Catholic Doctrines and Practices Not From Jesus or His Apostles

April 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment

This article comes from a discussion I have been having with a well-studied Roman Catholic. He asked me to provide examples of Catholic Church doctrines and practices that were not given by Jesus and His Apostles. There are so many to mention. I will be adding to this article  Below is a list that I will add to as I study more of the Catholic catechism and catholic church councils. I will also be working on articles on these subjects and will add in links. This list is meant to show that what we know as the catholic Church does not look like the church in the Bible as described by Jesus and His Apostles. They have many unbiblical and extra-biblical teachings and traditions that they bind on people that the scriptures do not.

  1. The Organization of the Church (New Testament pattern- the position of elder/bishop/pastor/presbyter (all same position in NT), deacons, evangelists, teachers) There is not an organization beyond this and the New Testament churches were autonomous. They were self governed and followed the writings of the Apostles. There is not a laity-clergy distinction in the Bible as we see today.
  2. The Position of Pope – The position of pope is not mentioned in the New Testament.
  3. Infallibility of Pope (Vatican council) Peter himself didn’t make any such claims.
  4. Priests – This was a later invention of the Catholic church that reinstates the O.T. system of worship. All Christians are priests in the New Testament with Christ as their High Priest.
  5. Priests can forgive sins – There is no evidence this power went beyond the Apostles.
  6. Not allowing marriage within leadership – This is contrary to scripture in 1 Timothy 4:3.
  7. Calling spiritual leaders “father” – This was not a religious title given to men.
  8. Prayer to Mary and other “saints.” – Prayer to someone who is not on this earth presupposes they are 1.) able to hear all people in any given language at all times, 2.) hear unspoken prayers. This practice deifies these people as being omniscient and omnipresent. We are told that we can approach the throne of GOd on our own to ask for mercy and forgiveness in the New Testament.
  9. Veneration (or worship) of Mary -
  10. Immaculate conception of Mary – This is nowhere found in scripture
  11. Perpetual virginity of Mary – Many scriptures must be twisted to believe this
  12. Practice of infant baptism – the candidate for baptism is someone that is a penitent believer. Peter commanded the people on the day of Pentecost to repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38). Jesus says that the one who believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16). The Corinthians heard the message, believed, and were baptized (Acts 18:8). Peter says that baptism is the “answer of” or an “appeal for” a good conscience to God (1 Peter 3:21) where the conscience is sprinkled clean and the body is washed with pure water (Heb 10:22). Those who are baptized need to understand that they need to walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4). Jesus said they were to go and make disciples by baptizing (Mt 28:19) and by teaching them to observe all that was commanded by Christ. How can a baby do these things? A baby that gets baptized is doing nothing but getting wet. Baptism comes after belief and repentance in every example we see in Christian baptism and the baptism of John, which was a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
  13. Special dress for clergy -
  14. Observance of Holy days (Christmas, Easter, etc) as religious holidays – The Apostles gave the first day of the week as the time in which Christians are to come together for worship and the Lord’s Supper. He nowhere in the New Testament tells Christians of any other days to observe. These are manmade inventions.
  15. Observance of lent – Although the Catholic Church no longer commands the observance of lent, my understanding is that they did in the past. Paul condemns commanding it as a religious observance: “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth .(1 Tim 4:1-3)
  16. The doctrine of Purgatory – This was not created by the Apostles, but was later created and then read back into scripture.
  17. Instrumental Music in Worship – This was not practiced in the earliest centuries of the church nor by the Apostles. It is a manmade invention that God did not give His approval of under the New Covenant.
  18. Canonization of saints -  All Christians are called saints in the N.T. There is not a special class of saints, especially a group that can be prayed to.
  19. Burning of Incense in New Testament worship – This is from the Old Testament system of worship. There is not authority in the New Testament to use it in New Testament worship.
  20. Using  an alter – This concept is not in the New Testament in reference to Christian worship assemblies.
  21. Transubstantiation -  If the wine in the Lord’s Supper miraculously turns into the literal blood of Jesus, this would mean that Jesus commanded Christians to drink blood, something that was condemned in the Old Testament and commanded not to do by the Apostles (Acts 15:29).
  22. Mass as a “re-sacrificing of Christ – Christ’s sacrifice was a one time sacrifice. The practice of re-sacrificing Christ at the mass denies the sufficiency of the cross (Heb 7:27; 9:12; 10:10; 1 Peter 3:18)
  23. Ten Commandments must be observed to be saved (CCC 2068). Those who command observance of the law as a requirement of salvation bring themselves under bondage to keep the whole law (Gal 5:1-4)
  24. Veneration/ bowing before statues -Statues for veneration should not be made nor bowed before. This is idolatry according to Ex 20:4-5.
  25. Adoration and Elevation of Host: ie. communion bread
  26. Sale of Indulgences or “tickets to sin” – This is in direct opposition to many scriptures that show that the Christian will not sin that grace may abound (Rom 6:1).
  27. Ringing bells at Mass -
  28. Man-made tradition of church made equal to Bible (Council of Trent) – Jesus lifted scripture over all manmade traditions. The Jews believed their beloved traditions came from the time of Moses. They even made them equal and/or greater to scripture as the Catholic Church does today with what they claim is from the time of the Apostles.
  29. Apocryphal books added to Bible (Council of Trent) These are Jewish writings that the Jews never accepted as inspired writings.

