He Fought Against Catholicism — Until the Truth Led Him In
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[{'start': '0.000', 'end': '1.866', 'text': 'I have a confession to make'}, {'start': '2.200', 'end': '5.733', 'text': 'I was once a fierce opponent of Catholicism'}, {'start': '6.166', 'end': '9.633', 'text': 'I attacked the church especially her love for Mary'}, {'start': '9.633', 'end': '11.900', 'text': 'and her trust in sacred tradition'}, {'start': '12.466', 'end': '15.166', 'text': 'I thought I had scripture on my side'}, {'start': '15.333', 'end': '17.833', 'text': 'until the day someone asked me to prove it'}, {'start': '18.266', 'end': '19.366', 'text': "and I couldn't"}, {'start': '20.066', 'end': '20.866', 'text': 'for the first time'}, {'start': '20.866', 'end': '24.166', 'text': 'I realized that my accusations had no solid ground'}, {'start': '24.166', 'end': '26.100', 'text': 'I was stunned embarrassed'}, {'start': '26.133', 'end': '28.433', 'text': "and if I'm honest a little afraid"}, {'start': '28.966', 'end': '30.866', 'text': 'if my foundation was cracking'}, {'start': '30.866', 'end': '32.666', 'text': 'what else had I gotten wrong'}, {'start': '33.733', 'end': '36.333', 'text': "that moment of doubt didn't destroy me"}, {'start': '36.633', 'end': '39.466', 'text': 'it began a journey that would change everything'}, {'start': '40.233', 'end': '42.000', 'text': 'I grew up in what you might call'}, {'start': '42.000', 'end': '43.666', 'text': 'a pentecostal household'}, {'start': '43.666', 'end': '46.133', 'text': 'a lively mixture of Baptist seriousness'}, {'start': '46.133', 'end': '49.733', 'text': 'and pentecostal fervor from an early age'}, {'start': '49.733', 'end': '53.233', 'text': 'scripture was my bedrock I memorized verses'}, {'start': '53.233', 'end': '54.466', 'text': 'competed in Bible drills'}, {'start': '54.466', 'end': '56.666', 'text': 'and loved the word of god deeply'}, {'start': '56.966', 'end': '60.100', 'text': 'yet for all my passion my understanding lacked depth'}, {'start': '60.666', 'end': '62.433', 'text': 'I could recite chapter and verse'}, {'start': '62.433', 'end': '63.566', 'text': 'but I had never been'}, {'start': '63.566', 'end': '66.300', 'text': 'invited to swim in the deep waters of theology'}, {'start': '66.633', 'end': '68.400', 'text': 'scripture was for inspiration'}, {'start': '68.400', 'end': '71.966', 'text': 'not for interrogation by the time I reached college'}, {'start': '71.966', 'end': '74.033', 'text': 'that foundation began to crack'}, {'start': '74.333', 'end': '76.133', 'text': 'freed from the structure of home'}, {'start': '76.133', 'end': '79.266', 'text': 'I plunged head first into the culture of parties'}, {'start': '79.433', 'end': '81.866', 'text': 'late nights and empty thrills'}, {'start': '82.666', 'end': '84.400', 'text': 'god became a distant idea'}, {'start': '84.400', 'end': '86.533', 'text': 'not a living presence faith'}, {'start': '86.533', 'end': '88.200', 'text': 'once clear and certain'}, {'start': '88.200', 'end': '91.133', 'text': 'dissolved into something vague and sentimental'}, {'start': '91.733', 'end': '93.266', 'text': 'then came the pandemic'}, {'start': '93.266', 'end': '96.766', 'text': 'the great global shutdown that froze the world in fear'}, {'start': '97.133', 'end': '99.900', 'text': 'my job dried up my future blurred'}, {'start': '99.966', 'end': '101.733', 'text': 'and for the first time in years'}, {'start': '101.733', 'end': '104.100', 'text': 'I was forced to sit still and face myself'}, {'start': '104.633', 'end': '106.733', 'text': 'death was no longer an abstraction'}, {'start': '106.733', 'end': '109.500', 'text': "it was a possibility knocking at everyone's door"}, {'start': '109.666', 'end': '111.466', 'text': 'in that crucible of uncertainty'}, {'start': '111.466', 'end': '113.000', 'text': 'an old friend reached out'}, {'start': '113.000', 'end': '116.500', 'text': 'a fervent Calvinist and invited me back to church'}, {'start': '116.933', 'end': '119.333', 'text': 'hesitant but hungry I went'}, {'start': '119.733', 'end': '123.433', 'text': 'what I found stunned me a passionate'}, {'start': '123.433', 'end': '124.600', 'text': 'intellectually rigorous'}, {'start': '124.600', 'end': '127.700', 'text': 'faith that demanded more than Sunday sentimentality'}, {'start': '127.866', 'end': '130.966', 'text': 'I threw myself into it was re baptized'}, {'start': '130.966', 'end': '132.666', 'text': 'and abandoned my old lifestyle'}, {'start': '132.666', 'end': '135.766', 'text': 'with a zeal that could only be described as radical'}, {'start': '136.233', 'end': '137.600', 'text': 'for the first time in years'}, {'start': '137.600', 'end': '139.000', 'text': 'I felt alive'}, {'start': '139.000', 'end': '141.666', 'text': 'anchored in the sovereignty of god and proud'}, {'start': '141.666', 'end': '144.766', 'text': 'yes proud to call myself a Calvinist'}, {'start': '145.066', 'end': '147.933', 'text': "it wasn't long before Zoe demanded an outlet"}, {'start': '147.933', 'end': '150.266', 'text': 'my friend and I joined a Catholic group chat'}, {'start': '150.266', 'end': '152.166', 'text': 'not to listen but to convert'}, {'start': '152.400', 'end': '155.200', 'text': 'we had a clear