Gavin Ortlund on Cameron Bertuzzi's Conversion to Catholicism

In this episode Trent reflects on Cameron Bertuzzi’s recent conversion to Catholicism and Protestant apologist Gavin Ortlund’s take on the subject.

[joker]

thanks for all your content, Trent. i came across your debate with James White about 2 years ago as a protestant, and ever since my mind was changed about eternal security, i’ve prayed a lot about where i stood and did countless hours of research, and i’m now in the process of becoming confirmed. thanks be to God 🙏🏻

[rachela.]

I was raised Baptist and converted to Catholicism three years ago. I love being Catholic! There's so much richness, fullness, and beauty! I can't imagine being anywhere else.

[lyterman]

Spot on with the issue of "can Protestants believe whatever they want?"

I essentially made the same point to Dr. Ortlund in his comments, and he refused to give. I asked him, "if an evangelical becomes a universalist and leaves his church to find one that tolerates his views, is he still Protestant?", and he said, "Yes, but he will still be bound by the new church's statement of faith." Then there's no point in a statement of faith if you can just go find another church and still be "Protestant"!

[DrChaunceyBlevins]

All I know is this. I was pursuing Catholicism before my wife, and it helped us immensely as a couple to follow Cameron on his journey. I will inevitably join before her, but we are at a peace we didn’t have before seeing someone else walk this walk. God bless.

[ryandersones]

I used to be a Protestant and I feel like you can find, like Gavin says, well some Protestant churches believe that, or you can find a variation of that in this denomination. It wasn't until I found the Catholic Faith where I found ALL of the faith, the fullness of the truth. Not just bits and pieces here and there.

[MarquesGoetsch]

My question for Gavin is, “Where is this Protestant Church you describe?” You can’t just pick and choose the best of all these Protestant traditions if these best traditions don’t exist in one church.

[BrewMeister]

Trent, thank you for fleshing out the point of individualism vs authority. Gavin's point on denominations having strict confessions of faith doesn't matter if your criteria for choosing a denomination is based on your individual theological beliefs. That's really the story of protestantism, decide for yourself what the Gospel is and join the church that agrees with you. And if that church doesn't exist, start your own.

[wjtruax]

In regard to the sacrament of reconciliation: the sanctity of the confessional cannot be overstated as an extremely important aspect of Catholic doctrine and practice. Once a believer finally accepts that no priest will ever divulge the confessions of a supplicant, the beauty of confession increases exponentially.

[jakubratajczak]

I was born and raised as catholic. Never understood it's teaching, so gradually I did left. Some time after my conversion I joined local protestant church. God did allow this, it was good preschool to re-learn basic stuff, but as soon as I considered going back to the Catholic Church, the Holy Spirit took that thought and took me on a crazy ride. Glad to be back!

[josealzaibar]

Sola Scriptura kills the idea that you must adhere to what a particular church teaches. It's literally designed to undermine adhesion to a church, originally it was the Catholic Church 500 years ago, but now it can be applied to any Christian church. So it's absurd that Gavin could even defend the idea that a Protestant must adhere to a church, the very origins of Protestantism are rejection to being subject to Church authority and instead shifted it to Scripture.

[John-iqzt]

Trent, you are a blessing for the Church. Thank you for what you do.

[jonw]

Well put, Trent. I've realized recently that there's a difference between when a Protestant (like myself prior to my conversion) is interested in the Catholic faith, and when a Protestant wants to have an irenic understanding of Catholicism from the outside. The former seems to be able to make certain distinctions "from within" and the latter seems to only operate regularly at one level of nuance. Thus, one person can see that the Sacrament of Penance is substantively different in the Catholic system and eager look forward to absolution, whereas the other sees confession as an action which can be taken by any willing party (e.g. in a small group). The discerning convert desires what the Catholic Church uniquely offers in Confession, whereas the interlocutor tends to reduce it to a devotional phenomenon and thus available outside of the Church.

[antpassalacqua]

I feel badly for Cameron, on one hand. Joining the true Church is obviously worth it, but it probably feels bad to have everyone analyzing, psycoanalyzing, questioning, etc your conversion.

[gardenladyjimenez]

Age 40+ I was an agnostic/atheist. Disinterested. I had no interest in God - existing or not. BOOM!! A loooong story. Inviting a foster-daughter into our family led me under a stained glass window where I asked, "OK, just tell me...are you real?"
Trent, your words here to Cameron are words of tremendous guidance! This combox is not big enough to entertain my own personal story from secularism - "godism" - to Christianity - Catholicism. May God make use of this podcast for any person on the journey, and may it offer support and guidance to Cameron and his family.

[juneluk]

Trent thank you for your great work to defend our Catholic Faith. May God bless you and your family with abundant blessings.

[markikn]

Coming Soon: James White on Trent Horn on Gavin Ortlund on Cameron Bertuzzi on...

...and on, and on, and on

[Chicken_of_Bristol]

Trent: Doesn't do response videos to response videos on his own content.

Also Trent: Does response videos to response videos on other people's content!

JK Trent. Love all your work.

[jennipherkafula]

There have been so many reactions to Cameron’s conversion my head is still reeling 🤯 I had to stay away from YouTube for a bit😂 I feel for the man- and for all of us too going from one reaction video to the next. Not that I don’t appreciate the work everyone is putting in but we also need to keep in mind and be careful not just to be feeding curiosity and appetites. Anyhow we keep praying for Cameron and thanks for the video Trent!

[PolymorphicPenguin]

Trent, I love how you say nice things about Gavin Ortlund even though you disagree with him on many issues. It's so refreshing to hear someone not talk trash about the other side.

[rosepetalmemories]

I think Gavin and you should give Cameron more credit. This was not a quick decision for Cameron. He did a lot of studying, reading and speaking with amazing Catholic like Scott Hahn. He went through Catholicism point by point. He went through many Protestant religions. Their viewpoints or what they profess to be true. He struggled through much of this process. He needed to be convicted before he made this decision. This casual talk with Matt wasn't meant to list his process. He is a thoughtful and cautious man. He knew it would impact his family and his life.