About Ranting And The Term Idiots…
Definition:
A rant is a speech or text that does not present a calm argument; rather, it is typically an enthusiastic speech or talk or lecture on an idea, a person or an institution. Compare with a dialectic.
Rants can be based on partial fact or may be entirely factual but written in a comedic/satirical form. (Wikipedia)
Ranting is good for the sole, or so say I. Michelle normally gets to the hear the more creative ones, but there are things that frustrate and it’s cathartic to get them out onto the blog. They may not always be fully vetted, and they may ramble but I’m not going to apologize for doing a rant. It gets it off my chest, and I can move on.
Michelle read one of my posts and commented on the word “idiots”, she had a right too. I know better, in fact I know it’s a sin:
Matthew 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[a]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,[b]’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
The word “Raca” roughly translates to “airhead”, and it’s it’s definitely a sin to call brothers in Christ airheads (at least that’s what I’ve always been taught).
But It Must Be Said that some people in this society have stopped thinking for themselves, they get blown by the wind and the waves. They are looking for anyone, someone to tell them what to think. I run into them on a daily basis and it breaks my heart. It also makes me angry, because so much is at stake, even long time Christians will eschew theology. Which is just silly. We all have theology, we all believe something. That’s all theology is, a belief system, nothing more, nothing less.
Our churches are full of people content to let others guide them around by the nose, they don’t question, they don’t ask. The idea of the bereans is foreign to them, and unfortunately that makes me mad. This isn’t about any one church, I’ve seen it in all of them, even the Catholic Church. It’s sad and disappointing.
I’m not qualified to teach, but there’s such a large hole in our understanding that I constantly feel the call to do something about this situation. It’s why I started taking theology courses, and bibliology and hermeneutics and all the other stuff I’m working on. It’s so I can learn, it’s so I can help.
Amazing things can happen when you start asking questions, I’ve challenged two fundamentalist about anything other than the King James Version of the bible and still have yet to get a decent answer why my old New King James was a heretical translation. It’s why I left the baptist faith, I couldn’t stomach the hypocrisy any longer (that’s another story for another time). We have searched now for a full year, I was mortified with Calvinist theology. And when I asked hard questions, I got bad answers back.
But at least I asked, I will never forget one Pastor who was elated that we wanted to ask him doctrinal questions. He said that he wished more people would choose a church based on doctrine and not the style of ministry. We didn’t stay at his church but I was more amazed that he was amazed. Does anyone care what they believe anymore?
I let me passion get the better of me, I really want the best for people. The gentlemen who asked why he should join the Catholic Church is someone who could benefit from just a little research. I’ll give the RCIA props, every meeting they bring in lots of books about conversion and other Catholic topics to get people interested. Some are, but most just want to be told what to believe. That’s OK I guess, but maybe, just maybe someday I can help 
Ranting over, I feel better now.
Night…
-Paul-
The places where I stand
It’s early in the morning, no ones up yet, and I’m sitting here typing out my heart. Pretty standard for a Sunday morning for me, today I’m weighing whether I should attend Mass or not. I’m still struggling with the Catholic Church, and I can’t seem to get my arms around it just yet. Some parts I find are stunningly beautiful and others make little sense to me, and what frustrates me so much about all of them is that I have no one to talk to about my questions. Yes I’m in RCIA, and I have a sponsor, but I don’t think he understands me and my need to understand before I commit. So I’m left on this road, forging it alone.
I read and study what I can, there are a plethora of conversion stories out there to choose from. Some great resources for research, but research done in a vacuum will always get off track. I’m doing my Bibliology and Hermeneutics with Michael Patton, but he’s fully protestant (and a little Calvinist, but I don’t hold it against him) and of course he thinks I’m making a mistake. So I get little tidbits of things from him like how it’s a Mortal sin if you skip mass, he picked a good topic because I could see his point. His question to the Catholic community was if a Catholic skipped Mass, then died before they could repent. Would they go to hell?
Valid question, and the response on catholicanswers.com where all over board, while his argument may be a bit of a straw man, it’s still a good question and the answers quite frankly concerned me. It’s just another thing that I’m going to have to resolve before I move much further on this.
