Wishing to be Protestant again...

[jlhargus]

actually i do feel somewhat “impure” compared to when i was a virgin, but it is amazing what Jesus has done with me… amazing and kinda strange… cuz my body seems to want “it” almost all the time… so tiresome… (sigh)… but anyhow… my MIND is a totally different thing… doesn’t want it at all…

The Church calls this concupiscence, both single and married have this cross to carry. St Paul tells us in, [Rm7:22 For IN MY INNER BEING [soul] I delight in God’s law; 23 but I SEE ANOTHER LAW AT WORK IN THE MEMBERS OF MY BODY, WAGING WAR against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!]

Baptism not only cleanses but regenerates and renews our soul, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, justifying us by his grace making us heirs. The indwelling Holy Spirit gives us the grace and sets us free from being a slave of the flesh. We now can subject the flesh to the regenerated soul. Now we no longer live in old Adam but are reborn into the new Adam, by the Holy Spirit indwelling our soul. The soul now has the ability to rule whereas before we were slaves of the flesh.

The flesh and soul war within us, which is part of OUR SPIRITUAL WARFARE, to battle and overcome the flesh, thereby growing in Christ. Before Adam’s sin, he and Eve did not suffer concupiscence, it comes to us by original sin. Baptism removes original sin restoring the indwelling Holy Spirit lost by Adam’s sin. Baptism does not remove concupiscence which is OUR CROSS TO CARRY DAILY. God’s grace is sufficient to over come, all things , if we cooperate with that grace. We have the free will to always chose.

If after baptism the flesh overcomes and the soul, or the will, consents to serious sin, the soul dies spiritually, the Holy Spirit has been cast out. For the one repenting, God has provided, the sacrament of reconciliation (confession). To restore life to the soul, after baptism. [Jn20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: **as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.] As the Father sent Christ to forgive sin, so Christ sends the apostles, and equips them with power, the Holy Spirit to do likewise. Just as God’s breath in Gn2:7 gave life to Adam’s body, so God’s breath --the Holy Spirit-- restores the indwelling life of the soul, reconcilling through confession, the spiritually dead after baptism. As a priestly people we should offer up as a sacrifice all our daily crosses. Welcome home!

 

[Middleman]

Hi, I chose that title to be somewhat provocative to hopefully garner people who could reply to this thread. I converted from Protestantism more than 10 years ago and I am happy to be Catholic. However, having said that I do miss much of the social aspects of a Protestant church. There were programs and bible studies for every age group; there were many ways of connecting to different people in your church–I had lots of friends in church and we would call each other up and do things together. There would be family picnics and other outings the church would sponsor.

In my 10 years of being Catholic my knowledge of truth has increased but at the cost of fellowship. I’ve been around 4 different Catholic churches in 10 years and all of them seem to be not much more than ‘Eucharist factories’ where you shuffle the people in, give them a boring homily, the Eucharist and shuffle them out until next week when you can do it again. The earliest youth group starts at high school.

I have brought some of my brothers and sisters in to the Church, but we all are beginning to pine for the days when going to church was enjoyable.

It does really appear to me that the Catholic Church, as an institution, does not foster fellowship anywhere near as much as the Protestant churches do. Am I wrong?

And before you say to me, “Well then, you get something started at your church!”, I’m trying to make the point that as an institution the Catholic church does not foster fellowship. I don’t want to be one person trying to roll a rock up hill, I want to be part of a Church that encourages fellowship.

As I mentioned before, I helped bring others to the Catholic Church, but now I’ve got a dilemma. My two kids, ages 12 and 13 are really complaining about going to our ‘boring church’ when their Protestant friends do all these really fun activities their churches sponsor. And I have an older son who may be considering becoming Catholic, but he has 4 children ages 1-6. I wince at the prospect of telling him he can’t put his children in Sunday School while he and his wife go to mass, but instead he has to keep four children under control for an hour while having to listen to a boring sermon. These are not show stoppers, but they really detract from giving incentives to joining the Church.

