Something To Think About...

[Paladin D]

Here's something to think about. You know when you stumble upon an Anti-Catholic site, and one of the authors claims to be a ex-Catholic?

I haven't really thought about this till now but, how do we truely know if they were even Catholic in the first place? After all, most ex-Catholic testimonies proclaim things that are totally false and very suspicous.

Though no doubt there are ex-Catholics, but most likely most of these so called "ex-catholic testimonies" are nothing but made-up tricks to try and decieve people.

Edited July 7, 2003 by Paladin D

[musturde]

Give them a break! It's possible they were Catholic... for about a min or so.

[Chrysologus]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of them are lying. In fact, a guy who works with Jack Chick claims to be an ex-Jesuit, but he isn't. Of course, Jack Chick et al are insane.

[littleflower+JMJ]

their probably lying, and also about everything else their saying....

their just out for blood....which is Scary, w/ a capital S :ph34r:

[dUSt]

Well, most of the people who say that were probably baptized as Catholics, but didn't worry about God until AFTER they fell away from the faith. If they tried to get to know him in the Church they were baptized in, they would have never left in the first place.

[GodsThespianChic]

Well, as Fr. Argentino constantly tells us all:

"If anyone has ever left the Catholic Church, they never truely understood it"

[vianney]

I think it is sad that so many Catholics have left the church. Every single fallen away Catholic I have ever talked to seem to be extremely uneducated about the Church. Is it possible that I am the only one noticing that those who left the Catholic Church were truly ignorant of the faith they supposedly belonged to?

[Joyful]

I totally agree that many many people leave the faith because they're ignorant. I also think that some people leave the church because they aren't mature enough to handle it's depth and richness. A close relative o' mine now goes to an unabashedly emotional protestant church. I don't think he's mature enough to handle Catholicism, yet.

[dUSt]

A lot of people leave the Church because it's too hard to be a good Catholic, so they trick theirselves into believing that God is simple.

[GodsThespianChic]

To elaborate on what dUSt said, Fr. Argentino also says:

"The Catholic faith is not for wimps!"

And it's so true. There are so many people that just don't like how confining or whatever that Catholicism is. They think that they should be able to do what they want when they want and it all be okay with God...and it just doesn't work like that...

[Katholikos]

Catholics who have unresolved anger against their parents sometimes "get even" (subconsciously) by leaving the Church -- it's a way of kicking one's mother and father in the shins with immunity.

Many so-called "ex-Catholics" don't know even the rudiments of Catholicism. Ignorance of the Faith is the one thing they have in common.

Protestantism is easy -- Catholicism is hard (if you truly follow the teaching of the Church). All Protestantism requires is "belief" and one is promised salvation. "Belief in what?" is the question, and "Anything you wish" is the answer. Protestantism is "do-it-yourself" religion. If you don't like what your church (or any of the 33,820 existing denominations) teaches, start your own. Every individual is led "to all truth" by the Holy Spirit, don'tchaknow.

Ex-priests who turn against the Church were often in trouble and were about to be disciplined or asked to leave. They may become "Protestant" to retaliate against their superiors and the Church, instead of facing the reality of their own sins. They are in rebellion against authority (except an authority of their own choosing).

My own mother was a know-nothing Catholic who left the Church and hadn't been through the door in 30 years. She became a Baptist and I and my brothers were reared as Baptists. Fortunately, I learned the Truth and was able to teach her. She (and my father) both died happy Catholics. Thanks be to God.

UNLESS YOU KNOW YOUR FAITH WELL ENOUGH TO EXPLAIN IT, YOU ARE ALWAYS IN DANGER OF LOSING IT.

Ex-Southern Baptist, ex-agnostic, ex-atheist, ecstatic to be Catholic!

[MC Just]

Good Post Likos. That's all so true.

[nippy316]

AMEN Likos!!

[God Conquers]

I second that!

[mark4IHM]

Likos,

Thanks for sharing the happy ending to your parent's lives. It is never to late to have recourse to Jesus and Mary.

I pray my parent's lives will end just as happily.

[dominicansoul]

When it comes to converts, I've always said we get the best outta protestants, but man o man, they get the worst from us!! Most catholics that "convert" to protestantism were not catholic to begin with, and even if they knew a bit of the Faith, they leave because they want to live life the way they see fit, not the way the Church sees fit.

[xSilverPhinx]

It's the same with many people who claim to have been atheists in an apeal to conversion. What many describe is almost always more like a crisis in faith than actual atheism.