AGAIN, NO, NO A THOUSAND TIMES NO!
FROM AN ARTICLE @ The Gospel Coalition
FIRST AND FOREMOST, I am a reformed Protestant through and through and would have to completely take leave of my senses to even contemplate a Catholic Church identity. I believe today's Catholicism is a false religion and cult of works based religion with all the crazy man-made false claims like Mary worship, purgatory, indulgences and working your way to eternal salvation. Never mind Jesus's finished work on the Cross and the Grace or undeserved favor, He offers us for just believing in Him. Because we believe and accept this free gift, we serve Him in gratitude. We do not do good works to earn our way to heaven. Period.
Here are some highlights from the above linked article:
In recent years, several notable Protestant converts to Roman Catholicism have made waves online. Influencers like Cameron Bertuzzi of Capturing Christianity, Candace Owens, Joshua Charles, and Eva Vlaardingerbroek crossed the Tiber from various expressions of Protestantism.
Prominent evangelical pastors like Ulf Ekman, Keith Nester, and Brook Thelander made headlines when they converted to Roman Catholicism. Similar stories are littered across social media, YouTube, and websites like The Coming Home Network.... Catholic apologists are much more focused on growing Roman Catholicism as an institution (i.e., “the one true church”) than on merely winning souls for Christ. This makes sense given Catholicism’s traditional view that to be outside the church is to be outside Christ. The call “home” is a call to the institution of the Catholic Church, not merely a call to find redemption in Christ. Second, Protestant apologetics has leaned heavily into addressing atheism, postmodernism, and modern secular culture’s loss of morality, without focusing enough on learning and practicing our Protestant distinctives. But it’s precisely this focus on Protestant distinctives that would naturally clarify the differences between the Protestant tradition and Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Protestant apologist Mike Winger (BibleThinker) made this observation: “I believe Roman Catholic apologists are presenting content that’s inconsistent with Roman Catholicism because it’s useful in getting Protestants to become Catholic. And that I find problematic.”
Italian Protestant pastor Leonardo De Chirico points out
that it was once often perceived that evangelical Christians were
proselytizing Roman Catholics. Now, it appears Rome is returning the
favor in full force via YouTube and the internet. De Chirico cites as
one example Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire ministry, which has
“exploded with videos, books, and courses designed to attract
disappointed evangelicals toward Catholicism.”
Why Should It Matter to Protestants?
Roman Catholic apologists sometimes misrepresent actual Catholic doctrine. They soften terminology to appear harmonious with Protestant views on soteriology or the doctrine of salvation, among other doctrines. In using similar terminology and softening the severity of the numerous anathemas against Protestants, these influencers are attracting disillusioned or dissatisfied Christians to a tradition with its own concerning history.
Behind the curtain of liturgy, aesthetics, and reverent ceremony is a mountain of doctrinal, dogmatic, and ritualistic accretions that bind the consciences of faithful Roman Catholics. Such accretions (that were unknown to the early church) include teachings on purgatory, the Marian dogmas, transubstantiation in the Eucharist, papal infallibility, an priestly celibacy. Sometimes, the concept of “doctrinal development,” a view accentuated by Cardinal John Henry Newman, has been used to defend these dogmatic additions to early church confessions.
We as Protestants need to know our Bibles and the story of redemption it tells from the Garden to Revelation. We should know our doctrinal beliefs and the history of the Protestant Reformation. When we do, we are standing on solid ground and cannot be swayed by Catholic influencers or the pomp and ceremony that covers and multitude of Catholic sins.
