Posted on 01/26/2018 1:04:07 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
We are in a time of the first ever mass conversions of Muslims,” Father Mitch Pacwa SJ told me in a phone interview. “God is doing a mighty work among them.”
Pacwa said that mass conversions are happening even in very fundamentalist countries. There is rapidly growing number of conversions especially on the edges of the Muslim world in the western and southern parts of Africa, he said. “Africa is now growing predominantly Christian despite crackdowns,” Pacwa said.
Some of the noteworthy countries he mentioned include Iran, reported to have 3 million Christians, and Indonesia with reports of 2 million a year converting.
“In Mongolia, the president opened the country to Christians and there’s even an archbishop,” Pacwa said. “They built a Catholic school there too. If I was younger, I would have gone.” He said that the desire for a Western education was the impetus to open up the country to the Catholic Church.
There are even conversions happening in many strict Muslim countries, according to Pacwa. He did not want to go on record with particulars for fear of increased retribution. Mass conversions are also being reported among refugees that are filling up the Christian churches left empty by Europeans. Many wonder if those are authentic conversions or just a response to improving their chances for amnesty, but time will tell.
Signs of this conversion are showing up in the U.S. too, Pacwa said. “I was about to celebrate Mass at a Maronite church in San Diego and I said hi to a man who introduced himself as Achmad. I asked if he was a Christian. He said: ‘Yes, I was recently baptized.’ He said he from Morocco. Christians do not have the name Ahmad—that’s a form of Mohammad.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
It does not teach the gospel of salvation by the faith, but instead substitutes a false system of sacramental works not found in Scripture.
Many of the key teachings of Romanism are pagan in origin.
Romans can trust Christ, but it is harder to see truth when it is covered by falsehood. That is the problem.
And I sincerely wish salvation and eternal life to everyone in every denomination, including Roman Christianity.
If they follow the Nicene Creed they are Christians by ancient definition.
By the way your the dry cleaners called and your sheets with the eye sleets are done!
Also I am not Catholic nor do I play one on TV!
I'm a Catholic and I know Protestants of many different denominations are often at the front lines of Christian evangelization, and also often in very dangerous places. And I pray they are successful.
Just not Roman Catholicism...that's the difference.
Yeah....right.
Oh please....as if Roman Catholics don't have their daily share of bashing non-Catholics.
Though I do note you did observe the difference.
Which is to say 25% off the mark....which is to say 100% off the mark.
You are right, There is a HUGE difference.
The Great Brit Christians had the philosophical brain fart that provided the spark of rights, liberty and freedom in the Magna Carta. This came at the height of the Christian crusades. Once they learned they could own things... then they saw the development of patent law, the buying and selling of ideas, then the development of the sciences, math, engineering etc etc.... leading into inventions and creativity in the industrial revolution resulting in the dominance of Great Britain.
Nobody else did this, no other nations, no other groups of Christians... not those in Rome, not Eastern Christians ....who are as backwards and messed like muslim nations.
So yes, there are huge differences
Praise be to God for your new faith!!
I’m Catholic, so I have a rather, let’s say, pointed opinion on the matter.
But I’ll sum it up in this wise. Rewind back to the time o the Reformation. If the Church you were “reforming” called you a heretic and excommunicated you and said you were damned to hell, a prideful and stubborn man might well strike back the only way he could—by attacking the very principle of its authority.
You can wear excommunication from an Apostate Church like a badge of honor. The True Church not so much.
So it’s completely understandable psychologically. Calling Catholicism Apostate is an attempt to mitigate the Reformers’ sin of heresy and schism by saying it was absolutely justified and necessary.
Only problem is that historical evidence for said apostasy is absolutely, categorically non-existent. It never happened.
If it's Rome you don't like, do you think you'd fare any better with Byzantine? Celtic? Syriac? Antiochene? Maronite? Coptic? Armenian? Syro-Malabar?
Go look up all the ancient churches that weren't Roman. Let me know if any of them look like where you go on Sunday.
I’m grateful I was “raised on third base,” instead of in a home of atheists that aren’t even in the right ballfield.
In my experience, converted Catholics are some of the most passionate and grateful Christians.
They know the frustration of false works on the Roman Hamster Wheel of guilt. When their eyes are opened to the grace of God and the totality of Christ’s payment for all their sins, they are relieved and grateful.
It’s funny, I am seeing this Protestant Catholic argument more and more, and it reminds of a bot attack. While Coptic Christians are being blown up by Muslims, while Philippine Catholics and Indonesia Catholics are be slaughtered we are engaging in these ridiculous theological arguments.
FYI——sheets do not go to the dry cleaners.:-)
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Most of the Roman Catholics I've encountered on these threads and in real life when asked what their faith is reply as Roman Catholic....not Christian.
Are some Roman Catholics genuine believers? Possible.
However, based on how Roman Catholicism teaches one comes to a saving faith in Christ....then no....their view is different than what is presented in the Bible.
One of the primary differences between Roman Catholicism and Christianity is how the Mass or the Lord's Supper is understood.
Roman Catholicism teaches the Mass is a continual resacrifice of Christ where Christ is called down from Heaven to be rendered on their altar not once, but a thousand times.
The New Testament teaches Christ offered a once for all sacrifice for our sins. (Hebrews 10:12-18)
Roman Catholicism teaches that Mary is a Co-Redemptrix upon whom we can cast all of our cares and petitions. Some Roman Catholic writers even say Mary is necessary for salvation....that without Mary's help you cannot come to Christ.
Christianity teaches there is one mediator and that is Christ upon whom we can entrust all of our cares and petitions (1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:13-14; 1 Peter 5:7).
Roman Catholicism teaches you cannot know for sure if you are going to Heaven.
Christianity teaches you can know you are going to Heaven through faith in Christ (1 John 5:13. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.)
Those are some of the major differences.
Yes....I agree. I've talked with them at my church and have interacted with them here on FR.
They also have first hand experience of the differences between Roman Catholicism and Christianity.
The better title would be converting to Roman Catholicism.
Christianity and Roman Catholicism....there is a difference.
—
I’m reminded of stony Mom would tell me about going to a Polish Catholic Church when she was a young child. The priest would lecture on about how Catholics were better than Protestants, but even those Irish Catholics were suspect. You really had to be a Polish Catholic to be a real Christian. My Mom switched to Protestant when she married.
It’s not bots...it’s been raging ever since I’ve been here on FR...wow, 20 years now! :)
And that’s good. It means we really care enough about these issues. Better that than we simply mumble “Can’t we all just get along” and refuse to deal with them. I don’t find theological arguments ridiculous...they are about important things that should be taken seriously.
Speaking of Nicaea, remember that there was just an iota’s worth of difference between the two sides...but the implications of that iota were huge and gave us the Nicene Creed.
I agree. It's why I post.
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