From Evangelical to Catholic: A Conversion Story
Originally posted on CatholicEditors.com.
Praised be Jesus Christ, I was baptized as an infant in the Catholic Church. However, my father having been raised Lutheran and my mother a fallen-away Catholic, I was brought up in a born-again, rapture-ready evangelical home. While I am more than grateful for my parents rearing me as well as they have, I find myself bound to proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ and of the Church He founded two thousand years ago.
As a Protestant, I believed in the typical doctrines embraced in the Reformation, the most prominent being justification by faith alone (sola fide), meaning no works have to be performed in any way, shape, or form to attain eternal life, and in Scripture alone (sola Scriptura), which means the Bible by itself is the ultimate authority without any regard to Tradition or the Church’s interpretation of Scripture. I thought the Catholic Church to be a perversion of true Christianity, I deemed the priesthood entirely irrelevant, and the term “sacrament” wasn’t even in my vocabulary.
As a mainstream evangelical, I believed in two additional doctrines that set it apart from mainline Protestantism. The first was the “pre-tribulation rapture,” which is the belief that Jesus would return to take His believers to heaven immediately before the end-times events begin to unfold as described in Revelation (Apocalypse). The second was in dispensationalism, which holds that the Church of the New Testament is not the continuation of Israel in the Old Testament but that both Christians and Jews each have a separate existing covenant with God.
According to this second doctrine, racial Jews — regardless of their actual religion, whether they be practicing Jews or militant atheists — are still God’s chosen people by His everlasting covenant with Abraham, and the promises in the Old Testament pertain strictly to the Jews. This concept leads directly to Christian Zionism, which is the belief that the land of modern-day Israel and Palestine belong solely to the Jews, who would still bear the title of “God’s people” and demand our absolute respect, adoration, and most importantly, our political support in the form of foreign aid and in fighting their wars.
My first break from mainstream evangelical Christianity was when I discovered, simply by reading the Bible, that there is no scriptural evidence to back the pre-tribulation rapture. In sharp contrast, Jesus taught His disciples that He would return after the tribulation.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:29–30; Authorized Version)
Having discovered the truth in Scripture, I then sought to know what Christians have historically believed regarding this so-called rapture. It turned out this belief was popularized by a man named John Darby in the 1830s and was never held by earlier Christians, be they Catholics, Orthodox, or even the first Protestants.
My second break from mainstream evangelical Christianity was when I happened upon another discovery in the Bible that Christians, regardless of racial ethnicity, be they Jew or Gentile, are the true chosen people of God, and to Christians alone belong all the promises of Abraham.
“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:26–29)
I can still remember sitting in bed with my King James Bible on my lap, thinking, “Wow! So all the times I’ve been told that ‘whoever blesses the Jews will be blessed and whoever curses the Jews will be cursed,’ (Genesis 12:3) it actually applies to me — a Christian!”
Romans 9 & Romans 11 also point to this wonderful truth in greater detail.
Turning again to history, the earliest teaching I could find about the Jews still being God’s chosen people and the land of Palestine belonging solely to the Jews was in a book called Jewish Hopes written by Charles Russell, founder of what is known today as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Although the Jehovah’s Witnesses no longer hold to Russell’s belief regarding the Jews, he not only taught that Jews are partakers of the promises simply by their biological identity but that Jews don’t even need Jesus in order to go to heaven; their salvation has been strictly decided by their race and nothing more. This particular belief, which hides under the title of “hyper-dispensationalism,” is promoted by the famous Protestant pastor John Hagee.
Following these discoveries, I dissented from mainstream evangelical Protestantism. The danger, however, was that I no longer knew what to believe. How many other doctrines did I hold that were similarly lies to the ones I had debunked? At this point, who could I trust?
These uncomfortable revelations left me quite skeptical of “organized religion” as a teenager and into my young-adult years. While I wasn’t even close to renouncing my faith in God, in fact I considered myself a fundamentalist, I grew hostile to anything above what I would have personally deemed “primitive” Christianity, as if I or any other twenty-first-century American Protestant had the faintest idea what that might even look like. I questioned denominations, the necessity of physical church buildings, the need for a pastor, weddings, funerals, and even the casual observance of religious holidays, which I had infallibly condemned as pagan in origin.
