Many people who consider beginning a journey of exploring the Catholic Faith have a belief that to become Catholic, they are required to leave behind most of their current faith and beliefs. There is a great misconception that the teachings of the Church are completely different, and that what they thought they know and believe would need to be checked at the door. This is simply not true and very misunderstood. The great majority of their current faith foundation, especially coming from traditional mainstream Protestantism is exactly what the Church teaches. Not only will they not leave their current faith completely at the door, but they will bring most of it with them.

For instance, we agree on the following major tenants of the Christian faith: we both worship the God of the bible, the God of Abraham; we both believe the bible is the inspired Word of God; we both believe in the Trinity, meaning one God in 3 divine persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we both believe that God sent His only son, Jesus Christ for our salvation; and we both believe that Jesus was crucified, died, was buried, rose again in 3 days, and ascended into heaven. Those are strong foundational pieces on which all Christians can agree.

There is a “math” of becoming Catholic. While much of a person’s current faith will accompany them into the Catholic Church, it would be disingenuous to say that there are not a few things that will “subtracted”, and many things that will be “added”. Because the Catholic Church had a 1,500-year head start on Protestantism, the addition is much more than the subtraction. But here is the good news and a bold statement: regarding the truth as revealed by God, the things you subtract have never been true, and the things you add have always been true. That bears repeating: the things you subtract have never been true, and the things you add have always been true.

What the Church teaches today is what has been taught since Christ founded it. Any changes to that teaching involve human beings declaring, by their own self-granted authority, that the Church is wrong. Unfortunately, they cannot claim the Church got it wrong without also declaring that Christ got it wrong. Below are some examples.

Subtract: We are saved by faith alone.
Add: We are not saved by faith alone, but by grace and faith acting in love in service to others.
Never True: Jesus taught that faith, alone, is the only thing needed for salvation.
Always True: Scripture says we are not saved by faith alone, and faith without works is dead.

Christ never taught us to have faith, do nothing, and everything will be fine. In fact, the new commandment requires us to do something, love our neighbor. James 2:15 shows us the only time in scripture where the words “faith” and “alone” appear together, when James tells us that we are not saved by faith alone. We must look at everything Christ teaches and how it is always focused on service to others. He not only makes that abundantly clear in Matthew 25, which is the “least of these” text, but He goes so far as to say that if we do not serve the least of these, we will not see heaven. If we are saved by faith alone, then there is nothing else for us to do and we would have no further accountability. Jesus never taught that.

Subtract: Scripture, alone, is the sole authority of the truth as revealed by God.
Add: God revealed His truth in two ways: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
Never True: The doctrine of Sola Scriptura is found in scripture.
Always True: Paul and John are clear that not every teaching of Christ is found in scripture.

Sacred Tradition is what the apostles learned from Christ and taught orally. While most of what they taught eventually made it into scripture, not all of it did. In 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Paul says “Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.” He does not say one is more important. John tells us that not everything Jesus did is written down. From the beginning, the Church has followed Paul’s teaching and gives equal weight to scripture and oral teachings. Ironically, if everything we need for salvation is in the bible, yet the doctrine of Sola Scriptura is not found in the bible, the doctrine disqualifies itself. Here is the important thing to remember, in guarding the truth, the Church ensures that nothing in Sacred Tradition contradicts anything in scripture. We should also remember that in the first centuries there was no official New Testament, printing presses, or Amazon. That fact required that much of the gospel be spread orally.

Subtract: The Catholic bible is wrong.
Add: The Catholic bible is the authoritative canon (list of books) used by Christ.
Never True: Catholics added books to the bible.
Always True: The Catholic Old Testament is the original accepted Hebrew canon.

