Why go Roman catholic and why now?

[cajunhillbilly53]

Not just Lutheranism, but an Anglican church that sticks to the Articles of Religion, can have beautiful liturgy and a clear Gospel message as well.

 

[TexanRose]

I know a woman who left a Baptist church because the minister drove a really nice car and wore really expensive suits, while most of the congregation was in poverty. She joined this catholic church: The Faith Community of Saint Sabina (caution: 2nd commandment violations) because of its reputation for reaching out to and supporting the poor.

I'm sure the reasons vary from one person to the next.

 

[Scott1]

Great testimony and insight, Rich. To God be the Glory.

Your testimony, that of many others is going the "other way" than the premise of this thread.

It might indeed seem that the legacy residue of Christianity in the Roman Church, though it is fallen, is more "spiritual" than that of a liberal, mainline denomination.

But that's only one part of the multifaceted answer to this question.

No one comes to the Son unless the Father draws Him.

 

[R. Scott Clark]

Bob Godfrey and I talked about this very thing here.

Darryl Hart weighed in on this the other day. He chalked it up to QIRC. For more on that see Recovering the Reformed Confession.

 

[dudley]

Great testimony and insight, Rich. To God be the Glory.

Your testimony, that of many others is going the "other way" than the premise of this thread.

It might indeed seem that the legacy residue of Christianity in the Roman Church, though it is fallen, is more "spiritual" than that of a liberal, mainline denomination.

But that's only one part of the multifaceted answer to this question.

No one comes to the Son unless the Father draws Him.

I agree with Rich and Scott. Sadly some cradle Protestants I believe have lost the faith. I think however there are many converts to Protestantism as I am who have seen the truth. I think the glorious Protestant Reformation and its 5 solas :Grace alone , Faith alone ,in Christ alone, and all Glory and honor to God alone with Scripture alone our only and final authority lives still in the hearts of many and has been adopted by those who are converts like me with all vehemence, forcefulness and strength of conviction. As the reformers before us! I and many other converts who are like the great Reformers of the 16th century; Luther , Calvin and Knox ,and others who were like me Roman Catholics who had their eyes opened by the grace of God and became Protestants to the church of Rome will stand ready to defend the Protestant faith. There are 15 million ex Roman Catholics in the United States alone who left the

Sometimes churches bleed, and in America this is occurring most acutely in the Roman Catholic Church where one out of every ten Americans is an ex-Catholic. In a recent Catholic National Reporter article, "The Hidden Exodus: Catholics Becoming Protestants," the Rev. Thomas Reese S.J. provides reasons for the crisis:
People are not becoming Protestants because they disagree with specific Catholic teachings; people are leaving because the church does not meet their spiritual needs and they find Protestant worship service better.
Nor are the people becoming Protestants lazy or lax Christians. In fact, they attend worship services at a higher rate than those who remain Catholic.
Thus, both as believers and as worshipers, Catholics who become Protestants are statistically better Christians than those who stay Catholic. We are losing the best, not the worst.

Father Reese’s observations are noteworthy. For instance, he contrasts the reasons why there are more Catholics migrating in an evangelical direction than toward Protestant liberalism. Reese also sets the record straight in explaining the disconnect between the commonly cited reasons for these departures by Catholic clergy—e.g., disagreement with moral stipulations such as contraception, women priests, or divorce—versus actual reasons based on data from the Pew Forum, which indicate that it is something closer to spiritual renewal and attraction to dynamic forms of worship.
The strength of Reese’s case rests upon research from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, particularly chapter two, Changes in Americans’ Religious Affiliation. The data supports what sociologists of religion and pastors who serve at the Catholic/Protestant intersection have been noticing for years. For instance, it is a main point of my book Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic (Zondervan), which grew from two years of focus group interviews among former Catholics across the country. Another recent example comes from Alisa Harris of World in her article, "Mass Exodus." The Pew Forum has put hard numbers to this anecdotal evidence, asserting that there are currently 15 million former Catholics in America attending Protestant Churches, two-thirds of whom do so as evangelicals.

I am one of the above 15million who left the church of Rome and became Protestant in the last 2 decades and many are rabid and practicing Protestants like me. I think the Protestant Reformation and its glorious heritage can be carried on if we look to those who have been converted to the Protestant fold and others who will come if we spread the good news and evangelize especially among many disillusioned Roman catholic’s whose ranks are growing in the 21st century every day. The wonderful cradle Protestants like many of you here who have held the faith and we converts to the truth along with many more ready to move to the Protestant realm of faith will see the Reformation grow and continue with a new and vibrant force. I say with all conviction and hope for the future of the true Gospel and the true faith and church of Jesus Christ which I and many on here believe to be the Reformed faith and the Reformed Protestant churches who hold to the truth will say with me “Praise God For the Reformation “!

