Today I thought I would go over a brief history of Catholicism as well as some of their key doctrines which contradict scripture in order to show the reader the reason as to why I am not a Catholic. Before we begin allow me to just say that I certainly do not hate Catholics, and that I only desire their well-being. I do however hate the institution of the Roman Catholic Church along with it's false teachings. Let's get started with a little bit of background first.
It was when the Roman Emperor Constantine established himself as the head of the church about the time of 313 A.D when this new kind of "Christianity" became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The first actual Pope in Rome was either Leo I (440 to 461 A.D) or Gregory I (590 to 604 A.D.).
There is an Estimated 1.2 Billion Adherents to Catholicism worldwide. You can find pagan Popes as far back as Babylon but no supposedly "Christian" ones until Constantine. Catholicism is also known for taking pagan rituals and idols and giving them Christian meanings and names. They would then incorporate them into "Christian" worship (e.g. saints replaced pagan gods...mother/son statues renamed Mary and Jesus; etc). Some examples of this include Christmas (Saturnalia), Easter (Ishtar), and Halloween (Samhain)
Now Let's go over some of the Catholic Church's key doctrines which can be found in their Catechism and Code of Cannon law and compare them to the word of God to see if we should be following them.
- Muslims go to heaven?
Here we have the Catholic Catechism stating that God's plan of salvation includes the Muslims, and that they worship the same god as we do. Now yes I believe Muslims can be saved just as myself, however please note that the primary religion of Muslims is Islam which is not the same faith as Abraham and not the same God as the one we find in the bible.
Joh 14:6
- Prayers for the dead and indulgences, Works of penance, alms giving for the dead. (The Doctrine of Purgatory)
The next topic that I would like to address is the doctrine of Purgatory. This is where the Catholic church gets alot of it's wealth. Purgatory is the fictional place where all the saints who die in God's grace, but not perfectly purified go. Catholics are known to do works and pay priests to pray for their dead relatives so they can get out of purgatory sooner. Scripture however tells us that we cannot redeem our brethren with our wealth (Psa 49:6-7) and taking advantage of widows is strongly condemned as well (Mat 23:14).
The Catholic church misinterpret 1 Cor 3:11-15. The fire tries the man's work, this is referring to the rewards that we will get in heaven or the lack thereof. It is not talking about our spirit's themselves burning. To say that we need to go through some extra purification after death in order to get rid of our sins is a terrible insult to the cross of Christ by saying his sacrifice wasn't sufficient to cover all our sins. (Joh 19:30, 1 Joh 1:7).
- Mary is sinless.
Catholicism teaches that Mary was born without the stain of original sin, even though scripture teaches us that all have sinned (Rom 3:23). Mary also called God her Savior, this further illustrates that she was a sinner in need of saving. (Luk 1:46 -47)
- Mary's bodily ascension/Queen of heaven
Furthermore they believe she ascended up into heaven like Jesus did even though there is no mention of this in the bible. They call her the queen of heaven which is the exact same title of the goddess that ancient Israel worshiped unto their own destruction.
(Jer 7:18, Jer 44:17 -18)
- Her prayers will deliver our souls from death. Mary's called: Advocate, Mediatrix.
Catholicism further exalts Mary by giving her titles that are reserved to Christ alone. We know through the Apostle Paul's epistle to Timothy that there is one mediator between God and man and it isn't Mary. Jesus is our Advocate. (1Jn 2:1, 1Ti 2:5)
- The Mass( the repeated eating of the actual body and blood of Jesus ).
During the Catholic Eucharist, Catholics believe that the bread and wine that they partake of is supernaturally transformed into the
literal body and blood of Christ. The question then arises is this scriptural. Although Jesus did tell us to eat his flesh and drink his blood (Joh 6:53-56), he didn't mean it literally. He was talking about believing in him (Joh 6:35, Joh 7:37-39). After all, we know it's a sin to eat blood, that the flesh itself doesn't profit (Joh 6:63), and Christ was only sacrificed one time (Heb 9:25-28, Heb 10:10-14). Scripture also teaches us that to re-crucify Jesus would be putting him to an open shame (Heb 6:6). On the cross Jesus said It is finished (Joh 19:30), so there is no need for more bloody sacrifices to please God. see also (1Co 10:1-4, 11:24).
- Indulgences.
The Idea that through our good works and charity we can pay off the punishment of our and others (living or dead) temporal sins. This is nothing more than extortion by the Catholic church by taking advantage over men's guilt over their sins. (Eze 22:12, Mat 23:25). The bible teaches that our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isa 64:6) and we are not to trust in it (Eze 33:13, Rom 10:3, Php 3:9).
- Confession to a priest
Again, this ties in with the fact that Jesus is our Mediator and Advocate. We do not need to go to a priest to talk to God and ask to have our sins forgiven. In true Christianity there is no two separate classes of priest and laity. (1Tim 2:5)
- Graven images.
The Second of the ten commandments forbids us of making graven images and bowing down to worship them, yet this is seen all over the place in Catholicism. They have statues of the Pope, Mary, Jesus, the Saints, etc. The Roman Catholic Church even has the Audacity to remove this from the Ten commandments and replacing it by dividing the last commandment to not Covet into not coveting your neighbors wife, and not to covet your neighbors other things. That's like saying Thou shalt not commit Adultery twice which would be redundant. (Exo 20:4)
- Praying to Mary.
Talking to the dead is known as Necromancy in scripture and it is a sin. We can only go to the Father by Jesus, not Mary. Besides
nowhere do you find in scripture saints praying to those who have passed on to the other side, including Mary. Ecclesiastes 9 seems to me to imply that the departed cannot even see us from where they are now.
