No Regrets!

Q: Do you have any regrets or apprehensions regarding leaving your Protestant faith and conversion to Catholicism?

A:Every single time someone has tried to influence me negatively against Catholicism, the twinge of doubt may enter for about 2 seconds and then I remember all that the Lord has shown me in the last few months and all doubt disappears.

I have to say I would be worried if I didn't have a little apprehension creep up on me now and again. This causes me to re-evaluate and bring it before God. God has always affirmed that I am doing the right thing and he removes all apprehension. In the process, I learn a little more, grow a little more and feel the presence of God a little more.

Just this morning, I got a message from a "very irritated Catholic" who said, "...if more people actually knew what the church fully taught they would have a lot less followers than they do. Also you were quite vitriolic on carries blog, In my experience converts tend to be quite judgmental and quite to point out the flaws in others faith. So RELAX!" [spelling errors corrected]

Of course, this is certainly not the way I like to begin my morning... but I thought it was quite appropriate timing in light of the question asked by tiber jumper. This is a perfect example of the comments I often endure that *sometimes* cause apprehension... but, like the others, I gave it up to God and remembered that God brought me here so comments such as this have little long-lasting effect on me.

What strikes me most about the comment is the assumption that people don't know what the church "fully" teaches... I'm curious to know what these teachings are that would cause people to leave if they "actually knew". After all, if I am being led astray, I think it would be better for them to present these things to me rather than making some sort of blanket statement with nothing to back it up.

Second, I didn't even know who Carrie was at first and then I remembered that this person is referring a blog I visited quite some time ago... I've never been "vitriolic" toward anyone. On the other hand, Carrie herself accused me of copying and pasting the comment I left her, and later had to back-track when she discovered that I did not, in fact, do that. She was over-all less than charitable about my comment because it was already covered by someone else. Needless to say, I quickly abandoned this blog because I found it to be "vitriolic" against Catholics. Not necessarily by the author but by so many other less charitable people.

Last, I don’t believe I'm being judgmental at all... and the simple truth of the matter is that there ARE flaws in other faith traditions. I believe I can say this because I lived it for the last 30 years. I'm not just slinging mud. I simply point out what I see as erroneous thinking. I am not condemning anyone... but I can and will point out the problems I have in reconciling those beliefs with what the Bible actually says. The most interesting thing about this comment is that I am not permitted to point out the flaws of other faiths, yet this commenter felt free to indicate that the Catholic faith has flaws.

In fact, their entire comment was self-contradictory.

But back to the question... While this has been one of the most difficult thing in my life, I have never been so sure of anything! I have no regrets. There are some things I miss terribly about my Protestant faith but I would never give up what I have now for those things.

I remember a prayer from long ago when I said to the Lord, "I want to obey you but I fear the outcome of such obedience." When I finally decided to let go and obey God, He broke me... and brought me to deep despair and pain. I had to rely only on Him. When He finally had me all to Himself, he brought me home... to His Church. This was not easy and it continues to be painful at times but I would not give it up for anything.

The Lord tells me not to worry and to be anxious for nothing. He knows my heart and He is ever faithful.

I am a Catholic Christian and I have no uncertainties because God is in control!