The national pew survey faith in flux indicates….Catholicism has suffered the greatest net loss in the process of religious change. Many people who leave the Catholic Church do so for religious reasons; two-thirds of former Catholics who have become unaffiliated say they left the Catholic faith because they stopped believing in its teachings, as do half of former Catholics who are now Protestant. Fewer than three-in-ten former Catholics, however, say the clergy sexual abuse scandal factored into their decision to leave Catholicism.
In contrast with other groups, those who switch from one Protestant denominational family to another (e.g., were raised Baptist and are now Methodist) tend to be more likely to do so in response to changed circumstances in their lives. Nearly four-in-ten people who have changed religious affiliation within Protestantism say they left their childhood faith, in part, because they relocated to a new community, and nearly as many say they left their former faith because they married someone from a different religious background.
The new survey is a follow-up to the "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," conducted by the Pew Forum in 2007 and released in 2008, and is based on recontact interviews with members of the largest segments of the population that have changed religious affiliation. This includes more than 300 interviews each with former Catholics who are now unaffiliated, former Catholics who are now Protestant, former Protestants who are now unaffiliated and those raised unaffiliated who now belong to a religious faith. The survey also includes nearly 300 interviews with people who have gone from one denominational family to another within Protestantism and nearly 1,000 interviews with people who still belong to the group in which they were raised. In total, the new survey allows for in-depth analysis of about eight-in-ten of those who now have a different religious affiliation than the one in which they were raised.

One-in-ten American adults is a former Catholic. Former Catholics are about evenly divided between those who have become unaffiliated and those who have become Protestant, with a smaller number leaving Catholicism for other faiths. In response to the yes-or-no questions about why they left the Catholic Church, nearly six-in-ten former Catholics who are now unaffiliated say they left Catholicism due to dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings on abortion and homosexuality, about half cite concerns about Catholic teachings on birth control and roughly four-in-ten name unhappiness with Catholicism's treatment of women.
The reasons for leaving Catholicism given by former Catholics who have converted to evangelical Protestantism differ in some important ways from those offered by former Catholics who have joined mainline Protestant churches.4 Most former Catholics who are now evangelical Protestants, for example, say they left Catholicism in part because they stopped believing in Catholic teachings (62%) and specifically because they were unhappy with Catholic teachings about the Bible (55%). These sentiments are expressed by far fewer converts to mainline Protestantism (20% stopped believing in Catholic teachings and 16% specifically were unhappy with Catholic teachings about the Bible), who instead are much more likely to say they left Catholicism because they married a non-Catholic (44%) or because they were dissatisfied with the priests at their parish (39%).
Changing Within Protestantism
The single largest group in the U.S. adult population that has changed affiliation is made up of those who have changed from one Protestant denominational family to another. Overall, 15% of Americans were raised as Protestants and now belong to a different Protestant faith than the one in which they were raised. More so than for those in other groups, those who change affiliation within Protestantism tend to do so because of life cycle changes. In response to the survey's yes-or-no questions, nearly four-in-ten within this group say they left their childhood denominational family because they moved to a new community, and one-third say they left their former faith because they married someone from a different religious background. Those who have changed within Protestantism also are less likely than others to say their decision to leave their childhood faith was motivated by a loss of belief in the religion's teachings. Nevertheless, majorities of those who have changed affiliations within Protestantism say they left their childhood faith in part because they found another religion that is preferable (58%) or because they were spiritually unfulfilled in their former faith (51%).

I will do all I can to spread the truth and hopefully open the eyes of others. I want to stand as a 21st century Protestant who aligns with the Reformers and do what I can to expose the apostasy of the papists and proclaim the truth. I think the following quote is worth thinking about :"After all, there is a Protestantism still worth contending for, there is a Calvinism still worth proclaiming, and a gospel well worth dying for" (CH Spurgeon) I stand with Spurgeon and all my Protestant brethren on here and everywhere who will stand for the principles of the Glorious 16th century Protestant Reformation now in the 21st century .I am proud to be a Protestant and I am thankful to God I am now a Protestant and no longer a Roman catholic. I will do everything I can to promote the cause of the Protestant Reformation today.

I wrote the following recently and please share this with any one considering going to Rome.
I wrote this recently and please feel free to share this with your friend.

There are Five reasons I am now a Reformed Protestant and they are the same Five reasons I am no longer a Roman catholic!
As a Reformed Protestant We give glory to God alone , Roman Catholicism does not give Glory to God alone.
As a Presbyterian and a Reformed Protestant I place my faith in Christ alone. Roman Catholicism does not.
As a Reformed Protestant in the Presbyterian church I rely on scripture alone as our final authority , Roman Catholicism does not; it says scripture must be seen with tradition and then the RCC and her pope can even override and add to scripture!
I am a Reformed Protestant and thankful as such I am now a Presbyterian because I know I am saved by faith alone, Roman Catholicism says it is faith and works; we must merit our salvation and that theology leads men into the turmoil of hell and despair. Man cannot save Himself that is why God sent us the Redeemer, Jesus Christ to save us and make us righteous by imparting Christ’s righteousness to us to justify us and sanctify us but through no merit of our own, He did that because He knew we were not able to do it for ourselves.
It is through Grace alone that we are given Faith alone In Christ alone and know that it is Scripture alone that is our only and final authority. Because of this great gift of Grace alone I am a Reformed Protestant now and a Presbyterian. Roman Catholicism does not accept the 5 solas of the Protestant Reformation which are biblically correct and supported. This is also why I renounce my former Roman Catholic faith and her antichrist pope and proclaim by the Grace of God alone I am now born again into the truth of the Gospel and salvation. I now embrace and defend the Reformed Protestant faith as a Presbyterian and I renounce and protest the teachings of the RCC because Roman Catholicism is Apostate!!! I am now a Protestant and stand with the Protestant Reformers of the 16th century and my Protestant friends in Christ and protest the heretical teachings of Roman Catholicism!

