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Thread on why you should become Catholic:
If what the Catholic Church believes is true, then reading this thread is very essential. I know it's long, but I ask you to read it thoughtfully and prayerfully when you have some time. I will pin this post so you can find it easily.
If what the Catholic Church believes is true, then reading this thread is very essential. I know it's long, but I ask you to read it thoughtfully and prayerfully when you have some time. I will pin this post so you can find it easily.
Many of my followers are not even Christian, so I will start by addressing them.
I was not born a Christian either. I was born into a secular Jewish family. However, I found such strong evidence that Catholicism was true that I had to become Catholic.
I was not born a Christian either. I was born into a secular Jewish family. However, I found such strong evidence that Catholicism was true that I had to become Catholic.
I will not go into a debate about whether or not God exists because I find this debate unconvincing. The goal is not to prove some abstract first cause, but specifically the Christian God.
What I did find convincing as an atheist was the evidence for the ressurection of Jesus. These videos are very academically well researched and prove the ressurection of Jesus from the historical evidence. Give them a listen even if you are skeptical. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1mr9ZTZb3TUYymBPce08oyuhnHLLkR_B
If you think the videos above are biased towards the Christian side, then listen to a debate between Bart Ehrman (one of the leading atheist scholars of the New Testament) and William Lane Craig.
However, my Jewish heritage still left me skeptical of Christianity after all that. However, as I began to study the Tanakh (the Jewish word for the Old Testament), I was stunned by how extensively it proves that Jesus is the Messiah.
This playlist walks through the Old Testament evidence for Christianity. This is essential listening even for atheists. The bible is a well connected whole written by dozens of authors over 1500 years but has one message and interconnects perfectly. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnGMETdSMMRUAUG1B828s6UCcGFaA5tQJ
If you feel that these do not fairly represent the Jewish case, then watch this excellent debate between Michael Brown and Rabbi Tovia Singer. Singer is one of the leading counter-missionaries working to bring Jews back to Judaism.
This left the question of which Christian denomination is the correct one. I couldn't be Protestant for two reasons:
1) History
2) Justification
1) History
2) Justification
Historically, there is just no grounds for Protestantism. The early Christians believed in many Catholic beliefs like the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and worshipped liturgically. Christ established his Church in time. Christianity did not appear in 1517.
I'm aware that there are more mature forms of Protestantism that wrestle with pre-Reformation Christian authors, but there is simply no reading many Reformation beliefs back into the Fathers.
Protestantism is also majorly wrong when it comes to justification. Justification is not forensic. This documentary does a good job refuting justification. I apologize for how polemic it is. Watch it for its content, not its rhetoric.
I'm aware my resources on Protestantism are much less developed than the rest of this thread. I'm no expert in Protestantism and never was Protestant. There is an abundance of material on Catholic critiques of Catholicism though if you want more.
This ultimately lead me to Orthodox Christianity. I have nothing negative to say about any Orthodox Christians. They are all wonderful people and the Spirit is certainly active among them. However, after many years among the Orthodox, I was eventually convinced to become Catholic
I could not in good conscience remain in a schismatic body. There were too many internal contradictions in Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy also misunderstands many Catholic beliefs. I explain my reasons more fully in this article: https://clarifyingcatholicism.org/2019/08/30/why-i-converted-from-orthodoxy/
If you watched the videos on the ressurection, you'll notice that the only historical evidence that atheists can cite of a mass hallucination besides the ressurection is Fatima. However, this is not an issue for Catholics. We believe Fatima is simply further proof of Catholicism.
On Fatima and its evidence, I highly recommend these three videos from @TaylorRMarshall and @timotheeology. Whatever you think of them, this series is excellent. It was watching these videos that first got me thinking about entering communion with Rome.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnGMETdSMMRXeXzKRp-KznCQL9eMQNnxQ
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnGMETdSMMRXeXzKRp-KznCQL9eMQNnxQ
So those are my reasons. To summarize them again:
1) Resurrection of Jesus
2) Biblical Evidence for Christianity
3) Protestantism is wrong on justification
4) Orthodoxy misunderstands Catholicism
5) Fatima
1) Resurrection of Jesus
2) Biblical Evidence for Christianity
3) Protestantism is wrong on justification
4) Orthodoxy misunderstands Catholicism
5) Fatima
While those are my main reasons, I'll drop some more good apologetics below:
For proof of God's existence, see Ed Feser's book Five Proofs of the Existence of God: https://amz.run/41D8
Tom Woods goes through one of these well here:
I also believe history is a witness to the truth of Catholicism. God wanted the true faith to play a central role in history, and it did. Here is a good series on that. (There is also a book version if you prefer reading). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZDj5nM0KbdUTEpoka1oyAR8BtHfIiVJm
On the issue of Catholic/Orthodox relations, I want to drop this wonderful book by Dr. Aidan Nichols on the history of East/West relations: https://amz.run/41D9
One thing that got me to become Catholic was the evidence of grace among Catholics, as I mention in my article. I think the Life of St. Francis demonstrates this better than anything: https://amz.run/41DD
Regarding the trinity and scripture, Dr. Michael Heiser has excellent material
Many Jews deny the existence of Satan. This proves that the snake is Genesis 3 is Satan:
Regarding the historical accuracy of the new testament, this series of videos is excellent:
