Posted on 05/31/2014 3:30:55 PM PDT by boatbums
The Wizard of Oz has fascinated adults and children for many years. You know the story: a farm girl from Kansas finds herself in the middle of an unwelcomed adventure in an attempt to find the fanciful wizard, who, she hopes, will help her return home. After many trials and tribulations, she, along with her newfound friends, ultimately arrives at the Emerald City only to discover, much to her chagrin, that the "wizard" was really no wizard at all. He wasn't much of anything. In modern parlance, he was a wimp.
Believe it or not, many-a-Protestant claims to have experienced a disenchantment similar to that of Dorothy. And like the disenchanted Dorothy who just wanted to go home, so too these disenchanted Protestants want to go home. The home these Protestants long for, however, is not the home they left behind. These Protestants are Romeward bound.
True, the number of Protestant converts to Catholicism is less than the other way around. And there are less actual converts to Rome today than during previous points in the history of Catholicism. Nevertheless, there is something unique about this modern conversion phenomenon, since "the kind of converts appears to be quite different, with fewer obligatory conversions for such reasons as marriage. A significant number of Protestant evangelicals...are among those moving to Rome...."
Many evangelical Protestants are converting to "Roman obedience." Or, in the words of one such convert, they are "getting churched" or "poping." Jocularity aside, it is important for Protestants to come to grips with the reasons why these Neocatholics have set their compasses toward Rome, only then will Protestants be able to see some of the shortcomings of their espoused faith. Only then will they be able to meet the needs of those who are "taking the plunge."
(Excerpt) Read more at reformed.org ...
As a former Roman Catholic, now Evangelical Christian, whatever reasons people have for leaving one faith tradition for another, it should be something well thought out and not done without ALL the facts and information being considered. Fortunately, our Lord God is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:18) It is never too late to receive the truth of the Gospel and be saved.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)
Link doesn’t seem to lead to the rest of the article...?
Because they don’t know any better...
Same old, same old (2002): http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/45/45-3/45-3-PP451-472_JETS.pdf
Yep, that link isn’t going to the article.
The Great and Powerful Jeff makes a prediction: This is going to be a mean, nasty thread.
This is the location:
Here’s a response to the original work: http://newchristendom.blogspot.com/2011/09/response-to-david-hagopians-romeward.html
Link not right.
Linky repair?
More such works (Protestants trying to explain why Protestants leave Protestantism for the Catholic Faith):
http://socrates58.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-protestants-explain-or-explain-away.html
My trek has gone from Methodist to Lutheran, but if I were to take the next step, why should I stop at Rome? Why not revert all the way and become Orthodox?
As a former Roman Catholic, now Evangelical Christian, whatever reasons people have for leaving one faith tradition for another, it should be something well thought out and not done without ALL the facts and information being considered.
It should be. RC-ism that I run into is an alien world.
I've only run into this once, in my personal circle of friends. My best friend in college, best man at my wedding, fell in among Jesuits in the Army, far from home and in a difficult period in his life. The Jesuits took up their reason for existing, and next thing I hear he's joined the Roman Catholic church. His reasons then (this was 20+ years ago, and I haven't seen him in over a decade), it was all about authority.
I always liked how Jason Stellman put it:
In a word, I fought the Church, and the Church won. And what it did was beat me, but it didn’t draw me, entice me, or lure me by playing upon some deep, latent psychosis or desire on my part for something Protestantism just couldn’t provide. Catholicism went from being so obviously ridiculous that it wasn’t even worth bothering to oppose, to being something whose claims were so audacious that I couldn’t help opposing them. But what it never was, was attractive, and in many ways it still isn’t.
But what Catholicism is, I have come to discover, is true.
http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2012/09/i-fought-the-church-and-the-church-won/
I think some culturally conservative Protestants are attracted to Rome’s stance on abortion and other social issues, plus they long to be part of something really huge.
What makes Orthodox all the way back? The Catholic Church came first, and the Orthodox split off.
I always liked how Jason Stellman put it:
Jason seems quite narcissistically obsessed.
“Jason seems quite narcissistically obsessed.”
No more so than Luther or Calvin. A personal conversion story for someone who is already a professed Christian is going to have to include a fair amount of “I” and “me” statements. How else could it be written?
Oh, now you’ve done it. You’ve made a historically accurate claim about Christianity in a thread filled with Protestants. Who knows what could happen now!
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