Michelle and I have decided that we are pretty much at the end of our ropes right now, there is no turning back to any of the protestant faiths. The more we study the more we realize how far off most of them are, and we are not interested in heading back in that direction. But at the same time we both have deep concerns about the Catholic Church, and to be quite honest it’s take a lot of time and effort to research this information. It’s a slow, expensive process. Expensive in that I probably have 30 books now on this issue and more on the way, we both are reading everything we can find. The council of Trent is coming up shortly, because the protestants that we know all go to trent to talk about why Catholicism is so bad.
There may be an answer to prayer in all this yet, we have struggled with the light nature of the RCIA and Michelle talked with Mary who is running it at Holy Apostles. She has setup an appointment with one of the Deacons to see if he can spend some time and help us come to an understanding of the issues that are hanging us up. At some point I’m going to have to validate what I’m finding and work with someone smarter than I (which should not be hard to find) to figure all this out. I can’t do it alone, that much I know for sure.
I think the core of the issue boils down to this:
I can submit myself to Christ, there’s no question about that in my mind.
But I’m not convinced that the Catholic Church has not been corrupted, added onto the Gospel and setup and institution of man with rules, regulations and extra biblical systems.
Until I or should I say we can resolve that, we will both be out here in the post-evangelical wasteland
-Paul-
Humanae Vitae – And Why I Think The Catholic Church Violates It’s own teaching.
Humanae Vitae literally means means “Human Life” in latin, it is the church’s teaching about abortion and contraception, as well as issues pertaining to human life.
The concept here is that Human Life is precious in all forms, Marriage and it’s most private activity are meant for the purposes of procreation. Abortion and any form of birth control that prevents conception are forbidden according to the church. The churches stance on these issues can be found here: Vatican Response, and before I delve into where I think the church has gone astray let me say that they raise some very valid points.
But in their zeal to maintain their doctrine they cross lines that should cause any free person to pause, this week while driving home I heard a conversation on EWTN (Catholic Radio) about contraception and how it’s done so much damage to this society, but here’s the thing: Contraception isn’t a new thing, it’s been around since the beginning, so has abortion. It’s circular reasoning to say that birth control leads to abortion. Because the whole point of birth control is to stop pregnancy in the first place, I’m always skeptical when experts roll out ideas like this. The fundamentalist church is full of people who swear that watching a movie will send you on a path to hell, or that evolution is destroying our society. Study’s have estimated that up to %80 of practicing Catholics are or have used birth control, I’m not saying I agree with that, just that those are the numbers.
Where I start to have a problem is while listening to the radio a gentleman called in and was remiss that he’d had a vasectomy and was converting to the Catholic Church (I’m in the same boat), but he looked into getting it reversed, it was way out of his price range. The host and the “expert” on the airwaves proceeded to offer up information, advice and encouragement to find other ways to have it reversed, I almost crashed my car yelling at the radio. I’m sorry but Humanae Vitae is either about how life is precious or it’s not, PERIOD. To suggest that you should look for cheap surgery to get a reversal or that you really even need one is so far outside the scope of not just common sense, but decency that I can hardly contain my disdain. It’s like saying “Hey Honey, I love you. Now go have this SURGERY that I found on the cheap, don’t worry you’ll be just fine”. To what end does it benefit this man to cut his body up MORE for a *possibility* of having it reversed?, and how irresponsible and BLIND do you have to be to endanger a mans life while proclaiming the virtues of Humanae Vitae…
I thought I was done until I found this on Catholic Answers:
Catholic Answers On Contraception
The first question is from a woman whose Dr has told her that she should abstain from getting pregnant for a year, and her Priest, being a man who obviously cares for his parishioners tells her it’s OK to use birth control. The answer left me stunned, so they are telling her that despite what her Dr said, she would be committing a mortal sin if she used contraception. But if she got pregnant she could lose her life and possibly the life of her Child, is the church so fixated on it’s doctrine that it can’t even stomach grace in a situation like this?
The more I read the church’s position on this issue and the more I hear the acolytes who push this doctrine, the more concerned I become that the Church is violating the very nature of the doctrine they are espousing. Further to use the Mortal Sin card as a stick to get people to follow your doctrine is even more heinous in my view, Joseph Smith (of Mormon fame) would tell woman that if they did not marry him they would go to hell, is this any different?.
