What did you study to bring you out of the Southern Baptist church and into the Catholic faith?

This post was originally an email that I wrote for friend who asked:

"I am VERY interested in knowing what you studied to bring you out of the Southern Baptist church and into the Catholic faith. Would you mind sharing? I read the story of your journey on your blog and enjoyed it very much. "


As I mentioned in my other posts,

First Half of My Christian Faith Journey and Christian Testimony

& My Faith Journey to the Catholic Church from Fundamentalism/Evangelicalism

I had nagging questions for many years.

Throughout the years I have read many anti Catholic sites on the web and a few anti-Catholic books. Some claims just seemed so outlandish, but I was buying into some of it. I also knew that there had to be another side to the story. I started my search on the web looking for refutation of those sites. I wanted the other side of the story from real faithful Catholics who knew their faith. I came across some awesome Catholic sites and they helped to give me a more a balanced view. I'll give some of the sites at the end of is post.

In 2001 we moved to our new neighborhood and began looking for a new church home. A year later we joined a cub scout pack that was affiliated with the elementary school my youngest was attending. This was a non-denominational pack but was sponsored by the Catholic church. There were kids from all faiths in it even Jewish. Because of it, I did meet many Catholics.

Around this time I started reading some convert stories on the web from fundamentalists who had converted and their reasons why and that intrigued me.

Then I started reading the following books pretty much in this order in addition to reading the Bible:

I started with a book about the Bible published by the Moody Press (written by fundamentalists so can't claim Catholic bias)--

A General Introduction to the Bible by Norman Geisler and William Nix
This as a book about where the Bible came from - Who wrote it, its transmission, how it was translated, different Bible translations etc. I did not read this cover to cover but read great portions of it. This was a book that I had for many years and revisited at this time

Surprised by Truth: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Becoming Catholic by Patrick Madrid

A Biblical Defense of Catholicism by Dave Armstrong

Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on "Romanism" by "Bible Christians" by Karl Keating

Evangelical Is Not Enough: Worship of God in Liturgy and Sacrament by Thomas Howard

Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism by Scott Hahn

Born Fundamentalist Born Again Catholic by David Currie

The Lambs Supper by Scott Hahn

By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition by Mark Shea

Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church by Stephen Ray

Catechism of the Catholic Church: Second Edition by the Catholic Church (I have not read it cover to cover yet, but have read great portions of it and use it as a reference book)

A Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross

Writing of the Early Church fathers such as Augustine, Origen, Justin and Ignatius from varying sources

The Fathers of the Church, Expanded Edition by Mike Aquilina


Then after a few years of church hopping and hubby not really liking any of them, I began discussing some of these things with my new Catholic friend Maura from Scouts. I finally decided that I wanted to start visiting/ attending the Catholic Church. I initially asked Maura to invite me because I wasn't sure how my hubby was going to react. He still had the maybe the Pope is the antichrist mentality and well they don't do things biblically misconceptions. After a few weeks Hubby and the whole family were attending with me. Remember I grew up Episcopalian so the Catholic Mass being similar was very comfortable for me, but it was new to hubby. To my surprise he really liked it. He was amazed at how much direct scripture was read every Sunday and the Priest didn't put a whole lot of spin on it in his sermon/homily. He still wasn't ready to become Catholic yet. He still had a lot of misconceptions, but I told him I wanted to start the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults)process. Basically RCIA is the Catholic version of membership classes. I was pleasantly surprised to discover they already considered me a Christian because I was baptized. They recognize all Christian baptisms that are done in the triune formula of "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost". Anyway I was received into full communion into the Catholic Church November 2007, Hubby was received into full communion in July 2008, My 19 year old daughter was received into full communion this Nov 2008. My boys are in the First communion classes and will be baptized in February.


Catholic Websites: I have tons bookmarked but these are some of the main ones.
Catholic Answers
Scriptures Catholic
Fr. Roberts Answers Fundamentalists
St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
Bible Christian Society
Jimmy Akin
Apocalypsis
Catholic Converts