I converted from evangelical Protestantism to Roman Catholicism because I found that the Catholic doctrines oft maligned as "unbiblical" by non-Catholics and ex-Catholics were in fact "too" biblical. I found that the teachings of the Church offended my pragmatic rationalism and my prideful independence by demanding childlike faith and obedience in the mystery of Christ and His Church revealed throughout Scripture. I discovered the "catholicity" of the Bible when I stopped suppressing the plain meaning of key Scriptures:
- I believe in the Real Presence of Christ in an apostolically authorized Communion. I recognize the Lord's identification of the Passover bread as "[His] body" to be the answer to the skeptical question "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" (Lk 22:19; Jn 6:52; 1 Cor 10:16-21; Heb 13:10).
- I believe that Jesus identified Simon Peter as the rock upon which the Church is built, since the foundation of the Church is the apostles and the prophets, Christ Himself being the cornerstone; and believers are those who come to Christ as living stones to be built up into a spiritual house. Therefore, not only is Peter's confession of Christ "rock," but Peter is the "rock-man" who qualified as the lead foundation stone of the Church after Christ because of his anointed confession (Matt 16:15-19; Eph 2:19-22; 1Pet 2:4, 5).
- I believe in the existence of oral apostolic teachings with equal spiritual authority to Scripture in heeding the biblical exhortation to hold fast to both oral and written apostolic traditions (2 Thess 2:15), and in believing the biblical declaration of the Church as the pillar and support of truth (1 Tim 3:15).
- I believe that our adoption as children of God through justification by faith is God's gracious opportunity to us to work out [our] salvation in continual sanctification through perseverance in doing the good works for which Christ created us, obedience to God and service to mankind (Lk 10:25-37; Jn 15:5-14; Rom 2:6, 7, 6:19-23; 1 Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6, 6:1-10; Eph 2:8-10; Phil 2:12, 13; Col 1:21-23; Hebrews 12:14; James 2:14-26).
- I believe in the unbroken communion of the saints in Christ who are all alive in Him whether present in the flesh or absent from the body, because the Bible says that the Body of Christ continually builds itself up in Christ's love until all the saints together achieve the stature of the Head, and nothing, including death, shall separate the Body from the love of God in Christ (Eph 4:11-16, Rom 8:38, 39).
- I believe in the Immaculate Conception and perpetual virginity of the Mother of God because the living Word of God made flesh was worthy of a consecrated and holy living Ark much more than the Word of God written in stone was worthy of a consecrated and holy ark of wood (2 Sam 5:7; Lk 1:31, 35; Rev 11:19-12:5).
The doctrines of Catholicism are revealed in the contextual whole of Scripture, not in pieces of "proof-texts." I became Catholic because in fervently trusting that "all Scripture is profitable" I must be faithful to obey "the whole counsel of God" in order to sincerely believe "all that the prophets have spoken." As a Catholic, I am fulfilling the highest aspirations of Protestant zeal for the Word of God revealed in the Scriptures.
© 1998 My Conversion to Catholicism in the Light of Scripture ....By Kyle Reise Eleison. This text may be downloaded or printed out for private reading, but it may not be uploaded to another Internet site or published, electronically or otherwise, without express written permission from the author.