I’m not sure right now I can trust the RCC with issues like this, the marriage chamber is a holy institution that to be perfectly honest the Church has *no business* meddling into. I’m not advocating that they radically change their position, but certainly a little common sense might go a long long way. The Humanae Vitae as described by Vatican is not that radical, but the Church has set loose a wave of zealots who would happily violate the nature of the doctrine to force people into submission. From a scripture standpoint the bible is silent about abortion, that doesn’t make it right. But it’s really even more silent about contraception, and you can’t use Gen 38 as your crutch, because if you actually *READ* the story Onan gets a *DIRECT* instruction from God and disobeys that. It’s not about him spilling his seed, it’s about him disobeying God. When you have scripture that is directed at one person, you can’t use that to apply to everyone. The only scripture you can logically use is Genesis 3 where God tells Adam and Eve to go forth and multiply, again a direct commandment. But in this case it could be applied, however the bible is silent on contraception.
One more thought, 2000 years ago the infant mortality rate was incredibly high. So you needed to have 10 children to raise 5, that’s no longer the case and the Church has even forbidden NFP (Natural Family Planning). That matters because today our mortality rate is incredibly low, so odds are very good if you fail to practice some form of NFP your going to be overrun with children. Never mind that you might not be able to support them, the Church doesn’t care. Just don’t violate it’s doctrine.
-Paul-
Things Heard In The RCIA (and other statements that make me go ugh).
We attended our second RCIA this week, it was interesting, a little disappointing and a little frustrating. Let me see if I can articulate…
First Fr. Len gave about an hour talk on the history of the Church, he did a good job considering that he had to cover 2000 years in an hour. He talked about Luther and the reformation, he was fair and balanced and I was pretty happy with the whole thing. What irritated me was someone asked him why they become Catholic over any other protestant religion, I’m going to sin here for a second so hang on.
HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE??
Would you ask the Ford salesman why you should buy a Ford over a Chevy and decide your fate based on that conversation??, if your looking for someone to give you all the answers then your an idiot and you might as well just sit there and sit on your hands and not say a word, because *some* of us actually want to understand WHAT the Catholic Church actually teaches BEFORE we commit to anything.
You see in the book of Acts, Paul was preaching the word in Berea and the Bereans they took every word he said and went home and checked it against the scriptures (the old testament), the key here is that they didn’t just believe, they checked, they asked, they made sure that they understood before they believed. It’s important for anyone to make sure they understand what they are believing before they believe it, a few scriptures to make my point:
Hosea 4:6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools [a] despise wisdom and discipline.
Luke 10:27 He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
The point is that if you are going to make a decision about your faith and your standing with God, should you not be careful about how to make such a decision. Would you buy a boat for a 3 year journey and just rely on what the salesman tells you??, if so, then head on out. I’ll be standing at the dock watching you leave and hoping you don’t sink. We have a society of idiots in this country, we get our news in little controlled tidbits, we don’t want to be bothered with doing the hard work, it’s all about what we can get now. We want others to tell us we are OK, because it’s too damn hard to make up our own minds. The American spirit is gone, it’s been replaced by this apathetic mentality that just grates me the wrong way.
All that being said, Fr Len did a good job with a bad question, how could he answer?. So he took the same path I would have taken and said it’s a decision and *he* personally thinks that the Catholic Church has the right of it.
The second thing that happened is something that I see a great deal of with people who are teachers, they have a propensity to want to create social situations. So in our RCIA class they had a list of questions like:
Tell about a time you know God was speaking to you
and
What are you looking to find in the Catholic Church
Those questions are meant to be answered in a group, well I have kind of have an issue with that. I’m there to learn about how the Catholic Church functions, what it believes, what it’s theology is. Not socialize, certainly if I join I’ll be joining a large family. But right now I have problems with that family and I’m more interested in answers than hearing about someones personal accounts that have *nothing* to do with the topic at hand. If I wanted to socialize I would go a church event, I’m there to learn, so do away with the touchy feely and let’s get down to business. I have no patience for anything else, in fact one of the reasons that I hate going to Church is that for us, it becomes about how to avoid being accosted while trying to figure out what they believe. At one church there was a woman who followed my Daughter into the bathroom and waited for her so she could find out all about the new people, that’s more than a little creepy. Of course we didn’t last long at that church, so much for other peoples privacy
So it’s a mixed bag right now, I’m still reading like crazy, Francis Beckwith has probably the best book I have ever read on converting to Catholicism. Hands down, it’s rich and informative and has spurred me on to keep reading. I’m also getting some static from my Hermeneutics class about my conversion process, some good points have been raised and I’m having to study to figure this out. I will say that once a Protestant is anti-Catholic it’s hard to have a level discussion with them. They stop being irenic whether they mean to or not, it’s a shame, but it’s also human nature. I have the same reaction to Calvinism, it’s a heresy that should be stamped out, so I guess I’m not any better 😉
That’s all I can muster today…
Blessings
-Paul-
Why Catholicism? – Part 1
It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately, why go down the road to Rome, why even consider it?
