I never get this, and perhaps this can never be answered. Why is that Evangelical Protestants desire so much to convert Catholics, or Orthodox Christians to their faith.
Catholic and Orthodox are very liturgical Christians dating back to the time of the Apostles. Couldn’t they just preach Jesus and them them remain within their Christian traditions.
I know some Fundamentalists don’t admit consider Catholics and Orthodox as Christians, out of ignorance.
This question was brought up from a former Evangelical Christian who became Catholic.
Personally, I find converting other Christians of a different tradition pointless. The Pentecostal who convert Catholics in Latin America are wrong to convert Catholics there. They are Christians.
These “conversions” happen because they are cradle/culture Catholics that had not learned thier faith as they were growing up. They have either come from families that either didn’t instruct thier children and/or not practice thier faith fully, though some good faithful families have lost thier children to other churches.
Myself I was raised as a protestant, my first conversion came when I was 18, the person that lead me to my first understanding of Christ was a Church of the Nazarine Chaplin, I was Baptised at a Baptised Church, a Cradle Catholic(very close friend today) because of seeing a change in me, turned his life over to Christ. No protestant Church or minister, nor I seeked to take him out of the Catholic Church.
That was 33 years ago. for 27 years I hadn’t heard nor seen him, but about four/five years ago, we through the internet have gotten in touch with other. I was a having a spiritual conflict a friend of his moved to my town and he, my army buddy, referred me to him for spiritual counseling. After a while I started living my faith with a new hope 21 months ago I was lead by the Holy Spirit to come into full communion with the Catholic Church, I did so April 15 2006. Now my friend, “ex-Catholic” Baptist, who I know is very close to God, and works for a international ministry, to the Church he is a fallen-way Catholic, but he is not anti-Catholic and he knows I have become Catholic, yet God used him to bring me into the Church.
Were I going with this, I agree that it is pointless to try to convert people that are active Christians from one Church to another. But I also think we worry about it happening too much.
The best way to guard against it, is to teach our faith and live our faith. There have been a lot of “ex-Catholics” put into my life over the last two years and what I have found, it hadn’t been the churches they joined that have made any effort to convert Catholics, they just offered Christ centered communities that have open arms. I don’t think the groups that actively try to convert Catholics are that successful. and what I see in most of the “ex-Catholics” I know, they don’t know squat about what the Catholic Church teaches.
And you know that Army buddy of mine, God used my witness to bring him into a relationship with Christ, and he has been used by God in a great way for many years. I am just waiting and hoping that my friend follows me back to Rome. He followed me once, who knows?
I think God’s plans work better then our plans, though I know that the fullness of the faith is in the Catholic Church, those that follow God, without even knowing it are part of that Church.
You can’t convert someone strong and knowlegable in thier faith. We can’t blame the protestants for those weaknesses.
trying to convert each other.