strategy I would play the good cop'}, {'start': '155.200', 'end': '157.533', 'text': 'engaging gently but persistently'}, {'start': '157.533', 'end': '159.866', 'text': 'while he would be the bad cop'}, {'start': '159.866', 'end': '162.333', 'text': 'pressing hard demanding answers'}, {'start': '162.833', 'end': '166.066', 'text': 'we were convinced that Catholicism was not just wrong'}, {'start': '166.066', 'end': '168.666', 'text': 'but dangerous an idolatrous system'}, {'start': '168.666', 'end': '172.033', 'text': 'that buried the gospel under layers of human tradition'}, {'start': '172.366', 'end': '174.833', 'text': 'we believed Catholics worshipped statues'}, {'start': '174.833', 'end': '177.533', 'text': 'trusted in their own works to earn salvation'}, {'start': '177.566', 'end': '181.166', 'text': 'and exalted Mary to a place only Christ deserved'}, {'start': '181.633', 'end': '184.166', 'text': 'armed with Sola Scriptura and Sola Fidem'}, {'start': '184.266', 'end': '186.266', 'text': 'we stormed into the conversation'}, {'start': '186.266', 'end': '187.600', 'text': 'with the confidence of men'}, {'start': '187.600', 'end': '190.333', 'text': 'who believed they were defending the truth'}, {'start': '190.533', 'end': '193.266', 'text': 'but confidence quickly gave way to confusion'}, {'start': '193.566', 'end': '194.466', 'text': 'these Catholics'}, {'start': '194.466', 'end': '197.166', 'text': "weren't the caricaturers I had been warned about"}, {'start': '197.166', 'end': '198.533', 'text': 'they loved scripture'}, {'start': '198.533', 'end': '200.533', 'text': 'some of them knew it better than I did'}, {'start': '200.566', 'end': '203.566', 'text': 'they spoke of tradition not as a rival to scripture'}, {'start': '203.566', 'end': '205.433', 'text': 'but as its living context'}, {'start': '205.433', 'end': '207.766', 'text': "they didn't deny salvation by Grace"}, {'start': '207.766', 'end': '209.633', 'text': 'they explained it in ways that echoed'}, {'start': '209.633', 'end': '212.066', 'text': 'the very scriptures I thought they had abandoned'}, {'start': '212.266', 'end': '215.466', 'text': 'time after time I lobbed my favorite objections'}, {'start': '215.466', 'end': '218.566', 'text': 'you worship Mary you trust in works'}, {'start': '218.566', 'end': '220.466', 'text': 'and time after time they answered'}, {'start': '220.466', 'end': '224.033', 'text': 'not with anger but with calm scriptural clarity'}, {'start': '224.266', 'end': '226.400', 'text': 'I remember one exchange in particular'}, {'start': '226.400', 'end': '229.733', 'text': 'I challenged a Catholic on the idea of praying to Mary'}, {'start': '230.666', 'end': '232.133', 'text': 'where is that in the Bible'}, {'start': '232.133', 'end': '233.066', 'text': 'I demanded'}, {'start': '233.966', 'end': '236.533', 'text': 'instead of backing down he smiled and said'}, {'start': '236.966', 'end': '237.933', 'text': 'where in the Bible'}, {'start': '237.933', 'end': '240.233', 'text': 'does it say that every Christian practice must be'}, {'start': '240.233', 'end': '242.300', 'text': 'explicitly stated in Scripture'}, {'start': '242.866', 'end': '243.866', 'text': 'I blinked'}, {'start': '244.433', 'end': '247.866', 'text': 'I had no answer I had assumed it'}, {'start': '247.866', 'end': '249.833', 'text': 'but I had never proved it'}, {'start': '250.033', 'end': '250.466', 'text': 'suddenly'}, {'start': '250.466', 'end': '253.633', 'text': 'the ground beneath my feet began to feel less like rock'}, {'start': '253.633', 'end': '257.333', 'text': 'and more like sand as the weeks turned into months'}, {'start': '257.333', 'end': '261.233', 'text': 'the discomfort grew I began to notice the gaping holes'}, {'start': '261.233', 'end': '262.966', 'text': 'in my Calvinist framework'}, {'start': '263.133', 'end': '265.400', 'text': 'for all its talk of sola scriptura'}, {'start': '265.400', 'end': '266.566', 'text': "it couldn't explain"}, {'start': '266.566', 'end': '268.733', 'text': 'how we got the Bible in the first place'}, {'start': '268.866', 'end': '270.333', 'text': 'it offered no coherent'}, {'start': '270.333', 'end': '272.466', 'text': 'account of how the early church functioned'}, {'start': '272.466', 'end': '274.200', 'text': 'without a formal New Testament'}, {'start': '274.200', 'end': '275.133', 'text': 'for decades'}, {'start': '275.433', 'end': '278.433', 'text': 'it struggled to explain the nature of justification'}, {'start': '278.433', 'end': '281.766', 'text': 'especially when confronted with James 2:24'}, {'start': '282.133', 'end': '284.733', 'text': 'you see that a person is justified by works'}, {'start': '284.733', 'end': '288.800', 'text': "and not by faith alone that verse didn't fit my system"}, {'start': '288.800', 'end': '292.233', 'text': 'I could twist it ignore it or explain it away'}, {'start': '292.333', 'end': '294.133', 'text': "but I couldn't make it vanish"}, {'start': '295.333', 'end': '298.066', 'text': "meanwhile the Catholic answers weren't just clever"}, {'start': '298.066', 'end': '299.266', 'text': 'they were coherent'}, {'start': '299.600', 'end': '301.833', 'text': 'they had a way of bringing together scripture'}, {'start': '301.833', 'end': '303.266', 'text': 'history and reason'}, {'start': '303.266', 