Any thought are welcome. But does anyone else see this lack of fellowship problem?

I totally agree with you. People here will condemn you for wanting to be entertained and just socialize at church, however. You will get the argument that no one else has the Eucharist.

There is something very lacking within the Catholic church. There is also a lot of denial at this forum. It’s very sad.

 

[eucharisteo]

I totally agree with you. People here will condemn you for wanting to be entertained and just socialize at church, however. You will get the argument that no one else has the Eucharist.

There is something very lacking within the Catholic church. There is also a lot of denial at this forum. It’s very sad.

There is nothing lacking in the Catholic Church. There is something lacking in it’s members to fail to step up to the universal call to holiness. The church if full of sinners and it takes a saint to stand up to their resistence. We live in a culture of death and the members of the Lord’s Church have been gravely affected by the same culture. It’s more of a culture problem than anything else, IMHO.

 

[crazzeto]

There is nothing lacking in the Catholic Church. There is something lacking in it’s members to fail to step up to the universal call to holiness. The church if full of sinners and it takes a saint to stand up to their resistence. We live in a culture of death and the members of the Lord’s Church have been gravely affected by the same culture. It’s more of a culture problem than anything else, IMHO.

Bravo, excellent answer. We go to Church to worship our Lord, not to be entertained.

 

[guanophore]

i never said it WAS like that… just said i would like to go back to being a virgin… Why do people put words in others’ mouths…? i lost my virginity thro rape, so obviously, i never wanted to lose it in the 1st place… (even for so called love, which… romantic love is not even love in my opinion… 95% of the time)

A person can’t lose their virginity through rape. Rape is a violent assault, that only results in wounding. Virginity can only be lost when the person chooses to give it away.

***but in any case… it is NOT impossible to get sexual purity back - as you put it. It may take a lot of prayers, a lot of Holy Masses…abstaining from gratifying the self… which i have done for may yrs… it may take a lot of whatever… but it is ***possible. And besides, **lack of virginity is NOT sexual impurity!!! **

Actually, people can be restored to purity, and God’s healing is even more powerful than any wound. You are so right that it is not what happened in the past that makes a person impure.

 

[Middleman]

There is nothing lacking in the Catholic Church. There is something lacking in it’s members to fail to step up to the universal call to holiness. The church if full of sinners and it takes a saint to stand up to their resistence. We live in a culture of death and the members of the Lord’s Church have been gravely affected by the same culture. It’s more of a culture problem than anything else, IMHO.

A trite and predictable answer. You do realize, don’t you, that Protestant churches also exist in this same world, are filled with sinners, and yet they manage to nurture a far superior sense of community and fellowship than Catholic churches?

What is the Catholic church doing wrong here? Something is most definitely lacking. There is a lot of denial going on, covered up flowery phrases, and finger pointing at others.

 

[Middleman]

Bravo, excellent answer. We go to Church to worship our Lord, not to be entertained.

And incredibly predictable and standard answer, bravo!

 

[Church_Militant]

… and yet they manage to nurture a far superior sense of community and fellowship than Catholic churches?

I reverted from n-C religion to the Catholic faith and as you will see in My Testimony I did not find your rash generalization to be true.

I was a deacon in one community and it was that experience which in large part led to my leaving the n-C religions.

It has been my own experience that fellowship within the Catholic parish to which I belong has been at least as good, and in most cases better, than anything I encountered in those n-C communities.

Quite frankly, I deeply appreciate the reserved reverence of the Catholic faith because it allows me a much deeper communion and worship with the Lord Jesus Christ and those fellow Catholics who also share our most holy faith. Some of whom are very exemplary of the kind of holiness that I have not encountered in any of the n-C communities I have been involved with.

 

[Jerry_Parker]

Middleman,

**You wrote: ** *You do realize, don’t you, that Protestant churches also exist in this same world, are filled with sinners, and yet they manage to nurture a far superior sense of community and fellowship than Catholic churches?

