interested in catholicism but...?

Question

i don't believe in praying to saints or Mary - at all, it's something i stand strongly against. And I don't believe in Purgatory. Would I be a "bad Catholic" for this? I'm only considering converting for fiancee, would it better to be a good Protestant than an okay Catholic?

Answer 1

Hmm...it sounds like if you became a Catholic, it would be in name only. You have just stated that you don't believe in the things that make Catholics different from Protestants. I have had this issue, as well, my husband and his family are Catholic. We get in debates/issues/etc. because I am a Protestant and I stand by what I believe in. In the beginning, I considered converting for their sake, but I am so AGAINST the Catholic religion...there are so many things that I don't agree with...rules and beliefs they follow that have no back-up in the Bible...like worshipping the saints...there is a direct passage in the Bible (I am not so well-versed that I can remember it off the top of my head) where one of the Apostles says "Do not worship me; I am just a messenger." or something along those lines and tells people to only worship Jesus...so I am sticking to my guns and remaining a Protestant and I feel great. I wouldn't let your fiancee try to pressure you into converting. That is one of the problems of the Catholic faith, they aren't accepting or tolerant of other religions. But, if it means that much to your fiancee, and you don't really feel that strongly about your own beliefs, then I guess there would be no harm.

Really, after all that babbling, in the end, it is only up to you. Don't let anybody influence your decision. You know God in your own way, and you will have to determine what He would think is right.

Answer 2

You may have asked people in your church or something to pray for you, like when you were sick or something. That's what Catholic's (i'm one) do to saints and to the Blessed Virgin. And, when you ask Mary or a saint for something, THEY don't get it for you- God does. When you pray to them, you're asking them to intercede for you before God. It's not like they're alternatives to Jesus.
Purgatory- well, what happens if you die and you're not perfect? Only the perfect enter Heaven. (Rev 21:27) So if you were mostly good, but had some guilt from sin, would you go to Hell? No- because of Purgatory. If you're there you're going to Heaven; you're just being purified. Check out 2 Macc 12:44-46, Mt 12:32, 2 Tim 1:16-18. None of these would make sense without Purgatory.

Answer 3

I can understand how you may feel it a little strange that catholics pray to saints and may give you a feeling that your making them more divine than God. But of course Christians believe in the after life so when we pray for support we pray that they bring our pleas to God. We have a special devotion for Mary because what person can have a closer relationship with Jesus than His own Mother. This is definitely not making these people divine, it would be like praying to an angel in a way. As to Purgatory, it isn't one of the pillars of our faith although of course all we as Christians believe is important. Purgatory is just going from earth to Heaven. Because how can we serve God in heaven if we are still attached to earth in the flesh. Purgatory also cleanses us from all the marks that our sins of the flesh made on our souls. It's like a final check-up. And finally stay with the Catholic faith because it is the Church, the Rock, that Christ set for us on earth. I advise you talk this over with a religious or someone who is trained to guide you in these situations. You'd be surprised what affect a chaplain can have on your spiritual life. Although serving Christ is serving Christ, is forever protected by Christ against the gates of Hell.

Answer 4

Not only would you be a "bad Catholic"-- you wouldn't be one at all if you did not believe what the RC Church teaches. Best be honest about your beliefs. On the other hand, you can still be Protestant and enjoy many of the things that the Catholic Church does offer. The RC Church does have a reverence, a unity, a history, and a solid theology that you can appreciate while not necessarily being formally attached to that belief system. As a Protestant myself, I go to Mass once in a while, and have participated in prayer services and other Catholic functions, and it hasn't killed me.

Answer 5

First, I would talk to a priest or other person who knows the Catholic faith (IM me at everydaycatholic) and discuss the issues of the communion of saints and purgatory and the biblical basis for these concepts.

Being a Catholic does not mean you MUST pray to Mary and the saints. This is not a must for Catholics.

I would not convert just to please your fiancee. This is a bad reson for converting to any faith. You should belong to a faith because you believe in it, not to please another person.

Answer 6

it is not wise to consider joining a religion when you do not believe in it's tenets.
it would be better to be a good Christian than a poor catholic.
John 3: The Words of Jesus Christ (God in the flesh)
3. "Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
4. Nicodemus saith unto Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
5. Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God."
6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
16. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18. He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Answer 7

i'm catholic, and in order to be catholic, you must accept everything that is believed by catholics. have you been to an adult catechism class? they are helpful in understanding everything, and why catholics believe in what they do. also, you can talk to the priest anytime for answers. if you go to my profile and email me questions i will be glad to answer you.

