Why do Protestants stay Protestant

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sadie2723

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I am pulling this off another similar thread that I have been enjoying a lot. It was called Why do Protestants become Catholic. Well, I am interested in the other side of things. Why do Protestants not convert?

Let’s get it on!
 
Sadie,

I would have to say they don’t convert because no one has ever shown them the truth. I grew up Methodist and I only converted after I married a Catholic. My best friends growing up were Catholic and I knew a lot about the Catholic faith from them. However, from my Methodist up bringing I never knew why or what the real differences were. I just thought it was important to believe in GOD and treat all people with respect.

I was catholic for 10 years before I got serious and started studying the Catholic faith and why we believe what we believe. It took the threat of my daughter being pulled out of the Church by some of her fundamentalist friends to get me involved.

I talk to a lot of cradle Catholics who don’t understand our faith. How can expect our protestant brothers and sisters to convert if they don’t understand. And how can we convert them if we don’t understand.

I believe that GOD used my daughters challenges to draw me in and learn my Catholic faith. Thank you Jesus for that!

Anyway, I believe that we need to teach our prtestant friends and families the truth, so that they will convert. I don’t believe that we can do anything ourselves other than to plant seeds and to let the Holy Spirit take over from there.

I hope this makes since.

God Bless
 
Because they genuinely believe in the teachings of their own churches.
 
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sadie2723:
I am pulling this off another similar thread that I have been enjoying a lot. It was called Why do Protestants become Catholic. Well, I am interested in the other side of things. Why do Protestants not convert?

Let’s get it on!
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Because in apologetics sometimes we can be rude (myself included when I let people get my goat) and it turns people who are truly seeking to learn, off and away.

Jam 5:19: My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one brings him back,
20: let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

The opposite of this is also true, we are responsible for those we turn away.

Others just have hardened hearts and have no wish to deepen faith but rather to argue for arguements sake. It’s difficult to break down the walls of prejudice.

Peace and God Bless
Nicene
 
With the anti-catholicism today, it will certainly be hard to see the truth in the Catholic Church.
**There are also areas in some countries that are protestant infested and are heavily anti-catholic. **
The truth is very much distorted.
Evanescence
 
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sadie2723:
Why do Protestants not convert?
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I would say the #1 reason is because they don’t understand the communion of the saints. Specifically, they struggle with Marian devotion and prayer to saints.

I talked about this with my mother yesterday over lunch, she told me this was her biggest problem with catholicism. It was mine too when I was on my journey to the catholic church. I also hear the same thing time and again on EWTN’s The Journey Home.

It is drilled into protestants that praying to saints is idolatry and that they are dead and can’t hear us. Get past this and you’re in 😛
 
OK…I’ll bite even though I don’t think of myself as protesting anything…but I attend a non-Catholic church.

I started to write a long story, explaining from the beginning, but decided for now to edit it down to the essentials:

I have reached a point in my life of evaluating my Christian Faith from the beginning. In regards to the question of “What am I” there are three options:
  • Stay where I am (Charismatic/Pentecostal)
  • Come back to the Church of my birth (Methodist)
  • The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church is on the list because I have come to believe that there is value in being aligned with the Church that traces its roots back to the apostles.

I have found however, since starting this little exercise, that I am relating more to “where I am” than I have for a long time, while at the same time gaining a new appreciation for Brothers and Sisters in Christ who call themselves Catholic. I find this fascinating. God seems to be restoring purpose and meaning to my life.

If I stay where I am, the reasons would be more practical than Theological. You see, if I look at the issues that traditionally divide us from a Catholic perspective…I can at the minimum say “I can understand where you are coming from” and on many say “You just might have a point there”

However, the argument for staying “where I am” I might title “One schism does not justify a second schism”. While the schism 400 years ago may not have been a great idea, the fact remains that God has what he has. From where I sit, God has a divided Catholic church and is knocking at gates everywhere, trying to get in and to be real to His people.

I’ll let you in on a dirty secret. Non-Catholic believers tend to be very schismatic. They leave their church ‘A’ and go to church ‘B’ at a drop of the hat. They see scripture ‘A’ in the Bible…find a bunch of followers who decide their church is wrong…split the church and form church ‘B’.

