"Did me some good as I had to repent a few tiny bits of harshness toward Rome and particularly not to be dismissive of the faith and devotion of many Catholics to Jesus, despite the opinions held by their hierarchy. "
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God bless you. It's the first step in evangelizing. In my church 25% of our members are former RC's and it can be hard for them because of what they've been taught. IOW, if you leave the church you will lose your grace.
It's the first step in evangelizing. In my church 25% of our members are former RC's and it can be hard for them because of what they've been taught. IOW, if you leave the church you will lose your grace.Actually, it's more about falling into heresy with me. I'll never become a Protestant because I am in vast disagreement with your various doctrines and believing them would put my soul at stake.
As to the 25 percent of ex-Catholics that attend your church, what does that constitute? Three or four members? You sound like you belong to an Independent Baptist church and they can have as little as 40 members sometimes.
God bless you. It's the first step in evangelizing. In my church 25% of our members are former RC's and it can be hard for them because of what they've been taught.
Actually, it was a blessing to me. I was one of those who had always refused to set foot in a Roman church for any reason.
I'm not sure if my playing Advent songs did them any good though I was told they really enjoyed it and some of the older ladies in the church were warmed by the memory of my grandmother, a sweet woman they knew well. But the exercise gave rise to many sweet hours of devotion for me, an opportunity to repent my harshness and unloving attitude. And if there is some other purpose that God has in mind, I'm agreeable. I think the briefest summary I could give of how it affected me is that it has made my heart softer but not my doctrine. So I'm not trying to be a predator with Rome's followers either. Spurgeon once observed that we would go after all the theologically straying Christians (including Rome's) once we had preached the gospel to all those who had never heard it. Spurgeon never ran out of the unchurched to preach to, even in his day in an England far more Christian than it is today. And America is a far greater mission field today than it was 50-100 years ago. So we live in a great mission field and Catholics are not our first targets for evangelism. Catholics have heard the gospel and they have not been forbidden to read scripture unsupervised for the last 90 years. So they hear it, perhaps too briefly exposited, in their churches and they have opportunity and even some encouragement to study it at home. And the current generation of Catholics are the best lay bible students they've ever had. We've seen a few of them here at FR.
If they have the Word, they become as responsible as the rest of us. They can, as God leads them, know its counsel and its doctrine as fully as any other person.
I am not casual about Rome's errors. I've had occasion to speak seriously with a few Catholics on doctrinal issues and my real concern is that they hold the fundaments of Christian faith very firmly. That they know and thoroughly believe they are sinners, that a sinless and perfect Savior came to atone their sins, that He rose from the dead. Also, that they should know and understand their responsibility to obey Christ, His personal commandments and admonitions. For instance, to practice loving forgiveness toward those brethren who repent their errors or missteps and ask forgiveness, as many times as they are asked.
If we love Christ, whether Catholic or Protestant or Baptist, we will keep His commandments just as He instructed. And we will do it in the spirit of His law, not by the letter of it. If you forgive your brother's transgressions, then
forgive them, something that I had occasion recently to observe is fundamental to any Christian's walk or to any sound church. And this follows perfectly upon His command to love one another as He loves us.
What a muddled post. Sometimes, the internet simply isn't conducive to expressing personal experience. Or else I need to be a better organized writer.
BTW, have you noticed that most ex-Catholics that you know are more devoted to scripture than are some of those who were raised as Protestant/Baptist/evangelical? The ones I've known left Rome's churches for their love of scripture. They respond to the supernatural power of the Word and are most eager to learn it and grasp every bit of it properly.
You might enjoy one of my favorite web sites, a portion of the ministry of Richard Bennett, a former RC priest:
Berean Beacon. One of his latest sermons is "The Accomplishments Of John Paul II". He has a lot of streaming audio content available. He was a strong opponent of ECT and is in the forefront of those warning of the errors of the Emergent Church movement, something whose influence has even reached my remote area as we were warned about this Sunday in a nice sermon in a little house church I attended with some friends.