Do you claim the Bible as your sole authority for matters of faith and doctrine? Really? Every church teaches something different. Every pastor interprets the Bible according to his own personal beliefs. How is anybody supposed to know who’s teaching the truth?
If you say, “Well, all we can do is choose the denomination that’s most faithful to the Bible.” Then you are the one deciding what the Bible means. You are the one deciding what is true. The Bible isn’t your final authority – you are. It’s a dangerous game to play putting yourself above God’s chosen authority, the Catholic Church which he personally instituted.
Jim , wow, I’m impressed with your convictions!
Comment by margaret melendez — 28 January, 2009 @ 9:09 pm |
Hi,
I hope you get this email. I stumbled on your posts by accident and have read all of them with great interest and amazement. I was brought up in a strict Baptist home and made a profession of faith at age 20. I found myself becoming very disillusioned with Protestantism and the “fruit” of it in my life. At age 46, I look back and feel that I have “floundered” around a lot. I have been trying to escape the modern day “Church of Entertainment” and the shallowness of all of it. After many hours of research and many late nights mulling all of this over, and earnest cries to Jesus to help me find the truth, I have found myself being drawn toward the Catholic church. I am still afraid of this, as a lifelong protestant, but am truly seeking. I see that you have a background with the PB’s and the Baptists and ended up Catholic. I am truly intrigued. I have decided to go to Inquiry in Sept and my son and I plan to start RCIA in Sept as well. Do you have any words of direction or encouragement for me? I also have read a lot of things about Catholicism being an “abomination” and the mass begin “blasphemous.” I started going to mass two months ago and felt I had come home. What advice do you have for me? Thank you and God Bless you and your family.
Comment by Beth Pulliam — 7 August, 2009 @ 12:51 am |
Beth,
I am so happy that the Lord saw fit to use this site to reach you. Sorry it’s been so long since you posted that I answered you. I don’t write on the blog as much as a used to as I found that I am pretty much just writing what I have found on other sites, and in books. I’ve also been having trouble with my internet connection, and my time has been wrapped in in preparing my son’s wedding in a few days.
You will find that those who call the Church an abomination and such have rarely checked out what the Catholic Church actually believes. They are merely parroting what they have heard from others. This includes Catholics who have left the Church for “biblical” reasons, as I did. I did not realize that what I did was reject the Church based on others notions of what they believed the Church taught, and scrounged up out-context and misinterpreted verses, false histories, and straw-men arguments to back it up.
As I have mentioned in my blog, some of the best resources I have found are:
Catholic.com Especially the daily radio show. You can listen to it online, or podcast it. The forums are great too (I am user jmcdzzz there) You’d be surprised how many ex protestants are there.
http://www.catholicconvert.com/ This site is owned by Steve Ray, a former Baptist pastor.
Above all, make sure you call a priest near your home. He will be happy to help in your journey of faith.
Keep writing back. I will be praying for you.
Comment by jmcdhome — 11 August, 2009 @ 7:04 pm |