{"id":7559,"date":"2016-05-18T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T15:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=7559"},"modified":"2017-04-18T17:54:05","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T21:54:05","slug":"my-catholic-conversion-in-a-nutshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/05\/my-catholic-conversion-in-a-nutshell.html","title":{"rendered":"My Catholic Conversion in a Nutshell"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-7556 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2016\/05\/DJ1089-3.jpg\" alt=\"D&amp;J1089-3\" width=\"595\" height=\"895\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">With my lovely wife Judy in October 1989: our fifth anniversary, and exactly one year before I converted to Catholicism. Despite looking so happy and content, our life was actually in disarray and near-despair at the time: my evangelical ministry and livelihood having just fallen apart. Little did we know what was just ahead of us . . . But neither of us\u00a0ever lost faith in God and His mercy and faithfulness.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">(5-1-06)<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">*****<\/div>\n<p>I converted because Catholicism was more in line with the Bible and history. I became a Catholic because I was convinced that it was <b>true<\/b>. Period. It wasn\u2019t smell and bells or a sense of security or wanting a clone-like \u201cunity\u201d or any of the nonsense that is said about converts [see my <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/05\/my-catholic-conversion-in-a-nutshell.html#comment-2684695846\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">clarification<\/a><\/em> in the comments below about my<em> exact<\/em> meaning here]. I was quite intellectual enough as an evangelical (always had been, since I was weaned on Lewis and Schaeffer and Colson et al: the cream of the evangelical crop). I was also very happy where I was, as far as I can tell, and as unsacramental as anyone on earth: a Jesus Freak who used to go to churches where we worshiped with rock music.<\/p>\n<p>I was baptized as a Methodist, but later was \u201cbaptized\u201d in 1982 at age 24 (in a nice warm bath in front of the church, complete with a little testimony; I referred to it afterwards \u2013 in my zany humor \u2013 as \u201ctaking the <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Nestea<\/span> plunge\u201d: an old TV commercial) because I then believed in adult baptism. The guy who got baptized (for real) right next to me \u2013 a friend of mine \u2013 had been in the United <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/pentecostal' target='_blank'>Pentecostal<\/a> Church, which denies the Trinity. He later became Lutheran, then an Orthodox priest, and eventually a very traditional Anglican priest. And I went Catholic eight years later, to everyone\u2019s astonishment who knew me. Not bad for two young chaps getting baptized as young adults at an Assembly of God church!<\/p>\n<p>There is a funny story there, too. My friend who was baptized while I took a warm public bath (already having been baptized as an infant, whereas he had been a non-trinitarian) was a little heavy-set at the time. When the pastor (a great friend of ours to this day, who married us in 1984; a wonderful Christian man who used to play Jesus in the great dramatic plays our church would put on at Easter) started to help lower him into the water (hand behind the head and back), he slipped on the bottom and made a great splash; at which point our pastor-friend immediately made a wisecrack, \u201cI haven\u2019t lost anyone yet in a baptism.\u201d :-) Maybe our friends in the singles group where I was blessed to meet my wife Judy shortly after this time had snuck in the church at night and waxed the bottom of the tub. It was hilarious.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, back to seriousness: it was my insatiable curiosity about competing (theological and historical) ideas that led to my \u201cdownfall\u201d \u2013 not any particularly strong unhappiness about where I was. So you can\u2019t be too careful, you evangelicals out there who like studying Christian theology and different belief-systems. Don\u2019t be too inquisitive, or you may end up (like thousands of us converts) where you thought you\u2019d never be.<\/p>\n<p>My three main reasons for conversion:<\/p>\n<p>1) <b>Moral theology<\/b>: I saw only one Church which continued to teach the morality of historic Christianity on divorce, abortion, contraception, and so forth.<\/p>\n<p>2)<b> Development of doctrine<\/b>: this explained why the Catholic version of Church history made far more sense than the Protestant, which involved a radical revolution at one point of time.<\/p>\n<p>3) <b>Studying Martin Luther and the so-called \u201cReformation\u201d (from both sides)<\/b>: in doing so I was quickly disabused of the myths of the origin of Protestantism, and saw again that this was a revolution, not a reform (hence, not what it <i>claimed<\/i> to be at all). I felt that I had been lied to about my \u201cReformation\u201d and Protestant heritage, and this disgusted me, since I want to know the truth of what really happened, not a bunch of warmed-over, half-baked, one-sided propaganda (often subtly or blatantly anti-Catholic as well).<\/p>\n<p>For the last fifteen years I have become more and more convinced that Catholicism is the fullest expression of biblical Christianity, from seeing (as an apologist) the bankruptcy of the opposing arguments over and over. This is a constant source of blessing to me. It\u2019s happening again as I write my new book: <i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2006\/07\/books-by-dave-armstrong-one-minute.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">The One-Minute Apologist<\/a><\/i>. It was very much in play when I wrote my last one: <i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2006\/07\/books-by-dave-armstrong-catholic_31.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants<\/a><\/i>, because that was specifically about Protestant inability and unwillingness to plausibly, cogently answer Catholic biblical proof texts.<\/p>\n<p>I continue to be amazed at how thoroughly the Bible confirms Catholic positions, again and again. The depth in the Bible is incredible. One can read it their entire life and keep coming up with significant new insights and information. It\u2019s endless. Never would I have dreamt in a million years back in 1985 (or even most of 1990, right before I converted) that the Bible would be so solidly on the side of Catholicism. But so it is. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2009\/03\/books-by-dave-armstrong-biblical.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">My next book<\/a> will provide even <em>more<\/em> evidence that this is the case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRead it [the Bible] and weep (and convert to Catholicism)!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For more along these lines (including longer versions of my own conversion story: three of them published; one in <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Surprised by Truth<\/span>), see my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2006\/11\/conversion-converts-catholic-index.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Conversion and Converts Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>*****<\/p>\n<p>Meta Description:\u00a0Brief account of why I became a Catholic in 1990, after being a zealous evangelical apologist and evangelist.<\/p>\n<p>Meta Keywords:\u00a0Catholic conversion, Catholic conversion stories, religious conversion, Catholic converts, Catholic convert Dave Armstrong<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With my lovely wife Judy in October 1989: our fifth anniversary, and exactly one year before I converted to Catholicism. Despite looking so happy and content, our life was actually in disarray and near-despair at the time: my evangelical ministry and livelihood having just fallen apart. Little did we know what was just ahead of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":7556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2334,1438,2853,2335,1439],"class_list":["post-7559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversion-and-converts","tag-catholic-conversion","tag-catholic-conversion-stories","tag-catholic-convert-dave-armstrong","tag-catholic-converts","tag-religious-conversion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>My Catholic Conversion in a Nutshell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brief account of the many reasons for my Catholic conversion in 1990, after being a zealous evangelical apologist and evangelist.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}