Considering converting to Catholicism

[Laserman]

Hi,

Actually I was born and raised a Catholic but left the church at 18 then later at 32 got involved in Baptist fundamentalism. Presently I'm a member of a PCA Conservative Presbyterian church which is Calvinistic and reformed for the most part. My Belief in Sola Scriptura is weakening by the day. I've been reading some good cathoic books and I'm beginning to see that I may have return to Rome soon. I'm fairly well read, I have Bachelor Degree in Bible from Baptist school and I've read a ton of Reformed Literature including Calvins Institutes and several of his commentaries.

Presently I'm working my Way through the New Catholic Catechism, Crossing the Tiber by Stephen Ray, Surprised by Truth by Patrick Madrid and Carl Keating's Catholicism & Fundamentalism. Great stuff so far.

So Far I've been intrigued by the early Fathers Church Goverment and Eucharistic teaching, the Catholic view of Church & Doctrinal unity and the contraception debate. The Usual Objections about pergatory and Mary don't really bother me. As Sola Scriptura falls I see no problem following the teaching and tradition of the church. If Sola Scriptura was a true doctrine there wouldn't be 300 denominations claming the Bible to be their authority. Seems to me that most people are their own authority. I mean, Moses had no scritpure in his hand, and I'm surely no better than Him. All Moses had was church tradition. unless they Job at that time. Pray for me!!

Barry

 

[marianservant]

Hi,

Actually I was born and raised a Catholic but left the church at 18 then later at 32 got involved in Baptist fundamentalism. Presently I'm a member of a PCA Conservative Presbyterian church which is Calvinistic and reformed for the most part. My Belief in Sola Scriptura is weakening by the day. I've been reading some good cathoic books and I'm beginning to see that I may have return to Rome soon. I'm fairly well read, I have Bachelor Degree in Bible from Baptist school and I've read a ton of Reformed Literature including Calvins Institutes and several of his commentaries.

Presently I'm working my Way through the New Catholic Catechism, Crossing the Tiber by Stephen Ray, Surprised by Truth by Patrick Madrid and Carl Keating's Catholicism & Fundamentalism. Great stuff so far.

So Far I've been intrigued by the early Fathers Church Goverment and Eucharistic teaching, the Catholic view of Church & Doctrinal unity and the contraception debate. The Usual Objections about pergatory and Mary don't really bother me. As Sola Scriptura falls I see no problem following the teaching and tradition of the church. If Sola Scriptura was a true doctrine there wouldn't be 300 denominations claming the Bible to be their authority. Seems to me that most people are their own authority. I mean, Moses had no scritpure in his hand, and I'm surely no better than Him. All Moses had was church tradition. unless they Job at that time. Pray for me!!

Barry

God bless you in your search for truth and I totally love your booklist I am a convert to Catholicism as well. The peace of the Lord be with you! And I will pray for you brethren in Christ!

 

[InnerPhyre]

Wonderful that you're inquiring, bro! Pull up a chair and stay a while. There's a wealth of knowledge to be found here in OBOB

 

[Carrye]

You definitely have yourself some good reading material. If you're interested, submerse yourself in the writings of the Fathers, particularly on the Eucharist. You'll be simply amazed.

 

[tdcharles]

When you're done with the Catechism (or before that even), the Summa Theologica is a good work. A bit heavy on the theology, but the insights it contains into Catholic theology are endless. http://www.newadvent.org/summa/

 

[HisLittleOne]

YAY! I'll definitely keep you in my prayers!!! God bless you!!

 

[Ave Maria]

Well praise God! As far as sola scriptura goes, read this stuff if you haven't already:

Scripture And Tradition

Apostolic Tradition

The Practical Problems of Sola Scriptura

I don't know if the last link lines up with the Catholic Church or not. I found it during a Yahoo search.

 

[Ave Maria]

Oh yeah, I'm a convert too. Well, I haven't officially converted yet but I start RCIA in September. That's another thing you'll want to do. You'll want to contact your local Catholic parish and sign up for RCIA as soon as possible. RCIA will be starting very soon.

 

[PassthePeace1]

Barry,

Welcome home! I will say a prayer for you...Peace be with you...Pam

 

[CeeBee]

I was raised Baptist, want to convert but family won't let me, I love them so much tho, they just want the best for me and dont think thats it...
But God bless u in ur searching.

 

[Ave Maria]

I was raised Baptist, want to convert but family won't let me, I love them so much tho, they just want the best for me and dont think thats it...
But God bless u in ur searching.

Hey just wait till you're 18 CeeBee. Then you can convert. Until then, you're still a Catholic in my eyes.

 

[Dominus Fidelis]

Hi,

Actually I was born and raised a Catholic but left the church at 18 then later at 32 got involved in Baptist fundamentalism. Presently I'm a member of a PCA Conservative Presbyterian church which is Calvinistic and reformed for the most part. My Belief in Sola Scriptura is weakening by the day. I've been reading some good cathoic books and I'm beginning to see that I may have return to Rome soon. I'm fairly well read, I have Bachelor Degree in Bible from Baptist school and I've read a ton of Reformed Literature including Calvins Institutes and several of his commentaries.

Presently I'm working my Way through the New Catholic Catechism, Crossing the Tiber by Stephen Ray, Surprised by Truth by Patrick Madrid and Carl Keating's Catholicism & Fundamentalism. Great stuff so far.