First before we consider the Roman Catholic Church (or RCC from here on out), let’s talk about the current state of Protestant religion, because it’s here that so many are now leaving and looking for an alternative.
According to the current numbers there are around 30,000 different Protestant denominations in this country alone, and more and more are being created every day. Even the Church of England has split into factions, some holding to the traditional values and others becoming more like the world around them. It’s gotten so bad that the Anglican church in Rwanda has started to send missionary’s to America to help heal our fractured state.
To make matters more complex and dark, there are fringe elements that have gone mainstream. Southern Baptist ministers who’s brand of fundamentalism would be funny if it were not so dangerous, the recent media circus with a congregation and pastor making a political statement by threatening to burn Koran’s is just the tip of the iceberg (and now we have copy cats). You have a new breed of Calvinist who think that the 5 point system isn’t enough, they want to be more hardcore. There are the young earth creationist, they are a special breed all to themselves, I know. I’ve been around them, it’s not about actually thinking through the question around creation and Genesis, it’s a dog and pony show to make new believers. Heaven help you if you challenge any of their notions, you’ll find out quickly that if you don’t hold to their line of thinking you simply can’t be a real christian.
Church after church is splitting, fighting is nonstop and the congregation shallow in their belief. Even within denominations one church will not fellowship with another, because they don’t hold the same exact belief. No one can agree on anything, and everyone is right. It’s a battleground and the bodies being left behind are people who simply wanted to know God better. We call that place the post-evangelical wasteland, it’s a dark and lonely place. We are sick of the fighting, the arguing and the shallowness.
Then there’s the issue of depth, there is a myth that if you just read the bible you will be all right. Everything you need is right there, you don’t need theology. Who needs historical context, or systematic theology?, just read your bible. It’s frightening that so many believers don’t even understand the basic concepts of Justification, the incarnation or that most of them are Pelagius in belief.
Hosea 4:6 – My people perish from a lack of knowledge.
Churches have become training camps more for soldiers going to war with other faiths than they are for actually teaching the word of God, and anything that has the appearance of being christian is brought in without a second look. No one’s checking anything anymore, I’ve personally seen Pastors who purposely hid portions of a teaching series because they where far to embarrassing for even worldly people, so instead of being honest they simply skim over the garbage and present the rest as Gospel.
Michael Spencer, the late Internet Monk predicted that there was a collapse coming for the Evangelical church and I think he’s right. More and more evangelicals are leaving their faith and looking for something that’s stable, something where there is depth and understanding about our faith. They want the ancient, the original tried and true versions of Christianity. The liturgical faiths like Anglican, Reformed, Lutheran and Methodist are starting to see new people showing up, and for quite a time now the Catholic Church has been seeing converts. it’s happening all over, people are getting up and leaving and looking, some simply never find anything and go away for good. Others work through a number of faiths until they find one that fits their needs.
I’ll detail more about my journey and the personal side of in the next installment, but bear this in mind. In my RCIA class (Catholic Conversion Class for Adults) there are 80 people who are signing up, 80! that’s more than some churches have as a total of members. And they are coming from all walks of life, the exodus is starting and whether God is calling them out, or they are just sick of all the nonsense, I’m not sure. But I’ve met and am meeting more and more of them all the time.
I think Michael Spencer was right and I think it’s happening faster than anyone can imagine.
More to come
-Paul-
Road To Rome Update Sept 11, 2010
It’s been a busy week, we met Wednesday night with Mary Wax from Holy Apostles in meridian. We spent a good hour with her talking about my concerns and getting started in the RCIA process, which by coiincidence started the very next night. It wasn’t what I was expecting, which isn’t bad but it’s going to take me a bit to work through it all. RCIA seems to be more about the how, rather than the why. While I need to figure out the how, I’m vastly more interested in the why, the theology, the history of Catholicism and the parts of protestantism that don’t make sense when compared to Catholicism.
