Why we left the Catholic Church

BobRyan said:

Peter had an interesting statement on that point.

Corresponding to that - Baptism now saves you - not the touch of holy water to the flesh - but rather an APPEAL to God for a clean conscience 1 Pet 3.​

Because salvation works like this "8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." Rom 10

John 1:11 "to as many as BELIEVED to them He gave the right to be called the children of God"

Acts 16:
30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.

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SamInNi said:

Although I was never a Catholic, I can fully understand your comments.

I grew up in a very polarised community where Roman Catholics were, in my view, substantially marginalised by the so-called Protestant political majority. It’s an appalling background that never really went away, although society here today is much less sectarian, thankfully. I certainly wouldn’t call myself a Protestant today and I’ve been thankful to have devout Roman Catholics for neighbours.

When I became a Christian at 18 I was influenced by the historic idea in my province that Roman Catholicism along with nationalism should be suppressed through the ballot box. Along the way I shook off the divisive political angle and took the time to look much closer at the Roman Catholic faith.

What has struck me most over the years, and what truly astonishes me more than anything else, is the vast gulf I found between Roman Catholic Magisterium dogma and the fullness of the Gospel message in Scripture (the Magisterium is “the [Roman Catholic] Church's divinely appointed authority to teach the truths of religion”).

My insurmountable problem with the Roman Catholic system is its dogmatic determination to rank Tradition as authoritative and indispensable as God-breathed Scripture. It's this Tradition that gives Roman Catholicism its distinctive characteristics. If we lay aside every dogma and teaching of the Roman position and use Scripture alone to define the fullness of the Gospel message, do we need anything that Roman Catholicism has to offer?

To be fair, how does that work out in actual practice for me? Well, every aspect of Christian teaching, and every aspect of my salvation and daily walk of faith in Christ, and every aspect of the practices of my local church, are catered for by Scripture. This secure day-to-day reality (that I’ve known for over 40 years) calls into question the Roman Catholic system in general, and its infallible Tradition in particular.

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concretecamper said:

feel free to stick with "I gotta make the first move in order to merit salvation" idea.

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BobRyan said: ↑
ok one tiny congregation ... so you're saying one cannot accuse 100's of millions of Christians of whatever one find "one tiny congregation" doing?

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Albion said:

Yes, but it's more than that in this case because not only is what Westboro is best known for--those intrusive and insulting demonstrations at other people's funerals--but a huge percentage of Protestant churches denounced that action as well.

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pdudgeon said:

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Even as a Protestant I could manage to go a few weeks before I would fail, pick myself up, appologize to God, and try again. And I know that He would forgive me, and help me to carry on.
But in the Catholic Church it's not so easy, not so easy at all.

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BobRyan said:

The Roman Catholic church gave birth to a great many of them including the Orthodox church.

That tradition continued even within Protestant churches that gave birth to others as well.

In other words ... that is not "the difference"

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BobRyan said:

My point is that even if no Protestant churches said a single peep about "what one tiny local congregation" does as a one-off , is it valid to accuse 100's of millions of Christians for what we find in one

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Akita Suggagaki said:

Creedal churches such as Roman Catholics, the Orthodox Churches, The Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches are creedal. They least start with a statement they can all assent to and it is based on an interpretation of the Bible. If one cant agree it is best to go somewhere else.

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• the Baptist Confession of Faith (in the case of General Baptists)
• the Baptist Faith and Message (in the case of Southern Baptists)
  
• the "Westminster Confession of Faith"
• the "Book of Common Prayer"
• the Adventist's "28 Fundamental Beliefs"...

BobRyan said:

The Roman Catholic church gave birth to a great many of them including the Orthodox church

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prodromos said:

The Orthodox Church is no different to how it was prior to the schism of 1054. The structure of the Orthodox Church and her theology did not change, so it is erroneous to claim the Roman Catholic Church gave birth to Eastern Orthodoxy.

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BobRyan said:

If you mean that prior to 1054 the Orthodox Church had excommunicated the Pope - I would need to see the documentation

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BobRyan said:

In any case all those centuries of excommunicating each other come after 1053 not before -- agreed?

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Peter J Barban said:

The mods suggested that this might be the appropriate forum for this discussion concerning ex-Catholics. I ask commenters to not attack or disparage those who have left the Catholic church.

I grew up in the Catholic church and it was the only religion I had any experience with. My mother was a devout Catholic and my brothers and I went to church every Sunday and Catechism class every Saturday. I went to confession, and I was confirmed. However, I was not saved and by the time I was in high school I had doubts about Jesus and the Bible.

My mother taught me and it seemed confirmed by the church that we had to earn our salvation through good works. Many Catholics say that this is not taught in the church, but that was the only gospel I knew: believe in Jesus and work hard to get into heaven. But while I believed in a generic creator God, I was agnostic about Jesus and the Bible.

In my second year of college, searching for meaning in life, I began studying the Bible with a Protestant student group. They showed me the gospel of grace and salvation by faith, not by works. This was new to me and I was skeptical. But over several months of studying the Bible, I became convinced that they were right. Furthermore, this group of students was living out their beliefs in a way that made their lives far more attractive than any Catholics I knew.

So, I prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and began attending a non-denominational church on campus. This new form of worship was quite a culture shock for an insular Catholic such as myself. A week later, God spoke to my heart and called me to become a missionary.

When I returned home on break, my family was shocked - I had never gone through a rebellious phase and now I had left the church and become a religious fanatic. My father said I was insane. My mother made me go to our local priest and talk things out with him.

I told the priest that I left the church because they never taught me the gospel of grace, that I didn't accept the Pope's authority and that I wanted to interpret the Bible myself without the guidance of millennia of Church teachings (like praying to Saints), but I was very intent on living for Jesus and serving God as a missionary. Surprisingly, the priest actually agreed that it was better for me to leave the Catholic church. That's my story in a nutshell.

I encourage other Christians who have left the Catholic church to share their stories as well.

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Psalm 27 said:

Maybe your testimony could lead him to salvation too.

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Peter J Barban said:

I told the priest that I left the church because they never taught me the gospel of grace, that I didn't accept the Pope's authority and that I wanted to interpret the Bible myself without the guidance of millennia of Church teachings (like praying to Saints), but I was very intent on living for Jesus and serving God as a missionary. Surprisingly, the priest actually agreed that it was better for me to leave the Catholic church. That's my story in a nutshell.

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prodromos said:

Why do you think he hasn't already found salvation where he is?

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prodromos said:

Why do you think he hasn't already found salvation where he is?

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Psalm 27 said:

I believe that it would be especially hard to leave if you had been born into it.

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