Roman Catholicism

This is a study, examining the origin of the church, and the teachings of the church.

·      This is not a mean-spirited attack on Roman Catholics.

·      1 Thessalonians 5:21 ”Test all things; hold fast what is good.“

·      Acts 17:11 NLT ”And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.“

The word catholic means “universal” or “concerning the whole.”

·      One in six people in the world today refer to themselves as Catholics, that’s over 1 billion people in the world.

The Origin of Roman Catholicism.

·      The book of Acts records the birth of the first church in Jerusalem, and its first 30 years of existence.

·      The Roman Catholic Church claims that Peter was the first pope appointed by Christ Himself.

·      They take Christ’s own words out of context.

·      Matthew 16:13-19 ”When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”“

·      The apostle Peter was never an overseer of the church in Rome.

·      Recorded history, never lists Peter as the overseer of the church in Rome.

·      Irenaeus, an overseer from Lyons in France from AD 178-200, records the first 12 church leaders in Rome, and lists Linus as the very first overseer of the Church in Rome.

·      Who was Irenaeus? He was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of the Apostle John.

·      The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, doesn’t mention the Apostle Peter at all, despite greeting dozens of others.

·      The Apostle Peter did not make it to Rome, until the very end of his life where he was crucified upside down.

·      Gregory the first would technically be the first pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 590 AD.

·      The Roman Catholic Church had a split in the year 1054 AD, when the Churches in the eastern part of that region broke away from Rome’s self-imposed authority over all Churches, thus creating the Eastern Orthodox Church (Greek Orthodox Church).

·      The Roman Catholic Church went through another major split on October 31, 1517, when Catholic monk, Martin Luther, nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Catholic church in Wittenberg Germany, protesting 95 teachings held by the Roman Catholic Church. This not only lead to the formation of the Lutheran Church, but it also was the beginning of the Reformation Movement.

·      Most of Martin Luther‘s objections to the Catholic Church's teachings were centered on the Gospel. This led to defectors of the Catholic Church, being called both protestants and evangelicals.

The Teachings of Catholicism.

·      In the 3rd century, the Church in Rome began to claim that they were the supreme Mother Church and the final authority over other Churches and their teachings.

·      By the 6th century, the Roman Catholic Church was exercising authority over other churches in that part of the world.

·      “There is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church, even among the evangelicals.”

·      For a very long time, the Roman Catholic Church viewed itself as the one and only true church.

·      In 1965, @ Vatican 2, the Roman Catholic Church changed their teaching to now read, “Evangelicals are separated brethren,” and added that you can be saved in any world religion.

·      They claim that Christianity is not the only way to God.

The Catholic Church agrees with much of Evangelical Christianity:

Ø  The God of Abraham is the Creator and the God of the Bible.

Ø  The Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Ø  The virgin birth, the sinless Lamb of God, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His second coming in judgment.

Ø  The future resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

Ø  The Old Testament and New Testament are the inspired word of God.

·      There are genuine born-again believers who identify themselves as Catholics.

Catholics and Evangelicals disagree on many important teachings:

·      How a person is saved from the wrath of God.

According to Catholicism, salvation is a process that takes place in the seven sacraments; baptism, penance (confession & prayers), the Eucharist (Mass), confirmation (priestly blessing), marriage, holy orders (ordination), anointing of the sick.

Ø  At the council of Trent in 154, the Roman Catholic Church stated, “If anyone teaches or believes that they are saved by faith alone, let them be anathema.”

According to evangelical Christians, salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.

Ephesians 2:8-9 ”For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.“

Romans 5:1 ”Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,“

Galatians 1:8-9 ”But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.“

·      The teaching of purgatory.

Ø  According to Roman Catholicism, the purpose of purgatory is to cleanse a believer of impurities through suffering after death.

Ø  A member of the Roman Catholic Church can pay the church to have their dead family member released from Purgatory.

Ø  They teach that if you don’t believe in purgatory, you’re cursed.

