Top 10 Reasons Why Evangelical Converts Rock
by J. B. Watson
10. We can speak Evangelicalese. “Yes, thank you, I have asked Jesus into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior…”
9. Every once in a while one of us will stop, clutch his forehead, and mutter, “Holy mackeral, I’m Catholic!” This is fun to experience and entertaining to watch.
8. We actually know why we’re Catholic.
7. Our touching naiveté: “Wait. You mean they didn’t just translate it from the Latin?”
6. We’ve never been hit on the hand with a ruler. Our sole experiences with nuns are the cheery ones in Sound of Music and hot Sister Steve on Fr. Dowling.
5. We’re familiar with all those obscure Old Testament characters.
4. The silly grin we get on our faces when the parish wet-bar is open for business.
3. Two words: Cardinal Newman.
2. We used to think C.S. Lewis was Evangelical. Now we know he was actually Catholic.
1. We’ve never voted for a Kennedy.
2 comments:
Actually, Lewis was an Anglican.
I didn't write the piece but both sides a half right. For what it's worth, Lewis never did convert. However, in "Letters to Malcolm" and elsewhere, he defends the idea of Purgatory as a necessary "cleaning up time" for the soul before entering the company of heaven.
In the essay Christian Reunion he states that the real disagreement between Catholics and Protestants is not about any particular belief, but about the source and nature of doctrine and authority.
When Lewis was working on "Mere Christianity", he had Book II vetted by Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist, and Presbyterian clergymen, to avoid any hint of denominational bias creeping in.
In a telling passage in "Allegory of Love" he recognises the potential flaws in both the Catholic and the Protestant paths:
"When Catholicism goes bad it becomes the world-old, world-wide religion of amulets and holy places and priest craft; Protestantism, in its corresponding decay, becomes a vague mist of ethical platitudes."
I'll drink to that.
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