[Resettozero]

The fervent prayer of a righteous wife avails much.

[Campion]

She taught that there was NO SALVATION outside of her. If you weren't a Catholic, you were going to Hell--it was just that simple.

You can see he put a lot of effort into understanding what he was leaving. [eye roll]

(Like, none at all, not even a cursory reading of the relevant catechism passages.)

[knarf]

The key to MANY conversions .. (luke 22:32 .. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. ((to Simon .. er .. Peter ... er ... Pope)) ... ) is simply;

" ... as I had never heard someone actually “teach” Bible passages before ... "

And for me as well ... I never was "taught" the bible .... just memorize catechism and obey the nuns

[PieterCasparzen]

Great post !

[9thLife]

He’ll be back.

[Albion Wilde]

God healed our marriage. We horrified the marriage counselor by telling her that God had intervened and forgiven us, we had both forgiven each other and our sessions were going to be abruptly ending. She was not a happy camper about that! She was convinced that I had found a new “scam” and was worried I would hide behind the Bible instead of facing my “real” problems.

Had to LOL at that one!

[Wpin]

I am in the process of checking out Catholicism. I have reservations like what the author is talking about above...but I am not sure that what us Protestants think the Catholics believe is accurate, yes I know he is/was Catholic. Whether I convert or not I will always have great respect for the Catholic Church, as I do most all Christian Churches.

[MamaB]

A great story. Good for them. Thanks.

[agere_contra]

GameCock: this post is another 'journey' piece of a kind that you often post.

The main character narrative consists of one Protestant misconception after another joined together like beads on a string.

They're ... pretty samey. Read one and you've read them all, except for changes in voice and tense.

So I'll pick out one detail:

At no time in your life could you ever be certain of going to Heaven, as that was called the “sin of presumption”.

The two sins against Hope are Presumption and Despair.

We must NOT presume that we are saved. We must hope we are saved. Why would St Paul trouble to list Hope alongside Faith and Charity if we did not need to hope?

If Protestants truly believe that they will enter heaven simply because of the fact of their baptism - regardless of whether they sin or not, regardless of whether they repent or not, then this is very bad news.

Sin separates us from God. That's why it's called 'Sin' - for 'Sin' means absence, separation.

But we can sin after we've been baptised. Honest Protestants must admit as much.

This is why Christ gave His Church a remedy for sin - what we call today the sacrament of Reconciliation.

For if baptism made it unnecessary for our sins to be forgiven, then why did Christ say:

"If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

It's very late here so I am off to bed. May God keep us all, and bring us at last to our true home. Good night.

[Bodleian_Girl]

Wow! Thank you for the testimony!

[Iscool]

Great testimony...Most Christians have testimonies...

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Welcome a Home! You will always be a Christian now!

[trebb]

Much of it could be my story. Raised Catholic and never got the message of Jesus, even in classroom situations because the Bible was cherry-picked for some arcane phrases 9probably to ensure nothing contradicted canons/doctrine) and I never heard the message of Christ the Savior. I did learn to worship Mary and pray to the saints but never that Jesus had provided a direct line to the source instead of having to use mortal intermediaries. Became agnostic at 14 and left the Church. 35 years later after a failed marriage and bouts of "drinking too much" while drifting aimlessly, I sat in a non-denominational church (after trying a couple other churches from time to time)and heard the clear message of Jesus as Savior for the first time and during the first session I attended. My life changed dramatically and quickly.

Today, I consider all the various religions to be sinful in numerous aspects and am content to rely on the Bible as my main source for information on God's Love and Faithfulness. The message is clear and doesn't require theologians/priests/bishops and other elevated "necessary middlemen" for one to get the message and to accept Christ as his/her personal Savior.