I was what could only be defined as a conservative iconoclast. I held firmly to the Christian morals that I still hold today as a Catholic, but I was opposed to any authority other than my own personal interpretation of Scripture and to any other activity besides reading the Bible and praying. I had it all figured out. Baptism, Communion, fasting — these things were only relics of the ancient Church; we had no need for them today. With just me and my Bible, I had all the answers in the world: the one true faith.
Toward the end of this desolate period of my life, I began writing my first novel. It largely took place in the medieval times, when Protestants simply didn’t exist. The story demanded heavy research into Church history and Catholic theology. After dispelling so many myths promoted by her opponents, I developed a whole new understanding of the institution I had once deemed heretical and irrelevant. Seeing just how the Catholic Church built Western Civilization, its unmatched charity, and defense of the West from pagan invaders, I now warmly considered devout Catholics to be a Christian’s ally in our war with the world. But I still held to my conservative perversion of being “spiritual, not religious.”
Then one day, God struck down my pride like a tree in a thunderstorm.
I came to the realization that despite my Christian upbringing, living in a world that was propped up by Christians, and having a Christianish perspective on mostly everything in life, I was utterly alone in my faith — I was a one-man church. By removing all of the things I had targeted as obstacles between me and Christ, I had entirely demolished any form of Christian communion in my life.
I remember thinking about Catholicism at the time. I even remember looking into RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). The smartest people I knew of were all Catholic. But I wasn’t even close to being convinced. The Bible was my sole authority, and I hadn’t yet made the final discovery.
Following this wakeup call, I began digging into theology, Protestant history, and started attending a nearby Bible church with my mother. I was fascinated by the teachings of early Protestant reformers, John Calvin quickly becoming my favorite. Before long, I identified as a five-point Calvinist, meaning I believed in the total depravity of man, God’s unconditional election, the limited atonement of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints (eternal security; once saved, always saved). These five beliefs make up the acronym TULIP.
I also adhered to the radical Calvinistic doctrine of “double predestination,” where not only does God choose who goes to heaven based on the doctrine of unconditional election but that He also chooses who goes to hell, regardless of anything anyone has ever done or ever will do. Calvin’s views concerning predestination were indeed harsh but were at least consistent, and this particular belief was becoming popular among those who followed Pastor John Piper.
Things were good at my new Bible church. It was small and primitive, and I liked the people along with the contemporary choice of music. But there came a time when my mother, who suffered emotionally after a series of crippling events, reached out to this church for help. There was initial excitement from the pastor that someone would actually ask for their assistance, and I remember reading his email, which spilled into great lengths that this was exactly how the early Church operated, by helping out its members in times of need. Great! But that’s as far as it went. All words. No action.
“Faith without works is dead.” I knew those words were in the Bible. But I didn’t know exactly where. I swore to never again darken the doors of that church, and the next Bible church proved to be a poor alternative. “Faith without works is dead.” Those words followed me everywhere I went. I couldn’t seem to escape them. Finally, I tore into my Bible, searching for those words, which turned out to be from James chapter 2. Little did I know that what I would find would change my world forever:
“You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
What? How could this be? Why, there must have been a misprint in my Bible! I was a Protestant. I believed in justification by faith alone. I believed in the authority of Scripture alone. Yet here I had stumbled upon the former being blatantly refuted by the latter. And James 2:24 turned out to be the only place in the Bible that uses the words “faith alone,” or “faith only” in the King James. What was going on?
Read the context of the entire passage, I thought in a vain attempt to convince myself I was being just a little short of illiterate. But the more I read through the whole chapter, the more I saw that James really meant what he had written.
In haste, I turned to Google, scouring the internet for Protestant apologetics who could quickly dissuade this outrageous idea pounding in my head like a war drum. To my relief, I found several websites and devoured their interpretations with a closed mind in their favor. But to my disgust, they argued that being “justified” in James 2:24 wasn’t referring to justification in the sight of God but rather in the sight of man. In other words, all James had written was that we make a name for ourselves in the eyes of the world by what we do and not by what we say.
