Should I leave Protestanism for good?

Question

I have never felt at home in Protestant churches except some Episcopal churches but US Episcopal is now pretty un-Biblical in their views of social issues. I really dislike the evangelical liturgy of a pop rock concert followed by a fifteen minute motivational speach. I much prefer the Catholic Mass because of the reverence, tradition and more meditative service. The fact they focus the service around Communion not around the preacher's message seems more meaningful as well. I also have a problem with the grape juice and crackers as only a metaphor when Catholics use wine and bread that are the body and blood like in the authentic Last Supper. Lastly, I like how the Catholic Church doesn't change with the times. It seems less about individual interpretation and more about the traditions that have been passed down from the original Church set up by Peter with Jesus' authority.
I'd just like feedback from Christian brothers and sisters of both the Catholic and Protestant traditions.

Answer 1

yes .....

Answer 2

Fish Eaters is a great website to answer questions concerning Catholicism.

http://www.fisheaters.com/beingcatholic.html

Lists Every Catholic Should be Familiar With :

The 7 Sacraments (The Holy Mysteries)
The 7 Corporal Works of Mercy
The 7 Spiritual Works of Mercy
The 3 Eminent Good Works
The 7 Gifts of the Holy Ghost (& the Charismata)
The 12 Fruits of the Holy Ghost
The 3 Theological Virtues
The 4 Cardinal Virtues
The 7 Capital Sins & Their Contrary Virtues
The 6 Sins Against the Holy Ghost
The 4 Sins That Cry Out to Heaven
The 3 Conditions of Mortal Sin
The 9 Ways We Participate in Others' Sins
The 10 Commandments
The 2 Greatest Commandments
The 3 Evangelical Counsels
The 6 Precepts of the Church
The Holy Days of Obligation (English)
The 3 Powers of the Soul The 4 Pillars of the Catholic Faith
The 3 Pillars of the Church's Authority
The 3 Munera (Duties of the Ordained)
The 3 Parts of the Church
The 4 Marks of the Church
The 12 Apostles
The 12 Tribes of Israel
The 8 Beatitudes
The 14 Stations of the Cross
The 7 Sorrows (Dolours) and 7 Joys of Our Lady
The 7 Sorrows and 7 Joys of St. Joseph
The 15 Mysteries of the Rosary
The Order of Creation
The 9 Choirs of Angels
The 3 levels of reverence
The 14 Holy Helpers
The 7 Last Words of Christ
The 4 Last Things (The Novissima)

Answer 3

Try Orthodoxy. The Orthodox Church is both the oldest Church in Christendom, but new to most North Americans. It is the second largest body in Christendom with about 300 million people worldwide, but only 6 or 7 million in the U.S. and Canada. In the 20th century alone, more than 20 million Orthodox Christians have given their lives for their faith, primarily under communism. So high is the comitment of many Orthodox Christians to Christ and His Church, she has often been called "the Church of the Martyrs." The Orthodox Church is the first Christian Church, the Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and described in the pages of the New Testament. Her history can be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles (Apostolic Succession). The liturgy centers around communion, not the "preacher's message". We believe that the bread and wine actually turn into the body and blood of Christ. We make our own bread for the services--we don't buy wafers or crackers. We have the most ancient services in Christendom. We, more than any other church, do not change. We attempt to make our services exactly the way the early Christian Church had them. The services are solemn and beautiful. Our music is very traditional and beautiful. We don't have "rock concerts".The Orthodox Church has no pope; Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. I am so thankful and grateful that I was blessed with finding this wonderful Church!

The first time I went to this church, I found myself surrounded by beautiful sights (icons, candles, robes), smells (incense) and music--an a cappella choir that I couldn't see. Turns out they were in the choir loft behind me, but when I first came in, it sounded as though angels were singing from heaven. The Church was full of people of every color and ethnic group you could imagine. There were Ethiopians in beautiful robes, Arabs, Russians, Greeks, Bulgarians, and plain old Americans. After the service, we all went to the hall, where everyone spoke in his native language, and many ethnic foods were served--luscious Ethiopian breads, Arabic and Greek dishes wrapped in grape leaves, and other treats I had never seen before. Then the priest greeted me warmly and invited me and some of the other visitors out for lunch--with some of the church members. These people were wonderful! They were intelligent, caring, and holy without being sanctamonious or pious. I was hooked, and brought my husband with me the next week. He was hooked. We then became catechumens and joined the church, and I've never looked back.

