I have never met a “former Catholic” who attributed their loss of faith to theology or unfulfillment (though some Catholics complain about both); every “former Catholic” I know (who actually attends services anywhere else, as opposed to just becoming a non-Mass attending Catholic) did it over personal involvement with the divorce/remarriage question.
Here in NJ our former governor did it after leaving his Catholic wife & child; he went to an Episcopal seminary and moved in with his boyfriend.
Now you have.
Wow. In a time when all of Christianity is under attack from our own government, athiests, gays, Muslims, etc. here we are arguing over who has the greater numbers or who’s losing the greater numbers. We’re right, you’re wrong. Pride. Last time I checked, that was a sin.
We should be above this, FRiends.
My last boss divorced the Church because he didn't like the priest's hospital visits to his daughter (as he explained it - they weren't 'concerned' enough).
Always personal. Nothing to do with theology or faith.
Everything to do with the god in the mirror.
Well, hmmm.... I have never met a "former Roman catholic" who attributed their loss of faith to anything BUT theology or unfulfillment (though some Roman catholics complain about both); every “former Roamn catholic” I know (who actually attends services anywhere else, as opposed to just becoming a non-Mass attending Roman catholic) did NOT make the move it over personal involvement with the divorce/remarriage question.
So...what we now have is an indication that we run in different circles. I probably know close to 100 of such former Roman catholics. But it doesn't matter if my number is greater than yours, or your number is greater than mine. It does not prove anything except that we run in different circles, so don't fool yourself into thinking that you just provee that Romanism is better than anything else just by the people that you know. How silly when you think about it. If it wasn't, we could easily solve this whole issue and never have to have another thread on it if we just tallied all the FRs here!!!
Even if we were to poll EVERY single former Roman catholic and they gave us a true, complete reason why they left, it would not matter. What matters is that the Lord knows who are His; and that those who are His, by His grace and His grace alone, act in a manner according to which they were called so that others may see that He lives. To this end, He alone will be glorified!
“every “former Catholic” I know... did it over personal involvement with the divorce/remarriage question.”
That is your experience, but it certainly is not mine, while surveys do not back this up, while the testimony of different RCs here has been that this need not be a real problem.
“our former governor did it after leaving his Catholic wife & child; he went to an Episcopal seminary”
That is the problem, as we are not simply comparing RCs with Prot. churches, many of which can be just as institutionalized, but with evangelicals, those who hold the supremacy of Scripture, and profess a cognizant personal regeneration by faith and a Scripture-based personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, etc. And which criteria i sought to provide on that page: http://www.peacebyjesus.com/RC-Stats_vs._Evang.html