Why become Catholic?

It makes perfect sense and demonstrates the fundamental flaw in the SS heresy; far from disbelieving the Bible I believe it is the inspired Word of God and it is for that very reason that I reject SS - it utterly demeans the infallibility of Scripture to leave its interpretation in the hands of fallible individuals.

Yours in Christ

Matt

 

Matt,

God disagrees with you...

The Bereans were "more fairminded then those in Thessalonica, in that they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things are so"

When God says one thing and the Catholics say something different (and that happens very very regularly), I'm going to side with God every time.

Grace and peace,

Mike

 

Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

So what I do is no different than what Paul did.
He gave the Scripture references in the Old Testament. They looked them up. They verified what he said. He probably told them something like this: Here is the gospel: that your Messiah, Christ, died, was buried, and rose again. Consider what the Prophets say: Look in Isaiah 53, in Psalms 22, in Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2; and in so many other Scriptures would he refer them to. They would listen, and then take these Scriptures home and look them up again, and study them even further, along with other Scriptures. They would verify what Paul said from the Scriptures.

Remember how Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. "This is the prophecy fulfilled from the Book of Joel..."
"And David also saith...."
Peter quoted Scripture to verify his message. It was Scripture that they could look up and see whether his message was true or not. It was also validated by tongues in that case. But even without the use of spiritual gifts, SS alone was sufficient enough to prove that the message was true. Peter gave account to the Word of God, not to a Magesterium.
DHK

 

WHY BECOME CATHOLIC?

I am a retired United Methodist, pastor, but for 12 years prior to my pastoral career was a theology professor at a Catholic university. Though not Catholic in doctrine, I will play devll's advocate and seek to provide greater fairness to the treatment of this topic and hopefully attract some Catholic members to this site.

Our local Catholic church is thriving and even drawing members away from local evangelical churches. Why?
(1) They love the regularity, reverence, elegance, and richness of the Catholic Mass. By contrast, they find the diversity of evangelical worship services distracting, comparatively frivolous, and less reverent. They prefer Catholic hymnody to what they perceive as the repetitive and shallow evangelical praise choruses.

(2) They love the spiritual richness and depth of the best of 2000 years of Catholic spirituality. My evangelical cousin Lloyd's marriage was failing. Desperately he explored remedial options, but the only option that saved his marriage was a Catholic spiritual director. This director was both a trained counselor and an expert in the insights of ancient monasticism and the Desert Fathers and this combination of areas of expertise gave him the wisdom to solve the problems in Lloyd's marriage, when all else failed. Catholic retreat centers can be a uniquely powerful source of spiritual renewal.

(3) They appreciate unique Catholic doctrines that were absent from their evangelical heritage (e. g. Catholic mysticism, prayer to Mary and the Saints, Purgatory). If readers would appreciate a biblical defense of this, please advise..