More to come!

“Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 1:9)

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The Testimony of Paul: Great Evidence for the Resurrection

June 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The gospel repeatedly claims that Jesus did rise from the dead and that this proves His claims to be valid. It then claims to give historical evidence for the resurrection based on the testimony of witnesses. No other major religion in the world claims that its founder arose from the dead, let alone does it offer historical evidence to validate the claim. If the evidence for the resurrection is valid, the result must establish the gospel of Christ as the one true religion. One of the greatest evidences to the resurrection of Christ is the conversion of Saul/Paul and his later testimony of the events of his conversion.Damascus Road

Saul was born a Roman citizen in the city of Tarsus, a city known for its school of literature and philosophy. He was taught in Jerusalem by Gamaliel, a Pharisee and respected teacher of the law (Acts 5:34-35; 22:3) and grew up to become a member of the party of the Pharisees. He would excel beyond his contemporaries, being zealous for the traditions of his fathers. His early life and training certainly put Saul of Tarsus on the “fast track” when it came to his religious faith. It was zeal in defending his faith that led to his brief but fervent career as a persecutor of Christians. Saul was present at the death of the first Christian martyr named Stephen, consenting to his death (Acts 8:1). This was only the beginning of the havoc that Saul would bring to the church over the coming days and months. His goal was to destroy it. He entered the homes of Christians, dragging them out and throwing them into prison (Acts 8:3). He also beat those who he captured (Acts 22:19) and compelled them to blaspheme (Acts 26:11). He would stop at nothing, even going to foreign cities to capture and imprison the saints.

Now, let Saul of Tarsus tell you the rest of what happened:

12 “While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, 13 at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. 14 “And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 “And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 ‘But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; 17 rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ 19 “So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should Paul-Preaching-in-Athensrepent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance” (Acts 26:12-20).

In a matter of three days, this fierce persecutor of Christians… became a Christian, and right away he got to work preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to try to bring men and women to repentance and faith in Christ. Paul would also suffer many things for his faith in Christ, even losing his life as tradition states by being beheaded.

How can this dramatic change in Saul of Tarsus be accounted for? What explanation can be given? The answer lies in the truth of his testimony. He saw the resurrected Son of God.

Luke wrote his books (Luke and Acts) from the perspective of an historian so people could know the historical facts that would convince them regarding the events of the Life of Christ and the work of the apostles (Luke 1:1-4). His reputation as an accurate historian is well established. In addition, Luke was a traveling companion of Paul, so he would have personally heard the accounts of Paul’s conversion and saw the miracles that Paul did to show that his work and teaching were from God. The evidence of Paul’s conversion from persecutor to apostle is overwhelming and proves that Jesus indeed was raised from His tomb and seen by eyewitnesses, “last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me [Paul] also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them” (1 Cor. 15:8-10).

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