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Patty Bonds (former Baptist and sister of Dr. James White) to appear on The Journey Home - May 7
EWTN ^ | May 7, 2007 | Marcus Grodi

Posted on 05/07/2007 8:58:18 AM PDT by NYer


Patty Patrick Bonds Conversion

I was born and raised a Baptist. As a Baptist I enjoyed a close, intimate walk with God. I read His Word and I obeyed Him and He was everything to me. I was willing to follow Him anywhere and serve Him in any capacity. I never dreamed He would lead me far from my upbringing and to a place I would have never chosen to go.

I believed that any Catholic who had genuine faith in Christ and respected the Bible as the Word of God would follow Christ out of the Catholic Church. I honestly believed there were only a few misled Christians in the Catholic Church.

One day I came across the writings of St. Patrick of Ireland. I was looking for historical evidence of his existence, but never dreamed I would discover God’s will for my life. What I found in the writings of St. Patrick was evidence of deep devotion to Christ and a spiritual intimacy with Christ that I knew right away was true Christianity. He was my brother. Yet he was also a Catholic Bishop. This birthed in me a desire to understand Church history and when and where the Catholic Church had gone wrong (since my assumption from childhood was that the Catholic Church was apostate).

(See the Catholic Encyclopedia article on St. Patrick of Ireland )

For the next several months I read the writings of those men who had learned the Christian faith from the very mouth of Christ and the Apostles. I began to familiarize myself with the culture and time of the Apostles and realized that Christianity in its earliest days was not Bible centered (indeed most of the NT was not written yet and later was not available for the masses) but Tradition centered. I learned that when the early Christians went to Church their services were not sermon centered but centered around the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, which was not seen as a symbol but as the actual Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was guarded and protected as such. Not a crumb was to be lost nor a drop spilt. I was shocked to find that the early Church did not even resemble my own Baptist church.

This led to many more months of earnest study of the Catholic faith. What I discovered is that everything I had been taught about the Catholic Church as a Baptist had been erroneous. Every objection that I had been engrained with since childhood was a falsehood about the Catholic Church and was easily refuted by an honest look at Church history.

By coming to an understanding of the time and culture and beliefs of the Early Church, my Bible began to read very differently. I realized that no document, even the inspired Word of God, can interpret itself. No one comes to Scripture without a grid through which they interpret it. My grid had always been very Protestant and very anti-sacramental. But after investigating the Early Church, I could clearly see that the Bible was a Catholic book; written by Catholics, for Catholics, canonized by the Bishops of the Catholic Church and preserved for Catholics for millennia to come.

I also discovered that I was one of many Christians devoted to Christ and willing to follow Him anywhere even at great personal loss that were reversing the mistakes of the Reformation and flocking back home to the One Church Christ established on this earth. I discovered through a series of books called, Surprised by Truth, that I was one of many that were headed home to Rome. (My story has been included in the third edition if you would like to learn more).

May God grant you the openness to see Him in His Holy Roman Catholic Church.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Theology
KEYWORDS: bonds; conversion
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1 posted on 05/07/2007 8:58:19 AM PDT by NYer
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To: Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; Romulus; ...

Patty has appeared on The Journey Home in the past. This should be a memorable program.


2 posted on 05/07/2007 9:01:27 AM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: NYer

I’ll have to try to catch this on the radio.


3 posted on 05/07/2007 9:02:13 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("And he had turned the Prime Minister's teacup into a gerbil.")
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To: Tax-chick
You can also download a .mp3 file (for up to a week after it airs) on the EWTN Podcast webpage (sometimes it takes a day or two after it airs before the latest one is available)

http://www.ewtn.com/podcast/

4 posted on 05/07/2007 9:11:08 AM PDT by GCC Catholic
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To: GCC Catholic

That’s beyond my technical abilities ... but I’ll probably be in the car this evening; just have to remember to turn the radio on!


5 posted on 05/07/2007 9:33:37 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("And he had turned the Prime Minister's teacup into a gerbil.")
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To: NYer

In other news.... Mr. White’s head will explode again.


6 posted on 05/07/2007 9:55:29 AM PDT by Jaded ("I have a mustard- seed; and I am not afraid to use it."- Joseph Ratzinger)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: rrc
I was shocked to find that the early Church did not even resemble my own Baptist church.

For anyone raised in an Evangelical Church, it truly must come as a shock to read the Early Church Fathers and realize that the Mass celebrated in the Catholic Church today is the same one celebrated 2000 years ago. On the other hand, we Catholics need to remember that faith is a gift from God. In the case of Patty Bonds, the expression "Once I was blind but now I see" is a reflection of that gift. We need always to approach others with consistency but humility.

8 posted on 05/07/2007 11:29:09 AM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: NYer

More heartburn for White.


10 posted on 05/07/2007 12:00:49 PM PDT by marshmallow
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And why exactly is this going to be memorable? I mean, really, so a well known protestant theologian and apologists sister joins the Roman Catholic church....and this somehow makes her significant?

Is she somehow automatically granted the status of apologist and theologian because her brother is? Is there some sort of familial importance beyond trying to rub his face in it that I don’t understand?

If Ron Paul’s sister suddenly decided to become a communist would you all consider it somehow a sign that Ron Paul’s beliefs about liberty were in error? What kind of fallacious reasoning is this?


11 posted on 05/07/2007 12:39:11 PM PDT by Shamgar
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To: Shamgar
Welcome to Free Republic!

Hope you'll watch Marcus Grodi's program this evening.

12 posted on 05/07/2007 1:22:18 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: NYer; Gamecock; Alex Murphy; Dr. Eckleburg
I learned that when the early Christians ...

Read "I've now been indoctrinated ..."

Another case of "Tiberculosis".

13 posted on 05/07/2007 1:45:20 PM PDT by topcat54 ("... knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." (James 1:3))
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To: Shamgar

It’s interesting because we were discussing this lady a few days ago, and now have the opportunity to hear her story on TV or radio if we choose. We also have the opportunity to spend our time doing something totally different.

How are you? Do you like penguins?


14 posted on 05/07/2007 1:45:57 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("And he had turned the Prime Minister's teacup into a gerbil.")
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`here we have a bible only baptist, and she discovers:......

That she never really believed the Bible anyway.

1 John 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

15 posted on 05/07/2007 2:30:55 PM PDT by Howdy there
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To: Howdy there

You wrote: “That she never really believed the Bible anyway.”

She did believe it, and still does. Just now, she knows better what it means.


16 posted on 05/07/2007 2:35:04 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: topcat54

You wrote: “Read “I’ve now been indoctrinated ...”

So learning on her own is indoctrination? How do you figure that?

“Another case of “Tiberculosis”.

So in your view becoming a Catholic is a disease? Wow, what bigotry.


17 posted on 05/07/2007 2:37:48 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: topcat54; blue-duncan; Gamecock; Alex Murphy; HarleyD; Forest Keeper; 1000 silverlings
tiberculosis

LOL.

"These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." -- 2 Peter 2:17-21


18 posted on 05/07/2007 2:42:42 PM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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To: NYer

** What I discovered is that everything I had been taught about the Catholic Church as a Baptist had been erroneous. Every objection that I had been engrained with since childhood was a falsehood about the Catholic Church and was easily refuted by an honest look at Church history.**

Oh, if we could only have her speak with some of the anti-Catholic posters on FR!!!!!!!!


19 posted on 05/07/2007 2:43:47 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: topcat54

**Another case of “Tiberculosis”.**

I don’t think so. She talks about faith above. Please re-read the article. (Finding the same faith that she had in St. Patrick.)


20 posted on 05/07/2007 2:47:54 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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