Catholic Beliefs and the Scriptures Part 2

This paper is to be an addition to the first paper Catholic Beliefs and the Scriptures. This paper is dedicated to responding to the "Handbook for Today’s Catholic" 1994 edition with index to the Catechism, and foreword by John Cardinal O’Connor. Each response will indicate the page from the book and topic, and followed by a scriptural response. My prayer is that the evidence will be weighed and that scripture will prove to be the final truth.

  1. On page 14 of the book it is stated that the Catholic dogmas and teachings agree with the scriptures. On page 32 it is also stated under the section on "Scriptures and Tradition" that Tradition and Scripture together make the Word of God. I covered this issue in the previous article look at point # 1. It is apparent after reading the book, that there are so many contradictions that there is very little solid teachings in the Catholic Church. One example is the point of the Traditions and Scriptures, and how that the Catholic view of this is that Traditions and dogmas are acceptable as long as they agree with scriptures. The only problem with this, is that almost all of these Traditions that the church has instilled are directly contrary to the Scriptures. They seem to ignore this fact as well as many other areas of contradiction. Again I must direct you to Matthew 15: 1-9 for the Scriptural response to the Catholic Church’s position on Traditions. If any tradition does not have scriptural backing it should be stopped immediately. Catholic lay people are ignorant to most of these violations, but once the truth has been presented to them, (such as through this paper and the scriptures it contains) then they will be held accountable to the Lord. The Bible says in Acts 17:30 that "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." There was a time that the common Catholic could claim ignorance to the truth, but now once the truth has been presented, you must decide. You can continue to turn your head to the flagrant violations of God’s Word, or you can do what God commanded of such teaching; "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord…and I will receive you." God says that we are not to partake of those that propagate false teachings, and teachings that do not agree with the Word of God are exactly what God was referring to.
  2. On page 40, under the topic of Confirmation there is a very blatant contradiction with the scriptures. According to this section it is at this time that the person is "sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit." The understanding is that the Holy Spirit is not imparted until this "Confirmation" is performed. According to Ephesians 1:13, you receive the Holy Spirit once you believe and accept Jesus as your Savior. Acts 10:44-48 and many other scriptures in Acts confirm this. Once again the scriptures clearly indicate the exact opposite of the teaching of the Catholic Church. It would still not be accepted even if only a few teachings did not line up with scriptures, but for almost all of them to be in contradiction should be a wake up call to those that see them. It is not a matter of trying to pick the teaching apart, with the many obvious errors it is very apparent to one that knows even the basic scriptures. According to this teaching there is also a new name given at confirmation. The question is; where does this practice originate from? If the response is that there were names given to the disciples by Jesus, the answer to that is that Jesus was giving them names that indicated their freedom from the law. It was Never indicated to be a tradition or something that was continued, if so, show the scripture which directs this. This is just another of the many areas that traditions were implemented without scriptural instruction.
  3. On page 46 & 71, is the topic of the Mass and the offering of the Eucharist, and the fact, according to the Catholic teaching that Christ is present in the Eucharist. This process is called a "unbloody sacrifice" and is not only unbiblical, but blasphemy. On page 46 it is also implied that as long as this ordinance is celebrated that the work of our redemption is carried on. The implication in this statement gives the impression that if it were not carried out that the redemption process would not be carried on. I covered this topic in section #8 in the first part of this paper. The scriptures are very clear as I indicated in the first section on this topic that Jesus offered Himself ONCE for all and that it is only to be a semblance of the original not a reenactment. There is also a statement on pg. 71, that "We offer Jesus to the Father" this is extremely blasphemous. No man has the righteousness nor the power, position, purity, ability, or any granted authority to ever think they can offer Jesus to the Father. That is an act that Jesus did Himself, ONCE and did it willingly, and was the ONLY one worthy to do it. The priest is actually saying that they have the power to offer Jesus as a sacrifice each time Mass is performed. This is the most blasphemous act that can be imagined and this is one area where God will not hold them blameless, they will without a doubt answer for this atrocious act. Once the Catholic is made aware of this ungodly ritual ( which resembles pagan acts) they will also be held accountable to God for following along from that point forward.
  4. On page 47 is the topic of Purgatory which was covered on point #6 in the first paper. The statement is made that "This doctrine is reflected in Scripture and developed in Tradition." There is not scripture given to back this up in the book and that is because there is none in the Bible. This concept is strictly Tradition and is a false hope given to people, in short it is a LIE. Hebrews 9:27 makes it clear that there is only one thing to look forward to after death, and that is Judgment. This is a teaching of convenience to ease people’s conscience’s about their outcome. The truth is that there is only two choices and they must be made before you die, you either are for Jesus or against Him. It is either Heaven or Hell, no middle ground, no way to be prayed out.
  5. Page 51, gives a list of the Ten Commandments but interestingly enough the first one has only been half given. Is it just a coincidence that they happened to leave out the second part of the first commandment? The second part is about "not having any graven images" . I covered this in section #10 in the first part, and made it clear that all of the statues of Mary, Saints, Angels, and other images that are widely used by Catholics are in violation of this commandment. Why is it that they do not see this?
  6. Page 54 under the section of "Confession of Sins", there is instruction given as to when forgiveness, penance, and confession is necessary. It is interesting that the Bible says that all we need to do is ask Jesus for forgiveness yet the Catholic hierarchy want to set out guidelines that require following rituals. In 1John 1:9 it is clear that all that is needed is dialogue with God, not a priest. No rituals are required according to scripture, just a repentant heart and come to God, just you and Him. The Bible clearly says that there is only ONE mediator between man and God and that is Jesus, not a priest, not Mary, not a saint… just Jesus.
  7. Pages 30,31,62,66,68&69, all discuss the heresies of the Catholic conception of Mary. This is addressed in section #9 in part one, and I would like to further comment. First of all Mary is not the "mother of God", she was not exempt from any trace of original sin ( Immaculate Conception), and she did not ascend to heaven bodily (Assumption), and was not a virgin after the birth of Jesus. NOWHERE does Scripture direct us to pray to Mary, nor does it indicate or back any of these false teaching of the Catholic Church. There is absolutely not ONE scripture that supports any of the above mentioned teachings.

SUMMARY

The purpose of this paper and the first is to show the blatant unscriptural teachings of the Catholic Church and give you the chance to decide for yourself if you want to continue to turn your head to the facts. If these teachings seem harmless to you, then you need to consider the fact that Jesus repeatedly confronted the Jewish leaders for their teachings that were harmful to the people. These Jewish leaders were the Religious leaders of that day and Jesus did not hesitate to expose the heretical teachings they were imposing as tradition. Read Matthew chapter 23 and compare it to the Catholic leaders, you should be able to see a striking resemblance. I only propagate the scripture and would be glad to discuss them with any priest or lay person in the Catholic Church. Of course with the priest, and up to the pope, thinking that they are infallible, it is not likely that they will take me up on this offer. I will be glad to sit down and show what the Scriptures say, then you will have to make a choice, which actually you have already seen the scriptures if you read these two papers. Please look at the facts of the scriptures not just what I say, if you can find scriptural backing for the issues listed in these papers, let me know. I have done my homework and presented the facts, I gain nothing out of doing this except to protect any that I can from false teaching. Please prove me wrong about any of the issues on these papers. I would love to talk to you about any of the items listed.

Adam Bartlett

BIBLE HEADQUARTERS

CATHOLIC BELIEFS AND THE SCRIPTURES PART 1

Letter to a Catholic Priest

MARY