OUR SINCERE PLEA TO
OUR
FRIENDS
IN THE
The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans
While the Roman
Catholic
Church is the oldest of the man-made denominations, it has not existed
from the
beginning. The origin of the Roman Catholic Church began with the
earliest
departures from the New Testament pattern. However, it was not
established
until around 300 to 600 AD.
The warnings of
apostasy were
clearly presented in the first century and made known in several
passages. Paul
warned the Ephesian elders, “I know that after my departure savage
wolves
will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own
selves
men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples
after
them” (Acts 20:29-30). Paul writing to the young preacher Timothy
said, “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,
by means
of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a
branding
iron, {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; cf. 2 Tim. 4:3; 2 Thess. 2:1-12).
The departures Paul
warned
against began to take place in the second century as churches began to
select
one of their elders and appointing him to preside over all meetings of
the
church. This elder became known as the “presiding elder” and later
became known
as the “bishop” of that church, placing in him authority over the other
elders.
No distinction was ever made, in the first century, between men who
were
appointed as elders, bishops, presbyters, or overseers, for these terms
referred to the same function in the church. A gradual and steady
change
continued to take place in the way the church was organized.
In New Testament
times the
churches of Christ were independent of each other with each church
having its
own elders or bishops and deacons (Phil. 1:1). As the power of the
bishops
grew, they were soon assigned specific territories, known as a
“diocese,” to
oversee. “Country Bishops” were appointed to help oversee some of the
rural
areas. Elders became known as “presbyters” and eventually, when the
bishops and
presbyters felt it necessary to come together in councils to discuss
some of
the problems facing the church, the presiding bishop of these councils
became
known as the president of the council or the “metropolitan.” He could
now hand
down rulings and decrees on church doctrine to be carried out by the
lower
bishops and presbyters.
Early in the fourth
century
these churches were organized into larger territories and a “patriarch”
was
appointed over each territory. Eventually the churches were divided
into five
major territories (
Because of
worldliness
invading the church around 320 AD monasticism was born, with many
church
members separating themselves from the world to live as monks or nuns.
In 588
AD the patriarch of
Throughout the dark
ages, the
Pope gained more and more power and eventually ruled over not only the
church,
but also civil governments throughout the world, until nation after
nation
refused to submit to the popes of
The entire
hierarchy of
Catholicism (popes, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests) is
absolutely
unknown to the New Testament. In contrast, the church of the New
Testament
recognized only Jesus Christ as her head and source of authority (Matt.
28:18-20; Eph.
Deacons were also
appointed
in each church to provide help in caring for the needy saints (Acts
6:1-3).
There were evangelists who dedicated themselves to spreading the gospel
and
edifying the churches, as seen in the lives of Paul and others. The
apostles
were those charged with making known the inspired revelation of truth
as they
were guided by the Holy Spirit (John
In 1870, the
Vatican Council
declared the Pope infallible. There were a number of statements made
concerning
the Pope such as: “The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted
that he is
not a mere man, but as it were, God, and the Vicar of Christ…. He is
likewise
the Divine Monarch and Supreme Emperor, and King of Kings” (Converted
Catholic Magazine, Jan. 1946).
The Catholic belief
in the
infallibility of the Pope and his right to rule over the church is the
thing that
sets it apart from all other churches. First, there was no pope in the
first
century. Had there been an infallible source of authority in the
church, it is
inconceivable that Peter, the alleged bishop of Rome, writing two
general
epistles and mentioning his departure which he indicated was close at
hand (2
Pet. 1:15), would not have acquainted the members of the church as to
what
guide or authority they were to follow after he was taken from them, or
how
that guide or authority was to be chosen.
The apostle Peter,
the
alleged first pope, certainly was not infallible as a teacher of faith
and
morals, as his conduct at
There are many
doctrines and
rituals that distinguish Catholicism as a distinctive religious system
in
addition to the organizational structure as discussed above. The
doctrine of
“Mary, the Mother of God,” is just such a doctrine. This doctrine of
Mary is the
result of centuries of growth. There are Holy Days of Obligation
devoted to
Mary; there are prayers whose subject is Mary; there are shrines
devoted to
Mary that are visited by thousands of pilgrims each year. The phrase
“Mother of
God” didn’t begin to be used until late in the 2nd century. It was the
Council
of Ephesus in 431 AD that affirmed that Mary was to be called “Mother
of God.”
Mary was never called the Mother of God in the Scriptures.
It wasn’t until the
middle of
the 7th century that it was decided that Mary remained a perpetual
virgin. The
doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, that she was conceived
without
the taint of “original sin,” wasn’t proclaimed until the 13the century.
Pope
Pius XII didn’t declare the doctrine of the Bodily Assumption of Mary
as an
article of faith until 1950. (Request
the tract, “What Is the Roman Catholic Doctrine of Mary?”).
