Beware, this is a little feisty and some may be offended by my confrontation. But this man has attacked many Catholics and raised his arrogant head against the Church over and over again. So, I responded appropriately, at least I did in my opinion.
Here is a portion of the beginning of a long letter I wrote a few years ago but it is still very relevant today. It is actually a good letter to print out and pass on to Fundamentalist anti-Catholics.
Answers To Your Two Preliminary Questions
But before I get off the track, I will start out by answering the two questions you asked at the end of your letter, and then I’ll return to the body of your letter. I must first comment that I am under no obligation to answer your questions, but since I understand their purpose — to prove I was never in the Protest-ant, Fundamentalist, “Bible-Christian” tradition — I will humor you with a few historical minutiae to slacken your curiosity.
I understand that you find it hard to believe that anyone who is a born again believer, “washed in the blood of the Lamb”, could possibly fall for the “Romish tradition,” as you call it.
However, here I stand (didn’t someone else say that back in the 16th century?), a convert to the Catholic Church and knowing I have finally pulled into port.
First, you asked if I married a Catholic. Heavens no! I was anti-Catholic. I had never set a foot in a Catholic Church before January of 1994 and had never met a Catholic clergyman. I married a fellow Fundamentalist. My wife was raised in southern California and got “saved” in the Maranatha Ministries with Chuck Smith. Calvary Chapel which he started now boasts that 80% of his members are ex-Catholics.
She moved to Michigan and immediately joined Calvary Baptist Church in 1971, where my family fellowshipped. We later joined Salem Christian Fellowship whose pastor was Bill Nottenkamper and he was a graduate of Detroit Bible College (which is now William Tyndale College), and had a Gospel Program on the local Christian radio station.
My wife and I got married at Salem Christian Fellowship six years later. During our eighteen years of marriage we have attended several Evangelical Churches including Trinity Evangelical Presbyterian, and Trinity Baptist where I was a teacher for several years.
To read the whole letter, click here. I go through great detail on salvation, the Church, and much more.
This Post Has 11 Comments
Great job! I read through the full response and am quite impressed that you employed this much effort to respond to his attacks!
Great work! I’m glad that you posted it on the site.
Peace,
Del
nice job Steve, I have actually seen one of his videos before that a baptist minister gave me and he is something else. keep of the good work.
Jim
Great job Steve, I can hardly wait to see his response. I am so proud we have you in the church. Keep up the good work.
Steve,
I enjoyed the article but didn’t get the point made with reference to psalm 106:31. Could it be that since I am looking at a Catholic Bible, it is a different psalm than in the protestant Bible? Can you explain the point you were making? I am surmising it might have been in reference to a once saved, always saved doctrine.
Great job and thanks, Dennis
DENNIS, Steve Ray here:
What Abraham received by his faith, it appears Phineas received by his works. The passage is as follows:
Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions:
and the plague brake in upon them.
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment:
and so the plague was stayed.
And that was counted unto him for righteousness
unto all generations for evermore.
Excellent Steve,
I could relate to much of it as I was a fundamentalist myself to 27 years and found the true Christ of Christ when I found the Traditional Latin Rite which I assumed was gone forever.
I had a similar correspondence with a fallen-away Catholic now evangelical protestant, albeit not as thorough as yours but I brought up many of the same points and asked many of the same questions and I believe I did it with charity. She had no response other than more anti-Catholic statements. She did not answer one of my questions. She did not even give one biblical proof of her beliefs which I had asked for. Instead, she stated she wanted no more contact with me. She said I was telling her lies and it was to hurtful to continue. I think I rocked her “just Jesus and me world”. It makes me sad but I hope I planted a seed. Thanks for all you do, Steve. You are a wonderful gift from God!
Well done Steve. 4 years ago I returned to the catholic church after being away for almost 30 years. Your letter just about listed verbatim the reasons that I came back to the church. By the grace of God I realized that I had ordained myself the infallible interpreter of scripture and recreated God in my own image. Now that I have come home to the church that Jesus Christ established I have REAL assurance that what I believe is true not because I say it is, not because I am more enlightened than other people but because Jesus promised that whatever His church binds on earth will be bound in heaven and Jesus promised that the gates of hell will not prevail. Not that is “eternal security” Now I read John 3:16 in light of all scripture and not the other way around. This means I no longer have to ignore or reject certain verses that conflict with what I believe, I can accept the entire Bible and scripture makes sense. When Protestants are faced with scripture verses that seem to conflict with what they believe they necessarily have to reject or ignore those verse, as a Catholic I don’t experience that problem, I trust the church that Jesus Christ established and I trust in Jesus promise that He will never allow His church to fall into error. Thanks for all that you do Steve, I enjoy seeing you on EWTN, God Bless.
I read the letter, and I benefited from it. I have one question though:
you said that we gain seven Catholics for every one who leaves. I can’t find any statistics on that; I only even find complaints about how many people are leaving the Church (though these are purely anecdotal, too). Do you have any recommendations on this?
Quote from the response to the letter:
“I do not condemn you nor doubt your salvation. You believe in
the Lord Jesus, have presumably been baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit and seek to serve the Lord and obey His will. We will most assuredly spend
eternity together in heaven.”
Game. Set. Match.
This was a great defense of the faith!
However, I don’t believe the recipient’s chances for salvation would be very strong though given he would not be able to claim “invincible” ignorance after reading the letter. If the recipient were not to change his outlook he would only be choosing to be ignorant at that point. Seems to me that not being in the Church Catholic would be way more risky than being in it at that were the case.
Peace be with you.
Hello Steve,
Just wanted you to know, I watched you on EWTN on Journey home. Decided I would come to your web page and let you know my husband and I are converts to the Catholic Church since the 1994 we are Home. Thanks be to God!. Love the program Journey Home. Love EWTN. God Bless You!
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