The True Christian Church

Biblical Christianity and Roman Catholicism Contrasted

(See the Catholic Response down among the Comments to this WebPage)

Jerry Chandler, Saturday, February 19, 2022
https://www.CatholicAmericanThinker.com/

1. Both Peter and Paul were true followers of Jesus Christ as well as all the other apostles and disciples of Jesus who traveled with Him during His three-year ministry. They all believed in the sacred Scriptures as being inspired by God. Peter, thought to be the first pope, declared in 2 Peter 1:20-21, "First of all you must understand this, that no prophesy of the scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophesy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." Paul, in a letter to Timothy, also said in 2 Timothy 3:14-17,"Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." There are numerous references in the New Testament where Jesus declared the importance of all the scriptures from Moses, the prophets, to His own day. (ex. Matthew 22:29) Jesus told unbelieving Jews to search the Scriptures to find Him written therein. (John 5:39) 
2. The Scriptures are so important that there are even warnings by God not to add to or to take away from what He inspired Bible authors to write as in Deuteronomy 4:2, "You must neither add anything to what I command you not take away anything from it but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you." (See also Revelations 22:18-19)
3. Is the Roman Catholic Church guilty of violating this command of God? The answer is Yes, Yes, Yes! 
4. Please refer to your Catholic Bible and read the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20: 1-17. Now find yourself any version of a Catholic Catechism and look for the 2nd commandment. It's not there and the 10th commandment has been cut in half and made into the 9th and 10th commandments. So now, why has the 2nd commandment been deleted? The answer is obvious. The most major sin of the nation of Israel as you read through the Old Testament was Idol worship. The 2nd commandments prohibits idol worship, "You shall not make for yourself an idol,...You shall not bow down to them or worship them." Catholics all over the world bow down to statues and pray to them, light candles before then, kneel before them, and in some Latin American countries scrawl on their knees to get to them in a way of making penance. 
5. Is that all the Catholic Church is guilty of as if that isn't enough? As time went on more and more scripture violations took place. The Bible is clear about our sinful nature. Isaiah 64:6 says, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities (sins), like the wind, take us away." Romans 3:23 says, "For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Per the Bible, ALL people are born with a sin nature. Per the Bible, there are no exceptions except for Jesus Christ. However, the Church in 1854 declared Mary, the mother of Jesus, to be sinless, called the Immaculate Conception. 
6. Again, the Bible is clear that Jesus is our only mediator. In 1 Timothy 2:5 it says, "For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all." (See also Hebrews 9:15) The Catholic Church made Mary a mediator, as well as other saints that you can pray too. Along those same lines when we confess our sins, the Apostle John tells us in 1 John 1:9 that all we have to do is confess those sins to Jesus, "If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Yes, it was Jesus who went to the cross to pay the punishment for our sins, and not Mary, not a priest, not a bishop, not a pope, or anyone else. Even the Jewish pharisees knew that only God can forgive sins that would keep us out of heaven. (Isaiah 43:25, Mark 2:7) Jesus taught his apostles to forgive (Matthew 18:21-22) and Paul tells us to forgive others also. (Ephesians 4:32) But only God can forgive the sins that would keep us from heaven.
7. The Catholic Church says that the head of the church is the pope with infallible decision making ability but the Bible says that the head of the church is Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 1:18)). Nowhere in the Bible are infallible powers given to any church leader. Besides, Peter never claimed to be pope. When Jesus asked His Apostles "Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15) Peter with a quick answer said, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus' response to Peter is where you have to know some Greek. The name Peter in Greek is petros meaning a small stone. (see John 1:42) So when Jesus said, "And I tell you, you are Peter (a stone), and on this rock (Me)  (Greek - petra - meaning large immovable rock) I will build My church." Throughout all of Scripture Jesus/God is referred to as the Rock (2 Samuel 22:2, 1 Corinthians 10:3-4, Hebrews 11:10, Psalm 18:2,92:15, Matthew 7:24)
8. Also, the Bible is clear that salvation is based on God's grace and our faith and trust in Jesus and not on our works. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast." (see also Titus 3:5, 2 Timothy 1:9, Galatians 2:16) The apostle Paul when writing to the Romans laid out the pathway for salvation very simply without throwing in any sort of works that the Catholic Church requires, 'if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved...For Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 9:9-10,13) (see also Acts 16:30-31 - no mention of a work requirement there also)
9. Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic Church left the original teachings of Jesus and His Apostles. In the book of Acts, after the ascension of Jesus into heaven, and after Pentecost, nothing could stop the apostles from going out into the city streets and simply preaching repentance from one's sins and turning to Jesus. (ex. Acts 3:19) Over time with a rapidly growing Christianity, church leaders got caught up with doing things their own way which eventually turned into heretical traditions. This is the same sin that Jewish leaders got caught up in. Over time, Jewish pharisees greatly added to God's original commandments and Jesus had to preach to them about their sinful traditions. Matthew 15:1-9, "Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition (vs 3) and verses 7-9 Jesus said, "You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: This people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me: in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines." 
10. Both Jesus and the writers of the New Testament, who by the way were personally taught by Jesus, often used symbolism when teaching to get the point across that was being taught. For example, the word of God was spoken of as seed, food and milk. At the Last Supper when Jesus held up the bread and said this is my body and when He held up the wine and said this is my blood, He was using those two elements as symbols to remember His death on the cross which is the main point of His teaching, to always remember His death on the cross. The apostles often broke bread together with no mention of it ever being more than a memorial service and not literally changing bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. This doctrine of Transubstantiation was debated by church theologians between the 13th to 15th centurys and became church dogma in the Council of Trent sometime between 1545 to 1563 more than 1500 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. One heresy after another. Satan was certainly busy infiltrating what was supposed to be the church of Jesus Christ.
11. During the first 100 years after Christ's ascension into heaven there were many false gospels being preached. Paul in all of his letters had to deal with false prophets and their false doctrines. Many of these false doctrines found their way into the Catholic Church. Read all of Paul's letters, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, Hebrews 13, and many more New Testament books.
12. Once again, it's sad but true, the Roman Catholic Church has grossly steered away from the teachings of Jesus. What this article doesn't mention are the gross immoral sins committed by the church and its priest over the years which is proof positive that the church is not the church that they claim was founded by Jesus Christ. 
13. Note: All the Bible references in this article were taken from the The Catholic Faith & Family Bible, NRSV, Catholic Bible Press, HarperCollins Christian Publishers 