But this simply isn’t what the text says . . .
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” (James 2:14–17, AKJV)
Can faith without works save you? James doesn’t seem to think so.
“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:18–26)
Did Abraham justify himself before man by offering up his son to the Lord?
No. He justified himself before God.
Did Abraham earn the title “friend of God” by justifying himself before the world?
No. He justified himself before God.
Did Rahab the prostitute justify herself before the messengers by sending them out another way? Is this why her story is so relevant to James?
No. She justified herself before God, the only One we should ever have to justify ourselves before.
The concept of justifying ourselves before man contradicts the words of Jesus Christ in John 5:44, where He said, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?“
At this point, I could clearly see the battle was not going in my favor. I knew right away what that meant, and I didn’t like it one bit. Although I did not understand the fullness of Catholic or even Orthodox theology, I knew that if what I had just read in James 2 was true, then Protestantism was wrong. This left only two options, and I already saw no point in taking a detour through Orthodoxy.
Clinging to my last card, desperate and feeling like a madman who didn’t just take one red pill but instead swallowed the whole bottle with an extra dose of bourbon, I sought the one person who I sincerely prayed had forged the safest, most thought-out interpretation this young, frantic Protestant could get behind.
Pecking the keys on my computer faster than my fingers could type, I turned to none other than Martin Luther, the former Augustinian monk who had nailed his ninety-five theses to the church doors in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, sparking what would be known as the Protestant Reformation and shattering Christendom forever.
What I found left me speechless.
Martin Luther was well aware of what James had written in regard to men not being justified by faith alone. He acknowledged it and did not so much as try to water down the meaning of this Bible passage. Instead, he claimed that the Epistle of James was not of apostolic authorship and was therefore at a lower “tier” in comparison to the rest of the New Testament books.
In other words, James was not inerrant, inspired Scripture, or at least not as inerrant or inspired as the rest of Scripture. Luther held this opinion not only of James but of Hebrews, Jude, and Revelation, and he stuck them all at the back of his Bible he published in 1522.
Wow! I thought, incredulous. If only Protestants knew what the guy who sparked the Reformation really thought about the books in their Bible. Especially considering the end-times craze among evangelicals who spend more time in Revelation than all the other books of the Bible combined.
Furthermore, Luther taught that sola fide and sola Scriptura were the two pillars upon which the Protestant Church would either stand or fall upon. For me, the first pillar had already been toppled under the weight of faith without works. It was only inevitable the second pillar should fall, and it did upon reading what was ironically the official verse of the Bible church I had attended:
“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)
The Bible itself is calling the Church — not the Bible — the pillar of the truth.
I then remembered the following two passages:
“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 20:30–31)
“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” (John 21:25)
Scripture does not include everything Jesus said and did. Truth was entrusted to the Church, which Jesus founded. Scripture and Tradition are equal tools of the Church, which has the authority to interpret both. The Bible alone is not the ultimate authority.
At this point, I had made up my mind: I was no longer a Protestant. It was as dead to me as much as faith is dead without works. So, what was next?
I began looking into each and every Catholic doctrine to see if they truly were biblical or not. If they were, then I had found my Church. If they were not, then there simply wasn’t an answer. This was a dark moment for me, as I was skeptical that every Catholic doctrine could be explained in the Bible. I would not settle for anything less than real Christianity, so it was either the Catholic Church or nothing. Since I was now exploring the highest form of Christianity, I also decided to consider the polar opposite and picked up a copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I wanted the truth, no matter where it led me.
I was quite disappointed after reading Richard’s book. With all the brag and fuss about “science” and “reason,” I honestly thought the demagogue of modern atheism would actually have something substantial to bring to the table. Instead, all I found was a limited worldview riddled with common misconceptions fueled by a man’s irreligious bias and leftist ideology. I’d be an atheist if it were true, and I have no shame in saying it. But the bombshell evidence they claim to have is nothing more than a scary gun that goes click when you pull the trigger.
On a side note, I think too many Christians are afraid to explore atheism, and I will go as far as to encourage every Christian to read The God Delusion so they can see for themselves that there is nothing to fear. The atheistic opposition is a rationalist army wielding irrational weapons, and their dependence on the modern state is their natural substitute for religion and their only means of pushing their laughably distorted rendition of science and reason upon us.
