Where it began
I shared about our first Mass, but let's backup to how this all began.
April 3, I was driving back from Abbotsford to Kelowna (approximately 3-3.5 hour drive) and I had downloaded a bunch of YouTube video's so I could listen on the way.
I was listening to this video which a Protestant is talking with his friend who is a Catholic theologian. In the video there was something that stuck out to me. The Protestant was asking about when you are "becoming" a Christian or born again, is there something you need to do with the church, such as sign a piece of paper or something?
The Catholic talks about how that is part of it all, that you are becoming apart of Christ's body, which is the Church and how could you say that you are part of Christ's body, and yet are not apart of it?
That in particular was the big thing that stood out to me.
I have had that conversation through the years so many times with people that think they can be "lone ranger" Christians and not be apart of the body of believers, the bride of Christ...the body of Christ...the Church.
When I got home, I had the insatiable urge to study Church history, starting just after the apostles.
So, I started, probably April 4 unless it was that particular evening that I started.
I stayed up to 2am reading and taking things in.
What I found was quite eye opening to me.
What I was seeing was that the Catholic Church (and Eastern Orthodox) were looking a lot like the things that were being spoken/written of by the early Church fathers.
Such things as baptism to be saved:
Jesus said: "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." - Mark 16:15-16.
Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. - Acts 2:38.
After Stephen explains what the Eunuch is reading in Isaiah, that it is Jesus, the Eunuch says, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" - Acts 8:36.
Paul was immediately baptized - Acts 9:18.
He commanded them to be baptized - Acts 10:47-48.
We are baptized into one body - 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. - Acts 22:16.
On top of these verses, I was finding that the early Church fathers spoke of baptism in so many ways.
They pointed to the water at the beginning of the world (the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. - Genesis 1:2.
They were even talking about Psalm 1 as referring to baptism.
I was quite surprised what I was reading.
The Church fathers were saying that we are saved through baptism.
The Communion of the Saints
I started to see that things such as the Communion of the Saints is practiced by the oldest churches (the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox), and the verse that they use now seems to make sense to me more than I have ever heard it explained: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" - Hebrews 12:1.
I have heard that explained as if we were in a stadium and the saints in heaven were watching and cheering us on, but also that we learn only from what they have done before us.
However, the communion of the saints is explained that the saints are still part of Christ's body, that Christ has only one body, and not a different body in heaven than on earth. They are more alive now than when they were on earth, and they are more holy than they were on earth. Let's ask them to pray for us, as we ask for our friends and family to pray for us who are still on this earth.
Authority
As I was going through all of my objections towards Roman Catholicism, one of the biggest is authority. How could I trust that the Pope will be right...what if he is a loon, or a "dumpster fire" as is what was said in the video that I had listened to. In the video, the Catholic spoke of the Church as a family. And you have an Uncle who may be a drunk, and embarrassing, but he is still your Uncle.
Other explanations were that even if the Pope made a mistake, Jesus established His Church, he established it on Peter "I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell (Hades) shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 16: 18-19.
I have heard that explained so many times that of course the rock was Jesus...and it couldn't have been Peter. Yet, every time I was listening to this, and reading the Bible along with them, I was thinking that they were explaining away what Jesus was saying. To me, even without reading in the original language (which is quite clear) I could see that Jesus changed Peter's name to mean rock, and that he was telling Peter that he was building His church on Peter the rock and gave him the keys.
Along those lines, I had often wondered when I read the gospels about choosing one to replace Judas and "let another take his office" - so it became evident to me that there were specific numbers that Jesus chose and there was a specific office that Judas had, but it needed replacing.- Acts 1:20
A Priest I heard when asked about the Pope and the Church, he said that he wasn't afraid because if he actually believes that Christ established and built this Church, than it will not fail and that no matter what a Pope may do, the Church that Christ established will continue.