'end': '305.466', 'text': 'into a tapestry that was richer'}, {'start': '305.466', 'end': '308.900', 'text': 'and more beautiful than anything I had known before'}, {'start': '309.333', 'end': '312.433', 'text': 'and it terrified me if they were right'}, {'start': '312.433', 'end': '316.066', 'text': 'then I was wrong not just about Mary or tradition'}, {'start': '316.066', 'end': '318.433', 'text': 'but about the very nature of the church'}, {'start': '318.433', 'end': '321.100', 'text': 'the sacraments salvation itself'}, {'start': '321.233', 'end': '322.733', 'text': 'the first crack had appeared'}, {'start': '322.733', 'end': '323.800', 'text': 'back when I realised'}, {'start': '323.800', 'end': '326.866', 'text': "I couldn't defend my rejection of Marian doctrines"}, {'start': '327.466', 'end': '329.466', 'text': 'but now the cracks were spreading'}, {'start': '330.066', 'end': '333.433', 'text': 'what if the church was not just another denomination'}, {'start': '334.033', 'end': '336.866', 'text': 'what if it really was what it claimed to be'}, {'start': '337.266', 'end': '339.266', 'text': 'the church founded by Christ'}, {'start': '339.266', 'end': '341.133', 'text': 'preserved by the Holy Spirit'}, {'start': '341.233', 'end': '344.200', 'text': 'protected by the promise that the gates of hell'}, {'start': '344.200', 'end': '346.300', 'text': 'shall not prevail against it'}, {'start': '346.600', 'end': '350.833', 'text': 'Matthew 16:18 Pride fought back'}, {'start': '351.233', 'end': '353.033', 'text': "I didn't want to be wrong"}, {'start': '353.533', 'end': '355.000', 'text': "I didn't want to admit"}, {'start': '355.000', 'end': '357.800', 'text': 'that the system I had defended so fiercely'}, {'start': '357.800', 'end': '359.066', 'text': 'the system that had helped'}, {'start': '359.066', 'end': '362.033', 'text': 'rescue me from the emptiness of my earlier life'}, {'start': '362.033', 'end': '364.166', 'text': 'was itself incomplete'}, {'start': '365.200', 'end': '367.333', 'text': 'I wrestled with god in prayer'}, {'start': '367.333', 'end': '371.200', 'text': 'I poured over scripture I reread church history'}, {'start': '371.200', 'end': '374.066', 'text': 'this time not through the lens of suspicion'}, {'start': '374.066', 'end': '377.300', 'text': "but with an openness I hadn't allowed myself before"}, {'start': '377.366', 'end': '379.400', 'text': 'and slowly grudgingly'}, {'start': '379.400', 'end': '381.833', 'text': 'painfully the realization grew'}, {'start': '382.466', 'end': '385.733', 'text': 'I had not found the fullness of truth in Calvinism'}, {'start': '386.266', 'end': '388.633', 'text': 'it had shown me part of the truth'}, {'start': '388.633', 'end': '390.533', 'text': "the majesty of God's sovereignty"}, {'start': '390.533', 'end': '392.100', 'text': 'the necessity of Grace'}, {'start': '392.466', 'end': '394.766', 'text': 'but it had left out crucial pieces'}, {'start': '394.766', 'end': '397.166', 'text': 'the incarnational nature of the church'}, {'start': '397.200', 'end': '398.733', 'text': 'the sacramental life'}, {'start': '398.733', 'end': '400.766', 'text': 'the authority given to the apostles'}, {'start': '400.766', 'end': '403.966', 'text': 'and their successors the communion of saints'}, {'start': '404.800', 'end': '406.766', 'text': 'I was standing at a crossroads'}, {'start': '407.400', 'end': '409.533', 'text': 'to move forward would cost me everything'}, {'start': '409.566', 'end': '411.200', 'text': 'my pride my reputation'}, {'start': '411.200', 'end': '412.933', 'text': 'my comfortable certainties'}, {'start': '413.000', 'end': '415.533', 'text': 'but to stay put would be to live a lie'}, {'start': '416.000', 'end': '418.600', 'text': 'I had been seeking to defeat Catholicism'}, {'start': '418.600', 'end': '420.400', 'text': 'but Catholicism was defeating me'}, {'start': '420.400', 'end': '422.800', 'text': 'not by brute force not by clever rhetoric'}, {'start': '422.800', 'end': '424.966', 'text': 'but by the sheer weight of truth'}, {'start': '425.600', 'end': '427.400', 'text': 'and in that moment I understood'}, {'start': '427.400', 'end': '430.333', 'text': 'if Christ had truly founded a church'}, {'start': '430.433', 'end': '432.200', 'text': 'then it must be one visible'}, {'start': '432.200', 'end': '434.366', 'text': 'historical and I had found it'}, {'start': '434.400', 'end': '437.166', 'text': 'not despite my searching but because of it'}, {'start': '437.800', 'end': '439.966', 'text': 'the first real crack of light came through'}, {'start': '439.966', 'end': '443.133', 'text': 'an idea that I had never seriously considered before'}, {'start': '443.133', 'end': '444.866', 'text': 'infused righteousness'}, {'start': '445.533', 'end': '447.033', 'text': 'in Calvinism I had been taught'}, {'start': '447.033', 'end': '450.333', 'text': 'that justification was merely an external declaration'}, {'start': '450.366', 'end': '452.833', 'text': "god clothing me with Christ's righteousness"}, {'start': '452.833', 'end': '454.833', 'text': 'but leaving me inwardly unchanged'}, {'start': '454.833', 'end': '457.466', 'text': 'like snow covering a pile of manure'}, {'start': '457.800', 'end': '460.466', 'text': 'the image was graphic and