What is the Catholic church doing wrong here? Something is most definitely lacking. There is a lot of denial going on, covered up flowery phrases, and finger pointing at others. *​

Isn’t the exchange in the C.A. forum that includes these words an indication of wrong priorities about worship? Before the chatty Novus Ordo liturgy (and even with it, when things go well) there was no doubt that something sacred and transcendent was taking place in the Mass, when it was (and in some places still is) celebrated according to the 1962 Latin Missale Romanum. There was not the chatter and clatter of “fellowship” in the church, but silence before the awesome and supreme mystery of what happens at the altar.

I would take that sense of what is hallowèd anyday over the Elks Lodge kind of hearty fellowlship that one can find elsewhere. Anyway, back then (pre-1970) there was the church hall for all that socialising (which, indeed, did take place there, and to better effect), not the church itself, which was consecrated to God, not to fraternising. So, if Protestants and sectaries are better at socialising than Catholics are, but both are doing what is not seemly in “the house of God”, I would say, “A pox on both of them!”

Pax, Jerry Parker

 

[Church_Militant]

I totally agree with you. People here will condemn you for wanting to be entertained and just socialize at church, however. You will get the argument that no one else has the Eucharist.

There is something very lacking within the Catholic church. There is also a lot of denial at this forum. It’s very sad.

Oh, so no one has a right to their opinion or experience but you? That’s doesn’t allow for an accurate discussion one way or the other.

Where is it written anywhere that we go to Mass to socialize? If the only people there were myself and the priest, then the same Mass and worship would occur becuse it’s all about Christ, and not the people next to me. They and their needs come after Mass, where we can meet those needs.

The Eucharist is the same source and summit of our most holy faith that it was in the early church. God forbid that we Catholics should ever bring our society into the Mass the way some post reformation communities did, in some cases setting their hymns to secular drinking songs.

Worship is not about what pleases men but what pleases God and some of the modern forms of worship are more show business and emotionalism than much of anything else.

Denial, not at all. We all know there are some parishes that need help, but to characterize the whole Church like that is hogwash because it is patently not the case at all at all. What’s actually very sad is when people rashly generalize and try to portray some personal experience as more than what it really is. Often I see these same people as the ones who profess to want/need more but are the least willing to try to do anything to help. Now that is sad.

 

[the_hazel_nut]

Honestly, I haven’t experienced this abysmally low level of charity that people have been describing in this thread. I have no doubt that protestants are better at fellowship. I’ve been to a number of protestant youth groups.

No one has every introduced themselves to me before mass or anything like that. Maybe people prefer to be more private , I don’t know, but when I started RCIA class to get confirmation everyone was so nice. I’m friends with my sponsor now. When I went to a fish fry during lent I was worried because I didn’t know anyone and I am a very shy person, but I found a woman from my class who I sat with and went to stations of the cross with, so I wasn’t lonely at all.

I have been to the high school youth group dances at another parish in my area (it’s a very formal dance where we do ballroom dancing) and it was a lot of fun, the people were very nice…

I believe that everyone has had these bad experiences but I just want to let everyone know that just because it is a Catholic parish doesn’t mean it inherently lacks fellowship. I’m just being honest about my experiences, not trying to cover up the faults of Catholics.

 

[rinnie]

I reverted from n-C religion to the Catholic faith and as you will see in My Testimony I did not find your rash generalization to be true.

I was a deacon in one community and it was that experience which in large part led to my leaving the n-C religions.

It has been my own experience that fellowship within the Catholic parish to which I belong has been at least as good, and in most cases better, than anything I encountered in those n-C communities.

Quite frankly, I deeply appreciate the reserved reverence of the Catholic faith because it allows me a much deeper communion and worship with the Lord Jesus Christ and those fellow Catholics who also share our most holy faith. Some of whom are very exemplary of the kind of holiness that I have not encountered in any of the n-C communities I have been involved with.

You know CM I just don’t understand people sometimes. Why is it they want to go to Church to see friends, etc. When I go to Church I am there to see my one very best Friend.

