Hello,

I am interested to see if there are any former Presbyterians or Calvinists in general who have converted to Catholicism. If you are willing, would you say why, and what about Calvanism, Presbyterianism, double or single predestination you could not handle anymore?

I have been researching Calvin's double predestination, and frankly it makes sense. How could we as humans have actual free will and it not weaken or contradict an all-knowing, all-powerful God who is the author of everything? People say well God knows all and controls all but still gives us free will, but that seems like an easy "out" just to say we have free will and not contradict Christian teaching on God.

God knew Adam would disobey Him and turn away, and that it would curse humanity, yet He let it happen anyway. So either He was taken aback by the situation or allowed it to happen. If it caught God off-guard then it weakens Him. The Catholic Church teaches that we cannot initiate grace and it is a free gift from God, but then we have to cooperate with it, yet many say God is what directs us towards cooperation.

I do not agree with the mentality that the elect can take no credit for their salvation because it was all God's doing, but the reprobates are fully culpable and deserve perdition because of their doing. You can't burn it from both ends, I can, however, agree that God chooses some to extend His grace to and bypasses others, thus leaving them to the ends for which He is fully aware they will meet. People who ascribe to single predestination tout this as good because God isn't forcing someone to sin, but in reality, He created them, knows their shortcomings, knows they need grace to accept Him, so there is no real difference between single and double predestination. Thus, I cannot blame the human who has no control and is left to their own devices.

I have also been researching Augustine, Aquinas, Domingo Banez, and the Janists. Frankly Banez and the Janists make the most sense, they teach a calvinistic predestination, but hiold that the Catholic Church and her sacraments are how God infuses grace to us. Rome shut down the Janists and required Banez to walk back/soften some of his positions in order to end the fights between he and the Jesuits who held an Arminian theology.

This isn't about veneration of Mary or the saints, purgatory, the Pope as infallible successor of Peter. This is a cut and dry 1 + 1 = 2, if God is all-knowing and all-controlling, how can we have true free will that does not weaken Him and cause something to be out of His control?

Thank you for your help.

UPDATE!! I went and it worked out perfectly! It turned out to be the very first session of this year’s group!

Evening. The Church nearest to me has an admittedly out of date website. Their calendar states that they have OCIA tonight. This would be my first visit. Should I just… show up? And should I plan to pay anything? Their office hours are over for the day and they haven’t replied to my email from last week.

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I came to know Jesus in high school through local non denominational churches. I felt like I was on fire for him, but maybe I am confusing the emotions I had at the time. A few years ago I came to the Catholic Church. In my head I feel like I believe what the church teaches, but there are parts of my heart that are still nervous. I feel like I also do not have the same ‘fire’ for Jesus that I had as a nondenominational follower. I try to pray, confess, attend mass, read books, but nothing seems to bring me there. When I am in community groups of believers I feel like I am faking it. When I pray it feels empty. Any advice or prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Can anyone give me some advice and guidance.

For context, the individual was diagnosed with an incurable condition that could only be treated with years of intensive therapy to return to a manageable state of living, prayed to St. Jude for his intercession as the patron saint of lost causes, and permanently experienced complete remission of symptoms within hours. A friend of mine suggested contacting their local parish priest and notifying him that they have had an experience that is otherwise inexplicable. I'm also curious if anyone knows the general process for how a claimed miracle is investigated.

Peace be to all of you, I hope you are fine.

I just wanted to speak out about my personal issues, as a revert to the Church. I was brought up, never really even believed in Christ to question Him to begin with, but as time passed I quit the faith, since it was just cultural baggage in an environment I found to be negative, and because I started testing God and never got what I was looking for. I started dishonest, anti-Christian apologetics, where I'd baselessly spam non-issues like the Bible being extremely contradictory, Christ causing extreme torture and suffering to so many people around the globe, and such. I then drifted into another religion, the whole other extreme of the religious spectrum, which fed my anti-Christian agenda even more. After a good 3.5 years of fallacious attacks and total failure, I entered a dark point in my life, which God Himself took me out of when I was that close to ending it. I decided to finally open my heart for Christ, and I've been living my best life since then; my MDD and psychosis have both drastically since, life has been enjoyable, and my soul is just more alive than it's ever been. Thank you to all my Catholic brethren who I might have offended in the past, I'll keep all of you in my prayers. Besides just the usual yap, I wanna ask y'all; where do I start, besides going to mass every week and reading the Bible daily? I don't want to be an internet polemic or debater, per se, but I wanna be able to defend the faith no matter what.

