Rating: 
Summary: Open to the Truth?
Review: "Surprised by Truth" is a fantastic book telling the story of recent converts to the Catholic Church. This book describes the pain and anguish that one goes through to find the truth and have the courage to follow it. The historical, Scriptural, and logical reasons for joining the Catholic Church are solid throughout the book. Those who are unconvinced by the arguements used in this book are probably not really interested in the truth. If a person would just open his heart and mind to Jesus and read this book openly, they would find the joy of discovering the fullness of Christian Truth. Don't let this book pass you by. Don't read it with your mind already made up. If you are not Catholic, I pray that you will reach out to Jesus and accept his full Gospel. Who knows, if you do this you may be the next person who was "Surprised by the Truth." Reviewed by Gospel Truth Ministries.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprised by What?
Review: The Churches are filling up with former Roman Catholics as the sheep leave for green pastures - the Bible-oriented "Protestant" churches. How are we to stop this rupture in membership asks the Roman Church? Realizing that personal testimony has been the vehicle through which many became Christians in the first place, we have in this book the carefully written testimonies of eleven converts to Roman Catholicism - all supposedly from evangelical denominations.In the endeavor to convince the reader to either convert or to stay in "the Church Christ founded", Catholic apologists must convince people that the Bible is not sufficient but must be supplemented by other teachings and the interpretation by the Magisterium must be superimposed upon it. Thus, you have a litany of Roman Church apologetics defenses dispersed in with these testimonies in defense of the "one true faith". A common denominator to these testimonies is the constant repetition of the same tired out arguments for Roman supremacy with the main focus being a denial of the sufficiency of Scripture, the "fractured" nature of Protestantism in light of the alleged unity of Rome, and the alleged unanimous consent of the early church fathers regarding the teachings of Roman Church's tradition. Much of the Scriptural support from these eleven converts is either out of context or based upon very bad exegetics of key passages of Scriptures. For instance, all believed that the Church as established by Christ, was build upon apostolic succession from St. Peter. However, any good church historian would reveal that none of the early church fathers subscribed to apostolic succession based upon St. Peter. Available at Amazon.com is the book "The Matthew 16 Controversy - Peter and the Rock" by Webster that should convince anyone who really wants to know the historical facts regarding apostolic succession. I would recommend this book before buying into that religious-political theory as provided by the Roman Church. At the center of focus for these converts is the participation in the Eucharist deemed necessary for salvation. All of them believing that the bread and wine becomes the actual body and blood of Christ and all of them believing that the Roman Mass has the support of all the early church fathers in that doctrinal viewpoint. The fact is that the early fathers did not support much that is modern Roman Catholicism. St Augustine, for instance, did not buy into transubstantiation at all; neither did many of the other church fathers. Roman Catholic apologists tend to use history in very selective ways to support their distinctive doctrinal views, attempting to take advantage of the fact that many non-Catholics simply do not know history well enough provide counter evidence. Former Roman Catholic William Webster has written several highly documented books on Church history that clearly brings into doubt many of the historical claims for Roman Church doctrines. I recommend strongly that one purchase a copy of "The Church of Rome at the Bar of History" (also available through Amazon.com) to be able to really see that much in modern Protestantism was not invented in the 16th century as these converts content. We can easily see that early church history presents not just the Roman Church view, but most of the views we find today; "There is the literal view of transubstantiation which could be that expressed by Chrysostom; the Lutheran view of consubstantiation, which could be taught by Irenaeus or Justin Martyr; the spiritual view of Calvin, which is closely aligned with St. Augustine; and the strictly symbolic view of Zwingli, which is similar to that expressed by Eusebius" (see Webster, page 122). To the symbolic view, Webster adds Theodoret, Serapion, Jerome, Athanasius, Ambrosiaster, Macarius of Egypt, and Eustathius of Antioch. According to some apologists, "Church history is fascinating and has value, but it is a house of cards for anyone trying to construct infallible dogmas or biblical doctrines." Webster goes on to state that "even Pope Gelasius I (c. 496 A.D.) denied transubstantiation." And Pope Adrian IV rejected papal infallibility. All of the converts to Roman Catholicism make an issue of the alleged disunity of Protestantism with the claim that God has promised to keep His church together. But the truth of the gospel is the real cornerstone and foundation to the whole issue of unity. A close look at Roman Catholicism will reveal much disunity in their ranks as most Roman Catholics are really "Cafeteria Catholics" - carefully selecting what they will accept or reject from the Roman Church hierarchy. Unity, I believe, will be achievable eventually as we see in the book of Revelation, a church headed by the anti-Christ with all opposition brutally crushed. These eleven converts try hard to point out that the Roman Church is a church united and has always been united in its doctrinal beliefs but hopefully someday they will truly be "surprised by the Truth".