According to evangelical Christians, we were purged of all of our sins when Christ died for us.

Hebrews 1:3 ”who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,“

Revelation 1:5 ”and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,“

Hebrews 10:14 ”For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.“

Luke 23:43 ”And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”“

·      The teaching of praying for the dead to the dead.

According to Roman Catholicism, you can pray to those who lived good lives, and died as good Catholics and they will intercede for you.

Ø  There is not one single prayer in the Scriptures that is offered to anyone else, but the Lord Himself.

Ø  The Scriptures give strong warnings about praying to the dead.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12

Leviticus 20:6, 27

1 Samuel 28:5-18

Ø  1 Timothy 2:5, 6 ”For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,“

Ø  We have direct access because of Christ.

·      The teachings regarding the person of Mary.

Roman Catholicism teaches the immaculate conception, which teaches that God preserved the Virgin Mary from the taint of original sin when she was conceived.

Luke 1:47 ”And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.“

Roman Catholicism teaches the perpetual virginity of Mary.

Matthew 13:55-56 ”Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?”“

Ø  Roman Catholicism teaches the ascension of Mary, which teaches that after Mary died, she was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

Ø  Roman Catholicism teaches that Mary is a co-redeemer, which teaches that because she sacrificed her son and suffered for it, she is worthy to mediate for sinners.

·      The Books of the Bible. 

Ø  “To not accept the entire apocrypha as sacred is to be anathema.”

Ø  The Protestant Bible contains 66 Books.

Ø  In 1546 at the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Church added 14 Jewish writings. The word “apocrypha” means hidden, secret.

Ø  The teachings of the Apocrypha are neither authoritative or inspired.

*The Lord Jesus Christ, nor any of the New Testament writers, quoted from the Apocrypha, as Scripture.

*Contains both historical and geographical errors. In Judith, it says that Nebuchadnezzar was ruling in Nineveh and not in Babylon.

*The Jews never accepted the Apocrypha in the Hebrew Bible.

*It doesn’t contain any Biblical prophecies to prove their claims of Divine origin.

*It never claims to be the inspired holy word of God.

*It was rejected by the majority of the early Church fathers.

*Jerome rejected the Apocrypha and left it out of his Latin translation. The Roman Catholic Church inserted the Apocrypha after Jerome died.

*Contains both unbiblical, heretical teachings, such as; the pre-existence of the human soul; salvation by works; prayer for the dead; purgatory; salvation by giving money to the poor.

*The Apocrypha was not declared to be authoritative until 1546, 1,500 years after they were written, and only after Martin Luther’s renunciation of the Catholic Church’s teachings on salvation.

·      Communion, the Lord’s Supper

According to Roman Catholicism, the Communion elements become the actual body and blood of Christ, a teaching called transubstantiation.

·      Indulgences

Doing something or giving money to the Church to receive forgiveness of sins prior to committing the sins.

·      Only the Catholic Church has authority to interpret Scripture.

“The Pope is the Voice of God on earth.”

In 1870, Vatican 1 declared “Papal Infallibility,” which means that the pope is incapable of error in pronouncing dogma. The pope stands in the authority of Jesus Christ on earth, and he is responsible for the salvation of all the souls throughout the whole world.

The pope is the supreme teacher of faith and morals. When the pope speaks, it is God speaking.

12/18/23 ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has formally approved allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, with a new document explaining a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it. The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, released Monday, elaborates on a letter Francis sent to two conservative cardinals that was published in October. In that preliminary response, Francis suggested such blessings could be offered under some circumstances if they didn’t confuse the ritual with the sacrament of marriage. The Vatican holds that marriage is an indissoluble union between man and woman. As a result, it has long opposed same-sex marriage. And in 2021, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said flat-out that the church couldn’t bless the unions of two men or two women because “God cannot bless sin.” That document created an outcry, one it appeared even Francis was blindsided by even though he had technically approved its publication. Soon after it was published, he removed the official responsible for it and set about laying the groundwork for a reversal.