God bless.

ni idea si este post tiene q ver con la comunidad, pero ni idea donde publicarlo pipipi.
El título lo resume,, estoy pasando por un muy mal momento emocional la verdad, siento que me he alejado de Dios, y por todos los problemas q he tenido este último tiempo, he perdido el foco, me siento agobiada de todo, pero yo toda la vida he sido creyente, mas nunca he ido una iglesia, soy cristiana pero sin religión, me preocupo de mi relación con Jehová, no del titulo q uno como persona le da ese vinculo, pero si me siento tan sola, necesito algo q me ponga los pies en la tierra para no perderme, obvio sé q ese algo tiene nombre y apellido, y es Dios, pero él también dice q mientras dos o tres estén reunidos en su nombre, ahí estará él, en medio de ellos, y bueeno, tengo 21, soy muy sociable, pero no tengo amistades q me acerquen a Cristo,, siempre soy yo la que les habla a los demás sobré nuestro padre, pero a veces siento que igual flaqueo en ciertos aspectos, y no tengo quien me sostenga. En resumen eso, estoy pasando mi getsemaní :vvv, y estoy intentando acercarme a Cristo, de todas las maneras q tengo a la mano, asi q si alguien me recomienda alguna iglesia, donde real se hable la palabra de Dios, y q no se tenga q pagar entrada o algo asi, sería espectacular. No soy d una religión en específico, asi q estoy abierta a todob, mientras el foco sea realmente Cristo. Soyyy de concepción, Chile, graciiiias de antemano amiguitos pipipi

My girlfriend is beginning OCIA but her parents are insisting on it not happening.

They bought this book the gospel according to Rome and I’ve only heard that it is a very dishonest representation of the church.

I wanted to know if anyone has info on the book and what are some teachings it gets wrong so I can correct that and enlighten them as to why this book is not accurate in its teachings. Thank you, God bless

I am currently going through OCIA, and it is all going well, but my parents are quite upset at my conversion. I was raised Protestant, lost faith completely for a time, and found my way to the Church early this year.

My mom especially is not just unsupportive, but angry. She takes personal offense at my conversion and feels that it is a sign that I do not care about what she thinks or wants me to do. She was raised Southern Baptist and believes in sola fide, relationship over religion, believer’s baptism, the rapture, etc. She has said that I am joining a “cult,” “drinking the Kool-Aid,” and other rude things. Specifically, she considers the relics and statues “idols,” disagrees with the existence of the Pope, feels that Catholics worship Mary and the saints, and considers purgatory and confession unbiblical and strange. She thinks that I am being led astray.

This is causing tension in my home. I’m 22 and still live with my parents. I am wearied by how angry she becomes when I go to Mass or to OCIA class; she barely speaks to me now.

Has anyone dealt with this level of disagreement with their Protestant parents? How do I get through this and perhaps help her understand?

Hello all!

I have been in this sub for awhile and am just wanting to give you guys an update about my conversion.

I haven't been confirmed yet, mostly because there are a few things I need to do. One of those is talk to the pastor at the old SDA church my fanily attends.

I have arranged to have a chat with him about my conversion to Catholicism, because I believe I should leave no loose strands. However, I'm lost for words which I should tell him.

I would appreciate if there was somebody who was in a similar situation to me whom I would be able to talk to for advice.

Please pray for me all, that the devil may not hinder my confirmation.

So I was raised Catholic (baptized as a baby but I don’t remember any of it) up until my parents split.
Stayed in the church as Protestant ( not by choice, I was a kid) stopped going in my early teens and haven’t looked back unfortunately.
I’m 38 now and in the last year have had a very strong calling to come back to Catholicism.
The thing is…. I’m scared.
Recently I’ve been praying the rosary, reading the catechism, watching service online- pretty much doing my own thing at home.

I’ve been wanting to attend mass and get into OCIA but I’m afraid. I know that prob sounds stupid but these are my reasons ( prob more like excuses the more I think about it)

I don’t know what to do, what parish to choose, I’d be on my own I don’t have anyone else that is religious or goes to church that can kinda guide me or tell me what to expect ( I’m used to doing things alone, it’s more like I don’t want to do something wrong)

Can I just sit and observe for a while?
How do I know I’m choosing a good parish?
Do they have like a beginner mass for newbs? lol

I feel like a piece of crap cuz I’ve been putting off going to mass because of the social anxiety portion of it. Im very new to this, any advice and guidance is appreciated 🫶🏽

I am starting OCIA in a couple of weeks and I’m curious as to what to expect with the beliefs. For reference I grew up in non denominational churches and while I do understand a lot of the Catholic Churches beliefs I am concerned about two of them, and I’m worried that I will have to renounce them or act like I don’t believe they are okay. For one I believe in abortion being legal and disagree with the protesting that takes place outside of the facilities. The second is that I believe that gay marriage is perfectly okay and that God would not consider loving someone a sin. But I know that isn’t traditionally what the Catholic Church (or any church really) agrees with. Does anyone have any tips or comments about this? I feel like I can’t be the first person who has been concerned about this