T
thessalonian
Guest
I will start by posting ZeroTX's very beautiful testimony here with his permission.
ZeroTX wrote
The truth is, I wanted to prove my girlfriend wrong by convincing her to come to my church and to abandon the "overly complicated" Catholic faith. I told her I couldn't understand why they needed to be so "ritualistic" in their worship, and I told her I thought that Catholics were only going to church out of obligation and didn't really want to be there. I tried HARD to convince her. I took her to my church (then a non-denominational "mega church" in the Houston area) to show her how great it was and how hers surely wasn't as good.
But, what really got me looking at history was that I wanted to prove to her that the Catholic Church wasn't the real Church of Christ. It was some sort of over-ritualized version of it created by Constantine -- that's what I told her. That's what I believed. So, I sought out the history of my own denomination, which was basically Baptist. I read about the "trail of blood" theory that some Baptists hold to to convince themselves that they are descended from early Christians. Here, I thought, I had found the solution! The Catholic Church WAS in fact the original Church, but they were wrong! The dissenters, the Cathars, or whoever else is on that "trail of blood" were always the real Church! ..... then I tried to find any real connection between these heretical groups and their theologies.... they really weren't the same. Each was its own and there were huge gaps. The trail of blood is more like a spotty blanket of heresy. It was a bogus theory... But that certainly, in my mind, didn't invalidate Baptists and their beliefs. So, I bought books on the history of Christianity.... from a Protestant (Baptist) bookstore, Lifeway. I thought, surely these books would be truthful, since they came from a trusted source. These won't be Catholic-biased books! True, they weren't. However.... who are all these guys before the 1500's?... These sound like Church leaders... like there is a hierarchy... The things they say sound Catholic. What is this???? Where is the history of my Baptist belief before the Reformation era?.. Hmm. I was lost.
I had already decided before (when I bought into the "trail of blood") that Catholics were, in fact, the majority of the earliest Christians.... but I tried to reason that they were wrong, and those they called heretics were right (e.g. Cathars). But, I found I had disagreements with those heretics and, in fact, they were really heretics....
So, then I decided the Bible was the final authority, as I had always been taught..... I dumped Church history as a basis for my concerns and switched to proving that the Bible was the final, lone authority on every matter...
Then, I bought another book from the Baptist bookstore (Lifeway), about Biblical authority.... I read it cover to cover in one day, GRASPING for the truth. What I found was circular logic... things like "the bible is the final authority, because it says so"... well, no, it really didn't. When the Apostles were writing, the word "scripture" referred to the Old Testament scriptures. They didn't realize that what they were writing would be compiled into our New Testament. That circular logic doesn't work for me... furthermore, it didn't ever say that it was the ONLY authority. It just said that it was "an" authority. Even worse, the book really never told me why I should believe that the Bible and the specific books that were ultimately chosen, should be accepted as the Word of God -- other than "because we believe so..".... not good enough!
Then, I began to read about the canonization process and how the canon of scripture was developed... and low and behold, I had to finally come to the conclusion that the Catholic Church decided which books of the bible were to be considered God-breathed, which were good to read (but not necessarily directly inspired) and which were heretical or unworthy. It wasn't a magical process of a bible falling from the sky -- it was an arduous process of Church leaders consulting, praying, deciphering, studying and listening to God speaking to their hearts as they worked under the power of the Holy Spirit to create the canon.... the canon of the Bible that we use... that we used as Baptists (save for a few in the old testament)...
Ok, now what?... Well, then I worked on proving that the Deuterocanonicals (apocrypha) were not supposed to be in the Bible and Catholics were just wrong about this and that Protestants really had these books of the bible right... again, dead end.
Then, I decided, well, I do agree that the Catholic Church was the original Church created by Christ himself.... but.... well, what about the Pope? I didn't agree with the pope being "in power" or having so much authority to create dogma. Then, I found an amazing book called Upon This Rock by Stephen K. Ray. This book put me over the edge...... It's pure history, 50% commentary and 50% direct words of the Church fathers... PRIMARY source material... not someone else's view -- the church father's view, through 500 AD.... everyone, in every time, in the early church saw the bishop of Rome as the head of the Church. Everyone....
