Conversion Stories - An Observation

It has been the norm, in my previous life as a Protestant, of hearing frequent conversion stories of people being "saved" from other religions, especially from the grip of Roman Catholicism. Fiery, emotionally charged testimonies of how they have been a very very bad person before and one day God dealt with them, then their lives changed dramatically and now look at how perfect their lives are. From all these conversion stories to Protestantism, I never heard any deeper theological reason other than the alleged "Mary and Saints Worship" issue (which is hardly one, had they just give themselves a chance to know the Catholic position) that made them move out of Catholicism.

On the other hand, never in my life have I known someone who willfully chose to convert to Catholicism. Before, I find the thought of converting to Catholicism so absurd and if ever, this might be the workings of the devil. I mean, who would really seriously consider Rome if you wanted to be saved, right? It's the Whore of Babylon and the religion that is basically pagan in disguise?

Lately have I discovered that a lot of high profile figures have been converts to Catholicism like Scott Hahn, Peter Kreeft, etc. And these people are not ignorant of the Reformed Theology they were upholding before they got converted. And a lot of them have different turning points as to why they finally converted to Catholicism.

My point is, comparing Protestant converts versus Catholic converts, Catholic converts convert mainly due to theological reasons, while most Protestant converts from Catholicism doesn't know much Catholic theology before they converted to Protestantism.

Even Norman Geisler, a famous Protestant apologist conceded the fact that Catholic converts, even though he mentioned as "egg-heads", are the more intellectual ones.

“So, while we are losing a few intellectual egg-heads out the top of evangelicalism to Rome, we are gaining tens of thousands of converts out the bottom from Catholicism. The trade-off highly favors evangelicalism. So, invite a Catholic to your Bible study or church. There is a good possibility that they will get saved!”

So, please, to all the people who are questioning the reason why I converted, it's because of theological reasons and spiritual reasons, not because I had a very dramatic tear-jerking conversion experience, or I wanted to defy someone, or prove someone wrong, or anything else. Protestantism meant something to me, but I found it to be wanting of a lot of proving, reasoning and there are a lot of missing items in between. I am convinced that Christ has established a Church, a visible Church, one in Faith and in doctrine.

Call me an egg-head, or know-it-all, I won't give an ass. At least, before I converted, I studied, researched and prayed for it. There is no such thing as knowing too much in Catholicism. There are always new aspects to explore and know.

A Biblical Case for Catholicism

In my previous post I mentioned Swimming the Tiber as such because I really had to swim against a lot of obstacles to Rome, definitely not a walk in the park experience. Had I been an Anglican since birth, swimming may not be an appropriate term but crossing the bridge to Tiber for the Anglican spirituality is very similar with the Catholics'.

In this article, I will enumerate the usual objections of Protestants against Catholicism and the Catholic biblical answers to these objections. When I was still searching for the truth, I was amazed at how Catholicism can destroy ALL Protestant objections and misinterpretations by using the BIBLE. Now, I'm not a bit as surprised as before.

As Protestants, some of us have been taught that the Bible is a "love letter" written by God. How true.

But now I realized that since God's bride is the Church, it is only fitting that the bride should be the one reading and interpreting the love letter given to her. It is the bride who will understand fully the contents in the letter written by her Groom.



CATHOLICS WORSHIP MARY, SAINTS, OBJECTS The answer to this is a big NO. Protestant and Catholic piety are very different. To the Protestant mind, worship to them is bowing, kneeling, praying, etc. They misconstrue the bowing and kneeling Catholics to Mary, holy objects and saints as "worship". But if you use your logic, would Catholics really worship the images per se??

In Sunday school, we are taught about the Ark of the Covenant and how they were able to transport it back and forth the Temple. Little did we know as children that people like Joshua bowed before the ark of the Lord. Joshua7:6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. The ark itself is a holy object, therefore, holy objects are not innovations of the Catholic Church, so is bowing before holy objects. Bowing, kneeling, praying to holy objects and images in the ark of the covenant is regarded as a direct worship to God. Can the Protestant mind chew that? How can Joshua and the others kneel, and pray to God in front of the ark of the covenant? It's the same principle how Catholics worship God by showing reverence to images and holy objects such as crucifix, icons, etc.

Notice also that in 1 Kings 6th and 7th Chapter, there were carvings of cherubims in the inner sanctuary. How about that??! All along we were taught that such images are prohibited and considered as object worship. In summary, do Catholics violate God's commandment in Exodus 20?? Let's see 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. - Catholics have no other gods except for the One God, the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In fact, it will be a whole separate article to write about how Catholicism was able to preserve and defend the Trinitarian dogma for centuries against heretical groups. The funny thing about this is that Protestants copied this doctrine (while calling the Catholic Church "apostate"). Can any Protestant lay claim of such doctrine? I don't think so. What they know is that such concept has been there before, just like the canon of the Bible. It's true that the concept of Trinity has been there before, but it was through the Catholic Church that this doctrine was revealed. Protestants cannot pinpoint as to when the development of their doctrine of the Trinity ever started.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. - If you follow the reading of this passage, anything in heaven above are creatures above the earth's surface, while earth beneath or in the waters below are creatures on land and in waters. Any image of God is forbidden in the Old Testament because God hasn't revealed himself yet through Jesus Christ. To see God's face is fatal. But in the New Testament, God revealed himself through Jesus Christ. Obviously, people saw His face without dying on the spot.

In line with that, if you can keep a picture of your parents who have been dead for decades, how much more Jesus'? Catholics do not worship Mary and the saints. We believe in the "communion of saints", wherein spiritual ties do not sever even after death. Do you think just because a person died, he cannot be in communion with you anymore? If there is such a thing as rejoicing in heaven of angels over one soul saved here on earth, how much more can the dead in Christ participate and be in communion with us Christians here on earth?

If saints can pray to God while they are living, how much more when they are dead and with the Lord? There is no prohibition in the Bible that you should not talk to the dead. Even Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration!

I admit here that I have been criticizing the Church before for its allegedly "unscriptural" practices. But the more I read about the early Christians and the Bible, the more I see that the Catholic Church is scriptural, as well as its practices.