unsettling'}, {'start': '460.733', 'end': '463.366', 'text': 'but now Catholics were presenting a different vision'}, {'start': '463.366', 'end': '466.000', 'text': "that God's Grace doesn't just cover our sin"}, {'start': '466.000', 'end': '468.133', 'text': 'it transforms us from within'}, {'start': '468.233', 'end': '470.266', 'text': 'we are not merely declared righteous'}, {'start': '470.266', 'end': '472.400', 'text': 'we are actually made righteous'}, {'start': '472.400', 'end': '474.700', 'text': 'by his power working in us'}, {'start': '474.933', 'end': '476.600', 'text': 'it was a staggering thought'}, {'start': '476.600', 'end': '477.833', 'text': 'and the more I pondered it'}, {'start': '477.833', 'end': '481.166', 'text': 'the more it resonated with my own lived experience'}, {'start': '481.900', 'end': '483.600', 'text': "I knew I wasn't the same man"}, {'start': '483.600', 'end': '485.533', 'text': 'who had stumbled through college'}, {'start': '485.533', 'end': '489.366', 'text': 'drunk and angry something inside me had changed'}, {'start': '489.433', 'end': '491.366', 'text': 'and for the first time I began to wonder'}, {'start': '491.366', 'end': '493.866', 'text': 'was that change simply a legal fiction'}, {'start': '493.866', 'end': '496.766', 'text': 'or was it the real living work of Grace'}, {'start': '498.000', 'end': '499.833', 'text': 'curiosity dangerous'}, {'start': '499.833', 'end': '502.033', 'text': 'holy curiosity took hold'}, {'start': '502.333', 'end': '504.500', 'text': 'I began to compare the two models'}, {'start': '504.533', 'end': '506.633', 'text': "Calvinism's image of a rotting sinner"}, {'start': '506.633', 'end': '509.333', 'text': "hidden under a cloak versus Catholicism's image"}, {'start': '509.333', 'end': '512.166', 'text': 'of a soul being genuinely renewed in love'}, {'start': '512.366', 'end': '515.066', 'text': 'which one fit the reality of the gospel better'}, {'start': '515.400', 'end': '516.566', 'text': 'which one matched the way'}, {'start': '516.566', 'end': '518.533', 'text': 'Christ spoke of transformation'}, {'start': '518.533', 'end': '521.333', 'text': 'new birth and becoming a new creation'}, {'start': '521.800', 'end': '523.733', 'text': 'second Corinthians 5:17'}, {'start': '524.266', 'end': '525.000', 'text': 'deep down'}, {'start': '525.000', 'end': '527.833', 'text': "I knew the Catholic view wasn't just more beautiful"}, {'start': '527.866', 'end': '529.966', 'text': 'it was more true then'}, {'start': '529.966', 'end': '532.733', 'text': 'came a turning point that I could never have scripted'}, {'start': '533.133', 'end': '536.000', 'text': 'tentatively and with more suspicion than hope'}, {'start': '536.000', 'end': '539.733', 'text': 'I agreed to attend a Catholic Mass just once'}, {'start': '539.733', 'end': '540.733', 'text': 'I told myself'}, {'start': '542.000', 'end': '544.066', 'text': 'I needed to see with my own eyes'}, {'start': '544.066', 'end': '546.633', 'text': 'why these Catholics clung so stubbornly'}, {'start': '546.633', 'end': '549.500', 'text': 'to their traditions I braced myself'}, {'start': '549.566', 'end': '552.066', 'text': 'for what I expected would be an empty ritual'}, {'start': '552.066', 'end': '554.933', 'text': 'a cold ceremony devoid of spirit'}, {'start': '555.266', 'end': '558.533', 'text': 'but what I found shattered my expectations'}, {'start': '559.133', 'end': '560.666', 'text': 'from the very first moment'}, {'start': '560.666', 'end': '563.633', 'text': 'something stirred as the procession began'}, {'start': '563.633', 'end': '565.900', 'text': 'the opening hymn filled the church'}, {'start': '566.033', 'end': '567.733', 'text': "Saint Patrick's breastplate"}, {'start': '568.000', 'end': '569.933', 'text': 'my heart caught in my throat'}, {'start': '570.000', 'end': '572.800', 'text': 'for weeks I had been privately praying'}, {'start': '572.800', 'end': '574.566', 'text': 'portions of that ancient prayer'}, {'start': '574.566', 'end': '576.533', 'text': 'without even knowing its origin'}, {'start': '576.866', 'end': '580.466', 'text': 'and now here it was sung by a congregation'}, {'start': '580.466', 'end': '582.933', 'text': 'proclaimed boldly in the house of god'}, {'start': '583.233', 'end': '585.466', 'text': "I couldn't chalk that up to coincidence"}, {'start': '585.466', 'end': '588.766', 'text': 'something or rather someone was orchestrating this'}, {'start': '589.166', 'end': '592.733', 'text': 'everywhere I turned scripture saturated the mass'}, {'start': '592.766', 'end': '594.166', 'text': 'the readings the Psalms'}, {'start': '594.166', 'end': '596.600', 'text': 'the prayers the very structure of the liturgy'}, {'start': '596.600', 'end': '598.900', 'text': 'it all breathed the word of god'}, {'start': '599.000', 'end': '600.066', 'text': 'and the reverence'}, {'start': '600.233', 'end': '603.066', 'text': 'the awe struck silence during the consecration'}, {'start': '603.066', 'end': '605.200', 'text': 'the profound gestures of worship'}, {'start': '605.200', 'end': '608.866', 'text': 'it was unmistakable god is here'}, {'start': '608.866', 'end': '611.866', 'text': 'not merely symbolically not hypothetically'}, {'start': '611.866', 'end': '614.433', 'text': 'really truly