Roman Catholicism Page

Roman Catholicism Page

Introduction

This page is a topical page for Catholicism, which is the category or area of studies that critically examine Roman Catholic teaching and practice, and the actuality of Catholicism as it really is. In reality, I (David Cox) am trying to break down a very complex religion (Catholicism) into what I understand as its components, and I am trying to find or create works that explain each part of that complexity. What I have here now is only the beginning. My purpose in this landing page on Roman Catholicism is to present to you works and what is within these works so that you can access these easily in your study of Catholicism.

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General Works | Authority: Scripture vs Tradition | The Church | The Papacy | Mass-Eucharist | Roman Catholic Priesthood | Salvation | Penance-Confessional | Indulgences | Sacraments versus Ordinances | Worship of Mary | Images | Purgatory-Limbo | Catholic Catechism | Catholic Terminology

General Works

ESword: Irvine, W.C. – Brief Critical Examination of Roman Catholicism – Idolatry, Rome and the Bible, Rome’s Blasphemous Claims, Her Intermediaries, The Mass, The Confessional, Purgatory, Perversion to Rome

ESword: McGrath – Anabaptists: Neither Catholics nor Protestants – This is a shorter (2 chapter) work on the Anabaptists (the predecessors of the Baptists), identifying them as neither Catholics nor Protestants.

theWord: Boettner – Roman Catholicism – 1. Introduction. 2. The Church. 3. The Priesthood. 4. Tradition. 5. Peter. 6. The Papacy. 7. Mary. 8. The Mass. 9. The Confessional. 10. Purgatory. 11. The Infallibility of the Pope & Indulgences. 12. Penance and Indulgences. 13. Ritualism. 14. Celibacy. 15. Marriage. 16. The Parochial School. 17. By What Moral Standard. 18. Intolerance, Bigotry, Persecution. 19. A System Tested by its Fruits.

theWord: Mizzi, Joe – Test All Things – (partial list f chapters) 2. God’s Word is Truth. 3. Built upon Christ. 4. Guilty! 5. Justified! 6. Baptism. 7. Forgiveness. 8. Purgatory. 9. The Sacrifice of Christ. 10. The Eucharist. 11. The High Priest. 13. One Mediator. 14. Salvation is Not by Works. 15. Jesus is the Way.

theWord: Piper, K – Errors of the Roman Catholic Church – 1. Human Tradition is Elevated to Or Above the Word of God (1545 AD). 2. Wrong Gospel, Wrong Message of Salvation. 3. Confession of Sins to Priest to Obtain Absolution of Sins. 4. Penance. 5. Priests. 6. Celibacy of Priests and Nuns (1079 AD). 7. Confirmation. 8. Extreme Unction (526 AD). 9. Infant Baptism (370 AD). 10. Transubstantiation (1215 AD). 11. Adoration of the Host (Wafer Bread) (1220 AD). 12. The Mass (394 AD). 13. Other Mediators Between God and Man. 14. Prayers to Saints (375 AD). 15. Purgatory (593 AD). 16. Papal Infallibility (1870 AD). 17. Indulgences (1190 AD). 18. Idolatry = Making Images (786 AD). 19. Mary Veneration (431 AD). 20. Catholic Attitudes to the Bible (1229 AD). 21. Peter as the Rock. 22. 15 Apocrypha Books Added to the Old Testament Bible (1546 AD). 23. Names of Blasphemy (350 AD). 24. Rosary Prayer Beads (1090 AD). 25. Low Moral Standards. 26. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. 27. Crossing Oneself (300 AD). 28. Was Peter the First Pope?. 29. Roman Catholic Lies, Immorality, Corruption. 30. The Inquisition, Torture, Massacres, Murders, Wars (1184 AD). 31. 15 Evidences that the Roman Catholic Church is Mystery Babylon the Great, the Whore of Revelation 17 32. Who Gave Us the Bible? God or the Roman Catholic Church?. 33. They Turn People Away From Christ to Honor Twelve Other Things

theWord: Collins, Mary Ann – Catholic Concerns: Where Does the Road to Rome Lead – 1. Competing Worldviews. 2. Mixing Catholicism with Non-Christian Religions. 3. Mary Worship. 4. The Eucharist (Catholic Communion). 5. Wide Variety in Catholic Beliefs. 6. Who Gave Us the Bible? 7. Was Peter a Pope? 8. Invalid Popes. 9. Reflections on Unpleasant History. 10. The Birth of the Roman Catholic Church. 11. Tradition. 12. Infallibility. 13. Faith versus Works. 14. The Good Thief. 15. Ecumenism. 16. Faith Under Fire.

theWord: the-highway Roman Catholic archives (posting May 9, 2020) This work has over 80 articles on different areas of Catholicism. All of these are by modern authors, and although they are short, they are very good and very much to modern points within Catholicism. Go here to see the entire list of articles.