And so continued my conversion. I had so many questions. I knew in my heart by this time that the Catholic Church was the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ. But there were still so many things I didn’t understand. There were some nights I would lie awake, wondering if I would go to heaven or hell if I died at that moment, as I was now unsure of what salvation entailed. I’d wake up every morning in disbelief and wondering if I was really becoming Catholic. Whenever these doubts afflicted my soul, I would turn to Scripture and put my mind at ease with all the evidence I had accumulated, as everything I have come to believe as a Catholic comes directly from the Bible.
The Bible says we are justified by faith and works (both/and, not either/or): “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” (James 2:24)
The Bible says you can lose your salvation: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” (Hebrews 6:4–6)
Jesus said you must be baptized to be saved: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” (Mark 16:16)
In the Great Commission, Jesus said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19–20)
The Bible says Baptism is for children, too: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” (Acts 2:38–39)
Jesus instituted the priesthood and gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins, saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” (John 20:22–23)
Jesus made Peter the first pope, saying, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:18–19)
Jesus commanded us to eat His flesh in Communion, saying, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” (Revelation 11:19–12:6)
The Bible says the prayers of saints intercede for us before God: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.” (Revelation 8:3–4)
The Bible says the relics of saints can channel God’s grace: “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” (Acts 19:11–12)
The Bible says purgatory is real: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:11–15)
The Bible says the Church, not the Bible, is “the pillar of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)
The Bible proves the teachings of the Catholic Church. She can be easily traced all the way back to the early Church, and her doctrines have been consistently taught without change for two thousand consecutive years, a track record unmatched by the various Protestant churches I had attended, who would differ on countless issues from the next church just down the street.
Read the writings of any Church Father, and you’ll discover they were Catholic. Read a little history, and you’ll see the Catholic Church was the only church in town until the Orthodox schism and later the Protestant revolt. There’s a 1,500-year gap from the time Jesus founded Christianity and the time Martin Luther founded Protestantism. All the “denominations” that sprang up during the Reformation are only 500 years old at the most, and the evangelical movement is even younger. “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.” — St. John Henry Newman, himself a Protestant-to-Catholic convert.
On this note, just what did the early Church believe?
The early Church did not believe in justification by faith alone. Clement of Alexandria (c. AD 150–215) wrote, “When we hear, ‘Your faith has saved you,’ we do not understand the Lord to say simply that they will be saved who have believed in whatever manner, even if works have not followed.” (Stromateis 6:14 or Miscellanies 108:4, c. AD 202)
The early Church did believe in cooperating with the Holy Spirit (synergism), in contrast with John Calvin’s sixteenth-century doctrine of irresistible grace (monergism). St. Augustine (c. AD 354–430) wrote, “But he who made you without your consent does not justify you without your consent. He made you without your knowledge, but he does not justify you without your willing it.” (Sermons 169:13, c. AD 391–430).
The early Church did believe in the spiritual necessity of water baptism as well as the practice of infant baptism. Origen (c. AD 184–253) wrote, “In the Church, baptism is given for the remission of sins, and according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants. If there were nothing in infants which required the remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous.” (Homilies on Leviticus 8:3, AD 248)
“The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of the divine sacraments, knew there are in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit.” (Commentaries on Romans 5:9, AD 248)
The early Church did believe in the priesthood and in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. St. Cyprian of Carthage (c. AD 200–258) wrote, “If Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, is himself the high priest of God the Father; and if he offered himself as a sacrifice to the Father; and if he commanded that this be done in commemoration of himself, then certainly the priest, who imitates that which Christ did, truly functions in place of Christ.”