I try not to be like that. If I find God’s purpose for my life and do it, giving my life purpose and meaning, that is enough for me. God has always blessed me when I see schism to stay where I am.

I just can’t shake the feeling that leaving a local church, particularly if God has given me purpose and meaning there, without very good reason, is a schismatic thing to do, and like I said, one schism 400 years ago does not justify a second one today.

Edit: Of course I see myself moving at some point in the future at which point his argument is off the table. Guess I made this long enough without the long version.
 
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mozart-250:
OK…I’ll bite even though I don’t think of myself as protesting anything…but I attend a non-Catholic church.

I started to write a long story, explaining from the beginning, but decided for now to edit it down to the essentials:

I have reached a point in my life of evaluating my Christian Faith from the beginning. In regards to the question of “What am I” there are three options:
  • Stay where I am (Charismatic/Pentecostal)
  • Come back to the Church of my birth (Methodist)
  • The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church is on the list because I have come to believe that there is value in being aligned with the Church that traces its roots back to the apostles.

I have found however, since starting this little exercise, that I am relating more to “where I am” than I have for a long time, while at the same time gaining a new appreciation for Brothers and Sisters in Christ who call themselves Catholic. I find this fascinating. God seems to be restoring purpose and meaning to my life.

If I stay where I am, the reasons would be more practical than Theological. You see, if I look at the issues that traditionally divide us from a Catholic perspective…I can at the minimum say “I can understand where you are coming from” and on many say “You just might have a point there”

However, the argument for staying “where I am” I might title “One schism does not justify a second schism”. While the schism 400 years ago may not have been a great idea, the fact remains that God has what he has. From where I sit, God has a divided Catholic church and is knocking at gates everywhere, trying to get in and to be real to His people.

I’ll let you in on a dirty secret. Non-Catholic believers tend to be very schismatic. They leave their church ‘A’ and go to church ‘B’ at a drop of the hat. They see scripture ‘A’ in the Bible…find a bunch of followers who decide their church is wrong…split the church and form church ‘B’.

I try not to be like that. If I find God’s purpose for my life and do it, giving my life purpose and meaning, that is enough for me. God has always blessed me when I see schism to stay where I am.

I just can’t shake the feeling that leaving a local church, particularly if God has given me purpose and meaning there, without very good reason, is a schismatic thing to do, and like I said, one schism 400 years ago does not justify a second one today.

Edit: Of course I see myself moving at some point in the future at which point his argument is off the table. Guess I made this long enough without the long version.
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Thank you for your insight!

If you’re talking about schisms, unfortunately, whether or not you leave your church and go to another non-Catholic church which you believe has a better handle on the truth, the fact is that you still would not be somewhere where the fullness of the Truth dwells. One thing that the reformation did was to seperate millions of Christians from that Truth; they will always be lacking in some elements of the Truth in one way or the other.

I’m glad you’re looking into the Catholic Church. Keep studying, asking questions…decide for yourself if you can continue outside the universal Church that Christ established. Though I no doubt believe that God does have a purpose for you in your current church, that by no means diminishes what you know and experience if you decide to come into full communion with the Catholic Church.

God bless you on your journey!
 
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mozart-250:
OK…I’ll bite even though I don’t think of myself as protesting anything…but I attend a non-Catholic church.

I started to write a long story, explaining from the beginning, but decided for now to edit it down to the essentials:

I have reached a point in my life of evaluating my Christian Faith from the beginning. In regards to the question of “What am I” there are three options:
  • Stay where I am (Charismatic/Pentecostal)
  • Come back to the Church of my birth (Methodist)
  • The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church is on the list because I have come to believe that there is value in being aligned with the Church that traces its roots back to the apostles.

I have found however, since starting this little exercise, that I am relating more to “where I am” than I have for a long time, while at the same time gaining a new appreciation for Brothers and Sisters in Christ who call themselves Catholic. I find this fascinating. God seems to be restoring purpose and meaning to my life.

