I can't say why a Protestant becomes "sympathetic to Catholic ideas".
It's been my experience on FR and other situations where I am speaking with other Christians (usually Protestants) that they never read the Bible in context in the first place so why would they start doing so when considering the merits of the Catholic faith?
That is such a gross misrepresentation of what I said that I can only imagine you are being purposely inaccurate. In your initial post to me concerning this verse (post #74) you said the following..."A very young, perfectly simple child would not think twice about taking these words literally." A very young simple child who hears "I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" could only envision a cannibilistic ceremony. Given that sentence, and only that sentence, what possible alternative is there? But I no more think Catholics are indulging in cannibilism when they take the Eucherist than I believe Protestants are when they take Communion. What you are repeatedly missing is my repeated statements that nothing can be accurately interpreted from the Bible if it is taken out of context, which is EXACTLY what you are doing when you ask for an "interpretation" of a single verse of Scripture. How can you not understand that? Have you ever read the rest of John 6? Do you have ANY idea what Jesus is discussing in this chapter, or are does your interest in His Words end after reading a single verse? I implore you...read the WHOLE chapter. Put Christ's words in the context in which he gives them. You will see that Christ repeatedly refers to himself as the bread of life. Despite taking the Bible literally, I do not believe Christ believes He is a loaf of bread. But it is in that context in which He goes on to explain to His Jewish audience that His flesh is true food, and His blood is true drink. I personally don't care that the Catholic Church believes the bread and wine they consume during the Eucherist becomes Christ's actual flesh and blood. That is not why Christ introduced the Lord's Supper. I'm curious as to why no one has ever had their stomach contents surgically removed for DNA testing afterward, but beyond that, I don't care. I don't care, because I have never seen any Biblical evidence to support the notion that bread and wine becomes Christ's body after they are consumed. If you can offer it, I'd be happy to read it. But John 6:53 isn't it. But more importantly, that isn't what Christ taught us. No where will you find him explaining that upon consuming the bread and wine, they would become His flesh. Read 1 Corinthians 11. Paul gives a good description of the Lord's Supper. He discusses the importance of taking it...not any transformation of its elements.
Protestant converts to Catholicism have their own reasons for their decision. I have no idea what they are. For some reason, I doubt it has much to do with the Eucherist. I do know that anyone who fails to read the whole Bible, but relies solely on the teaching of others (even experts) will never gain an understanding of God's Word beyond what mortal humans explain to him. If that is enough for you, you have made your choice.