Some Differences between the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity

Difference between Roman Catholic and Christianity.

At this present day there are about 1 billion roman catholics in the world as of 2008.

Now I am not writing this to attack or hate on Roman Catholics because as a christian it is my job to love everyone but especially lovingly share the truth, especially since I was a Roman Catholic for 17 years, so I cannot rag on them the slightest. For those who are solid Bible believing christians and you know the truth and are trying to share it with a R.C please do it lovingly, for they are just like us and everybody else, we are all born sinners and are brought up into some sort of false religious system which leads to bondage, unless you are raised in a solid christian home that is. We must help free them from that bondage, not by dispute but by learning the truth and sharing it with the love of Christ.

Here I go down the list of the major problems with the Roman Catholic Church and I header them with titles of the sin they fall into. Rebukes are not always easy because you are pointing out what someone or a group of people is doing wrong, but they must be pointed out for the love of truth and Christ, and if they are harsh it is for a reason.

IDOLATRY

1.Worshipping of Mary

-FACT: Roman Catholics believe that Mary is the mother of God, instead of just the mother of Jesus thereby making here into a deity.
*** the Bible says that Mary is only the mother of Jesus' Body, For Jesus existed as God(the Word) before the earth began John 1.1, and God does not need a mother for he is Sovereignly eternal and the alpha and omega. Rev 22:13

- They believe that Mary was sinless and did not die but ascended into heaven, and now we can pray to her and she will forgive our sins, and shes prays to God for us to help us get to heaven.
***Whereas the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:5 : For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and in John 14:6 : "Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me."

-For Mary to had remained sinless catholics believe that Mary had to remain a virgin so they must believe Jesus did not break Mary's virginity while being born, so they claim that Jesus was cut out of his mothers womb, and some go as far to say that she vomitted him out, which is (not surprisingly) a very popular form of pagan deity birth.

*** Matthew 12:46-50 says that Jesus had his mother and brothers outside waiting for him, if Jesus had brothers then that means that Mary had sexual relations with Joseph after Jesus was born, this is why they call James(who wrote the epistle) the Lord's Half-Brother.

We can also see scriptures to support this in Matt 1:25.

-The statue of Mary that every roman catholic has in their home is a re-emerging version of the ancient pagan virgin godesses artemis, athena and the most cunning resemblance is to that of astarte(ishtar) the statues are almost split images.

***Where as the bible says in Exodus 20:1-6
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.........

-"There is such ignorance of the Biblical role and understanding of Mary, that for anybody who has come to Christ from a Catholic background, once the scales fall off (2 Cor. 3:14-16) and the ex-Catholic now becomes a Christian (2 Cor. 5:17), such teachings as this cause the child of God great pain and a righteous anger, for Jesus is the One to whom all the love, prayers and worship should be given to, not Mary!"

2. Worshipping of saints

-FACT: The roman catholic church has at the moment just over 10,000 canonized saints. depending on a saints popularity in a particular region, they may or may not have a specific holiday in honor of their name.

-Roman catholics have a doctrine of "attaching" themselves to a particular saint for help with that saints particular area of expertise. For example: There is a saint called "Saint Luzia of the open eyes", so people who are blind or with bad eye sight will "attach" themselves to this saint and pray to them constantly until they get better better eyes. There is a saint for practically every help area that a person could need eg. deafness, mute, finances, fertility, pain, marriage problems and the list goes on. I can ask my grandma which saint I should pray to for my "________" problem and she will tell me right away which one specializes in that area.

*** the bible says that when we pray we should only pray to God the Father, In Jesus Name. John 16:26 and says: But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:13 God supplies needs, not dead saints.


3. Worshipping the Pope

-FACT: Roman Catholics Worship the Pope, as their Doctrine states that he is the Vicar of Christ, the one who makes all the decisons for Jesus here on earth. As a man with this much power how can the Roman Catholics resist worshipping this man. There is something called the infallibility of the pope, which states that the pope can never ever be wrong! This is wrong, the pope is just a man and a sinful man just like everyone else.

*** Once you take the focus off Christ and put it on something or someone else it is Idolatry and if it gets serious enough it can become a replacment Christ (anti-Christ).The bible says in 1 John 4:1-3 that many false prophets and anti-Christs will come.