I heard an apologist named Trent Horn talking about the Greek and that when the list of the disciples is given, notice how Peter is always first, and Judas last, And on top of that the Greek when it says "first" in our English translations referring to Peter, is actually chief, or the first above all these - Matthew 10:2.
Mary
What about Mary?
I found that the Roman Catholics as well as the Eastern Orthodox revere Mary.
Again, how is it that the two oldest Churches are practicing this, yet on the Protestant side, there is nothing like that (unless you are "high Anglican" or certain Lutheran's).
There is so much more I could say regarding this and many other objections I have had, but if you are interested, I suggest that you check out catholic.com, there you can type anything that you are thinking about and there will be so many different articles and possibly links to podcasts and videos that will help answer questions you may have.
I found a quote that said, "to be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant." - John Henry Cardinal Newmann
This website has been huge for me, they also have a YouTube channel, on there they also have so many of the answers that you may be looking for.
Weekdays from 3-5pm PST they also have a call-in show (which I have now phoned twice) to ask questions.
They open it up specifically for various people to phone - such as Tuesdays they were having Protestants phone in with their objections and questions and saying why they aren't Catholic.
I find that they are a vary gracious bunch, they have very patient as well, and their love is abounding.
On the team, they have at least two former Protestants (Tim Staples, and Jimmy Akin) who are great at answering questions and telling their stories.
Other former Protestants, now Catholics I have found:
Scott Hahn
Steve Ray
John Mortignoni, I'm not sure if he was a Protestant, but he's got some great talks.
Matt & Keith, there are a lot of great videos they are putting out.
From above is the Network these two are apart of: The Coming Home Network.
With the Coming Home Network, you can sign up as well and have a community of people to talk with, that are either Catholic, or on their way to becoming a Catholic, or that are perhaps checking it out. They have an app as well.
The Protestant's Dilemma was a really useful book for me, it has a lot of information in one spot and really has objections brought up by Protestant's towards Catholics, and are answered by a former Protestant in this book.
As I have time and think of more helpful resources I will share them.
Who started your Church?
April 3, I was driving back from Abbotsford to Kelowna (approximately 3-3.5 hour drive) and I had downloaded a bunch of YouTube video's so I could listen on the way.
I was listening to this video which a Protestant is talking with his friend who is a Catholic theologian. In the video there was something that stuck out to me. The Protestant was asking about when you are "becoming" a Christian or born again, is there something you need to do with the church, such as sign a piece of paper or something?
The Catholic talks about how that is part of it all, that you are becoming apart of Christ's body, which is the Church and how could you say that you are part of Christ's body, and yet are not apart of it?
That in particular was the big thing that stood out to me.
I have had that conversation through the years so many times with people that think they can be "lone ranger" Christians and not be apart of the body of believers, the bride of Christ...the body of Christ...the Church.
When I got home, I had the insatiable urge to study Church history, starting just after the apostles.
So, I started, probably April 4 unless it was that particular evening that I started.
I stayed up to 2am reading and taking things in.
What I found was quite eye opening to me.
What I was seeing was that the Catholic Church (and Eastern Orthodox) were looking a lot like the things that were being spoken/written of by the early Church fathers.
Such things as baptism to be saved:
Jesus said: "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." - Mark 16:15-16.
Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. - Acts 2:38.
After Stephen explains what the Eunuch is reading in Isaiah, that it is Jesus, the Eunuch says, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" - Acts 8:36.
Paul was immediately baptized - Acts 9:18.
He commanded them to be baptized - Acts 10:47-48.
We are baptized into one body - 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. - Acts 22:16.
On top of these verses, I was finding that the early Church fathers spoke of baptism in so many ways.
They pointed to the water at the beginning of the world (the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. - Genesis 1:2.
They were even talking about Psalm 1 as referring to baptism.
I was quite surprised what I was reading.
The Church fathers were saying that we are saved through baptism.
