way round? That ‘evangelical’ can also apply to Catholics (those who spread Catholicism??) and that ‘evangelist’ is more referring to someone of that particular Protestant denom.

Anglicans are similar to Catholicism, in fact, very very close. But I heard it is still Protestant since it still broke away from the authority of the Catholic Church and that of the Pope?

It is good that we question and not follow blindly. For me, I think that doing this does not mean that we question the authority of God or the existence, but in fact, with His will, it will help us find the True way to Him.

Now if only I can convince my friend to come out and be proactive in seeking the Truth…
 
AlainVanille said:
Thanks for the info and advice. I see you are also a neophyte.

yes, we are students. college. 🙂

Hmm, I’ll try to look around in the local bookshops to see if they have these titles.
Hope they have them.
Click to expand...
Give the school and the public library a try too.
 
pablope said:
Give the school and the public library a try too.
Click to expand...
haha I did… but not many were more ‘focused’ on my current issue, although some were nice reads though… but they don’t have the CCC as well…
 
AlainVanille said:
haha I did… but not many were more ‘focused’ on my current issue, although some were nice reads though… but they don’t have the CCC as well…
Click to expand...
I think the CCC is on the internet and can be downloaded.
 
Miriam1947 said:
I think the CCC is on the internet and can be downloaded.
Click to expand...
yes. the Vatican site has it but… it is quite inconvenient >.<
I’m looking to get a hardcopy so I can have it without having to lug around a laptop. 🙂
not to mention, it is easier to share it.
 
SecretGarden said:
I would also let her know that by doing RCIA, it doesn’t commit her to joining the Catholic church. I did RCIA twice. Once when I was exploring the denomination, the second when I made the active decision. My RCIA teachers were great. I didn’t have any pressure to join the church at the end. I was able quit at any time. A good RCIA teacher will understand it. I would shop around a bit if you can because some I was able to ask questions and I was with a great group. I suggest that you look into some spiritual direction for both of you. It will help you discern if this is the right path. In addition, if you are students, try joining some students groups such as Catholic and other. Do it together and make it a joint effort.

I would also suggest that both of you read “Why do Catholics genuflect” by Al Kresta. Dwight Longenecker’s books are also very good because there are some that take beliefs between the Catholic and Evangelical and discuss it.

Avoid at this point Scott Hahn’s books minus “Home Sweet Rome” until you have a solid understanding. I say this because his material as wonderful as it is, I wouldn’t recommend his books for beginners at least not in your case.

Remind your friend that the Catholic isn;t a cult. No denomination is place perfect but most of the established ones lead to Christ.
Click to expand...
The Catholic Church is not a denomination!

To “nominate” means to name. “de-” means from. The term"denomination" refers to an organization that has broken away from a named entity and called itself something else.

The Catholic Church is the original nomination – the Mother Church of all Christendom, it is not one of the thousands of ‘de-nominations’ that have broken away from her – or have broken away from some other denomination that broke away from her – ad infinitum.

You make it sound like the Catholic Church is one of many choices, all of them equally good. Protestant ecclesial communities (there is only One Church!) have some of the truth. Only the Catholic Church has all of the truth. I can’t imagine how you went through RCIA twice and don’t know this.

Yes, the Catholic Church is perfect. She is the Body of Christ (Col 1.15-18, 1:24, 2:19; Eph 1:22-23, 4:4-7, 11:16; Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 6:1, 12:27), the Bride of Christ. (Eph 5:25-33); 1 Cor 1`1:2; Rev. 21:9-14, 22:17). She is “the household of God, the church of the living God, pillar and foundation of the truth” 1 Tim 3:15. She is “without spot or wrinkle. . . holy and without blemish” Eph 5:27. It’s her human members that are not perfect.

Jim Dandy
 
Irotama said:
Even though you cannot go to Communion and receive the Holy Eucharist you can go up with the others and receive a blessing from the Priest. Folded your arms with your hands on your shoulders as this tells the Priest that you cannot receive the Holy Eucharist but wish him to Bless you. Be sure and get in the line that goes to the Priest not one that goes to an Eucharist Minister.

God Bless,
RDS
Click to expand...
Any diocese or parish where “blessings in lieu of Communion” is practiced is disobeying the Vatican:

QUOTE:

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (Protocol No. 930/08/L):
  1. The liturgical blessing of the Holy Mass is properly given to each and to all at the conclusion of the Mass, just a few moments subsequent to the distribution of Holy Communion.
  2. Lay people, within the context of Holy Mass, are unable to confer blessings. These blessings, rather, are the competence of the priest (cf. Ecclesia de Mysterio, Notitiae 34 (15 Aug. 1997), art. 6, § 2; Canon 1169, § 2; and Roman Ritual De Benedictionibus (1985), n. 18).
  3. Furthermore, the laying on of a hand or hands — which has its own sacramental significance, inappropriate here — by those distributing Holy Communion, in substitution for its reception, is to be explicitly discouraged.
  4. The Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio n. 84, “forbids any pastor, for whatever reason to pretext even of a pastoral nature, to perform ceremonies of any kind for divorced people who remarry”. To be feared is that any form of blessing in substitution for communion would give the impression that the divorced and remarried have been returned, in some sense, to the status of Catholics in good standing.
  5. **In a similar way, for others who are not to be admitted to Holy Communion in accord with the norm of law, the Church’s discipline has already made clear that they should not approach Holy Communion nor receive a blessing. This would include non-Catholics **and those envisaged in can. 915 (i.e., those under the penalty of excommunication or interdict, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin).
END QUOTE (bold added)

Jim Dandy
 
For a good, well-indexed and searchable online copy of the CCC, I’d recommend the USCCB’s website. A quick link directly to their CCC is here.

There are many different publications of the CCC. I would HIGHLY recommend the one that the USCCB puts out. It’s large, and the current cover (Second edition) is green. While the actual content should be consistent regardless of which one you buy, the one the USCCB puts out has several comprehensive indexes, as well as a Glossary that has definitions of terms along with which paragraphs in the CCC address those terms. This is the best research-based CCC for that reason. It also has a handy index where you can look up many of the scripture verses in the Bible and see what the CCC has to say about each of those verses in context.

The quickest way to get your hands on one is to find a Catholic bookstore. Depending on where you are, there may be an independent one near you, or you could try local parishes. Most parishes have some kind of book/gift store, and those that do are likely to stock a few copies of the CCC.

Depending on how much you really want to dig into the CCC, there is also a compendium that is quite interesting. The CCC references scripture and many church writings and writings of many of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. The compendium expands those documents so that you can go read the source that is being quoted in the CCC. That’s a fairly research-intensive approach, but some people like to have that level of backup to what they read.

I’m a convert myself of about 12 years, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made! One of the things that continually astounds me is that when I’m willing to dig in and find out WHY the Church teaches a certain viewpoint, there is always a reasonable, logical, AND spiritual/scriptural background. Teachings that can seem odd, foreign, or just plain random never are, even if it takes some research to figure out where those teachings are coming from. Believe it or not, I’ve found this to be true in 100% of the areas I struggled the most with. (and for the record, that list of “struggled the most with” was initially quite lengthy!)

Good luck, and remember that even once you join RCIA, go through the 8 or 9 months of instruction typical to most programs, and complete the sacraments required for full initiation into the Church, your journey will have just begun. 🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top