Jesus. I could care less about anyone or anything else. That is one hour at least that I spend the entire time alone in my heart with God. Maybe I am a one friend kind of person, but I don’t want to be bothered.

 

[crazzeto]

And incredibly predictable and standard answer, bravo!

I can only exhort you to reconsider why it is you go to Church. After all, who’s greater? God? Or your friends and your fellowshiping with them?

 

[Jerry_Parker]

Crazzeto,

**You wrote: ** I can only exhort you to reconsider why it is you go to Church. After all, who’s greater? God? Or your friends and your fellowshiping with them?​

This may seem like a “commonplace” answer to those, like “Middleman”, who fret about whether or not there is enough social interaction at church, before, during, and after the worship, but it nonetheless is an important one. Catholics (and Orthodox, even many Anglicans) go to church to worship God, first, foremost, and uttermost. The Mass is (or should be, if it is being undermined by chatter) about and constituting the worship of God, not about human fraternisation.

There is the parish hall or basement for that before and/or after Mass, and there are the Knights of Columbus and its teen and women’s auxillaries for more organised fraternity and social action. The Mass is not the place for that; it is where Catholics worship God. If the sectaries and even Protestants do not like that, so be it!

Pax, Jerry Parker

 

[benidict]

A trite and predictable answer. You do realize, don’t you, that Protestant churches also exist in this same world, are filled with sinners, and yet they manage to nurture a far superior sense of community and fellowship than Catholic churches?

What is the Catholic church doing wrong here? Something is most definitely lacking. There is a lot of denial going on, covered up flowery phrases, and finger pointing at others.

yes a far superior sense of community if you are in the “in” group. if you have the right car, the right wife, the right “look”. i have had more fellowship in the Catholic Church, than i ever had as a protestant. im somewhat different. my brothers/sisters in the Catholic faith look past the superficial, and can get a good read of a persons heart. Peace

 

[eucharisteo]

A trite and predictable answer. You do realize, don’t you, that Protestant churches also exist in this same world, are filled with sinners, and yet they manage to nurture a far superior sense of community and fellowship than Catholic churches?

What is the Catholic church doing wrong here? Something is most definitely lacking. There is a lot of denial going on, covered up flowery phrases, and finger pointing at others.

You obviously do not understand what is important to God by how you are speaking to me. I grew up Protestant, bubba, a found something deeply missing in the practices of fellowship. Many of my brethren were double standard and tended to gossip behind people’s backs for one thing. I also know many preachers and elders to get divorced and enter into scandalous relationships before and after. Sin affects ALL peoples from every walk of life.

You know, God loves His son so much that he sent Him to us to die in our place. We deserve death, but He loves us so much that He sends His OWN son to die for us instead. He also left His son with us forever until we are united with Him in eternity. You see you value people more than Jesus in a sense compared to Catholics, save and accept confused Catholics. Why? Because Catholics place more value upon Jesus and get to worship Him in the Blessed Sacrament. Then Catholics receive Jesus in their mouths and walk with him united for a moment in time. Jesus is the Word made flesh and dwells among us still. You don’t have the faculties to get this now. But one day you will discover its beautiful truth when you say Lord and He says “I never knew you”. You pay more attention to people than you do God I believe. You boast in rambling words hoping he hears you. But your words are without the deeper meaning when tied to the Blessed Sacrament, though heard, are almost a ramble compared to when you have been cleansed from your sins in confession and receiving the Blessed Sacrament. Figuratively speaking, you come clothed in filthy dirt [sin] because you do not have the sacrament of Reconciliation to cleans you from your sins to be prepared to receive our Blessed Lord in the Eucharist. That is why Catholics are forbidden from receiving the Lord without properly preparing themselves for Him. That is why non-Catholics are also forbidden from receiving Him in communion with the Church. It’s for their own good, not the fellowship good for the community, though you will erroneously hear that argument come from cradle Catholics who think they know more than they actually do. If they truly understood they would not push their ignorance on others.