If I stay where I am, the reasons would be more practical than Theological. You see, if I look at the issues that traditionally divide us from a Catholic perspective…I can at the minimum say “I can understand where you are coming from” and on many say “You just might have a point there”

However, the argument for staying “where I am” I might title “One schism does not justify a second schism”. While the schism 400 years ago may not have been a great idea, the fact remains that God has what he has. From where I sit, God has a divided Catholic church and is knocking at gates everywhere, trying to get in and to be real to His people.

I’ll let you in on a dirty secret. Non-Catholic believers tend to be very schismatic. They leave their church ‘A’ and go to church ‘B’ at a drop of the hat. They see scripture ‘A’ in the Bible…find a bunch of followers who decide their church is wrong…split the church and form church ‘B’.

I try not to be like that. If I find God’s purpose for my life and do it, giving my life purpose and meaning, that is enough for me. God has always blessed me when I see schism to stay where I am.

I just can’t shake the feeling that leaving a local church, particularly if God has given me purpose and meaning there, without very good reason, is a schismatic thing to do, and like I said, one schism 400 years ago does not justify a second one today.

Edit: Of course I see myself moving at some point in the future at which point his argument is off the table. Guess I made this long enough without the long version.
Click to expand...
This is great! I say that, because I have walked on the road that you are walking on right now. And it sucks. I know what it is like to find yourself in the position of being somewhere (in my case Baptist) and looking at something else (in my case Catholic) and suddenly finding that I was more involved in the Baptist church than ever. I also considered going back to my original church (Methodist) and I did for a little bit. So, I was right there with you.

Now for my dirtly little secret. I never let myself get comfortable. I kept looking for truth in everything. Suddenly I realized something: The study of the Catholic faith was making me a better Baptist. Weird, but it was true. But, as I really started to look at it, I was just sitting in the Baptist church and looking at everything from a Catholic perspective, as I had been reading so much about the Catholic faith that it had become a part of me. I consider this a great revelation for me.

So, I made a leap of faith. I thought, “Hey, since you are looking at things as a Catholic, and you are getting more out of services, why not look into Catholicism at the very source and see what that does for you?” So, I started going to Mass. Suddenly the entire world of God just opened right up to me. It was like I had been looking for God for 29 years, and suddenly I found his address and could finally walk in and see him. Man, it was magic. I have never been the same. I converted about a year after that.

Now, I am not saying that you will convert, but I am proud to hear that you are searching for truth. And, the fact that you have come to respect the Catholic faith is wonderful. I love you, and I will pray that your journey to truth is a happy one…no matter where you land.

Brad
 
I never knew many Catholics until I married my wife. I was always taught terrible things of Catholics. So it was harder for me to convert . I was born Church of God, a pentecostal type of church. Later in life i went to a Baptist church because my parents did. Then one day I met the woman of my dreams and to much surprise she was very Catholic. But love knew no bounds. Later I went to speak with a priest to calm my fears about what she believed and decieded to convert. I lost some friends over it, some family won’t speak to me much. But for me it was the best deceision I could have made. I never will regret it. I love the Catholic church!! I also must say for all the friends and family I lost due to my conversion, my wifes family has really made the conversion easy as they accepted me with open arms. Some are still in Minnesota and we dont see them much but some are in nearby Atlanta only 3 hours away.

I LOVE BEING CATHOLIC !!!
 
Twelve highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion.

Just a side note here…but I LOVE THIS!
 
Mozart,

First, WELCOME! Stay as long as you would like, and as long as you ask in a respectful manner, please ask whatever questions you have. I’m glad you’re here, because you seem to have a sincere desire to follow the will of Christ, whatever that may be and whatever the cost.

I would contend that every doctrine/dogma taught by the Catholic Church is either explicitly or implicitly taught in the Bible. Further, I would contend that the Catholic understanding of Scriptures is the understanding which was taught (sometimes in seedling form) by the Apostles themselves. Because these things were taught by the Apostles, they are the teachings of Christ.

This brings me to my point:
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mozart-250:
The Catholic Church is on the list because I have come to believe that there is value in being aligned with the Church that traces its roots back to the apostles.
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It’s not simply that our buildings are old or that our people knew these people who knew those people, but rather it’s that we claim to teach what the Apostles taught, and do so with the authority of Christ.

Now…if we can’t back this up, it’s preposterous! What man could teach with the authority of God Himself?!? If, however, this position can be backed up…why on earth would anyone stay away?