The difference in the Catholic canon and the Protestant canon is found in the Old Testament. The New Testament canon, as determined to be the authoritative canon by the Catholic Church, is the same in both bibles. The seven additional books, known as the deuterocanonical books, were always included in and part of the original Hebrew bible. After the Jewish people were scattered throughout the Mediterranean because of the Babylonian captivity, the Jewish culture was in danger of being lost. Greek became the primary Jewish language and the original Hebrew bible, which included the deuterocanonical books, was translated into Greek. This translation is known as the Septuagint and contains the exact canon that Christ and all Gospel writers used. When the Jewish people were returning to Palestine, to preserve the culture that was being lost, they removed those seven books because at that time there were no Hebrew original scrolls. That became known as the Palestinian canon. When the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, the Hebrew originals of the seven books were also found. Luther chose the Palestinian canon as the Protestant canon for a couple of reasons. First, it was a way to further distance himself from the Catholic Church. More importantly, contained in those books were the scriptural foundation for ancient Church doctrine, such as Purgatory, that Luther originally accepted but later rejected. For the same reason, he also tried to remove the books of James, Revelation, Ruth, and parts of Ezra and Daniel.

Subtract: Once saved, always saved.
Add: We receive our initial justification by God’s grace, but through free will, we can lose it.
Never True: Once we are saved, we are always saved and will definitely go to heaven.
Always True: Through free will, we can choose to turn away from God and lose our salvation.

If once saved, always saved is true, then there is no further accountability for our actions. Why worry about sin at all? It seems to be a get-out-of-sin-free card. First, in Romans chapter 8, Paul names 9 external things that cannot separate us from God. But what about the internal will of the believer? Paul understood his salvation was not guaranteed. If once saved always saved, why? Hed  warns us in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 not to be deceived and lists nine actions of free-will that keeps a person from heaven. If once saved always saved, how can that be? Jesus was very clear in John chapter 15 that we are to keep His commandments to abide in His love. If once saved always saved, why? It was mentioned that in Matthew 25, the “least of these” scripture, Jesus leaves no gray area about His teachings. He was speaking to his disciples, who obviously followed and believed in Him. He told believers in verses 41-46 that if they did not follow His commandments, they would not see the kingdom of God. If once saved always saved is true, why did He discuss this in such detail with those who already believed in Him?

Subtract: Sacraments are symbolic and have no power to change a person or reality.
Add: Sacraments, as instituted by Christ, are true encounters with Christ and change reality.
Never True: Catholics created the sacraments and there are no real graces, or gifts received.
Always True: Jesus created the Sacraments to give us the grace to be Holy as He commanded.

To believe the Sacraments are merely symbolic is to believe that Christ did not mean what he said. Sacraments were prefigured as early as Moses in Exodus. In fact, it was because of Moses’ failure of faith in the prefigured sacrament of water at the rock of Horeb that God did not permit him to enter the promised land. Sacraments use something natural to create a supernatural encounter, or mystery, with Christ that we enter into by faith. It requires faith. Ego demands an answer, faith accepts the mystery. The healing of the blind man was a prefigurement of the sacraments. Jesus used something natural (spit and dirt), required the blind man to apply his faith and go wash in the pool of Siloam, and he received a supernatural grace of sight. It might be difficult to convince him that Sacraments are symbolic, no realities change, and there are no gifts that come from that true encounter with Christ. In John 6, Jesus risks His entire ministry when He will not relent to the objections of His audience that His Body is true food, and His Blood is true drink. One year later, with those same words, He instituted the Eucharist at the last supper. It’s interesting that most non-Catholics say the bible should be taken literally, except for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Finally, Jesus tells us He is the vine, and we are the branches that should yield good fruit (bring others to Christ) or be cut away. How do we get the gifts and tools we need to yield fruit? We get them through the Sacraments He instituted for that very purpose. That point of contact where the branch (us) connects to the vine (Jesus) and receives what it needs to yield good fruit is the Sacraments.

There are other things to consider: Church authority as granted by Christ in John chapter 20; an honest understanding of the teachings on Mary; and Purgatory which has its scriptural foundation in one of the deuterocanonical books mentioned above.

The point is that yes, of course, most of your current faith will come with you. It is true that you will leave some things behind. But it is also true that you will add things that were rejected by Luther although they were taught by Christ and by the Church for the 2,000+ years since. Those added things will only serve to deepen and enhance your relationship with God. There is nothing that Christ taught that would ever lessen or damage your relationship with God. To come full circle, the great news is that regarding the truth as revealed by God, the things you subtract have never been true, and the things you add have always been true.