Answer 4

Praise the Lord!
The first Christians had no doubts about how to determine which was the true Church and which doctrines the true teachings of Christ. The test was simple: Just trace the apostolic succession of the claimants.

Apostolic succession is the line of bishops stretching back to the apostles. All over the world, all Catholic bishops are part of a lineage that goes back to the time of the apostles, something that is impossible in Protestant denominations (most of which do not even claim to have bishops).

The role of apostolic succession in preserving true doctrine is illustrated in the Bible. To make sure that the apostles’ teachings would be passed down after the deaths of the apostles, Paul told Timothy, "[W]hat you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). In this passage he refers to the first three generations of apostolic succession—his own generation, Timothy’s generation, and the generation Timothy will teach.

The Church Fathers, who were links in that chain of succession, regularly appealed to apostolic succession as a test for whether Catholics or heretics had correct doctrine. This was necessary because heretics simply put their own interpretations, even bizarre ones, on Scripture. Clearly, something other than Scripture had to be used as an ultimate test of doctrine in these cases.

Peace and every blessing!

Answer 5

You should follow the book, not the choir. I grew up catholic but dont really care for it too much. Now i just read the bible and not worry about religion, only what the bible says. You dont need a priest to interpret the bible for you. Protestantism was created by a king in england that wanted to divorce his wife, but the church would not allow it. So he created his own religion around the bible and said that people could get divorced now. Bible study is as effective as any mass and is more inspiring because you get to be part of it and have a say in things. But to me...going to church actually seems to not inspire me, but reading the bible on my own and discussing with friends is very inspiring to me. Good luck in whatever you choose

Answer 6

Why don't you just be honest and admit that you're a Catholic and knock off the bull about should you leave protestanism when you weren't one in the first place.

Answer 7

Go for it. It sounds like what you want.

Answer 8

go where you feel comfortable.

it is not about where you go but who you believe in.

Answer 9

yes you should.

Answer 10

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS
BY
JAMES CARDINAL GIBBON'S,
ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE
1918

Introduction:

It is not uncommon for a dialogue like the following to take place between a Protestant Minister and a convert to the Catholic Church:

Minister: You cannot deny that the Roman Catholic Church teaches gross errors--the worship of images, for instance.

Convert: I admit no such charge, for I have been taught no such doctrines.

Minister: But the Priest who instructed you did not teach you all. He held back some points which he knew would be objectionable to you.

Convert: He withheld nothing; for I am in possession of books treating fully of all Catholic doctrines.

Minister: Deluded soul! Don't you know that in Europe they are taught differently?

Convert: That cannot be, for, the Church teaches the same creed all over the world, and most of the doctrinal books which I read, were originally published in Europe.

Yet ministers who make these slanderous statements are surprised if we feel indignant, and accuse us of being too sensitive. We have been vilified so long, that they think we have no right to complain.

We cannot exaggerate the offense of those who thus wilfully malign the Church. There is a commandment which says: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

If it is a sin to bear false testimony against one individual, how can we characterize the crime of those who calumniate three hundred millions of human beings, by attributing to them doctrines and practices which they repudiate and abhor. I do not wonder that the Church is hated by those who learn what she is from her enemies. It is natural for an honest man to loathe an institution whose history he believes to be marked by bloodshed, crime and fraud.

Had I been educated as they were, and surrounded by an atmosphere hostile to the Church, perhaps I should be unfortunate enough to be breathing vengeance against her today, instead of consecrating my life to her defence.

It is not of their hostility that I complain, but because the judgment they have formed of her is based upon the reckless assertions of her enemies, and not upon those of impartial witnesses.

Suppose that I wanted to obtain a correct estimate of the Southern people, would it be fair in me to select, as my only sources of information, certain Northern and Eastern periodicals which, during our Civil War, were bitterly opposed to the race and institutions of the South? Those papers have represented you as men who always appeal to the sword and pistol, instead of the law, to vindicate your private grievances. They heaped accusations against you which I will not here repeat. Instead of taking these publications as the basis of my information, it was my duty to come among you; to live with you; to read your life by studying your public and private character. This I have done, and I here cheerfully bear witness to your many excellent traits of mind and heart.

Now I ask you to give to the Catholic Church the same measure of fairness which you reasonably demand of me when judging of Southern character. Ask not her enemies what she is, for they are blinded by passion; ask not her ungrateful, renegade children, for you never heard a son speaking well of the mother whom he had abandoned and despised.