So Far I've been intrigued by the early Fathers Church Goverment and Eucharistic teaching, the Catholic view of Church & Doctrinal unity and the contraception debate. The Usual Objections about pergatory and Mary don't really bother me. As Sola Scriptura falls I see no problem following the teaching and tradition of the church. If Sola Scriptura was a true doctrine there wouldn't be 300 denominations claming the Bible to be their authority. Seems to me that most people are their own authority. I mean, Moses had no scritpure in his hand, and I'm surely no better than Him. All Moses had was church tradition. unless they Job at that time. Pray for me!!

Barry

Wow...you seem really well read and educated. This will be interesting to watch. Welcome to OBOB! I hope you do convert because you will be a great witness to the Calvinists.

 

[Franze]

Welcome back to the church barry

 

[plainswolf]

I was raised Baptist, want to convert but family won't let me, I love them so much tho, they just want the best for me and dont think thats it...
But God bless u in ur searching.

Take heart young man, because the most important thing one can do is pray... and you can and should pray all you want to and maybe even more... Because this is what nourishes your Faith in God... Without prayer none of us have any hope.. Because even if you converted now it would do little good without prayer, this is the same for all of us..

Now imagine all the prayers you can get in by the time you're old enough to convert anyways! You would have an amazingly rich treasury of grace from prayer awaiting when you finally do receive the Sacraments..


Mark

 

[D'Ann]

Hi,

Actually I was born and raised a Catholic but left the church at 18 then later at 32 got involved in Baptist fundamentalism. Presently I'm a member of a PCA Conservative Presbyterian church which is Calvinistic and reformed for the most part. My Belief in Sola Scriptura is weakening by the day. I've been reading some good cathoic books and I'm beginning to see that I may have return to Rome soon. I'm fairly well read, I have Bachelor Degree in Bible from Baptist school and I've read a ton of Reformed Literature including Calvins Institutes and several of his commentaries.

Presently I'm working my Way through the New Catholic Catechism, Crossing the Tiber by Stephen Ray, Surprised by Truth by Patrick Madrid and Carl Keating's Catholicism & Fundamentalism. Great stuff so far.

So Far I've been intrigued by the early Fathers Church Goverment and Eucharistic teaching, the Catholic view of Church & Doctrinal unity and the contraception debate. The Usual Objections about pergatory and Mary don't really bother me. As Sola Scriptura falls I see no problem following the teaching and tradition of the church. If Sola Scriptura was a true doctrine there wouldn't be 300 denominations claming the Bible to be their authority. Seems to me that most people are their own authority. I mean, Moses had no scritpure in his hand, and I'm surely no better than Him. All Moses had was church tradition. unless they Job at that time. Pray for me!!

Barry

Welcome Barry to the OBOB. I love those books that you mentioned... they all are soooo awesome. I'll keep you in my prayers and if you have any questions, please ask. We all will do our best to answer them.

God's Peace,

Debbie

 

[D'Ann]

Take heart young man, because the most important thing one can do is pray... and you can and should pray all you want to and maybe even more... Because this is what nourishes your Faith in God... Without prayer none of us have any hope.. Because even if you converted now it would do little good without prayer, this is the same for all of us..

Now imagine all the prayers you can get in by the time you're old enough to convert anyways! You would have an amazingly rich treasury of grace from prayer awaiting when you finally do receive the Sacraments..


Mark

Amen...

I'll keep you in my prayers too....

God's Peace to You and Yours Cee Bee,

Debbie

 

[Caedmon]

Laserman, I was a 5-point Calvinist for a while before I started inquiring about the Catholic Church. It took 3 years, but here I am, a confirmed Catholic, and loving it. Being able to receive the Sacraments is truly a wonderful, blessed, awe-inspiring, humbling and lovingly fulfilling thing! I'll pray for you and all Catholics-in-the-making here.

 

[kimber1]

barry, first God bless you!!!! you're reading some great books there i'd recommend too picking up somehting by scott hahn, a presbyterian convert. he ROCKS! and his books show how he struggled NOT to convert once he began gaining the same insight you're gaining

 

[NPH]

Welcome home Barry! Ah, that Sola Scriptura is such a bugger of thing, isn't it

I am a 'cradle' Catholic who's family went Baptist and drug me along 25 years later i've finally found my way back to the Church that Jesus established. But after all those years having SS pounded into my head it's even still hard to let go of my KJV Bible lol!

I can tell you this, once the scales of Sola Scriptura fall away it becomes so wonderfully obvious that the Catholic Church is the true Church. I look back sometimes and wonder why i continually gave Authority to pastors, deacons, Bible study teachers and worst of all myself when I could have recognized that Authority in the Church Jesus started 2000 years ago.

And CeeBee, I'll be certain to pray for you also! Most of my family is still Baptist and it's a bit of a strain at times. Even at the age of 36 I hate the feeling that maybe somehow i've let my mother down. But it's important to remember that your Faith in Jesus and His Church is even more important than your love of family. If my mother came right out and said she was disappointed I had returned to the Catholic Church it would make me sad, but I wouldn't jeopardize my salvation just to please her.

Good Bless to both of you!

 

[plainswolf]

Hi Barry!!

It seems you have "Love for Truth" which is the very basis for recieving the truth... Just good honest love for truth...



Gos Bless you and your family!
Mark