Chrisitians I have a question for you....Please look inside to help me understand your faith.?

Question

I have trouble in understanding in what you mean I had converted from one Christian faith to another. Example:
I grew up Catholic but Converted to a Southern Baptist
I grew up Methodist but converted to a Catholic
I grew up Baptist but was converted to Methodist
I was born Roman Catholic but converted to Greek Orthodox
And so on and so on.
My question is this: if you believed in Jesus before by being a Catholic why do you call it a conversion if you become a Baptist? Baptists still believe in Jesus last time I’ve checked as do all other Christian sects. So, why call it conversion?
I grew up as a Reform Jew, latter I changed synagogues and became Conservative, and when I entered college I became Orthodox. I did not reconvert to any branch. I was born Jew and remained a Jew. When I entered different synagogues and prayed there no rabbi told me to convert reform, conservative or orthodox.

In fact, it wasn’t even implied, forced, and no one thought of me being less of a Jew when I was moving up. All it meant is that I was becoming a little bit more observant in my practices.
This is why I do not understand to why Christians call it conversions when they change to a different Christian sect.
Thank you for answering.

Brianman3, nice answer. I really like the way you explained it to me.

Answer 1

Different sects don't believe or practice all the same things so when someone says they converted they are saying that they are accepting the different things the sects believe in or follow even though you still believe in Jesus there are "little rules" that are different.

Answer 2

The term converting means simply to change. If one has a set of beliefs, including that Jesus is the savior of mankind, and then changes that set of beliefs (or CONVERTS) to a new set which also includes Jesus being the savior, but other beliefs have changed, that is technically a conversion. Diggy?

Not all Christian faiths are the same. For example, Catholics believe in pergatory, a neutral place between heaven and hell, where babies go who haven't had the chance to be Catholic. Most Christian faiths, like Baptist, don't believe in pergatory. There are numerous differences among all the Christian faiths, and really the only thing they all have in common is that they believe Jesus was and is the savior of mankind. Being Catholic and being Baptist is about as different as Muslim and Jew.

Answer 3

Starjump, I think you didn't fully understand what the questioner said. The questioner was giving examples. He went from reform judaism to orthodox judaism, not catholic. Orthodox Jews simply follow more strick religious laws. No praise of saints involved.

As for the question, there are so many different denominations of christianity, that sometimes we don't fully agree with what our particular denomination says, so we switch denominations. We're still christians, but I have no idea why we'd call it a conversion.

Answer 4

In Christianity, there are many different ways of interpreting the Bible. It seems like every time someone finds something in the Bible that they believe disagrees with the prevailing beliefs, they break off and form another church.

Also, there are, among the various CHristian sects, those who's beliefs are more than just someplace to go on Sunday, and Wednesday night, and shout "PRAISE THE LORD!" when things go their way. A couple of sects that are really a lifestyle are Catholicism (most of it's various forms), the LDS church, and some of the (I think you call them) anabaptist sects, like the Amish. To enter or leave one of these groups is truly to "convert".

But, among many of the various protestant groups, there really isn't much "conversion".

Answer 5

Obviously if all Christian denominations believed the same things, they wouldn't be denominations. Even though they all "believe in Jesus", there is a world of difference in what some of them believe about Jesus and about His teachings. Therefore a change in denomination requires a conversion to a different belief set. Some such changes would obviously require a greater degree of conversion than others.
.

Answer 6

Actually, that is a word that I have not used, so it may just be some folks use when they really mean that they just "Change to", say Catholic to Baptist. Conversion to me is one who becomes a Christian for the first time after being say an atheist.

Answer 7

Excellent question. Conversion is not necessarrily brought about by changing religions. Jesus told Peter in the book of John: "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." What? I thought Peter was one of Jesus' disciples. Why was he not converted? The answer is he had not submitted to the authority of God, which today is the Holy Scriptures. It doesn't matter what religion you "convert" to, if you have not been born again, it is a waste. Read John chapter 3.

Answer 8

Some people call it a conversion because they become persuaded that the church they were previously in was teaching serious erros that were not compatible with true Christian faith, and they think the group they converted to is more in line with the teachings of Jesus.
If you are interested, e-mail me and I can send you some examples.

Answer 9

It's like this: Who is your focus. Are the scriptures your text source for knowing what God thinks? If so, then you might notice that Jesus is the center of all religious attention.

So I dropped all the names and decided to follow after Christ. I am a Christian because I trust in whatever God says that has to do with me through Jesus christ. All those other things are distractions to me. I am free of them because God makes me free.

Answer 10

Don't look for God in corrupt religions! C'mon, Orthodox? They worship more saints than the pagan greeks had gods and demi gods! If you really want to find God, read his word, Without having someone else interpret what you read.