The Communion of the Saints
I started to see that things such as the Communion of the Saints is practiced by the oldest churches (the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox), and the verse that they use now seems to make sense to me more than I have ever heard it explained: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" - Hebrews 12:1.
I have heard that explained as if we were in a stadium and the saints in heaven were watching and cheering us on, but also that we learn only from what they have done before us.
However, the communion of the saints is explained that the saints are still part of Christ's body, that Christ has only one body, and not a different body in heaven than on earth. They are more alive now than when they were on earth, and they are more holy than they were on earth. Let's ask them to pray for us, as we ask for our friends and family to pray for us who are still on this earth.
Authority
As I was going through all of my objections towards Roman Catholicism, one of the biggest is authority. How could I trust that the Pope will be right...what if he is a loon, or a "dumpster fire" as is what was said in the video that I had listened to. In the video, the Catholic spoke of the Church as a family. And you have an Uncle who may be a drunk, and embarrassing, but he is still your Uncle.
Other explanations were that even if the Pope made a mistake, Jesus established His Church, he established it on Peter "I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell (Hades) shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 16: 18-19.
I have heard that explained so many times that of course the rock was Jesus...and it couldn't have been Peter. Yet, every time I was listening to this, and reading the Bible along with them, I was thinking that they were explaining away what Jesus was saying. To me, even without reading in the original language (which is quite clear) I could see that Jesus changed Peter's name to mean rock, and that he was telling Peter that he was building His church on Peter the rock and gave him the keys.
Along those lines, I had often wondered when I read the gospels about choosing one to replace Judas and "let another take his office" - so it became evident to me that there were specific numbers that Jesus chose and there was a specific office that Judas had, but it needed replacing.- Acts 1:20
A Priest I heard when asked about the Pope and the Church, he said that he wasn't afraid because if he actually believes that Christ established and built this Church, than it will not fail and that no matter what a Pope may do, the Church that Christ established will continue.
I heard an apologist named Trent Horn talking about the Greek and that when the list of the disciples is given, notice how Peter is always first, and Judas last, And on top of that the Greek when it says "first" in our English translations referring to Peter, is actually chief, or the first above all these - Matthew 10:2.
Mary
What about Mary?
I found that the Roman Catholics as well as the Eastern Orthodox revere Mary.
Again, how is it that the two oldest Churches are practicing this, yet on the Protestant side, there is nothing like that (unless you are "high Anglican" or certain Lutheran's).
There is so much more I could say regarding this and many other objections I have had, but if you are interested, I suggest that you check out catholic.com, there you can type anything that you are thinking about and there will be so many different articles and possibly links to podcasts and videos that will help answer questions you may have.
I found a quote that said, "to be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant." - John Henry Cardinal Newmann
This website has been huge for me, they also have a YouTube channel, on there they also have so many of the answers that you may be looking for.
Weekdays from 3-5pm PST they also have a call-in show (which I have now phoned twice) to ask questions.
They open it up specifically for various people to phone - such as Tuesdays they were having Protestants phone in with their objections and questions and saying why they aren't Catholic.
I find that they are a vary gracious bunch, they have very patient as well, and their love is abounding.
On the team, they have at least two former Protestants (Tim Staples, and Jimmy Akin) who are great at answering questions and telling their stories.
Other former Protestants, now Catholics I have found:
Scott Hahn
Steve Ray
John Mortignoni, I'm not sure if he was a Protestant, but he's got some great talks.
Matt & Keith, there are a lot of great videos they are putting out.
From above is the Network these two are apart of: The Coming Home Network.
With the Coming Home Network, you can sign up as well and have a community of people to talk with, that are either Catholic, or on their way to becoming a Catholic, or that are perhaps checking it out. They have an app as well.
The Protestant's Dilemma was a really useful book for me, it has a lot of information in one spot and really has objections brought up by Protestant's towards Catholics, and are answered by a former Protestant in this book.
As I have time and think of more helpful resources I will share them.
Who started your Church?
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