The Cordial Catholic 302: A Jehovah's Witness Discovers the Early Church (w/ Jannah Russell)
In this episode of The Cordial Catholic, I'm joined by Jannah Russell to share her remarkable Catholic conversion story.
Raised in the Jehovah's Witness tradition, Jannah explains how her and her husband became disillusioned with the group, eventually leaving, and rediscovering faith on their own.
Their journey, ever seeking the truth of Christ and His Church, led them into Evangelical Christianity where experiences around Communion, baptism, and the interpretation of Scripture set off some of the same alarm bells they'd heard as Jehovah's Witnesses – and that compelled them to begin their journey in the first place!
Those alarm bells drove them deeper into Scripture, into Church history and the Church Fathers, and from there, the slow realization that maybe, despite their deepest reservations, they needed to explore Catholicism.
This is a truly remarkable story and not only because Jannah managed to tell it while single-handedly taking care of 4 kids (because her husband had to work late!) but because it's a kind of microcosm of some of the same issues that comes up in Protestant Christianity writ large – playing out for two Christ-seeking believers leaving the grasp of a pretty intense Christian sect.
It's not a conversation you're going to want to miss!
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