substantially'}, {'start': '614.733', 'end': '617.466', 'text': 'I had walked into that mass expecting boredom'}, {'start': '617.466', 'end': '619.166', 'text': 'I walked out trembling'}, {'start': '619.166', 'end': '621.533', 'text': 'wondering if I had just encountered heaven'}, {'start': '621.533', 'end': '622.633', 'text': 'touching earth'}, {'start': '623.366', 'end': '627.733', 'text': 'still there remained one enormous stumbling block Mary'}, {'start': '628.333', 'end': '630.000', 'text': 'I had been trained to fear'}, {'start': '630.000', 'end': '632.900', 'text': 'anything that resembled praying to the dead'}, {'start': '633.066', 'end': '636.033', 'text': "wasn't this spiritual treason idolatry"}, {'start': '636.366', 'end': '639.133', 'text': 'yet the Catholics I spoke to insisted otherwise'}, {'start': '639.533', 'end': '641.166', 'text': 'hesitantly almost trembling'}, {'start': '641.166', 'end': '643.366', 'text': 'I decided to experiment'}, {'start': '643.966', 'end': '645.366', 'text': 'late one night alone'}, {'start': '645.366', 'end': '647.733', 'text': 'I picked up a rosary for the first time'}, {'start': '647.866', 'end': '649.833', 'text': 'my hands shook as I prayed'}, {'start': '649.833', 'end': '653.066', 'text': 'half expecting a bolt of lightning to strike me down'}, {'start': '653.066', 'end': '655.700', 'text': 'but instead what I found was peace'}, {'start': '655.766', 'end': '659.700', 'text': 'a maternal gentle peace that LED me deeper into Christ'}, {'start': '659.966', 'end': '662.733', 'text': 'slowly my heart opened to understand Mary'}, {'start': '662.733', 'end': '664.433', 'text': 'not as a rival to Christ'}, {'start': '664.433', 'end': '666.733', 'text': 'but as his most faithful servant'}, {'start': '667.366', 'end': '669.400', 'text': 'it was through studying Scripture'}, {'start': '669.400', 'end': '671.333', 'text': 'that the final veil lifted'}, {'start': '672.000', 'end': '675.033', 'text': 'I saw how in the Old Testament Bathsheba'}, {'start': '675.033', 'end': '677.900', 'text': 'the Queen Mother sat beside King Solomon'}, {'start': '678.000', 'end': '679.366', 'text': 'interceding for the people'}, {'start': '679.366', 'end': '680.933', 'text': 'first kings 2:19'}, {'start': '681.833', 'end': '684.800', 'text': "if David's son honored his mother's intercession"}, {'start': '684.800', 'end': '686.933', 'text': 'how much more would the true son of David'}, {'start': '686.933', 'end': '688.100', 'text': 'honor his mother'}, {'start': '688.733', 'end': '690.966', 'text': "Mary didn't steal glory from her son"}, {'start': '690.966', 'end': '693.066', 'text': 'she magnified it her soul'}, {'start': '693.066', 'end': '694.366', 'text': 'after all proclaimed'}, {'start': '694.366', 'end': '696.566', 'text': 'my soul magnifies the Lord'}, {'start': '696.633', 'end': '701.033', 'text': 'Luke 1:46 she existed not to eclipse Christ'}, {'start': '701.033', 'end': '703.366', 'text': 'but to draw all eyes to him'}, {'start': '703.533', 'end': '705.333', 'text': 'the realization flooded me'}, {'start': '705.333', 'end': '706.933', 'text': 'the Catholic love for Mary'}, {'start': '706.933', 'end': '708.966', 'text': 'was not about diminishing Christ'}, {'start': '709.000', 'end': '710.200', 'text': 'it was about embracing'}, {'start': '710.200', 'end': '712.533', 'text': 'the full richness of the incarnation'}, {'start': '712.733', 'end': '716.300', 'text': "God had chosen to enter the world through a woman's yes"}, {'start': '716.433', 'end': '719.333', 'text': 'how could I reject what god himself had honored'}, {'start': '719.633', 'end': '722.466', 'text': 'yet the final death blow to my old world view'}, {'start': '722.466', 'end': '725.366', 'text': 'came not from emotions but from history'}, {'start': '725.866', 'end': '728.866', 'text': 'determined to disprove Catholic claims once and for all'}, {'start': '728.866', 'end': '732.066', 'text': 'I plunged into the writings of the early Church Fathers'}, {'start': '732.433', 'end': '734.466', 'text': 'men like Ignatius of Antioch'}, {'start': '734.466', 'end': '736.466', 'text': 'Polycarp Clement of Rome'}, {'start': '736.600', 'end': '739.866', 'text': 'leaders who sat at the feet of the apostles themselves'}, {'start': '740.233', 'end': '742.266', 'text': 'what I found astounded me'}, {'start': '742.766', 'end': '745.133', 'text': 'these earliest Christians spoke of the Eucharist'}, {'start': '745.133', 'end': '747.666', 'text': 'as the literal body and blood of Christ'}, {'start': '747.833', 'end': '749.933', 'text': "they spoke of the bishop's authority"}, {'start': '750.100', 'end': '752.966', 'text': 'they spoke of a church that was visible hierarchical'}, {'start': '752.966', 'end': '754.566', 'text': 'sacramental and Catholic'}, {'start': '754.766', 'end': '756.833', 'text': "this wasn't medieval corruption"}, {'start': '756.833', 'end': '758.666', 'text': "this wasn't a later invention"}, {'start': '758.666', 'end': '761.033', 'text': 'this was Christianity ancient'}, {'start': '761.033', 'end': '764.466', 'text': 'apostolic and unmistakably Catholic'}, {'start': '765.600', 'end': '768.066', 'text': 'and then came the crushing realization'}, {'start': '768.266', 'end': '770.166', 'text': 'if I clung to Sola Scriptura'}, {'start': '770.166', 