The Roman Catholic
Church has
developed a doctrine in which it is held that all who die at peace with
the
church, but who are not perfect, must undergo penal and purifying
suffering in
an intermediate realm known as purgatory. Purgatory is a place of
suffering and
loss, where one continues to pay for his sins after baptism. The
suffering in
purgatory may be shortened by prayers, good works of the faithful, and
the
sacrifice of the mass by individuals on earth (Council of Trent sess.
25).
They also believe
that the
pope (or a priest acting for him) can release individuals from
punishment in
purgatory by transferring the superabundance of the merits of Christ
and the
saints. After their sins are atoned for and purged by their suffering
in
purgatory, they are then translated to heaven. Why would someone be
kept in
purgatory to suffer if they could get him or her out? Why not render
that
service freely and willingly as a Christian service to humanity? If
they will
only exercise that power upon the payment of money, then they are most
cruel
and unchristian. (Request the tract, “What Is the Roman Catholic
Doctrine of
Purgatory?”).
That the doctrine
of
purgatory is unscriptural can be shown easily. The Bible says nothing
about any
such place, and in fact the most devastating arguments against
purgatory come
from those inspired pages. Jesus Christ never made as much as a passing
allusion to purgatory. The apostle John wrote:
“the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin…. If we
confess
our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us
from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7, 9). Therefore, our sins, all
of
them, are forgiven through the sacrifice of Christ, and none are left
to be
purged away by human merit.
The Hebrew writer
said, “And
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb.
10:7). God
not only forgives us, but also pledges Himself never to bring our sins
to His
remembrance. Purgatory is a travesty on the justice of God. God’s
justice has
been fully satisfied once and for all by the sacrifice of Christ, and
God will
not exact double punishment, once from Christ, and again from those who
are to
be saved eternally.
At the very center
of the
Roman Catholic Church lies the
For Roman Catholics
the mass
is a sacrifice, performed by a priest and is the central point in their
worship. The preaching of the gospel is assigned a subordinate role and
is not
even held to be an essential of the priestly office. The elaborate
ritual of
the mass is really an extended pageant, designed to re-enact the
experiences of
Christ from the supper in the upper room, through the agony in the
garden, the
betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and
ascension. It is
a drama crowding the detailed events of many days into the space of one
hour or
less.
As Greg Litmer, a
former
Catholic, points out in his book Catholicism Examined Vol. 1-3 pp.
185-186: “Is
the Mass a continuation of the sacrifice of
Notice also, “By
this will
we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once
for all. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time
after time
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having
offered one
sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
waiting
from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His
feet. For
by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified
(Heb.
The New Testament
does not
teach or even suggest anything like the Mass of Roman Catholicism.
First
century Christians engaged in the following acts of worship: singing,
preaching, praying, contributing of their means, and partaking of the
Lord’s
Supper (Eph. 5:19; Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor.
11:20-34).
(Request the tract, “What Is the Roman Catholic Mass?”).
We are often told
that the
Catholic Church gave us the Bible and that it is a Catholic Book. If
this is so
then why does it condemn clerical dress? (Matt. 23:5-6). Why does it
teach
against the adoration of Mary? (Luke 11:27-28). Why does it show that
all
Christians are priests? (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). Why does it condemn the
observance of
special days? (Gal. 4:9-11). Why does it teach that all Christians are
saints
even while alive? (1 Cor. 1:2). Why does it condemn the making and
adoration of
images? (Ex. 20:4-5). Why does it teach that baptism is immersion
instead of
pouring? (Col. 2:12). Why does it forbid us to address religious
leaders as
“father”? (Matt. 23:9). Why does it command communion with both the
fruit of
the vine and bread? (1 Cor. 11:23-26). Why does it teach that there is
one
mediator instead of many? (1 Tim. 2:5). Why is it completely silent
about
infant baptism, instrumental music in worship, indulgences, purgatory,
confession to priests, the rosary, the mass, and many other things in
the
Catholic Church?
The truth is that
the
Catholic Church has always opposed the reading of the Bible by the
common man.
It was first officially forbidden to the people by the Church of Rome
and
placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Council of
Valencia (a
cathedral city in southeastern Spain) in the year 1229, with the
following
decree: “We prohibit also the permitting of the laity to have the
books of
the Old and New Testament, unless any one should wish, from a feeling
of
devotion, to have a psalter or breviary for divine service, or the
hours of the
blessed Mary. But we strictly forbid them to have the above mentioned
books in
the vulgar tongue.” My friends, the Bible was complete before the
Catholic
Church came into existence. (Request the tract, “Did the Catholic
Church
Give Us the Bible?”).
Our Sincere Plea to Our Catholic Friends
We feel it is our
duty to
have this frank and open study with you. Please study these thoughts in
the
same sincere spirit of love in which they are written. We are concerned
only
with serving the Lord Jesus Christ according to His divine word as
revealed in
the New Testament and we plead for everyone to do the same. We will be
happy to
discuss this article with anyone. If there is a reputable
representative for
the Roman Catholic Church who will defend the Catholic doctrine in an
open
forum or public debate we will be happy to work out the arrangements
and
discuss these matters.
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