How could an ex-Jw become Catholic

My Struggle

I don't mean this to be offensive to any Catholics in any way and believe that they can have true salvation unlike the Jw. Also, I know little about the in's and out's of practicing Catholicism, as I have never had any interest in being one. Regardless I am always surprised when an ex-Jw says that they have found the real truth in Catholicism. To me it seems that they are falling into the belief that they are in the one chosen religion and all other religions and subsequent denominations are wrong. The Catholics also seem to have fairly strict ordinances regarding detailed aspects of your life and are very liturgical....and these things seem to be reasons that some left the Jw's. Catholicism also has it version of the Bible....again something that turned some Jw's off. Catholic history is steeped in 'new light' like teachings and the leaders hold their authority far above the average catholic member, believing that without their direction they would be totally lost on how to understand the Bible....again things that made ex-jw's say 'Wait a minute...you mean to tell me.....'.

Again I mean no offense, and I am sure that there are plenty of things that I am either off about or just dead wrong. So, please correctly me where I am wrong.

AK - Jeff

I was surprised by this also when I became aware. However, I have tried to look at it fairly now, and I am surprised what I have found.

I have read Tom Cabeen's story. He has ended up [former Bethel elder and factory overseer] embracing Orthodoxy after 20+ years out of the Jw's, after a long battle with his personal theology. Tom is well known, has written several published materials on his exit. He resisted Catholicism for a long time before persuading himself to listen to what they really teach and why.

I can email you a nice PDF of Tom's story if you would like to read it. Personally, I have elected to remain without any attachment to religion for the time being - but his arguments are compelling and interesting to read. Besides Tom, I am aware of several others who have made this choice also. All thinkers, and all have carefully considered the choice I believe.

Jeff

tula

Catholic history is steeped in 'new light'

Don't forget where "new light" really comes from.

Scripture tells us that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

The name Lucifer means "light-bearer".

BurnTheShips

To me it seems that they are falling into the belief that they are in the one chosen religion and all other religions and subsequent denominations are wrong.

I am not Catholic but it may be on my path. I am seriously examining it. Catholics consider Protestant and Orthodox groups as "brothers and sisters" and as Christian. They are part of the mystical body of Christ and the HS dwells in them as welll. This is official Catholic teaching. They do not believe that these other Christian groups will be destroyed for not being Catholic. However, they do believe that the "fullness" of the Christian faith resides in the Catholic church.

The Catholics also seem to have fairly strict ordinances regarding detailed aspects of your life and are very liturgical....and these things seem to be reasons that some left the Jw's.

The Jewish religion also had a very liturgical worship centered around the Temple. The Catholic liturgy liturgy is ancient, and highly symbolic-as is the Orthodox liturgy as well. I am currently reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Lambs-Supper-Mass-Heaven-Earth/dp/0385496591

Catholicism also has it version of the Bible....again something that turned some Jw's off.

The Catholic "Bible" is the ancient canon of Scripture, compiled and ratified in the 4th century. Several books were stripped out 500 years ago during the Protestant reformation. I ask, under what authority was Scripture neutered? This is something I recommend you research.

Catholicism also has it version of the Bible....again something that turned some Jw's off. Catholic history is steeped in 'new light' like teachings and the leaders hold their authority far above the average catholic member, believing that without their direction they would be totally lost on how to understand the Bible....again things that made ex-jw's say 'Wait a minute...you mean to tell me.....'.

The Bible grew out of the Church, not the Church out of the Bible. If the Bible was easy to understand by private interpretation, why are there 20000 denominations today, with hundreds of new ones forming every year based on varying interpretations of Scripture?

There is an X-JW that posts here from time by the name of Jeff Schwemmer. He has a very interesting site:

http://catholicxjw.com/

Burn

Gayle

That really perplexes me too. It seems some just have a need for religion in their lives and that okay.

Undecided

It seems to me a God who wants dumb humans to worship him a certain way would define true worship to his creation. He gets so riled up if humans don't follow his way of worship, at least that is the way the bible describes his history with man. He's killing us all because one man ate a piece of fruit. I hope he doesn't get mad again like he did in Noah's day.

Ken P.

Witness 007

Fool me once shame on you...fool me twice shame on me!!!!!

cabasilas

I understand your perplexity. I left the JWs in 1980 and was involved with various Protestant churches for 10 years. I used to like to visit different churches occasionally, but I never noticed the Catholic parishes in my area. I think of all the people who were surprised when I became Catholic in 1992, none were more surprised than me!

I would agree with BurnTheShips comments above. I was influenced by studying early Church history. Some books that I found helpful were the 3 volume set: The Faith of the Early Fathers (Jurgens), Evangelical is Not Enough (Howard), and particularly by Peter Kreeft's Fundamentals of the Faith. Having said that, I try to avoid a triumphalistic view of the Church. I freely acknowledge we have our shortcomings and problems, but I still believe that when I'm at Mass I'm joining in with the "cloud of witnesses" throughout all ages in worshipping God.

Catholic writer John Coffey has tried to address some of these issues in a series of lectures entitled "Jehovah's Witnesses and the Catholic Church." He addresses issues such as the JW attitude towards Catholicism, the historicity of the Catholic Church, the papacy, Catholics and the Bible, and the Virgin Mary. For those interested, the transcript of those lectures (over 300 pages) can be downloaded from this filesharing site:

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=101035150a85894d56beb0577be6aa86

(Awhile ago, I posted a link to an earlier version of this which only contained the last lecture. The file at the above link is the complete lecture series.)

Coffey also wrote a response to JW doctrine, entitled The Gospel According to Jehovah's Witnesses, written from a generic Christian viewpoint. For those interested, that can be downladed from here:

http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=f9951760cfc22b2cf70dda67dbf24054

AlmostAtheist

As JW's, we thought we knew the Bible. Turns out what we really knew was the Watchtower's interpretation of the Bible which is a hugely different thing. But at least we were reading the Bible and became familiar with its words, despite not knowing their meaning. (If any)

In the case of Catholicism, we thought we knew them, too. We knew some of their darker history, some of their zanier popes, their pedophile-priest problems. But it's not like we read their catechism books, or attended mass, or anything else that gave us a balanced view. Essentially, all we ever read was anti-Catholic propaganda.

So an ex-JW is just not qualified to determine anything about Catholics. The only hope they have is to mentally set aside everything they think they know and start fresh. Otherwise, that propaganda will override it all.

Dave

willyloman

Your question suggests dub-think still has a hold on you. We learned to hate Catholicism at the Kingdom Hall. After I stopped going there, I found I became a lot more tolerant of others' beliefs. If I learned anything from my journey through JW-ism, it's that there is no single solitary "truth." However, there is clearly some "truth" in almost every set of beliefs and good people in every religion.

The real Truth is that we are on this planet with no verifiable proof about where we came from or why we are here. We are forced to answer the deep questions of life with theory. And there are many theories because we are all very different in our approach to life.

The captain has turned off the "no tolerance" sign. We are now free to move about the cabin.

How could an ex-Jw become Catholic

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