44. THE MISINFORMATION ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

I was truly saddened after reading an article from BibleBelievers.com of the misinformation written therein about Catholicism. Sadly the grossly incorrect and misleading information about the Baptist Church's understanding of the Catholic Church I read seems to me was intentional. But I maybe wrong. 

This is why I am writing this article.

Learning Catholicism From The Outside

Studying Catholicism from the outside of the Catholic Church is not really knowing how it is to be a catholic or what the real doctrines, beliefs and practices are. It is like watching an NBA championship game where audience and watchers would have a lot to say or comments about the whole game, the outcome, how everyone played or why this or the other team lost or won. People would say the player should have done this or done that or should have not done that or this. But we are not the players. Even the coach could only coach as much the way he does best but what happens inside the basketball court is truly the real thing. What goes on inside the minds of every player in any instant, no one can tell but only the players themselves. So the only best way is to be a player yourself and only then you could tell why or how the game is lost or won. 

Same thing inside the Catholic Church. There are so many accusations against her doctrines, teachings and practices. Protestants and others have a lot to say against the Trinity, Jesus Christ's Divinity, the Blessed Mother, Purgatory, Confession to a priest, man-made Idols and several others. 

Mostly Catholics were born, baptized and grew as Catholics from childhood to adulthood. Many become devotees up to now but many have fallen out as well. Many tried to learn more and deeper but many simply don't practiced and cared as well. Many remained Catholics through all the years but many have apostatized, became atheist or converted into one of the over 30,000 splintered protestant churches. Several others have started their own church. Others became catholic priests or nuns and others became pastors or ministers of their own churches. 

Others have re-written the bible and came out with their own bible version. But their versions are their versions. They may claim they are of God but there maybe a chance they may not be of God too but for themselves with their own agenda or perhaps own ambition. Some bible translations are perverted or corrupted yet some tried to remain as faithful to the original bible that was put together by the ancient Church Fathers. 

Whatever the outcome of that many bible versions, we should not forget but to be aware in stead that any of those translations or versions may be tinted in whole or in parts with some devil inspired verses rather than by the Holy Spirit.

One classic example can be read here:   10. TRIUMPH OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT (SEEN BY OVER 150,000 WITNESSES) 

Even though I have done my best to show readers what I perceived and experienced about Catholicism, the real truth about Jesus, His Divinity and His teachings in several of my blog articles, I would again briefly explain some of them again here while refuting what the biblebelivers.com have written about. I will do my best to explain what real Catholicism is in my own perspective yet doing bet to avoid discrediting what the writer wrote in anyway or with whatever his intentions in writing the article were.     

The Road Away from The Roman Catholic Church

I am writing this article after I read earlier today a blog written by someone from a Baptist Church. 

The title of the article caught my attention, after I read I realized so much misinformation or lies about the Catholic Church were written. Being a Catholic, I felt the urge to respond. And I did write a very long comment to the blogger-writer and pointed out to him the lies he wrote for the purpose of destroying the image of the Catholic Church.

In my early 30's I have been attending Baptist church but stopped after I realized I was becoming very literal in my interpretation of the verses in the bible. I was given a new King James Bible version. Even though I was appreciative of all the bible readings and sermons, unknowingly I was developing a literal rather than spiritual in reading the bible. I couldn't understand why or how it was happening but I was going into that direction. I am not sure but in my experiences during their bible reading and sermons, there seemed to be an invisible force that was transforming me to use my mind and not my heart with reference to the bible reading. With due respect but that was what I felt.

Transformation From Spiritualism to Bible Only Mindset, the Sola Scriptura

Overnight I was transformed from a spiritual reader and believer to a literal reader of the bible. I inherited the Sola Scriptura mindset. I was slowly transforming to a user of mind, rationalizing everything I read and learned from the bible. I becoming more believer of what the pastors were saying than believer of Jesus in my heart. 

Somehow an invisible force is manipulating my mind to become very literal in every way rather than being spiritual I was. But I did not stopped and continued until one day, everything I learned since childhood was totally replaced by the history like interpretation of the bible. The New King James version became like a simple history reading to me.

I started attending the Baptist Church because of the prodding of my sister-in-law. I was born and baptized a Catholic and learned about God thru Catechism from childhood and studied religion for four years in a prestigious catholic high school run by the Society of Jesus or the Jesuit Fathers in my native country Philippines.

After high school, as a young teenager, I started to enjoy life and became a prodigal son at best. I started committing sins left and right in my thoughts, my words and in my actions. Temptations was everywhere. I started to idolize money and pride and whatever comes out of it. 

After I got married at the age of 32, I went straight but going to church became just an obligation for my wife was also a Catholic from childhood. I was not fully spiritual then until I got involved in the baptist church for a brief period of time. But that brief period of time transformed my mind and my heart. I started to become spiritually empty. I couldn't explained what was happening to me. Eventually, my heart became lonely and empty. But my mind was full of the knowledge I learned from reading the NKJ version but everything was up in my mind not in my heart. And it is my heart that was lonely and empty. At that time I had no inclination yet about what corrupted versions or translation of the bible is. I thought all bibles were the same as the original catholic bible. I was naive. 

Eventually, my heart became spiritually empty and lonely but my mind is full of what I learned literally from KJV. I read the bible over and over again. I was reading the bible like I was reading history books. 

One day I started to seek for more knowledge about God by going to different Christian gatherings and I truly spent endless times studying them, listening to radio on religion and watching TV evangelists from born again, 700 Clubs, Iglesia Ni Cristo to any denomination and likewise attending some bible studies, etc.  I was searching for the truth to fill my empty heart and to end my loneliness but I found nothing.

Misinformation Realization - The Road Back to Catholicism

My heart grew lonelier and empty each time I listen or watch all the non-catholic worships and prayer rally. Until I fully realized, these churches, with the way they teach, the Sola Scriptura approach about God, somehow have reversed and transformed me to a mind user than a heart user. It closed my heart to the Truth about Jesus but indoctrinated my mind that I became more of a fanatical follower of pastors or ministers or church founder - but not Jesus.  

I did not regret attending the baptist church and the rest of the protestant churches for I learned more. It became the foundation of what I became now and I am ever grateful to my Lord my God for showing me what is in the outside of His own founded church - The One True Universal Church - the Catholic Church. But I struggled to get out of my brain-washed mind back to being spiritually fulfilled and happy in my heart.

You will know more why I returned back to Catholism in this other article I wrote about my journey back to Jesus. http://catholicsilentcrusade.blogspot.com/2013/08/1-look-at-birds-in-sky-they-do-not-sow.html

Humility, Compassion and Charity

I learned more about humility, compassion and charity. 

Jesus to Judas: "Judas use your heart not your mind, but open up your heart and your mind." While I was away from Catholicism I developed to use my mind and rationalize everything I read in the bible and hear according to what the pastors or ministers were teaching.

Now as a layman of 66 years of age. I love to study Catholic bibles and comparing them with the protestant translated versions. I now have a very personal mission for Jesus. Since November 1992 I tried to live a holy life according to Jesus and the Holy Spirit's divine teachings which I experienced and practiced throughout my life now. I have learned to carry my own cross to follow Jesus. 

The articles in this blog I found are not truly truthful in many ways but I would just suggest about the title.
 
The title - "The Plain Truth about the Roman Catholic Church" is not really the plain truth. It would have been better if the title was: “The Baptist Church's Understanding of the Roman Catholic Church." Then the comments would have been acceptable and truthful in the point of view of the writer though not necessarily be true, verified and correct. The things written were according to what the writer wants to project and not the real beliefs and actual practices of us Catholics.