The early Church did believe in the supremacy of the pope. St. Irenaeus (c. AD 130–202) listed every pope down from the Apostle Peter, adding, “It is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with the Roman Church on account of its preeminent authority . . . the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul,” (Against Heresies, c. AD 180)
The early Church did believe Christ was present in the Eucharist. St. Ignatius of Antioch (died c. AD 108–140) wrote, “Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God . . . they abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes.” (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1, AD 110)
The early Church did believe that Mary was the Mother of God and in her perpetual virginity. Pope St. Peter I of Alexandria (died c. AD 311) wrote, “They came to the church of the most blessed Mother of God, and ever-virgin Mary, which, as we began to say, he had constructed in the western quarter, in a suburb, for a cemetery of the martyrs.” (The Genuine Acts of Peter of Alexandria, AD 305)
“We acknowledge the resurrection of the dead, of which Jesus Christ our Lord became the firstling; he bore a body not in appearance but in truth derived from Mary the Mother of God.” (Letter to All Non-Egyptian Bishops 12, AD 324)
The early Church did believe in the intercession of the saints. Clement of Alexandria wrote, “In this way is he [the true Christian] always pure for prayer. He also prays in the society of angels, as being already of angelic rank, and he is never out of their holy keeping; and though he pray alone, he has the choir of the saints standing with him [in prayer].” (Miscellanies 7:12, AD 208).
The early Church did believe in preserving the remains of saints. Regarding the relics of Polycarp following his martyrdom, the Smyrnaeans wrote in AD 156, “We took up his bones, which are more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold, and laid them in a suitable place, where the Lord will permit us to gather ourselves together, as we are able, in gladness and joy and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom.”
The early Church did believe in purgatory. St. John Chrysostom (c. AD 347–407) wrote, “Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.” (Homilies on First Corinthians 41:5, AD 392).
If you’re a Protestant reading this, don’t you find it strange that while Protestants often make flippant references to the early Church, they rarely if ever read from the writings of actual early Christians, such as Sts. Irenaeus, Ignatius, or Augustine? We have their books. There’s no “blackout” in Church history spanning from Christ to Luther.
How come after two thousand years of Christianity, the only Christian books we read besides the Bible are Left Behind and Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life?
The answer is simple. It’s because the early Church wasn’t Protestant. It was and still is the Catholic Church.
Her identity can be confirmed in the Four Marks of the Church, as laid out in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (AD 381): “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.”
The Catholic Church is One, unlike the Protestant Church, which is divided into thousands of denominations. The Catholic Church is not a denomination.
The Catholic Church is Holy, maintaining the highest level of reverence and beauty with an unchanging set of doctrines and morals for over two thousand years.
The Catholic Church is Catholic, in that it is universal, transcending all tribes, tongues, and nations and that it includes all of the original doctrines of the Faith.
The Catholic Church is Apostolic, as it is the only church which can be traced perfectly and effortlessly back to the Apostles of the New Testament.
I can only describe my conversion as a hauntingly beautiful experience. It was beautiful, in that I was coming closer to the Truth. It was haunting, because I really did not want the Catholic Church to be right. Every little discovery left me horrified, as I watched my simple Protestant understanding of the Faith go up in smoke. I had explored almost every Protestant denomination by this time in my life, and I was convinced the last thing I would ever be was a Catholic. Yet here I was, returning to the Faith I had been baptized in twenty-seven years prior, and it had already begun as far back as when I began shunning the contemporary doctrines of evangelical Christianity.
Baptism has truly left an indelible mark on my stubborn soul, despite my fierce kicking and screaming to remain Protestant, and I firmly believe the Holy Spirit used this to call me back home even so many years later. God had His foot in the door to my soul, and He was now prying His way in.
I decided to sign up for RCIA and did so in the nick of time. It was Sunday, the last available day to register at the local parish, and it was also my first Mass as an adult. I knew little of what to expect but read enough to know to approach the priest during Communion with my arms crossed in an X to receive a blessing, and what a blessing it was! Everything was so foreign and eerie yet so formal and beautiful. I remember watching in awe as the choir members approached the altar for Communion with their heads bowed in deep reverence. I had never seen this before. I felt like Harry Potter on his first day at Hogwarts. This place was incredible, and it was only an English Mass at a small-town parish.
I knew I was home, even despite a firm awareness of the turmoil, conflict, and struggle within the Church. Scripture, Tradition, and reason had guided me here, and the more the Devil attacks the one true Church, the more obvious its foundation in Christ becomes. Being a Catholic isn’t as easy as being Protestant, and we certainly have our ugly share of battles to fight within and without our Church. But the Bride of Christ is more than worth fighting for, and our victory is in Jesus who promised us the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church.