'end': '773.166', 'text': 'the idea that scripture alone was the sole authority'}, {'start': '773.200', 'end': '776.500', 'text': 'I had no way to explain where the Bible even came from'}, {'start': '776.833', 'end': '780.233', 'text': "after all the New Testament didn't drop from the sky"}, {'start': '780.866', 'end': '782.433', 'text': 'it was the Catholic Church'}, {'start': '782.433', 'end': '783.833', 'text': 'guided by the Holy Spirit'}, {'start': '783.833', 'end': '787.333', 'text': 'that discerned preserved and canonized the scriptures'}, {'start': '787.366', 'end': '789.766', 'text': 'without the church there would be no Bible'}, {'start': '790.266', 'end': '792.833', 'text': 'the very foundation of my Protestant identity'}, {'start': '792.833', 'end': '794.133', 'text': 'crumbled beneath me'}, {'start': '794.133', 'end': '796.766', 'text': 'I had claimed the Bible as my only authority'}, {'start': '796.766', 'end': '800.033', 'text': 'while unknowingly relying on Catholic authority'}, {'start': '800.033', 'end': '802.533', 'text': 'to tell me what the Bible even was'}, {'start': '803.133', 'end': '806.466', 'text': 'it was a devastating undeniable fact'}, {'start': '807.000', 'end': '810.533', 'text': "I wasn't just facing the collapse of Calvinism"}, {'start': '810.566', 'end': '813.066', 'text': 'I was facing the collapse of the entire'}, {'start': '813.066', 'end': '816.133', 'text': 'Reformation framework for the first time'}, {'start': '816.133', 'end': '819.366', 'text': 'I understood Christ did not leave us orphans'}, {'start': '820.033', 'end': '823.066', 'text': 'he founded a church visible living'}, {'start': '823.166', 'end': '824.166', 'text': 'spirit filled'}, {'start': '824.733', 'end': '826.133', 'text': 'and I was being invited'}, {'start': '826.133', 'end': '829.500', 'text': 'through Providence and Grace to come home to her'}, {'start': '830.566', 'end': '831.600', 'text': 'there comes a moment'}, {'start': '831.600', 'end': '834.033', 'text': 'when argument must yield to adoration'}, {'start': '834.633', 'end': '837.100', 'text': 'when pride must give way to peace'}, {'start': '838.333', 'end': '840.633', 'text': 'for me that moment came with clarity'}, {'start': '840.633', 'end': '843.066', 'text': 'and a freedom I had never known before'}, {'start': '843.533', 'end': '847.433', 'text': 'I could fight no longer I surrendered freely'}, {'start': '847.433', 'end': '849.366', 'text': 'fully and without condition'}, {'start': '849.633', 'end': '851.700', 'text': 'to the truth of the Catholic Church'}, {'start': '852.333', 'end': '854.766', 'text': "it wasn't a reluctant capitulation"}, {'start': '854.766', 'end': '857.766', 'text': 'it was the joyful embrace of a long lost son'}, {'start': '857.766', 'end': '860.300', 'text': "running home to his father's house"}, {'start': '860.966', 'end': '862.166', 'text': 'I enrolled in R C I'}, {'start': '862.166', 'end': '864.400', 'text': 'a hungry to be prepared for the sacraments'}, {'start': '864.400', 'end': '865.633', 'text': 'I had once mocked'}, {'start': '865.833', 'end': '868.766', 'text': 'every session was like uncovering buried treasure'}, {'start': '868.966', 'end': '871.433', 'text': 'every teaching was another piece of the tapestry'}, {'start': '871.433', 'end': '873.200', 'text': 'that made the gospel not smaller'}, {'start': '873.200', 'end': '874.000', 'text': 'but bigger'}, {'start': '874.000', 'end': '877.133', 'text': 'and more glorious than I had ever dared to hope'}, {'start': '877.400', 'end': '879.666', 'text': 'yet conversion has its costs'}, {'start': '879.733', 'end': '881.433', 'text': 'the relationship I had been in'}, {'start': '881.433', 'end': '885.066', 'text': 'already strained could not survive my newfound faith'}, {'start': '885.466', 'end': '888.500', 'text': 'she did not understand could not accept my decision'}, {'start': '889.000', 'end': '891.266', 'text': 'with deep sorrow I ended it'}, {'start': '891.266', 'end': '893.066', 'text': 'choosing obedience to Christ'}, {'start': '893.066', 'end': '895.833', 'text': 'over the comfort of clinging to human approval'}, {'start': '895.833', 'end': '899.366', 'text': 'it hurt it cost me tears and sleepless nights'}, {'start': '899.466', 'end': '900.666', 'text': 'but for the first time'}, {'start': '900.666', 'end': '904.066', 'text': 'I knew that true love demands sacrifice'}, {'start': '904.066', 'end': '906.800', 'text': 'and this love for Christ for his church'}, {'start': '906.800', 'end': '908.166', 'text': 'was worth everything'}, {'start': '908.433', 'end': '911.066', 'text': 'the day I was received into the Catholic Church'}, {'start': '911.066', 'end': '913.666', 'text': 'remains the happiest day of my life'}, {'start': '914.000', 'end': '916.233', 'text': 'I can still remember the taste of tears'}, {'start': '916.233', 'end': '918.466', 'text': 'mingling with the Eucharist on my tongue'}, {'start': '918.866', 'end': '921.433', 'text': 'for the first time I received not a symbol'}, {'start': '921.433', 'end': '924.066', 'text': 'but the real presence the body'}, {'start': '924.066', 'end': '927.300', 'text': 'blood soul and divinity of Jesus Christ'}, {'start': '927.333', 'end': '930.033', 'text': 'I was home I was finally home'}, {'start': '930.166', 