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring for Cradle Catholics
Review: This is an excellent book for cradle and newly received Catholics alike. These conversion stories highlight how important conversions to the Catholic faith are for the Church. These people bring with them a contagious enthusiasm for Our Blessed Lord and the many treasures of His Church. As a cradle Catholic with a formal education in theology, this book shed new light on truths that I had been prone to take for granted. I highly recommend that all cradle Catholics read this book and the others in the series, and attend the next Easter vigil Mass to deepen their appreciation for their faith in Christ, His Church, and His promises.
Rating:
Summary: Great book! Ignore the negative reviews.
Review: Ignore the negative reviews on this book, most of these people were anti-Catholic to begin with. Protestants and non-Catholics alike will always try to justify there misconceptions of the Catholic Church even if it means purposely ignoring facts.
For those searching for truth, feel free to pick up this book.
I also recommend books by Karl Keeting and Fr Sheed.
For those looking for more information regarding Catholicism and have questions, feel free to visit: http://forums.catholic-convert.com
God Bless.
Rating: 
Summary: Deception - plain and simple
Review: As a former catholic I bought this book to enighten me on my past. What it did infact was prove to me that I was lost then as a catholic. I was taught by many priests that all NON-Catholics did not beleive in God and are all going to hell. I was taught that in oder to have my sins forgivin I was to confess to a priest, I was never encouraged to read the bible only hate non-catholics. Jesus said in JOHN 15 I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE NO ONE COMES ONTO THE FATHER BUT BY ME. we cannot get to god through a priest or by vain ritual. we must be saved. this book only attempts to hide the fact of saving faith in christ and alludes that only through the roman catholic system can one get to glory. I pray that someone might read this and realise that the Roman Catholic system has nothing to offer but misery and eternal suffering.
Soon all the world will see who is behind this great deception.
Rating:
Summary: Surprised by Truth
Review: This book is EXCELLENT! I'm so thankful there's a book out there that explains everything that I've known and felt, but could not put into words to defend. So many good 'bible christian Protestants' think that their way is the true way, but how can one honestly believe this when so many Protestant religions totally disagree on scripture passages?How can one think it acceptable to interpret the bible however they want to??! Gee, what an awesome thing if it were actually true that we could do anything we wanted on earth, commit any sin we like, and that when we die, we'll just automatically go to heaven! It's sad that so many people are deceived by this (by the devil, no doubt...the Master of Deception!) Boy, are they in for a surprise on Judgement Day! If one would just be open and pray for GUIDANCE, one would most definitely come Home to the One, True Church...the church Jesus HIMSELF started...The Catholic Church...not some church started by a human in the 1500s!!!!
Rating:
Summary: To "a reader" (who might consider doing just that)
Review: No, Christ wasn't Catholic. He was Jewish. But he did found a church, and that church is visible and structured, and is the Catholic (meaning simply 'universal') Church. I would hope that those interested in learning about this book would be able to look beyond the childish polemics of "a reader" (nothing inspires confidence quite like anonymity) and see this book for what it is: a set of 11 conversion stories. Each author in this book presents a different story, each dealing with a different topic in his/her own words. Chances are, none of the stories will relate to your particular situation perfectly. But chances are also that each and every one of them will relate in some way or another. This is an excellent beginning apologetics book. It presents some clear and convincing arguments for the existence and primacy of Christ's Church, and likely will make you laugh and cry along the way. Most highly recommended. ...
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