I was confirmed on Easter Vigil of 2019 and haven’t looked back. It’s been the best decision of my life, and my mother has since returned to the Catholic Church as well.
It’s good to be home, and there’s room at the table for more.
For more proof that the Catholic Church is the true church founded by Christ, I recommend the following sources:
The Bible Proves the Teachings of the Catholic Church by Br. Peter Dimond, also available on Amazon for a higher price.
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Tom Woods and a thirteen-part video series under the same title.
The Four Witnesses by Rod Bennett explores what the early Church believed.
Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism by Scott Hahn, who has written numerous books on discovering Catholicism.
Evangelical Exodus: Evangelical Seminarians and Their Paths to Rome
Catholic Answers (www.catholic.com)
Ascension Presents (YouTube) with Fr. Mike Schmitz
MORE FROM THE BIBLE
Justification by faith and works: Matthew 5:29–30, Matthew 6:14, Matthew 7:21–27, Matthew 12:36–37, Matthew 13:41–42, Matthew 16:27, Matthew 19:16–24, Matthew 25:15–30, Mark 13:35–37, Luke 9:24, Luke 12:38, Luke 12:43, Luke 14:27, Luke 14:33, Luke 21:34–36, John 8:51, John 14:23, Romans 2:2–10, Romans 8:12–13, 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, 1 Corinthians 7:1–9, 1 Corinthians 9:24–27, 1 Corinthians 11:28–29, 1 Corinthians 13:1–2, 2 Corinthians 5:9–10, Galatians 5:6, Galatians 5:19–21, Ephesians 5:5–8, Philippians 2:12, 1 Timothy 2:15, 1 Timothy 4:16, 2 Timothy 4:6–7, 2 Timothy 4:14, Hebrews 5:9, James 1:12, James 2:14–26, 1 Peter 4:17–18, Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:23–26, Revelation 21:8, Revelation 22:12
Resistible grace: Matthew 13:20–21, Mark 4:17, Luke 8:13, Romans 11:20–22, 1 Corinthians 9:27, Hebrews 6:4–6, Hebrews 10:26–27, Hebrews 12:14, James 1:13–15, 2 Peter 2:20–22, Revelation 3:11–12, Revelation 22:19
Simon Magus fell away after believing (Acts 8:13–21), and Felix knew being faithful required action (Acts 24:25).
Water baptism/receiving the Holy Spirit: Matthew 28:18–20, Mark 16:16, Luke 3:21–22, John 3:5, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 4:4–6, Galatians 3:27, 1 Peter 3:21, and even foreshadowed in Ezekiel 36:24–26.
Infant baptism: Acts 2:38–39
Acts 16:15, Acts 16:33, and 1 Corinthians 1:16 document entire households, which would include children, being baptized.
Colossians 2:11–12 compares baptism to the new circumcision, which was also performed on the children of Israel.
Confession/institution of the priesthood: Luke 5:13–14, John 20:21–23, Acts 19:17–18, 2 Corinthians 5:18–20, 1 John 1:9
Confession in the Old Testament: Leviticus 5:1–10, Leviticus 12:6–8, Leviticus 13:27, Leviticus 14:11, Leviticus 14:19–20
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17–18 that He came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it.
A common Protestant argument against the priesthood is that Christ is the only mediator between God and man. By it’s very definition, this cannot be true, as we are all mediators to a degree when we evangelize others to Christ.
Another common argument is that all Christians are priests in the New Testament (Peter 2:9 – “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood . . .”), so therefore the priesthood’s been rendered invalid. This verse parallels Exodus 19:6 – “and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests . . .” Exodus is from the Old Testament, where Protestants admit there was a valid priesthood. If the New Testament can call everyone a priest and invalidate the priesthood, then how can the Old Testament call everyone a priest and not do the same? The Catholic Church faces no contradiction here. She teaches we are a priestly people and that we have a priesthood, just as the Israelites and just as the early Church.