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EENS:  Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus
(Outside the Church there is no salvation)

With fear and trembling, work out your salvation--Phil 2:12

Seek the Truth; Find the Way; Live the Life.
Please God, and Live Forever.

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Date:  Sun Feb 20 2022
From:  Vic Biorseth
Comment:  

Jerry:

I took the liberty of numbering your paragraphs to make it easier to respond to them; I hope that's all right with you. 

First, regarding Paragraph 4: The Commandments

See the Ten Commandments laid out in this website. Your statement that your second Commandment isn't in the Catholic Catechism is simply not true. Here is a direct quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

It was heretical Protestantism, not Catholicism, that changed the numbering. Note that the "graven image" prohibition is in there; it was not deleted. The whole purpose of Jesus' original prohibition was that no man had seen the face of God; but with the incarnation of Jesus - the same God Who created existence out of nothing and Who gave the Commandments to Moses - His face was seen by man. Jesus - God - changed that prohibition, just as he changed the Jewish dietary laws. He and only He could do that, because He and only He is God. Thus, we had Veronica's Veil, and John's lost to antiquity first icon of Jesus painted on the Isle of Patmos. 

Again, see the Catholic-Protestant Commandments layout. 
See also Exodus 20.

Paragraph 5: The Sinless Mary

Long before the first Protestant heresy, Both Eastern and Western Catholics (Greek and Latin) were celebrating the unique nature of Mary the Mother of God, and comparing her to the first Tabernacle of God, since she carried God for nine months and gave birth to him. The whole idea of the Immaculate Conception was not new in 1854, it was just declared to put an end to then current arguments about it. The Church proclaimed and proclaims that Mary was conceived in the usual way, but without stain of even original sin, since she was the God Bearer. Nothing unclean touches God. 

Paragraph 6: The Mediatrix, and, Confession of Sins

As I understand it, Mary's title "Mediatrix Of All Graces" has never been declared a canonical certainty, but only an apparition "supernatural in character and worthy of pius belief" at this point in time. The title holds Mary to be the main mediatrix between man and Jesus, her Son, Who is God, and Who remains the sole mediator to Himself. In His incarnate form, He was, while still being God, the human son of Mary. In our limited ability to understand the nature of God, it is reasonable for humans to pray to Mary asking her to intercede for them because she has the ear of her Son. 

As for confessing your sins and receiving absolution, see The Sacrament Of Penance, long abandoned by the Protestant heresy. If Jesus Who Is God said it, that's good enough for me. 

Paragraph 7: The Papacy

See our old treatment of Papal and Church Infallibility and Infallibility Revisited. And see the discussion (comments) after the No Salvation Outside The Church page, in which the word Petra, when used as a human name is the masculine form, and that is what our Lord meant by renaming Simon Peter. The whole scripture sentence you misinterpret makes no sense whatsoever after you separate the word Rock from the word Peter. 

Why do you suppose our Lord gave Peter the keys to the kingdom?

Paragraph 8: The Heresy of Sola Fide

Jerry, I'm afraid that your super-simplistic Protestantism is showing. You can't just say "I believe in Jesus", and, Poof, you're saved. You can wish it were that simple, but that just ain't gonna get you there. See the Are You Saved? page, among many others. And we have James, which Fr. Martin Luther wanted to burn, because of chapter 2 verse 24:

Actually, man is saved neither by works alone nor by faith alone, but by unmerited grace that is cooperated with by works and faith. But, of course, that ain't all. 

Paragraph 9: Traditions

There really were what Catholics call "Big T Traditions" as opposed to "Small t traditions" of man. There were many, many Big T Traditions handed on by Jesus and by His Apostles to their successors. Jesus did and said many, many things not written down; so many that all the books in the world could not contain them (See the War On Tradition page.) 