Study her history in the pages of truth. Examine her creed. Read her authorized catechisms and doctrinal books. You will find them everywhere on the shelves of booksellers, in the libraries of her clergy, on the tables of Catholic families.

There is no Freemasonry in the Catholic Church; she has no secrets to keep back. She has not one set of doctrines for Bishops and Priests, and another for the laity. She has not one creed for the initiated and another for outsiders. Everything in the Catholic Church is open and above board. She has the same doctrines for all--for the Pope and the peasant.

Should not I be better qualified to present to you the Church's creed than the unfriendly witnesses whom I have mentioned?

I have imbibed her doctrine with my mother's milk. I have made her history and theology the study of my life. What motive can I have in misleading you? Not temporal reward, since I seek not your money, but your soul, for which Jesus Christ died. I could not hope for an eternal reward by deceiving you, for I would thereby purchase for myself eternal condemnation by gaining proselytes at the expense of truth.

This, friendly reader, is my only motive. I feel in the depth of my heart that, in possessing Catholic faith, I hold a treasure compared with which all things earthly are but dross. Instead of wishing to bury this treasure in my breast, I long to share it with you, especially as I lose no part of my spiritual riches by communicating them to others.

It is to me a duty and a labor of love to speak the truth concerning my venerable Mother, so much maligned in our days. Were a tithe of the accusations which are brought against her true, I would not be attached to her ministry, nor even to her communion, for a single day. I know these charges to be false. The longer I know her, the more I admire and venerate her. Every day she developes before me new spiritual charms.

Ah! my dear friend, if you saw her as her children see her, she would no longer appear to you as typified by the woman of Babylon. She would be revealed to you, "Bright as the sun, fair as the moon;" with the beauty of Heaven stamped upon her brow, glorious "as an army in battle array." You would love her, you would cling to her and embrace her. With her children, you would rise up in reverence "and call her blessed."

Consider what you lose and what you gain in embracing the Catholic religion.

Your loss is nothing in comparison with your gain. You do not surrender your manhood or your dignity or independence or reasoning powers. Your give up none of those revealed truths which you may possess already. The only restraint imposed upon you is the restraint of the Gospel, and to this you will not reasonably object.

You gain everything that is worth having. You acquire a full and connected knowledge of God's revelation. You get possession of the whole truth as it is in Jesus. You no longer see it in fragments, but reflected before you in all its beauty, as in a polished mirror. While others are outside criticising the architecture of the temple, you are inside worshiping the divine Architect and saying devoutly with the Psalmist: "I have loved O Lord, the beauty of Thy house and the place where Thy glory dwelleth." While others from without find in the stained-glass windows only blurred and confused figures without symmetry or attraction or meaning, you from within, are gazing with silent rapture on God's glorified saint, with their outlines clearly defined on the windows, and all illuminated with the sunlight of heaven. Your knowledge of the truth is not only complete and harmonious, but it becomes fixed and steady. You exchange opinion for certainty. You are no longer "tossed about by every wind of doctrine," but you are firmly grounded on the rock of truth. Then you enjoy that profound peace which springs from the conscious possession of the truth.

In coming to the Church, you are not entering a strange place, but you are returning to your Father's home. The house and furniture may look odd to you, but it is just the same as your forefather's left it three hundred years ago. In coming back to the Church, you worship where your fathers worshiped before you, you kneel before the altar at which they knelt, you receive the Sacraments which they received, and respect the authority of the clergy whom they venerated. You come back like the Prodigal Son to the home of your father and mother. The garment of joy is placed upon you, the banquet of love is set before you, and you receive the kiss of peace as a pledge of your filiation and adoption. One hearty embrace of your tender Mother will compensate you for all the sacrifices you may have made, and you will exclaim with the penitent Augustine: "Too late have I known thee, O Beauty, ever ancient and ever new, too late have I loved thee." Should the perusal of this book bring one soul to the knowledge of the Church, my labor will be amply rewarded.

Remember that nothing is so essential as the salvation of your immortal soul, "for what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" [Matt. xvi. 26] let not, therefore, the fear of offending friends and relatives, the persecution of men, the loss of earthly possessions, nor any other temporal calamity, deter you from investigating and embracing the true religion. "For out present tribulation, which is momentary and light, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory." [II. Cor. iv. 17]

May God give you light to see the truth, and, having seen it, may He give you courage and strength to follow it!

.