If you read my previous post, I'm a Baptist who has been dating a Catholic for about 1 1/2 years. As this relationship has definite potential, I'm trying to find more out about Catholicism and its role in my boyfriend's life.

My question is: Is there anyone who could explain the history of the Catholic church to me and how it differs from the Baptist belief system? Or are there any good resources (books, websites, etc.) that would be worth looking into about this subject matter?

When my boyfriend and I discuss religious matters, he uses a lot of church history to back up his points. Since I know nothing about church history, it's difficult for me to debate these issues with him and I don't understand where he is coming from.

Your response is appreciated. Thank you!

-- Rae (hatrick09@yahoo.com), June 05, 2004

Answers

Bump to New Answers to invite comment.

-- (bump@bump.bump), June 05, 2004.

A good book on the history of the Catholic Church is: Triumph by H.W. Crocker.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), June 05, 2004.

Dear Rae,
Welcome to our Catholic forum. --God bless you always and we hope you become a Catholic's faithful spouse.

Probably the first thing necessary is to explain why Baptist and Catholic are separate faiths.

One would assume that two faiths at odds with one another would not each claim to follow Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, after all, is the One who determines our Christian identity. You cannot be Christian and not follow Jesus Christ. HE leads, we follow-- and that is FAITH.

Baptists don't believe I'm a Christian because they see a Church, with priests, and a sacramental life, --Somehow unnatural to Baptists, Because THEY don't want priests. (Not just priests; CHRIST's ordained priests.) Baptists won't follow, because they're Baptist. They won't do anything a priest tells them. They have just a Bible by which to follow Jesus. Baptists (and all the other Christian denominations) are Bible-entitled; able only to follow Bible teaching. However, this isn't taught at all in that Bible.

Catholics read and revere the Bible. The Church gave the Bible to humanity as Christ & his holy apostles preached it and related it to the world. Within the Bible's pages is seen every Catholic belief and spiritual function. Every sacrament is seen there, performed first by Jesus Himself. He even gave a blessing to holy Matrimony; and condemned divorce. In that Bible!

Yet, Baptists & other Bible Christians don't see the truths we see in the Bible. They reject Catholic faith because of their human devotion to the Bible. Not SPIRITUAL devotion; merely a human attachment. Catholics are spiritually nourished both by the Word, (Bible) and by Christ the Lord; who is present in our midst. Truly with us; as our God. The Bible also illustrates this plainly.

But sects outside his holy Church have become hardened against the Church. they will not admit Christ would favor any single ''denomination''. They ignore one fact. It's only THEY who worship in denominations. Catholics worship as Christ commanded us to: as His Church. We aren't a denomination. We are the flock of His sheepfold, the One Church He founded. That is plain as well, in the gospels.

You would have to wonder: Why is it so hard to see those truths, if you believe in the Bible?

Answer that one, Rae; and all the rest has to result in a firm conclusion. The Catholic faith is pure TRUTH. No man-made trial & error. No mistakes or lost information. No unhealthy ideas creeping in. We've seen these awful things in the ''Bible-Only'' and ''Christian'' sects particular to our nation.

--Jim Jones, who preached his brand of Christianity to about a thousand believers, and made them all drink poison. David Koresh; who interpreted Bible ''revelations'' to his sect in Waco, Texas-- the Branch Davidians who all died tragically. Or/al Roberts; finagling millions of dollars from his followers; He told them he was seeing ''visions'' of a 900 foot high Jesus, who told Oral; ''Unless you raise a gazillion dollars by next year, you'll die.''

Jim and Tammy Bakker-- charlatans, preaching for money in the millions. All from their Bible.

Why? They are wandered away from Christ's true Church; his own flock. How to tell which one is the true flock? The Shepherd appointed for this world by Jesus Christ. PETER; who is in the Catholic Church today and always in the persons of his successors. Not just in the Bible, Rae; in the world. The successors of Peter are the POPES. Only they can be authentic shepherds of Christ's Church. Not Baptists. Baptists are part of that flock, because they love Jesus. But they've escaped and wandered into the spiritual wilderness. They don't want to come back.

Catholics have a God-given duty --an obligation. We are commanded by the Church to pray for the return of our separated brethren. We are praying for you, Rae. For every Baptist and Methodist and Adventist and Christian Scientist. You are the lost brethren of every Catholic. That's why up at the start I welcomed you back.

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), June 05, 2004.

Or are there any good resources (books, websites, etc.) that would be worth looking into about this subject matter?

pick up a good copy of the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" for this, it encompasses nearly all the beliefs of the catholic church, although for stronger biblical proofs of certain aspects of catholic belief i would recommend the apologists Dr. Scott Hahn and Tim Staples' works.

-- paul h (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), June 05, 2004.

Hi Rae,

Just a word of caution when delving into Church history. When I started looking into Church history it was sometimes hard to separate fact from opinion. Sometimes the view you get of history depends on the person telling the story. So be aware of the potential bias of the writer. I admit it can go both ways. What helped me was to check out the references the author cites. It's a lot of work to get the real story, but sometimes the truth isn't easily come by.

-- Andy S ("aszmere@earthlink.net"), June 05, 2004.

Hi Rae,

HW Crocker's book is very good, but very big. If you're looking for a shorter version of Church history that is still quite good, I recommend "What You Should Know About Church History" by Charlene Altemose, MSC. It's less than 100 pages and makes for an easy read.

-- Andy S ("aszmere@earthlink.net"), June 05, 2004.

Eugene-

You wrote "they will not admit Christ would favor any single "denomination". Wow!!! You sure know a much more generous group of Protestants than I do!!

-- mark a (stillasking@middle.age), June 05, 2004.