I know how you Protestants hate tradition, but nearly everything Jesus taught was tradition, including even how to pray. 

Paragraph 10: The Holy Eucharist

Protestantism is way off track and round the bend on this one. Even the heretic Fr. Martin Luther argued fiercely with Zwingli and nearly came to blows over it, drawing a circle on a dinner napkin to represent the Consecrated Host, and then hammering on it while shouting Christ's words "This Is My Body!" and that that was precisely what Christ meant. 

See the Eucharist page, Jerry, where we go over the real Eucharistic discourse in detail, before you look at the Eucharist references in the Synoptics and Acts. You really need to read and internalize John 6, from about verse 26 on. Your salvation depends upon it. Jesus Himself said it. Some 13 times He referred to Himself as food and drink, for you; and he even tied it to your salvation. 

(The Bible was written (by the Church) for you.)

You're not supposed or expected to understand it. You are supposed and expected to recognize Who said it, and accept it, on faith in the One Who spoke it into being. 

Paragraph 11: Heresies and heretics

As it was then, so it is today. The Church survived all that, even in Peter and Paul's day, as the writings of 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John Hebrews 13 and many more New Testament books prove. That's what the Church was writing and warning about. 

It wasn't the Church that went astray, but the authors of the false gospels that went astray. 

Paragraph 12: Scandals

Members of the Church who sin do not represent the Church, but themselves in their sinning. Note well that all heretics in all of history were ordained clerics. Including Luther, Calvin, Zwingli; all of them were Catholic priests, who broke their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, besides preaching outright heresies. 

What's the difference between then and now? The more things change the more they are the same. The Church still stands. 

Sole Autority of Scripture is a heresy, Jerry. So is Faith Alone. So are all the followers of the ravenous wolves in sheep's clothing any less damned than all the sodomite clerics being uncovered inside the Church while still pretending to be holy?

They are not "The Church", Jerry. The Church is still holy. 

Paragraph 13: Abandonment of Authoritative Interpretation

There is one and only one Bible that has ever been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, and that Bible is the 73 book Vulgate, written in Latin. The name Vulgate indicates that it was written in Latin, which was the "vulgar" language of the day, meaning that is was the most commonly spoken language in world-wide usage at the time. It was completed as the world's first one-book old and new Testament combined, completed around 405 AD by St. Jerome in the Bethlehem cave where Christ was born. 

There is one and only one literal linguistic translation of the Vulgate into English, and that totally literal translation is the Douay Rheims. 

Every other Bible version on earth, including every Catholic version, is a lot less of an accurate translation and more of an interpretation. Meanings of verses changed, perhaps slightly, but still, changed. 

Some, including the King James version, changed quite radically. 

But what is worse than all the translations out there is the popular idea of the wild "every man for himself" interpretive authority. If everyone can interpret his own Bible for himself, then right there we see the real reason for the 40,000 plus Protestant denominations since the fracturing of Christianity, including all the many, many so-called "non-denominational" denominations. 

Come up with a unique interpretation, start a new denomination. 

(Note: if it follows any of Luther's original heresies such as Sola Scriptura or Sola Fide, then it is Protestant at its roots, even if it denies being Protestant.)

Jesus Himself - God - is the Divine Author and the sole interpreter of His Scripture. And Jesus Himself - God - always identifies Himself with His Holy Church. 

Regards,

Vic

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Date:  Mon Feb 21 13:54:22 2022
From:  Pidlubniak
Email:   slavapidlubniak@yahoo.com.ua
Location:  Ukraine
Comment: 

I have to admit, from the perspective of someone who belongs to a Greek-Catholic Church (Byzantine Rites, but with full Communion with the worldwide Catholic Church), I cannot understand how Protestants could ever be so stupid as to get duped by a few men who obviously promulgated their heresies in order to earn various political favors for themselves. It is obvious that no part of Protestantism is supported by any scrap of Biblical evidence. There are no great theological hurdles in Protestantism - it's about as easy to refute and has as much in common with proper Christianity as Gnosticism. Or Islam. They may profess belief in Christ, but without full obedience to the Tradition that the Apostles passed down to us all, that declaration of belief is both trivial and meaningless. And, for the deniers of papal supremacy, I can give a history lesson - if a church does not obey the Pope, it WILL BE MADE to obey someone else. Period. We saw it with state-controlled Byzantine Orthodox churches (the Russian Orthodox Church is a proud inheritor of that unfortunate tradition - the Russian Orthodox Church has long since been used by Russian despots for political ends) and all the Protestant denominations controlled by various noblemen and states of medieval Europe and beyond. And the sheer hubristic gall of Protestants - they profess that they actually know better what the Bible says rather than the Church that has safeguarded the Tradition and the Scripture longer than most European ethnicities have ever existed - damns them most of all. Protestantism, far more so than Islam, is responsible for the rise of such evils as modern secularism, various heresies and even Marxism by fracturing the unity of the Church.

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