The Authority of the Catholic Church: Scripture plus Tradition, Papal Authority.

The difference between mainstream Christianity and Catholicism is that unlike in Bible times when the Scripture was their authority, the Catholic church has added tradition, in effect nullifying the force of Scripture. If Scripture is their authority, but only as “they” interpret it, and only after they have applied their own position and interpretations to a matter, and only after they look at their own traditions in the matter, then Scripture is completely nullifying as far as an authority.

The Church

The Catholic view of “church” is that they are the only valid church in the world. While they hold that as their doctrine, their practice is completely hypocritical. They work through ecumenicalism in order to be recognized first, then to dominate, and then to invalid other groups. The pope honors Mulsim leaders, for example, giving them the same honors as an equal. Various popes have honored Southern Baptist Billy Graham. But having said and done that, they consider these “other churches” as being heretical and damned of God.

The Catholic idea of church is ceremony and pomp. Instead of fellowship and edification of real people ministering to other real people, Catholics want to elevate the church building and their services to be “above other churches.” An example of this is cathedrals that are their buildings, and services in Latin where the people neither speak nor understand Latin. Their view is that others and their own people should be impressed by all of this, their ministers wearing dresses, and people should honor them for this. They do consider “church” as the body of Christ, but the only true members of the “church of Christ” are those people who are members in good standing with the Catholic Church. All people members of other religious groups or no religion will go straight to hell when they die with no other alternative. Even evil, wicked, unbelieving people, like the mafia, that are members of their church will go to heaven.

The Papacy

They base their religion on a man, but that man is not Jesus Christ, but the Pope. Supposedly they take Peter from the New Testament accounts as the first pope, building a succession of Peter’s successors after him until the modern Pope. They consider the Pope infallible, yet they cannot deal with the fact that between different Popes at different times, their official dictates which they claim are infallibly God speaking contradict each other. Even within the same Pope’s positions, they change over time, and they contradict themselves at times. They believe that the Pope is the “Vicar of Christ”, or the one who represents Christ on earth before all men. This means that they do not submit to civil governments and therefore they run afoul of laws and civil authorities went they own priests commit crimes because any kind of thing like child molesting is “an internal church affair” and they won’t take these things to civil authorities for prosecution, but they just hide the entire matter.

Mass-Eucharist

Christ had a ceremonial meal before his crucifixion with his disciples. We are commanded to continue to have these memorial meals in the church. The focus is that Christ offered himself for us, once for all on the cross of Calvary, and afterward, we examine our lives during this memorial meal. Catholicism interprets all this as Christ being sacrificed anew in each Mass. The officiating priest calls Christ down from heaven to be sacrificed again. The power is in the hands of the priest to demand Christ’s presence in the communion elements (the Eucharist). This is blasphemy. Hebrews speaks of Christ being sacrificed once for all (Hebrews 10:10) and then sitting down at the right hand of God the Father (Hebrews 10:12). This is a finished work in other words. But the Catholic priest enters into all this as one who is daily giving salvation to the people because he manipulates Christ the Savior to save daily the people over and over again.

Roman Catholic Priesthood

So we see that Catholicism elevates the priesthood into something it never was in the past and is not today. Catholics never seem to understand or question why “priests” were so central to Old Testament religious life, yet in the New Testament, there are no priests except every Christian is a priest before God. They maintain the Old Testament situation and negate the priesthood of each believer, which is what the OT priesthood developed into within the teachings of the Bible.