Answer 8

I hope that you will continue to do what is right in God's eyes. Maybe if you read this list of Catholic teachings it will help you come to the right Godly decision.
Dr. Boettner then gives us "Some Roman Catholic Heresies And Inventions" and the dates that these alleged "Apostolic" traditions were added to Roman Catholic theology &endash;
* Prayers for the dead, began about A.D. 300
* Making the sign of the cross 300
* Veneration of angels and dead saints, and use of images 375
* The Mass, as a daily celebration 394
* Beginning of the exaltation of Mary, the term "Mother of God" first applied to her by the Council of Ephesus 431
* Priests began to dress differently from laymen 500
* Extreme Unction 526
* The doctrine of Purgatory, established by Gregory I 593
* Latin used in prayer and worship, imposed by Gregory I 600
* Prayer directed to Mary, dead saints and angels, about 600
* Title of pope, or universal bishop, given to Boniface III 607
* Kissing the pope's foot, began with pope Constantine 709
* Worship of the cross, images and relics, authorized in 786
* Holy water, mixed with a pinch of salt and blessed by a priest 850
* Canonization of dead saints, first by pope John XV 995
* The Mass, developed gradually as a sacrifice, attendance made obligatory in the 11th century
* Celibacy of the priesthood, decreed by pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand) 1079
* The Rosary, mechanical praying with beads, invented by Peter the Hermit 1090
* Sale of Indulgences 1190
* Transubstantiation, proclaimed by pope Innocent III 1215
* Auricular Confession of sins to a priest instead of to
God, instituted by pope Innocent III, in Lateran Council 1215
* Bible forbidden to laymen, placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Council of Valencia 1229
* Purgatory proclaimed a dogma by Council of Florence 1439
* The doctrine of Seven Sacraments affirmed 1439
* Tradition declared of equal authority with the Bible by the Council of Trent 1545
* Apocryphal books added to the Bible by the Council of Trent 1546
* Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, proclaimed by pope Pius IX 1854
* Syllabus of Errors, proclaimed by pope Pitts IX, and ratified by the Vatican Council; condemned freedom of religion,conscience, speech, press, and scientific discoveries which are disapproved by the Roman Church; asserted the pope's temporal authority over all civil rulers 1864
* Infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals, proclaimed by the Vatican Council 1870
* Public Schools condemned by pope Pius XI 1930
* Assumption of the Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into heaven shortly after her death), proclaimed by pope Pius XII 1950
* Mary proclaimed Mother of the Church, by pope Paul VI 1965

And then Dr. Boettner concludes:
Add to these many others: monks - nuns -monasteries - convents - forty days Lent - holy week - Palm Sunday - Ash Wednesday - All Saints day - Candlemas day - fish day - meat days - incense - holy oil - holy palms - Christopher medals - charms - novenas - and still others.
There you have it - the melancholy evidence of Rome's steadily increasing departure from the simplicity of the Gospel, a departure so radical and far-reaching at the present time (1965) that it has produced a drastically anti-evangelical church. It is clear beyond possibility of doubt that the Roman Catholic religion as now practiced is the outgrowth of centuries of error. Human inventions have been substituted for Bible truth and practice. Intolerance and arrogance have replaced the love and kindness and tolerance that were the distinguishing qualities of the first century Christians, so that now in Roman Catholic countries Protestants and others who are sincere believers in Christ but who do not acknowledge the authority of the pope are subject to all kinds of restrictions and in some cases even forbidden to practice their religion. The distinctive attitude of the present day Roman Church was fixed largely by the Council of Trent (1545-1563), with its more than 100 anathemas or curses pronounced against all who then or in the future would dare to differ with its decisions.

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Answer 9

Do Catholics adore the Virgin Mary, and consider her omnipresent, so that she can answer their prayers?

No, Catholics adore God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They love and reverence the Blessed Virgin, because God honored her above all creatures by choosing her to be the Mother of His only Son. St. Epiphanius in the fourth century condemned the Collyridians, the only sect in history, who gave her divine honors, saying: "We do not adore the saints. . . . Let Mary then be honored, but the Father, Son and Holy Ghost alone be adored" (Adv. Collyrid., 29).

God alone is Omnipresent. The power of the Blessed Virgin to know our particular wants, and to answer our prayers no more implies omnipresence than my power to grant the request of a friend thousands of miles away implies my presence in that place. When Eliseus saw the ambush prepared for the King of Israel was he necessarily in Syria at the time (4 Kings vi. 9)? God can make known to His saints what we need, as we learn from His words in Job: "Go to My servant Job, and offer up a holocaust for yourselves; and My servant Job shall pray for you; for him I w:'U accept lest I deal with you according to your folly" (Job xlii. 8;. The saints see God "face to face as He is" (1 Cor. iii. 12; 1 John iii. 2), and Li seeing God, they see in Him as in a mirror all that happens upon earth.


Why do Catholics pay so much honor to Mary, when she was only an ordinary woman? Does not Catholic devotion to her detract from the worship due to Christ?

The Catholic Church has always paid special honor to the Blessed Virgin, because God honored her above all creatures by bestowing upon her the highest dignity He could confer the divine maternity. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus honored her by dwelling with her under the same roof at Nazareth for thirty years until He began His public ministry, and that He showed His love to her on the Cross, when He left her to the kindly care of His beloved disciple, St. John (John xix. 26). I could never understand how intelligent men hoped to extol the Son of God by making little of the Mother of God. We do not win the affections of our fellowmen by despising or making little of their mothers.

How can you call Mary an ordinary woman, and at the same time pretend that you have studied the Scriptures? Would God choose an ordinary woman to be the Mother of His only Son, when He had countless millions of women to choose from? The prophet Isaias spoke of her coming centuries before (vii. 14), and God sent from heaven a special ambassador to announce her supereminent dignity (Luke i. 26), and another to comfort St. Joseph in his doubting (Matt. i. 20). Both the angel and St. Elizabeth called her "blessed among women" (Luke i. 2&, 43), and her own prophecy that "henceforth all generations shall call me blessed" (Luke i. 48) is fulfilled to the letter every day by Catholics the world over.

Instead of detracting from the love of Christ, devotion to Mary increases our love for Him. The devout client of Mary is ever the strong defender of the divinity of Jesus Christ, her Son. The divine maternity, as the Council of Ephesus clearly recognized in 431, has ever been the standard of orthodox belief in the true doctrine of the Incarnation.

Love for Mary, the masterpiece of God's creation, by its very nature leads us to the love of Christ her Son. He cannot be jealous of the praise we give her, for every one of her privileges and prerogatives are His own free gift. Is the artist jealous of the praise you give his masterpiece? Is the author jealous of the praise you give his book?

Answer 10

Jesus junkie: I agree with what you said. thank you