(Deu 18:10 -12, Joh 14:6, Ecc 9:5-6)
- No Salvation outside of the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Catechism seems to teach that those who know the gospel cannot be saved if they refuse to enter or remain in the Catholic Church. However it does teach that those who don't know Christ yet are seeking God sincerely may be saved. The bible however tells us to avoid those that teach things contrary to scripture such as the Catholic church (Rom 16:17). The bible also teaches us that we obtain grace through faith, and that faith comes by the hearing of the word (Rom 10:17, Eph 2:8, 1 Thes 2:16). I do agree with them that men enter the Church through baptism, however the baptism that I am referring to is the baptism of the Spirit, and the church that I am referring to isn't the Roman Catholic church.
- Veneration of Mary and the Saints
Scripture is quite clear that we are worship God (Mat 4:10), nowhere in Scripture are we told to worship any other. Catholics claim they they don't worship Mary, but rather venerate her. The angel in the book of Revelation didn't allowed himself to be worshiped (Rev 22:8 -9). Jesus called those that do God's will his mother (Mat 12:46-50, Mar 3:35, Luk 8:21), however isn't it interesting that Jesus never called Mary his mother in scripture even though she was. I think it's because he knew men would try and over exalt her as God. Luk 11:27-28 is an instance where we have a woman venerating Mary but Jesus responds by saying those that obey God's word are blessed.
I believe it's quite possible that all these deceased catholic "saints" are just ancient Roman gods given christian names. I mean where in scripture does it say those that have passed on have the God-like abilities of telepathy, hearing and answering millions of prayers at once, etc. All one has to do is do a little research online to find that these prayers to saints do indeed give them god-like properties, and they address Mary as if she was God.
I believe it's quite possible that all these deceased catholic "saints" are just ancient Roman gods given christian names. I mean where in scripture does it say those that have passed on have the God-like abilities of telepathy, hearing and answering millions of prayers at once, etc. All one has to do is do a little research online to find that these prayers to saints do indeed give them god-like properties, and they address Mary as if she was God.
- Abstain from meat + Forbidding to Marry
During Lent Catholics are expected not to eat meat, While Catholics who become priests are forbidden to Marry. It is no wonder why there is so much sexual sin in the Catholic church, the bible is clear that forbidding to marry is a doctrine of devils.
1Ti 4:1-3, 1 Cor 7:2)
- Call priests "Father".
The fact that many Catholic's call their "priest" father is quite undeniable, even though they are doing the exact opposite thing that Jesus commanded them not to do in scripture. (Mat 23:9)
- Worshiping the pope.
Catholics will claim that the apostle Peter became the first Pope based on Mat 16:18, but Cephas doesn't mean rock it means stone (Joh 1:42). The rock that Jesus was referring to building his Church on was himself not Peter (Rom 9:33, 1 Cor 10:4). Peter forbid bowing down and worshiping him, the Pope doesn't do that. "The first Pope" Peter also told us not to be lord's over God's heritage, but the Pope is arrayed like a king and said to be infallible. (Act 10:25-26, 1Pe 5:3)
- Mary as a perpetual virgin.
Mary certainly didn't stay a virgin after Jesus' birth. The bible is pretty clear that Jesus did have brothers and Sisters. The bible also states that Joseph "knew her not till" which implies they did indeed consummate their marriage after he was born.
(Mat 1:25, Mat 13:55-56, Mar 6:3)
- Churches named after saints
Another common practice that we see all across the globe is Church buildings called St. Peter this or St. Paul that. We learn from scripture that we are not to be named after men, and that divisions are a sign of carnality. (1Co 1:11-13, 3:4-5)
- Papal Infallibility
In Conclusion although I'm not saying that all Catholics are lost and going to hell, I do believe there are many so called Christians that draw nigh to Christ externally with their mouth but not inwardly with their heart. There are also professing Christians who worship God in vain and teach commandments of men as Bible doctrine (Mat 15:8 -9, 2Co 11:13-15).
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CATACHISM REFERENCE
P = Part S=Section C=Chapter A= Article Pa = Paragraph
P1 S2 C3 A9 Pa 3, 841 Muslims go to Heaven
P1 S2 C3 A12, 1030 Purgatory
P1 S2 C3 A12, 1032 Prayers/ Alms-giving / Works of penance for the dead
P1 S2 C3 A9 Pa 6, 966 Mary Sinless
P1 S2 C3 A9 Pa 6 Bodily Ascension / Queen of Heaven
969 Mary called Advocate / Mediatrix
P2 S2 C1 A3 Pa 5, 1357, 1365 The Mass
P2 S2 C2 A4 Pa10 x, Indulgences
P2 S2 C2 A4 Pa x1 Confession to Priests
P3 S2 C1 A1 1v 2132 Worshiping Graven Images
P4 S1 C2 A2, 2673-9 Praying to Mary
P1 S2 C3 A9, 750, 846-7 No Salvation outside of Catholic Church
P1 S2 C3 A9 Pa 5, 955-8 Intercession for the dead
P2 S1 C2 A1 , 1192 Veneration of Mary and dead saints
P2 S2 C3 A6, 1580 Forbidding to Marry
P1 S2 C3 A9, 891 Papal infallibility
P1 S2 C3 A9, 881 Peter as "the rock"
This is a good, concise overview of the false teachings promulgated by the Roman Catholic Church. And I find your point about the congregations being named after various so-called saints to be especially interesting. It was not until Boniface III that the organizational structure of the Roman Catholic hierarchy was developed to the fullest. I also have many articles exposing such claims. Here's my post on apostolic succession:
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