'end': '932.266', 'text': 'the church that had seemed so foreign'}, {'start': '932.266', 'end': '935.166', 'text': 'so distant had now become my mother'}, {'start': '935.266', 'end': '938.466', 'text': 'and as if to confirm that Grace overflows in abundance'}, {'start': '938.533', 'end': '940.133', 'text': 'others began to follow'}, {'start': '941.200', 'end': '942.400', 'text': 'my closest friends'}, {'start': '942.400', 'end': '945.066', 'text': 'who had once joined me in debating Catholics'}, {'start': '945.066', 'end': '947.266', 'text': 'started asking questions of their own'}, {'start': '947.566', 'end': '949.166', 'text': 'they saw the change in me'}, {'start': '949.166', 'end': '951.033', 'text': 'not merely a theological shift'}, {'start': '951.033', 'end': '953.033', 'text': 'but a transformation of heart'}, {'start': '953.333', 'end': '955.166', 'text': 'and one by one they too'}, {'start': '955.166', 'end': '957.166', 'text': 'found themselves drawn to the mass'}, {'start': '957.200', 'end': '958.366', 'text': 'to the sacraments'}, {'start': '958.400', 'end': '961.033', 'text': "to the living reality of Christ's church"}, {'start': '961.766', 'end': '963.666', 'text': 'it was not through winning arguments'}, {'start': '963.666', 'end': '964.966', 'text': 'but through the quiet'}, {'start': '965.000', 'end': '968.100', 'text': 'visible work of Grace that hearts were moved'}, {'start': '968.233', 'end': '969.966', 'text': 'of all the treasures I discovered'}, {'start': '969.966', 'end': '971.866', 'text': 'none impacted me more deeply'}, {'start': '971.866', 'end': '973.833', 'text': 'than the sacrament of confession'}, {'start': '974.366', 'end': '977.166', 'text': 'I had thought repentance was a private matter'}, {'start': '977.266', 'end': '980.300', 'text': 'a silent cry between me and god'}, {'start': '980.433', 'end': '983.700', 'text': 'but in confession I encountered something astonishing'}, {'start': '983.900', 'end': '986.666', 'text': 'a father who speaks words of absolution'}, {'start': '986.666', 'end': '989.366', 'text': 'a tangible embrace of divine mercy'}, {'start': '989.600', 'end': '991.633', 'text': 'every wound I carried sins'}, {'start': '991.633', 'end': '993.200', 'text': 'regrets fears'}, {'start': '993.200', 'end': '995.433', 'text': 'was laid bare and washed clean'}, {'start': '996.400', 'end': '997.366', 'text': 'again and again'}, {'start': '997.366', 'end': '1000.400', 'text': 'I found that the confessional was not a place of shame'}, {'start': '1000.400', 'end': '1002.500', 'text': 'but a fountain of healing'}, {'start': '1003.233', 'end': '1004.366', 'text': 'through the sacraments'}, {'start': '1004.366', 'end': '1007.066', 'text': 'life blossomed in ways I never imagined'}, {'start': '1007.066', 'end': '1010.133', 'text': 'marriages were restored addictions were broken'}, {'start': '1010.133', 'end': '1012.866', 'text': 'hearts hardened by years of cynicism'}, {'start': '1012.866', 'end': '1015.433', 'text': 'melted under the warmth of divine love'}, {'start': '1015.466', 'end': '1017.766', 'text': 'and I the stubborn anti Catholic'}, {'start': '1017.966', 'end': '1019.833', 'text': 'stood as a living testimony'}, {'start': '1019.833', 'end': '1022.500', 'text': 'that nothing is impossible for god'}, {'start': '1022.766', 'end': '1024.400', 'text': 'and yet through all of this'}, {'start': '1024.400', 'end': '1025.733', 'text': 'one lesson stood out'}, {'start': '1025.733', 'end': '1028.466', 'text': 'more clearly than any theological insight'}, {'start': '1028.466', 'end': '1030.266', 'text': 'or historical discovery'}, {'start': '1030.433', 'end': '1033.333', 'text': 'people are not one to Christ by arguments alone'}, {'start': '1033.333', 'end': '1034.400', 'text': 'truth matters oh'}, {'start': '1034.400', 'end': '1037.366', 'text': 'it matters but truth must be married to love'}, {'start': '1037.366', 'end': '1039.166', 'text': 'it is not enough to win debates'}, {'start': '1039.266', 'end': '1040.666', 'text': 'we must win heart'}, {'start': '1041.000', 'end': '1044.733', 'text': 'what drew me in the end was not simply airtight logic'}, {'start': '1044.733', 'end': '1045.866', 'text': 'but the patient'}, {'start': '1045.866', 'end': '1049.066', 'text': 'radiant charity of Catholics who lived their faith'}, {'start': '1049.366', 'end': '1051.566', 'text': 'who loved me when I was combative'}, {'start': '1051.766', 'end': '1053.900', 'text': 'who prayed for me when I was blind'}, {'start': '1054.133', 'end': '1055.733', 'text': 'who listened patiently'}, {'start': '1055.800', 'end': '1058.933', 'text': 'spoke gently and trusted that the Holy Spirit'}, {'start': '1058.933', 'end': '1062.133', 'text': 'not their cleverness would do the heavy lifting'}, {'start': '1063.233', 'end': '1065.933', 'text': 'the true path to conversion is not domination'}, {'start': '1065.933', 'end': '1068.466', 'text': 'it is witness it is the persevering'}, {'start': '1068.466', 'end': '1071.833', 'text': 'humble courageous act of living Catholicism so fully'}, {'start': '1071.833', 'end': '1074.766', 'text': 'so joyfully that others cannot help but wonder'}, {'start': '1074.766', 'end': '1076.566', 'text': 'what treasure you have found'}, {'start': '1076.700', 'end': '1078.533', 