The Big Discovery [by David, former Presbyterian]

Journeyof ImperfectSaint.blogspot.com ^ | October 4, 2009 | David

[Salvation]

Sunday, October 4, 2009

The Big Discovery

        I made some good friends outside my church and found out that they were all Catholics.  Now, I did not know much about Catholicism at the time.  By the way, the Mass did seem somewhat mysterious to me externally.  In fact, what little I had heard from other church members was all negative.  There was a Mrs. J at my church, who had just retired from her missionary post in China.  She was such a kind and endearing soul to all.  One day she got back from visiting someone at a hospital and looked extremely sad and disturbed.  It turned out that when she got to the hospital room, she saw that a Catholic priest was already there with the patient.  Now the question was if the patient would ever get to heaven. 

 

        Nevertheless, my Catholic friends all looked quite normal and happy.  Then could the Catholic Church, the largest church in the the world, be in error?  It so happened that at that time I was also beginning to question my Protestant faith.  The fact that there were numerous different denominations around the world bothered me.  Also, as a Protestant, whether you're a minister or lay person, you are free to marry and divorce any number of times.  It's hard to see that Jesus would be happy with these two facts.  Since I am the kind of person who always likes to find the answer to any question that's important, I decided to look into Catholicism.

 

        I made up my mind not to talk to anyone about my investigation.  I was single then and had a lot of free time to myself.  The local public library housed an excellent collection of books on Catholicism, so I started borrowing books on the subject.  I read every weekend, even taking notes as I read.  The went on for over a year.  I read all those books that viciously attack the Catholic Church too, but somehow they did not affect me much because I sensed that these attacks could not have been prompted by the Holy Spirit.  The books that really helped me were the ones on early Church history.  I could see that the continuity was there and the beliefs and practices of the early Church had been preserved to this day in the Catholic Church.  The only conclusion I could come to was that the Catholic Church was indeed the church Jesus had come and established.  Like Christ himself, the Church, being his body, must be accepted (or rejected) totally, with no middle ground. 

 

        Here's some advice for those who seek the truth.  Your chances of success will greatly improve if, first, you start out with a completely open mind and secondly, go to the source(s) directly to get the facts.  Many who misunderstand the Catholic Church today have already made up their mind that the Church is wrong, thus never bothering to pick up a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to find out what the Church really teaches.  This is being close-minded. 

[metmom]

It’s really pretty funny, though, that former Catholics are regularly being accused of having left the RCC because they want to get a divorce and remarry, and yet, there is really no reason for them to leave the church for that reason.

All they need to do is claim the marriage took place under coercion, or false pretenses, or any other excuse that the RCC will accept and apply for an annulment.

No divorce, no sin, no repercussions of any kind.

Catholic divorce. You get a new spouse and still get heaven and can then look down your nose at all those Protestant sinners who got divorces instead.

[daniel1212]

Correction, perhaps you noticed that Romans does not have 19 chapters (change 19:4 or 9:4) and that it did not take 14000 years(!) for an infallible canon but 1400.

OK, its late, see you all tomorrow, by God’s grace.

[Salvation]

That was the one where there was no scripture. Won’t set my foot in it for a wedding or anything else again.

[metmom]

I think it’s about 6% better for the general population of people who say they are Catholic. It’s a lot better for those who are observant Catholics, and for Catholics who are observant and do natural family planning that harmonizes with Church teaching, the “stay-married” rate is above 95%.

I daresay that those kinds of statistics could be found in almost any church if they narrowed the field down to very committed observant members. I know plenty of Protestant/Evangelical couples who have toughed it out because of their faith and gone on to have great marriages.

It's not a phenomena specific to Catholics.

[presently no screen name]

The catholic church is the counterfeit church. No need to pass on that deception to me. I burnt all their material they used to deceive me and others.

I belong to GOD alone and will never listen to another as Jesus says of HIS OWN.

God’s WORD ALONE reigns in HIS Church as HIS Body only listens to HIM/HIS WORD.

[daniel1212]

Muslims do not even hold the “faith of Abraham “ nor do they “along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind,” but a decidedly different god who denies Issac was the inheritor of the promise, faith in which Abraham was counted just by, and also denies the Christ of the Bible, and (according to their apologists) makes the promised Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:16) to be Muhammad.

The statement is indefensible (as the Traditional Catholic sects also rightly contend), as the god of Islam is not some unknown, undefined god as per Acts 17:23, but one that is theologically defined as being in opposition to the God of the Bible, whether the illiterate Muhammad realized it at the time or not.