We could speak at length about the moral corruption of Catholic priests, but suffice it to say that in the Bible there were moral requirements to serving God and ministering before the people. 1 Timothy 3 speaks to each pastor or minister needing to be a man that has a single woman or wife. Catholicism denies this requiring their priests to be celibate, and Catholicism creates and then covers up the moral perversity of their ministers. The Catholic Church pays millions of dollars each year of its members’ tithes and offerings in hush money in order to keep the victims of this abuse quiet. Homosexuality, fornication, and adultery are run rampant with the Catholic priesthood. Can the common members be any better?

Salvation

The Catholic concept of salvation is that of being “within the Mother Church.” Only Catholicism is the only valid church of the Bible to them. Being a member in good standing is super important then. Excommunication from the church is the same as being sentenced to hell to a Catholic. But participation in the Catholic Sacraments is what maintains one within that sacred group to them.

Salvation is not by grace and mercy, but by works. Nobody can know if they have worked enough to get into heaven. More recent popes have come out with the declaration that nobody, not even Peter nor Paul has made it to heaven yet. All believers are supposed to go to purgatory to pay for their sins instead of Christ paying for them on the cross. Moreover, no human will make it into heaven (having worked off their sins in purgatory) until Christ returns. Later in other matters, they place variously Mary or their favorite Pope in heaven with Jesus, which contradicts this. No person outside of the formal and visible Catholic Church (them) will go to purgatory because they understand purgatory is a stepping stone into heaven, and the non-Catholic cannot and will not go to heaven under any circumstance even if they believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Penance-Confessional

Within the Catholic understanding of salvation, they must do good works in order to be saved. These good works fuel the coffers of the Catholic church, and the confessional is no different. By confessing one’s sins, the person is put into a position of humility before a human priest. They steal Christ’s work of intercessor and of hearing our confessions of sin. All of this comes into focus in penance. Penance is what happens after a person confesses his sins to the priest, and the priest commands the person to do something to show their true repentance over their sins. While most of these penances have to do with religious exercise within the Catholic structure, the priests basically can command the penitent to do whatever the priest wants, and there are testimonials of priests taking advantage of this situation with women, although that has diminished in recent history as the priests are so pro-homosexual that they prefer men rather than women. Catholic orphanages were historically founded with this idea to cover-up the priests’ infidelity by placing the resulting children in Catholic orphanages.

Indulgences

The truth of the matter is that we all sin. That is so true. But within Catholicism, there arose a treatment for this problem. The Bible has the solution, one repents and stops sinning. But in Catholicism, the person simply asks or pays for an indulgence. By this indulgence, God looks the other way while you grease the priest’s palm with money, and thereafter you go and sin gayly, and God is not angry at you for sinning. You can sin with impunity.

Sacraments versus Ordinances

Within the concept of Salvation, the Bible teaches that we are saved by believing in the work of Christ on the cross. This is mixed with our own confession of our sins as well as repentance from these sins, and abandonment of these sins. If you are sincere, you will confess and repent of your sins. This is how God treats sin in the Bible.

Within Catholicism, there is a works salvation in place, and only by being a member of the Catholic church, and by personally working can you reach salvation. Maybe. So Catholics have sacraments. A sacrament is some work or act that communicates “grace to be saved” to the person doing it. The Bible teaches that we are under ordinances which are simple commands. Being baptized is a command of God, but it does not save a person. So is with the Lord’s Supper. But Catholics believe the 7 sacraments communicate divine grace to the soul.

Worship of Mary

Mary was the mother of Christ’s earthly body. Jesus has existed from ever in the past in eternity. Mary didn’t exist before God allowed her mother to conceive her, Mary. But Catholicism has exalted Mary (and other saints) into the position and function of God. They worship Mary giving her the worship, adoration, and honor as they do to God himself. Actually they worship Mary more that God or Jesus.

Images and Other Mediators between God and Man

The Bible presents that all Christians are to be intermediates or representatives between God and man. We pray for the salvation of other humans. We present the Gospel to them so that they can understand and be saved. Once we die, the dead know nothing of earth’s events. (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Catholicism has taught that some saved people take the place of Christ as mediators. Mary is one, and the other saints they venerate are others.

While one of the 10 commandments clearly teaches and prohibits the use of images in worship, Catholicism uses images in excess.

Purgatory-Limbo

The concept of catholic purgatory is a place just like hell, which is for only Catholics and is temporary. The person in purgatory pays for his sins by suffering (just like hell) until they are all paid for, and then the person is taken up into heaven.