Peter chosen as first pope: In Matthew 16:16–19, Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, which means “rock,” and gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven; in the Old Testament, name changes always denoted a special role of leadership.
Luke 22:24–32 shows the Apostles arguing over who is the greatest among them, and Jesus calls only Peter (Simon) by name. Throughout the New Testament, Peter is mentioned significantly more times than any other Apostle.
Christ fully present in the Holy Eucharist (Communion): John 6:51–58; John 1:29 and 1 Corinthians 5:7 coincide with the Passover lamb of Exodus 12:7–13, which was eaten.
Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Mary is the Mother of Jesus. Jesus is God. Therefore, Mary is the Mother of God.
Mary is also the Ark of the New Covenant: Revelation 11:19–12:6
Compare:
Exodus 25:11 with Revelation 12:1
Exodus 40:34–35 with Luke 1:35
Deuteronomy 10:5 with John 1:1
2 Samuel 6:2 with Luke 1:39–40
2 Samuel 6:9 with Luke 1:43
2 Samuel 6:10 with Luke 1:40
2 Samuel 6:11 with Luke 1:56
2 Samuel 6:12 with Luke 1:47
2 Samuel 6:15–16 with Luke 1:41–44
Hebrews 9:4 with John 6:48–51
The Hail Mary prayer is from the Bible: Luke 1:28, 42. The Hail Mary is most common in the Rosary, a prayer where Catholics meditate on the Bible, as encouraged in Joshua 1:8 & Psalm 1:2–3.
Intercession of the saints: “Praying” to a saint means asking them to pray for you or for your intentions. Thus, if it is wrong to ask a saint to pray for you, then likewise would it be wrong to ask another Christian to pray for you. However, we are encouraged to pray for each other in Romans 15:30, Colossians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:11, and James 5:16.
The intercession of Old Testament saints while alive: Genesis 18:26–33, Exodus 17:11–13, Exodus 32:9–14, Job 42:7–10
The intercession of suffering, like prayer and fasting: Colossians 1:24
The intercession of deceased saints: 1 Samuel 28:12–20, Psalms 91:11, Daniel 7:10, Matthew 17:2–3, 2 Thessalonians 1:10, Hebrews 1:14, Hebrews 12:22–25, Revelation 5:8, Revelation 6:9–10, Revelation 8:3–4
Moses and Samuel were both dead yet could intercede in Jeremiah 15:1.
2 Maccabees 15:12 (Catholic Bible) documents a vision of the deceased high priest Onias praying over the Jews.
The intercession of angels: Numbers 20:16, Judges 6:12–13, 2 Kings 1:3, 1 Chronicles 21:18, Isaiah 37:15–20, Isaiah 37:36, Hosea 12:3–4, Matthew 25:31, Luke 1:10–13, Luke 12:8–9, Luke 15:10, John 5:4 (removed from modern Bibles; retained in the Protestant King James, 1611, and the Catholic Douay-Rheims, 1582), Acts 8:26, Jude 1:14–15
Saints will be as angels: Matthew 22:29–30, Luke 20:34–36; Matthew 11:10 refers to John the Baptist as “messenger,” a term biblically reserved for angels.
Saints as exemplars of the faith: 1 Corinthians 4:16 & 1 Corinthians 11:1, Philippians 3:17, Hebrews 11:1–12:1, James 5:10
Saints find favor with God: Acts 27:21–23
Saints perform great works and miracles: John 14:12
Bones and relics of the saints: 2 Kings 2:13–14, 2 Kings 13:21, Acts 19:11–12
Religious icons: Exodus 25:18–19, Numbers 21:8
Purgatory and penance: Numbers 20:11–12, 2 Samuel 12:13–15 (penalty for sins after receiving forgiveness), 2 Maccabees 12:38–45 (Catholic Bible), Matthew 5:25–26, Matthew 12:32, John 15:2, 1 Corinthians 3:11–15, Colossians 1:24, Hebrews 11:35, Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 1:6–7, Revelation 21:27
Venial and mortal sins: Matthew 18:6, 1 Corinthians 3:17 & 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 John 5:16
Authority of the Church: Matthew 16:18–19, Acts 8:30–31, Acts 16:4, 1 Timothy 3:15