I think the reason Protestants don’t become Catholic is that they don’t think we can back up our claim. For most, I would assert that this is an unexamined position. I don’t think most have examined the history or the theology, but rather simply operate on the assumption that Catholics are wrong and therefore you don’t need to look into it at all. Because they don’t look into it, the position is, quite simply, unexamined.

For the few who have examined it and have come to the conclusion that the Church can’t back up their claim, I would assert that the majority of those few simply don’t “feel” that it’s true. Their ultimate decision, I believe, is a subjectively based on what they “feel” (i.e., “I feel that God loves me now so why should I change?”), rather than what they have objectively found. I will grant at this point that I have had only two people tell me that this is the case, despite their conclusion that what the Catholic Church teaches is what the first Christians taught.

For the minority of those few who examine the history/theology and come to the conclusion that the Church can’t back up her claims…I have no idea. I also don’t know why people can’t do trigonometry despite having been taught, and I don’t know why educated people would think that geocentrism is true. (Refutation.)

Of course…those reasons are merely speculation on my part…

God Bless,
RyanL
 
Thanks Sadie, Thats one other thing I’m proud of. My Scottish heritage, Clan MacFarlane here!!
 
I think it has a lot to do with feelings. People tend to be so concerned with feelings they don’t care [as much as they need to] about truth. You can’t subject truth to feelings. I’m sure many, many Jews just felt more comfortable in their synagogues in the time of Christ then they did doing some of the Christian things; they probably felt like God had a place for them there, too. The way they were treated at the time by the other Jews, you can be sure they felt like they were abandoning their synagogues and their fellow Jews. The ones that came to Christ had to come to Him over truth, ignoring all of this. This is what non-Christians have to do today to become Christians. This is what non-Catholics have to do today to become Catholics. If a person feels like they can’t become Catholic for these reasons regardless of the truth, then they would also have to believe that the original Jewish Christians should not have become Christian, and that non-Christians today should not be Christian.

I myself didn’t become Catholic because I had an a priori decision that it was wrong. But, as Chesterton said, the second a person is actually fair to the Catholic Church, he has made a great mistake, because he is inevitably going to enter it. Perhaps many Protestants realize this and are never fair.
 
When I grew up, you went to the church you grew up in. When I got older and went to school, I investigated different beliefs, informally and formally in my studies. I read a great deal of early Christian history, thanks to required readings, and developed a healthy respect for why someone could chose Orthodoxy. Because of a few important reasons, I did not accept their contentions. I remain Protestant because this is the faith I see in the pages of the Bible. After I married, my wife and I visited each others churches. The similarities in theology were almost 100 percent but the styles of worship were completely different. She could never be comfortable in mine but I liked hers after awhile. Because there were almost no differences theologically, I joined hers. Strange enough, after this occured, 10 or so years later, both denominations agreed to share ministers because the theology was the same.
You asked. I answered.
 
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Fredricks:
When I grew up, you went to the church you grew up in. When I got older and went to school, I investigated different beliefs, informally and formally in my studies. I read a great deal of early Christian history, thanks to required readings, and developed a healthy respect for why someone could chose Orthodoxy. Because of a few important reasons, I did not accept their contentions. I remain Protestant because this is the faith I see in the pages of the Bible. After I married, my wife and I visited each others churches. The similarities in theology were almost 100 percent but the styles of worship were completely different. She could never be comfortable in mine but I liked hers after awhile. Because there were almost no differences theologically, I joined hers. Strange enough, after this occured, 10 or so years later, both denominations agreed to share ministers because the theology was the same.
You asked. I answered.
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And thank you for doing so. I have many people I know that have experienced the same things.
 
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Eden:
Hey, I have some Scottish too! Clan Donald here!
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My ansestry is pretty much from Ireland, but I still have a healthy respect for the Scotish Clans!
 
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sadie2723:
My ansestry is pretty much from Ireland, but I still have a healthy respect for the Scotish Clans!
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I’m more Irish than Scottish, myself. Actually mostly English and Irish and a little bit of Scottish from my maternal grandfather thrown in.

What was the topic of this thread again? 😃
 
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