I’ve started reading Scott Hahn, and Karl Keating. The more I read, the more I’m having to re-think everything, Justification and the Covenant’s are foundational to Luther’s cry of ‘Sola Fide’ and actually foundational to almost all protestant faiths. But what if Luther got it wrong?, what if Hahn is right and the concept of both “Sola Fide” and Justification through the cross are different than what we have been taught all our lives?
That’s a deep question that has all kinds of ramifications, and I’m starting now to see that the idea that we exchange our sin for Christ’s righteousness may not be what I was taught. The Catholic concept of confession at confirmation starts to make sense, because what if by Grace I’m accepted into God’s family. Accepted as a child of the father through Jesus but still need to deal with my past sins?
I don’t have answers yet, but I’m digging and I’ll share as I go along.
Some time spent in prayer and doing some bible study will help, Mary explained about the Adoration Chapel on the grounds of the church. I’m going to take my Bible, do some reading and some heartfelt praying. If Hahn is right, and I suspect he is. Then everything I’ve known or thought I knew is wrong and I have to start over from scratch, it’s a scary thought and not something I want to go through right now. But I’m not sure what choice I have.
-Paul-
Site Update Coming Soon
So this year I’m back in school after 20 years (nothing like being a 47 year old in a classroom full of students just starting out in college), I have a huge project going on at work, I’m starting a class on Bibliology and Hermeneutics with Michael Spencer later this month, and I’m converting (albeit slowly) or checking out the Roman Church.
So the site has been neglected a bit, I’m going to start spending a couple hours a week updating the site, getting more content online and keeping up to date with my Roman Journey. I’ll do a bio shortly and some pics,
now that I have a reliable laptop and a 3G wireless on my Droid I can update from anywhere… WOOT!!!
I love technology
-Paul-
More thoughts on my road to rome…
I am a digger, I have a need to know things and (good or bad) I rarely trust any one person, when it comes to issues of faith I get even more critical.
As I start this journey to see where the Roman road takes me, I’m doing research (lots of it, I had my kindle and my NET bible out today digging).
The key issues I have today with Catholicism are as follows:
- Marian Theology
- Perpetual Virginity Of Mary
- Praying to the saints for intercession
- Pergatory
The other issues I can deal with, I’ve already pretty much settled the following:
- Peter as the first pope
- The Apocrypha and it’s place in the canon
- The Catholic Church as the original church
- Catholic authority on scripture
- Transubstantiation
I’ve been reading some very good books written by Evangelicals who have converted to Catholicism, here is the current list:
Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic – By David Currie
For me this book has been a complete eye opener, he uses language I’m familiar with and does a very good job showing where the Catholic Church is right on so many issues, I didn’t buy the perpetual virginity argument, that’s not to say he’s wrong. I just need more evidence and research (there’s more out there), undoubtedly the Church Fathers believed in the PV of Mary, but I have to question whether it’s fact or wishful thinking. Bear in mind that Marriage is a God ordained institution and that sex in marriage is considered holy, so if Mary had other children she would still be fully holy and worthy.
What Catholics Really Believe – By Karl Keating
Ok Book, not what I expected, it doesn’t really cover many topics I’m interested in and doesn’t go into the depth that Currie does, it may grow on me yet.
On Being Catholic – Thomas Howard
A good book, it’s an interesting read. It was the first book I read on conversion. It hasn’t full sunk in yet, but the writing is very good. I just wish he would spend more time hammering home his ideas in more detail. But for those searching it’s a good start.
There are also some great sites that contain conversion stories, the best one I’ve found is here: Convert Journal, great stories to read, I’ve been through almost all of them and found most people on the same road that I’m on.
