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BodRod
Member
| Joined: | Mon Oct 2nd, 2006 |
| Location: | Apple Valley, California USA |
| Posts: | 777 |
| First Name: | Cliff | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Raised an SDA, then Generic Christian, finally at home with ... |
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Posted: Thu Nov 23rd, 2006 01:36 pm |
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Greetings,
I started a journal when I started RCIA. When RCIA was over I went back over what I had been doing for the previous years, trying to put it all in some kind of perspective. I still add to it from time to time. The total of my comments, to this date, is 36 pages. That seems a little long to put here.
RCIA was not the beginning for me. I was raised a Seventh-day Adventist. I went through the SDA school system, was married by an SDA preacher and worked for the SDA church for a little over two years following graduation from one of their colleges. I had served the churches where I attended as Bible instructor, deacon, elder and church organist. My impression of the SDA teachings is that the church and its members "look down their noses" at all other religions but are down right hateful toward the Catholic Church. They have volumes written about the Catholic Church and how terrible it is. If a person participates in their training program for becoming members, they will find that a significant portion of the training is about how evil the Catholic Church is and they call the RCC the Whore of Babylon.
I had questioned some of the SDA teachings since childhood. One question that kept coming up in my mind is, "How could a church, which claims to be a Christian church, be so negative and hateful?" I had stopped going to church in my 40s but I had not stopped thinking about God and other religious topics. Some time later, when I was in my 50s, I had the opportunity to do some research on the questions I had been pondering.
As I had thought over the years, while they claimed to be a Bible and Bible alone church, some of their doctrines had no biblical basis. I also found out that their "prophetess", Ellen G. White, was a phony and that some of the "witnesses" to her miracles had recanted their earlier supportive statements in writing. In addition, she had made some statements about what God had shown her in a vision, which could actually be traced back to in-church gossip. Throughout all this, I had given considerable thought to one of her statements that God had never left His people without a spiritual guide. Reviewing world history, I recognized that the SDA church could not be that guide. It only started in the 1800s. The guide could not be any of the reformers and the churches they started. They did not come on the scene until the 1500 to 1600s. This left me with only one church that had existed since the time of apostles and that was the Catholic Church.
Without realizing it, I started my Journey toward the Church when I started reading, "Why Do Catholics Do That?" by Kevin Orlan Johnson, Ph.D. That was the first of what would later be nearly three bookshelf feet of books and Bibles which kept moving me closer and closer to the Church. A little more than four years later I decided I no longer had a choice in what I must do. I had been raised with the concept that we must do what we think is right no matter what the cost. At the same time, I realized that it would not be easy, especially at home. Since my wife and I had been raised in the same religion, I knew what would be going through her mind. However, as I stated earlier, I had to do what I thought was right. So, off to RCIA I went.
My RCIA group was about 12 individuals plus the team members. The leader was about the best that could be. She was a teacher in a nearby school district and knew how to communicate with a group of inquiring but somewhat ignorant adults. Point by point, the beliefs and traditions of the Church were presented and discussed. I like to know and understand all the significant details of whatever I am studying. Since I was studying between RCIA meetings, I had questions galore every night. Sometimes, I would get strange glances from my fellow travelers when I asked my questions but the leader always took the time to answer my questions to my satisfaction. (Questions such as, "How does ‘god from god’ differ with ‘True God from True God’?" or "If there was no occupying of heaven by saints before the Crucifixion, where did the figures come from who spoke with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration?") Obviously, our RCIA leader had endless patience.
At first, I thought it would take forever to get to Easter Vigil, membership and being able to receive the sacraments of the Holy Eucharist. It reminded of when I was a child and it seemed to take forever to get from Thanksgiving to Christmas or to get from one birthday to another until I could say I was a "teen". Eventually we all made it through Easter Vigil, to membership and then to attendance at our favorite Mass. (My parish has five masses per weekend.) The summer following my Easter Vigil, I took the training for Eucharistic Minister and have been serving in that capacity ever since. I also have become a member of the RCIA Team. I have found that there is something exciting about sharing what I have learned with others.
So far, I am the only member of the family who is a member of the RCC. However, my wife has gone from loud outbursts of anger whenever the Church is mentioned to asking a few questions about the Church. At first, I felt like I had a right to criticize the Holy Spirit for taking so long with her. On the other hand however, it took me nearly fifty years after adulthood, to take my stand with the Church so what can I say.
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Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.
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Jackie
Member
| Joined: | Sat May 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | Jersey Shore, New Jersey USA |
| Posts: | 114 |
| First Name: | Jackie | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Cradle Catholic |
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Posted: Mon Jun 4th, 2007 11:02 am |
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(Questions such as, "How does ‘god from god’ differ with ‘True God from True God’?" or "If there was no occupying of heaven by saints before the Crucifixion, where did the figures come from who spoke with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration?")
How are these answered?
Just curious! 
Thanks Jackie
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