A Protestant Historian Discovers the Catholic Church – Conversion Story of A. David Anders, Ph.D.

chnetwork ^ | February 05, 2015 | A. David Anders

[Steelfish]

This story is only for those with an open mind. It's a person's personal soul searching and honest theological inquiry.

[Alex Murphy]

My family’s church was nominally Presbyterian, but denominational differences meant very little to us. I frequently heard that disagreements over baptism, the Lord’s Supper, or church government were unimportant as long as one believed the Gospel. By this we meant that one should be “born again,” that salvation is by faith alone, and that the Bible is the sole authority for Christian faith. Our church supported the ministries of many different Protestant denominations, but the one group we certainly opposed was the Catholic Church.

This story is only for those with an open mind.

Did you mean to say an empty mind?

[pgyanke]

That was rude.

[pleasenotcalifornia]

Were you predestined to comment on this post?

[Steelfish]

Actually for those with an intelligent mind. Keep reading.

[Arthur McGowan]

You can tell he’s a former Protestant, not a former Catholic, because he doesn’t rant about his former church being the Whore of Babylon, full of child molesters, hypocrites, and works-righteousness, and teaching him nothing about Jesus Christ.

[JSDude1]

John 3:3 “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]””

It doesn’t matter if someone changes churches, if their heart isn’t changed, and “born again” by Jesus (through the Holy Spirit) then it’s all for nothing-it’s just a membership in one organization traded for another!!

[lacrew]

Small world - I was a high school classmate with this man.

This thread has to potential to get nasty....I would invite thise who get nasty to read the entire article first.

[WilliamIII]

The RC church isn’t full of child molesters, but it seems to have a lot of bishops who are cover-up artists when molestation does happen.

That’s a problem of institutional structure. Top-down command-and-control bureaucracy is no better in ecclesiastical institutions than in the public school system. Authoritarianism makes sense when it comes to guarding doctrine, but not in assigning personnel and holding them accountable.

In my own denomination, parishioners choose their own pastors (with sign-off from the denomination) - they’re allowed to be grown-ups and control their congregational affairs; not have someone they know nothing about foisted on them as if they are children who should have no voice in the pastor-selection process.

[blackpacific]

That was a really well written conversion journey, my wife will be able to reference it as she evangelizes her protestant sister.

I like how he explained that veneration of the saints, Christ’s mystical body, is indeed veneration of Christ. I have found that devotion to the saints has always drawn us closer to Christ. Their example is very humbling. They pray for us, we ask them for help and guidance, we pray for those undergoing purification, every branch of the communion of saints is knitted together in the divine Love of Christ. Heaven will be a very happy reunion of all these faithful souls.

Thanks for posting.

[moonhawk]

“.....The more I learned about the Protestant Reformers the less I liked them personally. I recognized that my own founder, John Calvin, was a self-important, arrogant man who was brutal to his enemies, never accepted personal responsibility, and condemned anyone who disagreed with him...”

[ADSUM]

“the Fathers agreed: salvation comes through the transformation of the moral life and not by faith alone. They also taught that this transformation begins and is nourished in the sacraments, and not through some individual conversion experience”

“Protestant theology strongly distinguishes belief from behavior, and I began to see how this had affected me. From childhood, I had always identified theology, apologetics, and evangelism as the highest calling in Christian life, while the virtues were supposed to be mere fruits of right belief. Unfortunately, I found that the fruits were not only lacking in my life, but that my theology had actually contributed to my vices. It had made me censorious, proud, and argumentative. I also realized that it had done the same thing to my heroes.”

This is the crux of the differences between Catholics Protestants and seems tto be evident in the discussions here.

[moonhawk]

Thank you, Steelfish.

I needed that.

[elhombrelibre]

I read the article. It reminded me a lot of the book THE PROTESTANT'S DILEMMA by Devin Rose. I'd recommend that book to anyone else who found Dr. Anders article interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Protestants-Dilemma-Reformations-Consequences-ebook/dp/B00IKXWCGO

http://brandonvogt.com/protestants-dilemma-interview-devin-rose-video/

[StoneWall Brigade]

The Gate is narrow.

[Carpe Cerevisi]

In before the “He was never saved in the first place”.

[pke]

A few years ago I read a book written by a Protestant author who was trying to explain the Catholic view of the saints to other Protestants. He nailed it when he wrote that Catholics see the saints as their friends. What a truth, what a compliment!

[tbpiper]

"For evangelical Christians, what one believes is more important than how one lives."

That's an out-and-out lie.

[.45 Long Colt]

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:19)

[sphinx]

It is an old observation that the best form of government is a wise, benevolent monarchy. Such kings have often existed. The problem, of course, is that the monarchical principle also produces incompetents, fools, and vicious, venal, brutal characters with great regularity, and there is no good way to get rid of them.

The Reformation occurred because the leadership of the Church had fallen into error, and the error went beyond subtle theological issues to systematic institutional and personal corruption that scandalized the faithful. So the reformers arose. Rome misplayed its hand; the Counter-Reformation came a century too late. Luther was put on trial and ordered to recant; he refused to perjure himself, and got out of town just ahead of the posse. And so the fuse was lit.

In matters of faith, we have three sources of authority: scripture, reason, and tradition. Ideally, all three should reinforce one another. The fundamental question occurs when conflicts arise. The Church is not always led by saints, or wise men.