'text': 'it is inviting them kindly'}, {'start': '1078.533', 'end': '1080.766', 'text': 'without pressure to come and see'}, {'start': '1080.933', 'end': '1081.966', 'text': 'it is trusting'}, {'start': '1081.966', 'end': '1085.133', 'text': 'that a single encounter with Christ in the sacraments'}, {'start': '1085.166', 'end': '1088.266', 'text': 'can do more than 1,000 arguments ever could'}, {'start': '1088.333', 'end': '1091.100', 'text': 'above all it is patient prayer'}, {'start': '1091.233', 'end': '1092.533', 'text': 'quiet unseen'}, {'start': '1092.533', 'end': '1094.100', 'text': 'often tearful prayer'}, {'start': '1094.166', 'end': '1096.000', 'text': 'the kind of prayer that storms heaven'}, {'start': '1096.000', 'end': '1099.566', 'text': 'on behalf of souls still wandering far from home'}, {'start': '1099.833', 'end': '1102.566', 'text': 'looking back I can say with full certainty'}, {'start': '1102.600', 'end': '1104.800', 'text': 'my journey into the Catholic Church'}, {'start': '1104.800', 'end': '1106.966', 'text': 'was not the triumph of my intellect'}, {'start': '1107.133', 'end': '1110.066', 'text': 'it was the conquest of my heart by love'}, {'start': '1110.433', 'end': '1112.700', 'text': 'and so I live now in gratitude'}, {'start': '1112.933', 'end': '1116.333', 'text': 'gratitude to a savior who did not abandon me'}, {'start': '1116.333', 'end': '1119.033', 'text': 'when I thought I had found truth elsewhere'}, {'start': '1119.333', 'end': '1121.366', 'text': 'gratitude to a Mother Mary'}, {'start': '1121.366', 'end': '1122.666', 'text': 'who prayed for me'}, {'start': '1122.666', 'end': '1125.300', 'text': 'when I was too proud to even acknowledge her'}, {'start': '1125.866', 'end': '1127.733', 'text': 'gratitude to Saint Joseph'}, {'start': '1127.733', 'end': '1130.966', 'text': 'the silent guardian who showed me by his example'}, {'start': '1130.966', 'end': '1133.900', 'text': 'what true obedience and trust look like'}, {'start': '1134.600', 'end': '1138.166', 'text': 'I give thanks every day that god used even my rebellion'}, {'start': '1138.200', 'end': '1141.466', 'text': 'even my stubbornness even my misplaced zeal'}, {'start': '1141.466', 'end': '1142.666', 'text': 'as the crooked lines'}, {'start': '1142.666', 'end': '1145.266', 'text': 'through which he would write his perfect story'}, {'start': '1145.566', 'end': '1147.433', 'text': 'I once fought against the church'}, {'start': '1147.433', 'end': '1149.066', 'text': 'now I fight for her'}, {'start': '1149.466', 'end': '1151.766', 'text': 'I once sought to pull people out of her'}, {'start': '1151.766', 'end': '1154.400', 'text': 'now I invite them in hand in hand'}, {'start': '1154.400', 'end': '1157.000', 'text': 'heart to heart and to those who'}, {'start': '1157.000', 'end': '1160.666', 'text': 'like I once was still stand on the outside looking in'}, {'start': '1160.666', 'end': '1162.033', 'text': 'wondering doubting'}, {'start': '1162.033', 'end': '1163.866', 'text': 'fearing I say this'}, {'start': '1164.000', 'end': '1165.700', 'text': 'take the first step'}, {'start': '1165.833', 'end': '1168.300', 'text': 'walk through the doors of a Catholic church'}, {'start': '1168.466', 'end': '1170.266', 'text': 'kneel down listen'}, {'start': '1170.333', 'end': '1173.600', 'text': 'open your heart you may be surprised to discover'}, {'start': '1173.600', 'end': '1175.400', 'text': "that the one you've been searching for"}, {'start': '1175.400', 'end': '1177.566', 'text': 'all along is already there'}, {'start': '1177.566', 'end': '1180.266', 'text': 'waiting for you hidden in the Tabernacle'}, {'start': '1180.266', 'end': '1183.333', 'text': 'radiating a love that never gives up'}, {'start': '1183.466', 'end': '1186.333', 'text': 'he is here the church is home'}, {'start': '1186.433', 'end': '1188.833', 'text': 'and no matter how far you have wandered'}, {'start': '1188.833', 'end': '1191.033', 'text': 'no matter how strong your resistance'}, {'start': '1191.133', 'end': '1193.633', 'text': 'no matter how loud your doubts'}, {'start': '1193.733', 'end': '1195.566', 'text': 'he is calling you still'}, {'start': '1195.566', 'end': '1196.466', 'text': 'come home'}, {'start': '1196.733', 'end': '1199.866', 'text': 'if this journey has stirred something in your heart'}, {'start': '1199.866', 'end': '1201.766', 'text': 'if you find yourself wondering'}, {'start': '1201.766', 'end': '1203.733', 'text': 'whether there might be more to faith'}, {'start': '1203.733', 'end': '1205.033', 'text': 'than you ever imagined'}, {'start': '1205.800', 'end': '1208.433', 'text': 'I invite you to continue walking with us'}, {'start': '1209.033', 'end': '1210.800', 'text': 'subscribe to Compatibility World'}, {'start': '1210.800', 'end': '1212.633', 'text': 'to deepen your understanding'}, {'start': '1212.633', 'end': '1214.266', 'text': 'to strengthen your soul'}, {'start': '1214.266', 'end': '1216.200', 'text': 'and to join a community that seeks'}, {'start': '1216.200', 'end': '1219.166', 'text': "the fullness of truth don't stay at the threshold"}, {'start': '1219.166', 'end': '1221.233', 'text': 'step forward explore question'}, {'start': '1221.233', 'end': '1224.666', 'text': 'Discover Christ is calling you deeper will you answer'}]