Limbo is similar except Limbo is for unborn babies or children that haven’t reached the age of accountability yet. Recent popes have declared Limbo as not existing, and not the official ex-cathedra teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

Catholic Catechism

I am including this section for works on Catholic doctrine from their point of view.

Catholic Terminology

In this section, I am including where to find a dictionary of the terms that Catholics use and how they may differ from normal understanding in Scripture.

Tags on Catholicism

Index of the-highway Roman Catholic archives

This theWord module is a whole lot of articles from the-highway.com website on Catholicism. Some speak to issues of the pope and others of their beliefs and recent things happening within Catholicism, all taken from a position of Catholicism being a heresy. The people behind this website are definitely Reformed.

Index of Articles

• “Dominus Iesus” Index
• James E. McGoldrick
– “Three Principles of Protestantism”
• Richard Bennett
– “From Tradition To Truth” – My Testimony
– “True and False Worship: The Cross and die Mass”
– “ECT: The Biblical Precept for Public Repentance
– “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
– “Papal Pardon or Papal Pride?”
– “Fatima: JPH RCC Contradict Gospel: …”
– “The Anti-Christ Unveiled”
– “Vatican Prepares to Control Through Civil Law”
– ” The Alignment of New Evangelicals with Apostasy”
– “The Papacy and Islam”
– “A Summary Chart between Biblical Christianity and Catholicism”
– “Popedom: Its History, Nature and Purpose (2-Part Series)”
– “The Legacy of the True Historical Patrick” – REVISED
– “The Cause of Catholic Scandals and die Sovereignty of God”
– ” The Accomplishments of John Paul II”
– “Papal Rome and the European Union”
– “The Perilous Fondness for die Papacy”
– “The Passion of Christ: Mel Gibson’s Vivid Deception”
– “A New Pope is Elected”
– “Pope Benedict XVI’s god and gospel”
– “Papal Promotion of Collective Ownership and Theft”
– “Pope Benedict’s Denunciation of True Churches Exposes His Own System”
– “History of the Early Church Invalidates Papal Claim of Apostolic Succession”
– “Pope Teaches Counterfeit of Biblical Trinity”
– “John Paul II: Blessed in the Sight of God?”
– Are Catholics Christians?’
– “The International Eucharistic Congress 2012 – Is this a Christian Event?”
– “The Roman Catholic Socialist Agenda”
– “Is the Pope in Jeopardy?”
– “Rome’s Sham Tear of Faith’Unfaithful to Christ and His Gospel”
– “Pope Francis Shows His True Colors”
– “Pope Francis Portrays Himself as a Reformer”
– “Who is the Holy Father?”
-“Do Catholics Possess Life Eternal?”
– “Pope Francis, The Fox”
• Dr. John H. Armstrong
– “Evangelicals and Catholics Together”
– “The Authority of Scripture”
– “A View of Rome” (4-Part Series)
– “Who Really Speaks for God?”
• Dr. John W. Robbins
– “The Gift of Salvation Sh»w, Healing die Wound” (large file)
• Martin Luther
– “The 95 Theses”
• Prof. John Murray
– “Tradition: Romish and Protestant”
• Robert L. Reymond
– “Why Does Rome Teach What It Does About Justification and Salvation?’
• Michael Horton
– “What Still Keens Us Apart”
• Dr. W. Robert Godfrey
– “What Do We Mean by Sola Scriptura?’
• James Henry Thornwell
– “Argument for an Tnfallihle Body”
• G.C. Berkouwer
– “Unshakable Authority”
• William Webster
– “The Authority of Scripture”
– “The Papacy and the ‘Rock’ of Matthew 16”
– “The Church Fathers’ Interpretation of the Rock of Matthew 16:18”
– “Salvation and die Sacramental System”
– “Rome’s New and Novel Concept of Tradition”
– “The Eucharist”
• Francis Nigel Lee
– “Fifty-Five Theses Against Transubstantiation”
• Colin Maxwell
– “Death Without Purgatory”
• Herman Hegger
– “Light and Life in Christ” – My Testimony
• Maiy C. Hertel
– “The Unsearcheable Ways of God” – My Testimony
• Mary Ann Pakiz
– “God’s Word Needs No Authority Other Than Itself’ – My Testimony