In faith,
Dudley Davis
New Jersey
If any one wishes to call me for any help in discouraging someone going to Rome my cell number is 732-730-0712. I am willing to help in any way I can.

Recently I helped a young man , a former Roman catholic openly renounce the RCC and her pope. I had friends in Philadelphia and the family left the RCC because of the sex scandals and the mom and dad and younger 2 children became Presbyterians last fall. The young man who is 17 however was having difficulty giving up his Roman catholic beliefs and was having guilt feelings about possibly becoming a Protestant and a Presbyterian. I worked with him on a few Saturdays and He now also understands that Roman Catholicism holding to faith and works for justification and her creating man made doctrine via her pope and saying that her traditions are equal with scripture is apostate. I worked with him the last few weeks and he was able to see through my teaching and the bible that we are saved by faith alone. He has accepted the 5 solas of grace alone, by faith alone , and scripture alone and now sees that all glory and honor is and should be given only to God alone. He even now said he renounced the RC mass as a false form of worship and also not only understands the protestant teaching on the Lords supper he believes as we do and also has renounced the RC teaching of transubstantiation. He will be taking newcomers class in the Presbyterian church this fall and it is my hope he will make a public affirmation of faith perhaps on Reformation Sunday in October. I made my affirmation of faith as a Presbyterian and officially became a Reformed Protestant on October 24th 2010, a week before Reformation Sunday.

 

[Galatians220]

Thank you so much, Rev. Strange! And Jenny: oh, yes, I would like to come and worship with you some time... But when you look at it another way, we're worshipping together every Lord's Day, even though we have a 5-hr. time difference and even though the miles are great between us!

Rich, I identify with everything you've said. Catholicism does a superficial gloss-over for people until one day, if they're so graced, they take a hard look at it and cry to themselves, "I can't do this anymore!" Then they think, "Where is God?" (by grace) - and the Lord scoops them up. In my thirties, I was going to mass every Sunday but was not managing it very well. By the time of the "consecration," I'd be in tears and I'd have to leave. One Sunday, I went to a certain EPC (when it was solid), and the late Dr. Bartlett Hess preached a fine, Reformed-lite (in retrospect) sermon... That Sunday, I was in tears over finally having heard the real Gospel, of which I'd known nothing before. I went there for 8 years until it started unravelling. Then we embarked on a long-futile effort to find a Reformed church. Around here?! What we were thinking?

I miss being steeped in the ethnic milieu of the Catholicism in which I grew up; I miss the Friday night fish fries, the games nights and "the old gang." Part of this is getting older and many of "the old gang" being scattered around the suburbs, gone far away or dead. I'm not part of a group anymore; we're just a couple of people who show up for church on Sunday from a distance. But -- this time we have Christ, not "play-baby" stuff, and we're reminded that earth is not to be thought of as any part of heaven, that it matters more in Whom we believe rather than with whom - and how many of them there are - we play and laugh. Should we be given opportunities to minister to other Christians? Yes, but it's not mandatory. The Lord blesses with ministries whom He chooses to bless. For every time it does or does not happen here, there will be a multitude of opportunities in heaven to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and others! There will be joy that's a thousand times more than commensurate with the sadness here, where we're going.

 

[Supersillymanable]

They buy into this lie because EVERYONE listening is thinking the SAME thing. What's wrong with me? I'm not victorious throughout the week. I bought the last book or went to the last seminar that promised to change my life but it didn't do anything for me but I'm not telling anybody else because it seems to have worked for them.

It didn't work for any of them. They're still sinning and they know it but most Churches put them back on the treadmill and convince them that if they pray more, submit more, do something more then they'll be where they ought to be.

This is so true. Told with the insight of someone who's been there and experienced it and been pulled out by God's grace.

I have increasingly found that Evangelical Christianity is incredibly doctrinally shallow. People think theology and study of the scriptures should be left to the pastor and theologian. It's so so sad. Which is why people see no difference between Catholicism and Evangelicalism! They have no idea! Until we really understand the wonder of the cross and understand that we need to be looking at Christ, not constantly looking at ourselves and our performance and ever other "me" centred thing that we think we can do to help our salvation, we will be constantly running back and forth to the new exciting, but still empty fad.

 

[Miss Marple]

Good work Dudley! Very encouraging.