[Romulus]

And how do you know where to find God’s own word?

[daniel1212]

It does provide many references, however, this does not mean they are actually defining a verse as teaching what they invoke it for, for as in the case of purgatory, references ( Cf. 1 Cor 3:15; 1 Pet 1:7. 2 Macc 12:46; Job 1:5) often only refer to an aspect of what they seek to support, not that the verses actually refer to what they teach.

And which can be acceptable in support of a teaching based on the weight of Scriptural warrant, but assurance of Rome’s doctrine is not dependent upon this, but rests upon the premise of Rome’s assured infallibility, with full assent of faith being required for infallible decrees.

[CommerceComet]

Is the Catholic source different than, say, a Protestant source???

Of course not. When a tree forks, both forks have the same claim to the trunk. Prior to Martin Luther and the other Reformers, Protestants and Catholics share a common history. The Early Church Fathers are not the exclusive property of one or the other.

[Romulus]

And how do you know where to find God’s own word?

[Iscool]

And how do you know where to find God’s own word?

Very odd question...You don't know where to find God's word???

[Romulus]

I’m asking you. How do you “know”?

I know because the Catholic Church tells me what authentic Holy Scripture is. But since you reject the Catholic Church, I would like to know just how you come to believe that, for example, there are four Gospels and not two or six. Just a feeling of yours? Something you’ve spent a lifetime looking into, all the way back to the source documents? Or something that was handed down to you?

Look into your heart, and then answer the question: how do you know?

[verga]

When we (non-Catholics) at work asked the Catholics why they voted democrat with the abortion issue, their response? *Because the Democrats are for the poor." And these are faithfully practicing Catholics, active in their parishes. Anecdote or not, this is what grassroots Catholics think like and live like. And there are plenty of other former Catholics from other areas of the country who concur. And of course, the charges made by Catholics on this board are also for the most part anecdotal.

It may be anecdotal, but this is something I have seen myself. My Mother was born in 1933 she voted democrat almost her entire life, until Obozo was running. My wife's mother was the same way, she was born in 1925 and even though she was opposed to abortion she also voted democrat.

When I lived up north about 50% of the parish had bumper stickers for democrat candidates.

All Christians need to get the word out not just the Catholics. If we look at the African American population we see that over 90% consider themselves Christians and still voted for Obozo. Even though he has come out in favor of same sex marriage the estimate I heard the other day was that 80% of the likely voting African Americans will still vote for him.

[Salvation]

Our Father Abraham

You might want to check some facts about monotheistic religions. Basically all likenesses disappear quickly, but check this:

Symbols of the Abrahamic religions: Judaism represented by the Star of David (top), Christianity represented by the Cross (left), and Islam represented by the Arabic calligraphy of God's name (Allah) (right)

[verga]

All of these supposed Protestant converts to your religion not only use the same form letter to record their testimony, but there’s never a single mention of one finding your religion in the bible, the written words of God...

Tim Staples credits Jimmy Swaggert and the Bible with converting him to the Catholic Church. If you like I would be glad to send you a free copy of his testimony on CD. Private mail me a neutral location I can send it to for you.

[verga]

Is the Catholic source different than, say, a Protestant source???

Christian Classics Ethereal Library http://www.ccel.org/

Is an outstanding source. It is not Catholic. I purchased a CD from them about 5 years ago for about $10 and had a huge amount of information.

The site is free and open to anyone.

BTW I credit Tim Lahaye and Lorraine Boettner with getting me back into the Catholic Church.

[HarleyD]

With all due respect, it means nothing that there are three monotheistic religions. One could say the same about Molech or Baal. If you do not accept Jesus Christ as your Savior asking Him for the forgiveness of your sins, then it simply doesn’t matter.

[Salvation]

As I said, basically all similarities disappear after that connection with Abraham.

I believe the article points out — sons of Isaac or sons of Ishmael.

[Jvette]

Baptism/No Baptism

Saved by faith(all are called)/Predestination

Soul with God upon death/Soul sleeps until judgement day

Rapture/No Rapture

Bodily Resurrection/No bodily Resurrection

Just to name a few.

But, I am sure that these are not new or unknown to most Protestants.

The fact that there is even one major difference regarding salvation shows that there is no authority on Christianity outside the church.

[Jvette]

****Apparently it’s only evident to those who do not go to the scriptures in prayer, but rely on and insist that someone tell them what God says and means...

Sit in a quiet room for a few hours with an open bible and ask God to show you something (while you read it)...I’d recommend the New Testament...****

Are you assuming that I don’t?