All good resources…
I am noticing a trend, almost all of the people who convert like I do, end up doing a great deal of research. Sometimes taking years, but all go into this decision very thoughtfully and once there, grow in their faith. It’s essentially what I’m doing and what I did when I ran into Double Predestination, I researched until I settled that Calvin, Beza and the reformed followers are wrong (another post for another time). But this feels very different, I feel called, I can’t explain it better than that. The more I look the more I feel the pull…
This last Sunday we attended Mass at Holy Apostle in Meridian Idaho, Michelle led the way in and sat in the middle of the pews!!, I wanted to hide in the back. I was nervous because I felt like an interloper, I did enjoy Mass very much and thought the Father did a great job. But during the Eucharist I stayed seated, I should have gone up for a blessing but when your already nervous the last thing you want to do is go up. We did contact the Church about the RCIA program and if I could meet with the Father at some point, I know he’s busy but I have questions before I even get started. This is all new to me and when you have heard SOOO many bad things, you can’t help but be apprehensive.
So I’m hoping this week they contact us and we can setup a time, I’ll keep attending Mass, but I’ll hide somewhere in the back!!!
The Journey Continues…
Blessings
-Paul-
A GREAT article on the Ancient-Future movement
Over at iMonk Chaplain Mike has posted one of the best explanations about the Ancient-Future movement, I didn’t even know I was part of it until I saw his post, but it turns out I’ve been there for a while.
It’s a great read:
You won’t be disappointed.
-Paul-
Finding the end of the road
For the past year Michelle and I have been on a journey to find a new home church, we have made some great friends along the way, and made some disturbing discoveries. It’s been comical at times, and painful most of the time. We’ve grown in ways we didn’t expect, I’ve been able to deepen my understanding of my faith and I finally figured out what I was looking for. The problem was and still is that I can’t find it anywhere, my belief hasn’t changed, but my needs have. What started out as an emotional journey in the pentecostal faith has ended in the most surprising of places, if you would have asked me a year ago where I would end up. Anglican or Catholic would have not been my answer, in fact neither would have entered my mind.
But we have found that the early church fathers had something we simply don’t have today, they understood their faith at a much deeper level, they worshiped with more reverence and less nonsense than what we see today. Sadly even in some parts of the Anglican faith modernism has wormed it’s way in, the Episcopal church is self destructing in America. The Anglican church from Africa is doing missions here in the states, but it’s just starting and our experience was that as opposed to being historic, it was more emerging with a combination of the historic. It did however leave a huge mark on us, and we are Anglican more than anything else at this time.
The odd part comes in about three weeks ago, our youngest was out in California and we had time on our hands, so we tried a Catholic Mass. After all it could be called the mother church, Luther broke from it, Anglicans and Episcopalians broke from it and because of my background I never even thought of attending a mass (damn evil Catholics). Imagine my surprise when I found a service that was well planned, reverent and Christ centered. Certainly not the message I had heard from others, and to be honest I kind of liked it. It was a breath of fresh air, it was like the adult version of a liturgical service.
This doesn’t mean that I’m turning RCC just yet, but there is really no where else to go. I’ve already run into Luther and Calvin, I didn’t like either experience. I gave Lutheranism a couple of chances, but for all their bluster about respecting the service, we didn’t see it and nothing and I mean nothing turns me off more than a determinist on a mission. I have never in my life seen more twisting of scripture than you will find when someone is attempting to force Sovereignty down your throat. I’m certainly not an open theist so that’s out, Arminius was a good guy and I think he got the closest but all the churches who align with him twisted his message.
So in reality that only leaves two, and honestly, I’m tired of looking. I’m tired of churches who don’t know their own doctrine and think it’s fundamentalist to want to protect it, I’m tired of constantly being on guard. I just want to worship God, with reverence, with dedication and with other believers who feel the same. No more jeans and shorts, no more sloppy music or half baked hymns, no more trying to be modern. Christianity is old, Christ isn’t, but his church is and I want to worship at one that acts grown up.
I’m not sure where this leads if anywhere, Michael Spencer wrote about how he loved the RCC service, but had issues with their theology (like the perpetual virginity of Mary), which is interesting because he was a Calvinist and Calvin and Luther both believed the same theology about Mary. I’m reading Thomas Howard on his conversion to RCC and I’m starting to do my homework, maybe meet with the local Father and have some serious talks, doesn’t mean I’m committed but right now at this point in my life, I need something more mature and with some real history.
This is certainly a road less traveled for evangelicals, but I’m not alone, there is a movement called the Ancient-Future movement where people are tired of the Evangelical circus and are looking for the Ancient Ways, this could be my resting place for the forseeable future.
More to come as I reach what I hope is the end of the road.
-Paul-