Yeah, I thought, but I am a History major, and I remember all those bad, evil popes in history, and even the times when there was more than one at a time!...... but I came to understand that the fact that the Church will NOT have the gates of hell prevail against it... doesn't mean that the Church won't have bad people in it... or that bad decisions won't be made by Church leaders.... or that popes, cardinals, bishops or priests won't do bad things, sinful things..... it doesn't mean those things wont' happen. It means that the Church won't be overrun by them. It means that Christ's Church will prevail over these evils.... even as we have the sexual abuse scandals, the Church is not going to be destroyed -- Christ told us so... What the Church must do is learn, repent and continue to do the work of Christ, worshop Christ, and do for Christ.
I decided that I had to put a big dose of humility into my life... I had to stop being so prideful... I had to submit to the truth when the truth was right in front of me. I had to become fulfilled in God's truth, Christ's Church, and do what I knew I had to do, else I would never feel whole.
This is a really condensed version of this story... it was a rapid series of events that hit me like an avalanche. I couldn't concentrate on work or anything else for 6 months. I read 2 dozen books by both Catholic and Protestant apologists. The Catholic books told me why the Catholic Church was the original Church. The Protestant books insulted Catholics and broke down individual people as a ploy to discredit Catholicism... not once did I find any real argument (other than insulting the other side) that would come close to convincing me. The authors of those protestant books sounded like they were saying just what most Fundamentalist/Evangelicals want to hear when they go into research on the Catholic Church. They were feeding the hate....
I was confirmed into the Catholic Church at easter 2005.
It's difficult to explain to people who don't seem to understand the magnitude of my journey... I can't even go to protestant services anymore (though I used to go to both for a while).... It is just so... incomplete.
I was married, with a full Nuptual Mass celebration on 7/8/2006... at St. Laurence Catholic Church in Sugarland, TX.... to the beautiful lady that I tried to take away from the Church. God does indeed work in mysterious ways... I tried to take her out of the Church, but the truth, the Church, drew me in. ... Me... a former anti-Catholic... One who spread hate for the Church.... one whose pride ruled every part of his life.......... sin I still struggle to avoid.
-Michael
ZeroTX wrote
The truth is, I wanted to prove my girlfriend wrong by convincing her to come to my church and to abandon the "overly complicated" Catholic faith. I told her I couldn't understand why they needed to be so "ritualistic" in their worship, and I told her I thought that Catholics were only going to church out of obligation and didn't really want to be there. I tried HARD to convince her. I took her to my church (then a non-denominational "mega church" in the Houston area) to show her how great it was and how hers surely wasn't as good.
But, what really got me looking at history was that I wanted to prove to her that the Catholic Church wasn't the real Church of Christ. It was some sort of over-ritualized version of it created by Constantine -- that's what I told her. That's what I believed. So, I sought out the history of my own denomination, which was basically Baptist. I read about the "trail of blood" theory that some Baptists hold to to convince themselves that they are descended from early Christians. Here, I thought, I had found the solution! The Catholic Church WAS in fact the original Church, but they were wrong! The dissenters, the Cathars, or whoever else is on that "trail of blood" were always the real Church! ..... then I tried to find any real connection between these heretical groups and their theologies.... they really weren't the same. Each was its own and there were huge gaps. The trail of blood is more like a spotty blanket of heresy. It was a bogus theory... But that certainly, in my mind, didn't invalidate Baptists and their beliefs. So, I bought books on the history of Christianity.... from a Protestant (Baptist) bookstore, Lifeway. I thought, surely these books would be truthful, since they came from a trusted source. These won't be Catholic-biased books! True, they weren't. However.... who are all these guys before the 1500's?... These sound like Church leaders... like there is a hierarchy... The things they say sound Catholic. What is this???? Where is the history of my Baptist belief before the Reformation era?.. Hmm. I was lost.
I had already decided before (when I bought into the "trail of blood") that Catholics were, in fact, the majority of the earliest Christians.... but I tried to reason that they were wrong, and those they called heretics were right (e.g. Cathars). But, I found I had disagreements with those heretics and, in fact, they were really heretics....
So, then I decided the Bible was the final authority, as I had always been taught..... I dumped Church history as a basis for my concerns and switched to proving that the Bible was the final, lone authority on every matter...
Then, I bought another book from the Baptist bookstore (Lifeway), about Biblical authority.... I read it cover to cover in one day, GRASPING for the truth. What I found was circular logic... things like "the bible is the final authority, because it says so"... well, no, it really didn't. When the Apostles were writing, the word "scripture" referred to the Old Testament scriptures. They didn't realize that what they were writing would be compiled into our New Testament. That circular logic doesn't work for me... furthermore, it didn't ever say that it was the ONLY authority. It just said that it was "an" authority. Even worse, the book really never told me why I should believe that the Bible and the specific books that were ultimately chosen, should be accepted as the Word of God -- other than "because we believe so..".... not good enough!
Then, I began to read about the canonization process and how the canon of scripture was developed... and low and behold, I had to finally come to the conclusion that the Catholic Church decided which books of the bible were to be considered God-breathed, which were good to read (but not necessarily directly inspired) and which were heretical or unworthy. It wasn't a magical process of a bible falling from the sky -- it was an arduous process of Church leaders consulting, praying, deciphering, studying and listening to God speaking to their hearts as they worked under the power of the Holy Spirit to create the canon.... the canon of the Bible that we use... that we used as Baptists (save for a few in the old testament)...
Ok, now what?... Well, then I worked on proving that the Deuterocanonicals (apocrypha) were not supposed to be in the Bible and Catholics were just wrong about this and that Protestants really had these books of the bible right... again, dead end.
Then, I decided, well, I do agree that the Catholic Church was the original Church created by Christ himself.... but.... well, what about the Pope? I didn't agree with the pope being "in power" or having so much authority to create dogma. Then, I found an amazing book called Upon This Rock by Stephen K. Ray. This book put me over the edge...... It's pure history, 50% commentary and 50% direct words of the Church fathers... PRIMARY source material... not someone else's view -- the church father's view, through 500 AD.... everyone, in every time, in the early church saw the bishop of Rome as the head of the Church. Everyone....
Yeah, I thought, but I am a History major, and I remember all those bad, evil popes in history, and even the times when there was more than one at a time!...... but I came to understand that the fact that the Church will NOT have the gates of hell prevail against it... doesn't mean that the Church won't have bad people in it... or that bad decisions won't be made by Church leaders.... or that popes, cardinals, bishops or priests won't do bad things, sinful things..... it doesn't mean those things wont' happen. It means that the Church won't be overrun by them. It means that Christ's Church will prevail over these evils.... even as we have the sexual abuse scandals, the Church is not going to be destroyed -- Christ told us so... What the Church must do is learn, repent and continue to do the work of Christ, worshop Christ, and do for Christ.
I decided that I had to put a big dose of humility into my life... I had to stop being so prideful... I had to submit to the truth when the truth was right in front of me. I had to become fulfilled in God's truth, Christ's Church, and do what I knew I had to do, else I would never feel whole.
This is a really condensed version of this story... it was a rapid series of events that hit me like an avalanche. I couldn't concentrate on work or anything else for 6 months. I read 2 dozen books by both Catholic and Protestant apologists. The Catholic books told me why the Catholic Church was the original Church. The Protestant books insulted Catholics and broke down individual people as a ploy to discredit Catholicism... not once did I find any real argument (other than insulting the other side) that would come close to convincing me. The authors of those protestant books sounded like they were saying just what most Fundamentalist/Evangelicals want to hear when they go into research on the Catholic Church. They were feeding the hate....
I was confirmed into the Catholic Church at easter 2005.
It's difficult to explain to people who don't seem to understand the magnitude of my journey... I can't even go to protestant services anymore (though I used to go to both for a while).... It is just so... incomplete.
I was married, with a full Nuptual Mass celebration on 7/8/2006... at St. Laurence Catholic Church in Sugarland, TX.... to the beautiful lady that I tried to take away from the Church. God does indeed work in mysterious ways... I tried to take her out of the Church, but the truth, the Church, drew me in. ... Me... a former anti-Catholic... One who spread hate for the Church.... one whose pride ruled every part of his life.......... sin I still struggle to avoid.
-Michael