I stated this as clear as I could see it from what I believe I know. I do not insinuate on any level that any of the people I speak about here are not going to be saved but rather that one day they realize that the Church is truly Catholic, not Protestant, a word for protesting Catholic Church. I tried to use clarifying words to dispute this idea that we lack the abilities to fellowship. Some of this is true but the Church respects our time in our vocations as husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, etc. So we are not forced or pushed into fellowshipping more than we do. The lowest level ecclesial community is the family unit. It is from there that we begin our fellowshipping and extend that to others in the greater community. Collectively that larger communities is known as “The Church” or the “Church of Christ”. The Church is Catholic. That is a historical fact. Remember the story of the treasure and the pearl? The Eucharist is the pearl, the treasure. We begin experiencing heave on earth in the Sacred Mass. If you read the mass that might become understandable to you. But getting someone to even think about reading through it and experiencing it is like pulling teeth.

 

[eucharisteo]

yes a far superior sense of community if you are in the “in” group. if you have the right car, the right wife, the right “look”. i have had more fellowship in the Catholic Church, than i ever had as a protestant. im somewhat different. my brothers/sisters in the Catholic faith look past the superficial, and can get a good read of a persons heart. Peace

Fellowship in the Catholic Church is much more sincere in my opinion.

 

[Jerry_Parker]

Eucharisteo,

**You’ve observed and you wrote: ** Many of my brethren [among the sectaries at that time of my life] were double standard and tended to gossip behind people’s backs for one thing. I also know many preachers and elders to get divorced and enter into scandalous relationships before and after. Sin affects ALL peoples from every walk of life.​

Yes, sin is difficult to avoid, for Catholic as well as for these sectaries (or for any other humans). How much worse it must be when these Christians, with their weak and devient doctrine, deny the efficacy and true forms of the sacraments of the Church and thus do not receive them validly as means of grace and the Holy Ghost’s work of sanctification, to help in the perpetual battle that all, believers and others, endure and wage (however feebly) against sin.

Pax, Jerry Parker

 

[BernadetteM]

I found in my former protestant churches very little socializing among all members. If you belonged to an in group, yes you had friends. If you were single you were pretty much left out of these groups.

In my friends mega church she has only a group of friends who belong to one of the many different groups there. They all split up and those are the ones who you really get to know.

There is much entertainment during the worship services, bands, stages and emotional outbursts. Which I find have nothing to do with true worship of our Lord.

I felt empty at her church. They are taught some very strange doctrines, some that are damaging to the person.

My Catholic parish has many Masses so to get to know someone you must put some effort into meeting others by joining organizations or sometimes it only takes one person who will introduce you to others. True friendships take time whether in a church setting or secular one.

As a young person I recall another friends church where the youth just went to have fun. Some of the fun was translating the songs into some off color words. Gossip was a large part of the church. Through my friend I knew one of the girls was having an affair with the pastor’s son-in-law and that the elders would smoke and drink which is taboo within her church. To be honest the youth were going against almost every teaching of that church. It was quite sad really.

I say if a person donsn’t believe that the Catholic Church is the true Church, who is as full of sinners as our protestant neighbors they are kidding themselves.

I know that there are posters here who were Catholics and no longer are and they seem to love to degrade our faith. What is the point if you have found that perfect church to come to CAF just to justify your leaving and inform us that the Church is defective because everyone isn’t running up to new people and pretending to be such sincere Christians who love you even though they know nothing about you. Many of these churches goal is to bring in as many members as possible, it really has little to do with coming to worship God. If you decide to leave to become Catholic all of a sudden you have lost their love and respect. Of course there are some denominations that are not like this, but there are many who are.

If you have no respect for the Church, find the perfect one for yourself and if you are truely content there I don’t understand why you are here trying to destroy Catholics and their faith. After leaving a protestant church I would never have tried to belittle them, only pray that they are happy where they are.

When a person has made a decision to leave a church they should not be bad mouthing it, but should be full of joy and leave their past behind.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

 

[Answersplease]

i am wishing to be a virgin again…

Answersplease: