Why do Protestants become Catholic?

  • Thread starter Thread starter figuredeslarmes
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

figuredeslarmes

Guest
I was wondering if you could tell me some of the major reasons why a Protestant, Evangelical, or Fundamentalist converts to the Roman Catholic Church. Thank you! 🙂
 
Because they know where the fullness of the truth resides. Either it resonates with their desire to be completely faithful to scripture, or they want to partake in the actual body and blood of Christ, or they respond to Catholic social teaching or authority. Whatever the case, they convert because it’s true.
 
40.png
figuredeslarmes:
I was wondering if you could tell me some of the major reasons why a Protestant, Evangelical, or Fundamentalist converts to the Roman Catholic Church. Thank you! 🙂
Click to expand...
I was wondering why you would find this hard to believe! Most people that study the early church and the bible realize that the early church is the Roman Catholic Church of today. We are the mustard seed that Jesus was talking about!

Notworthy
 
As a convert it from Protestantism to Catholicism, it was a matter of authority–who has it and why. That may seem rather dry reasoning, but it wasn’t for me. When I was a Pentecostalist I lived by the whim of my pastor. Whatever he taught us we believed even though he had no more authority to do that than any other man on the street. He may have had more Bible study, but understood from a very restricted point of view that ignored centuries of history as well as the Church Fathers of the first centuries. And this lack of authority led to inaccurate and even damaging beliefs.

If only the truth can set us free then I think we have the right to have the truth–the whole truth and not just what a Protestant denomination wants to accept of what was taught by the Church Christ himself founded–the Catholic Church. Nor skewed beliefs made up by men who oppose the Church merely because it teaches what they don’t want to believe, even though Jesus himself gave the Church the full authority to discern what is true teaching from what isn’t.
 
Based on many stories I’ve read, for some it is Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. For some it is the Authority and Unity of the Church. For some it starts when they question why the Bible is accepted as the written word of God. For some it starts when they begin to read the Early Church Fathers. For some it is the constant doctrinal changes within their own denominations, or within Protestantism as a whole. For some it starts when they find out that what they have been taught about the Church has been grossly misleading.

www.chnetwork.org has a lot of conversion stories, so that would be a good place to learn of more reasons.
 
Maybe because they do not know any better!

forever baptist
allischalmers
 
40.png
allischalmers:
Maybe because they do not know any better!

forever baptist
allischalmers
Click to expand...
You’ve got that precisely backward. People who leave the Church know nothing about it. People coming in can’t learn enough about it.

My (ex) girlfriend recently decided to take the plunge–this is a girl who was fed scripture with a firehose for 27 years.
 
I married a Catholic, I was Methodist. She went to mass every Sunday, I went to church once every couple of years. When our daughter died the local priest was very helpful and I got to know him on a personal basis. He got me interested in Catholicism, then when our 2nd daughter was born I decided that it would be much easier to explain Catholicism if we were all Catholic. I know that I made the right decision and am still learning about the fullness of the Catholic Church even after being Catholic for 34 years.
 
40.png
figuredeslarmes:
I was wondering if you could tell me some of the major reasons why a Protestant, Evangelical, or Fundamentalist converts to the Roman Catholic Church. Thank you! 🙂
Click to expand...
Because in addition to having a personal relationship with Jesus they can actually hold him in their hands and follow his instructions to eat his body and drink his blood. It just does not get any better than that.
 
40.png
allischalmers:
Maybe because they do not know any better!

forever baptist
allischalmers
Click to expand...
Well in many ways being a Baptist would be easier. You get to ignore the first 1500 years of church history, your pastor gets to decide what Scripture means, and you don’t have to worry about that sin stuff since your’e already saved.

However the easiest path is seldom the correct one. Basically you follow a religion founded by men. You follow a religion that contends that all those who passed before your church was founded are burning in eternal hellfire. If Protestants are right Jesus was a monumental failure.
 
I would recommend reading Rome Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn which is a wonderful conversion story. In the book he lists many reasons for conversion, which started with his search for truth.

If you’re not a reader try watching The Journey Home on EWTN. Many converts tell their story there!
 
40.png
Della:
As a convert it from Protestantism to Catholicism, it was a matter of authority–who has it and why. That may seem rather dry reasoning, but it wasn’t for me. When I was a Pentecostalist I lived by the whim of my pastor. Whatever he taught us we believed even though he had no more authority to do that than any other man on the street. He may have had more Bible study, but understood from a very restricted point of view that ignored centuries of history as well as the Church Fathers of the first centuries. And this lack of authority led to inaccurate and even damaging beliefs.

If only the truth can set us free then I think we have the right to have the truth–the whole truth and not just what a Protestant denomination wants to accept of what was taught by the Church Christ himself founded–the Catholic Church. Nor skewed beliefs made up by men who oppose the Church merely because it teaches what they don’t want to believe, even though Jesus himself gave the Church the full authority to discern what is true teaching from what isn’t.
Click to expand...
I think it is all Satan’s plans. Satan wants Christians to fight, so we can all blame each other. This will bring down God’s love. To me it really doesn’t matter which church, all i know God wants me to be part of his loving church, and to obey his commandment and follow his son The Lord Jesus, and that is what i am suppose to do. Im here to bring all the church together, and to stop SATAN from spreading hatred among as CHRISTIANS. We are all God’s children. Just remember to Walk in love. 👍

God Bless~
 
I was on the verge of becoming a Seventh-day Adventist until I began discussing the issues deeper with a friend of mine. I realized that most of the things that he was preaching were flat out untrue. I began to study the Early Church Fathers and the doctrine of the early Church. More and more Catholic ideas continued to pop up, and the Bible suddenly made sense to me. Things like the book of Revelation, John 6, etc. all pointed to the Catholic interpretation. I noticed that the Catholic Church had been preaching the same thing for centuries and since the time of Christ and the early martyrs that I began to get kind of scared, but also relieved. It was at this time that I decided to return to the Church and come back into communion with the See of Peter (Rome).

Some of the books and writings which I read on my way were:

Theology for Beginners
Radio Replies
Catholicism for Dummies
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Ante-Nicene Fathers
Church Councils
The Lamb’s Supper : The Mass As Heaven On Earth by Scott Hahn
Rome Sweet Home by Scott Hahn
Crossing the Tiber by Stephen K Ray
We Believe… A Survey of the Catholic Faith by Fr Oscar Lukefahr
Christ’s Mother and Ours by Fr Oscar Lukefahr
Catholicism & Fundamentalism by Karl Keating

… and of course the Holy Scripture! I picked up an awesome Catholic Bible which held the King’s English like the KJV, but was solidly orthodox, it is called the Douay-Rheims-Challoner version.

I also began to listen to the Catholic interpretation of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition and it seemed to make the most sense. No Christian believed in Sola Scriptura (“Bible Alone”) until the 1500s, the Apostles flat out deny Justification by Faith Alone and there were many other reasons as well. I felt that most of the Protestant arguments agaist the Catholic Church were gross misinterpretations of what Catholics believed and gave them the benefit of the doubt. Note, that I was baptized Catholic and went to Catholic school but I never really understood the Faith. I was also convinced that the Catholic Church is the only Church today which continues to teach the true teaching on marriage, abortion and contraception. I didn’t want an ‘easy’ feel-good Church, I wanted the Truth and the Church which Jesus Christ founded on the Apostle Saint Peter.

scripturecatholic.com, ewtn.com, releventradio.com, avemariaradio.net, newadvent.org/cathen/, newadvent.org/fathers/ and Catholic Answers Live also helped me out a lot.

The Bible also says that the Church is the “Pillar and Foundation of Truth,” not the Bible Alone.

If you have any questions on Catholicism, feel free to PM me!

God bless!

P.S. You can get Fr Lukefahr’s books and study courses free from the Catholic Home Study Service and great apologetics CDs from the Mary Foundation free of charge.
 
40.png
allischalmers:
Maybe because they do not know any better!

forever baptist
allischalmers
Click to expand...
Peace be with you!

Actually, it usually works out that the ones who convert to Catholicism are the ones that know the most about it. Just look at Jimmy Akin, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Dave Armstrong, ect. They all converted from Protestantism and did so because they DID know so much! Just read one of their conversion stories and you’ll see just how much research they did!

In Christ,
Rand
 
Semper Fi said:
).I felt that most of the Protestant arguments agaist the Catholic Church were gross misinterpretations of what Catholics believed and gave them the benefit of the doubt.
Click to expand...

Peace.

Montanaman said it best today: Protestantism is about rejection and rebellion. Having never really thought of it that way, it does make sense.

Peace.
 
40.png
allischalmers:
Maybe because they do not know any better!

forever baptist
allischalmers
Click to expand...
Not true. I studied the Faith for about 3 years before I decided that the Catholic Church may have something to it. Please stop using epithets by calling people who convert to Catholicism stupid, because that is basically what you just said. Are we not Christians in your eyes?
 
🙂 My reason was searching for truth. I was tired of the so many different protestant views from different pastors. One pastor interpreted scripture differently than the pastor down the street. This just didn’t make sense to me anymore, because they claimed to be led by The Spirit, but had totally opposite views of the interpretation. To me, one of them had to be wrong if they were in so much contradiction to each other.

My pastor at the time really taught a lot against the catholic church. That same pastor also taught that if the pope believed what he taught, that he was not in heaven. I had a problem with this and decided to start searching for truth and started with the history of the church.

I was amazed that I knew nothing of church history. I memorized scripture, attended Bible studies, Logos, and was even a Sunday school teacher, I basically just accepted what I had been taught.

I am glad that I have come from a Protestant background though,but God has led me to the Catholic church and I thank Him for it every day
 
40.png
allischalmers:
Maybe because they do not know any better!

forever baptist
allischalmers
Click to expand...
What a clever and incisive answer. It certainly makes me think that you posess a superior theology, prayer life and insight into Christian life. :rolleyes:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top