4. Worshipping carved images and statues(idols)

-FACT: Catholics regularly bow down to idols, icons and images of Jesus, Mary and the apostles, kissing the feet of the statues and praying to them. They will kiss their rosary before going to sleep and kiss the carved image of Jesus on their necklace all the time.
*** the Bible reads: Cursed be the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, it is the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Deuteronomy 27:15

FALSE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION

Now I will take you through the Pillar of Roman Catholic Works based salvation Doctrine "The 7 Sacraments" and why the way they teach is either False or almost completly False.

1. Baptism-

Roman Catholics teach that a baby should be baptized as soon as possible after birth by sprinkling some water on its head, and if there is a new convert to R.C they just need to have some water sprinkled on them.
-In R.C the widespread belief is that after you are baptized as a baby your are safely secure in the bosom of God and no matter what sins you do they will be purged away in purgatory.
Although baptism is a correct doctrine the way the roman catholics teach it is completly false.

*** Baptising babies is wrong because baptism is a public display of your inward faith in Christ(babies can't have faith in Christ) by being immersed(buried) in water. Your old self dies and stays under the water while your new self comes up out of the water. Getting baptized doesn't save but it's silly to not get baptized if you are a christian. Acts 8:36-27 Mark 16:15-16

2. Holy Communion/Eucharist

-The Roman Catholic church teaches that around the age of 9 one must take part of his first holy communion which one cannot take part of until that age.
-The R.C's teach that the wafer of bread and cup of wine become actual body and blood of Jesus at the priest's command and this is also part of their works based salvation. This is a sin and it is idolatry because of unkowledgable misenterpretations of scriptures.
*** Although there is a Lord's supper and there is a piece of bread and cup of wine to consume the idea that it becomes the body and blood of Jesus is a misreading of John's gospel. The Lord's supper is a completly symbolic meal that we do in remembrance of what Jesus did on the Cross for us. When we take the bread we remember his body which was broken and ravaged for the healing of our spirits and our salvation, and when we drink the wine we remember the blood that was spilled to wash away our sins. Read Luke 22:14-20

3.Reconciliation/Confession

-After one takes his first Eucharist he is required to regularly tell the priest some of the sins hes commited so that the priest will plead his case before God.
****This is old Covenant mentality! We don't need another mediatior all we need is Jesus, and we can and only should confess our sins directly to him to ask for forgiveness and repent!
God loves us so much that he bled for us and died and rose again just so there could be a mediator and we could have the chance to actually talk to God, and we are being very ungrateful if we ignore this and try to talk to him using other methods.
Read 1 John 1:9 1and 1 Tim 2:5 again.

-After you tell your sins to the priest he tells you to say 10 Hail Maries and 3 Our Fathers, the amount varies depending on the gravity of your sin.
***This is works based salvation, Only the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins and not some silly repetition of prayers. Read Ephesians 2:8-9 to see how we are saved.

4. Confirmation/Recieiveing the Holy Spirit

-At around the age of 14 the Church goer must receive his "Confirmation" where the R.C believer recieves the Holy spirit for the first time thus once more securing his salvation through a series of mandate rituals.
*** The Bible says that to be saved ye must be born again (John3:3) by repenting. When you repent God recreates your spirit and you are "Born again" and at that moment you have the Holy Spirit helping you along the way.

5. Marriage and 6. Holy Orders

-The Roman Catholic Church states with authority that if you get married you can have no part in teaching or preaching the gospel or any work for the Lord. Also if you want to be a priest(a.k.a pastor) or any other leadership position you must be celibate.
*** This is completly against new testament teaching, the bible says that bishops must be husbands of one wife in 1 Timothy 3:2. Read and Consider I Timothy 4:1-3.

7.Last Rites/Extreme Unction/Anointing of the Sick

-Once again yet another thing that must be done to a human being in order for him to be saved. If one is sick and on his deathbed he must be anointed by the preist to secure his salvation. Yet if someone were to get hit by a car and die instantly he doesn't need the Extreme Unction.
*** Hmm, every single sacrament is neccessary for salvation if you happen to be alive until the appropriate time of receivng it. Yet if you happen to die before the time it's ok you don't need them.


OTHERS

-These are just some short random facts about the Roman catholic church that don't fall into the other categories but are dangerous nonetheless.

1.Purgatory or limbo

- The roman catholic church teaches that if you die in sins its still ok because you will go to "purgatory" a place where you spirit goes to be purged of sins before it can enter heaven.
Thus nullifying the cross of Jesus Christ once again.

2. The Roman Catholics were largely responsible for The Crusades, and completely responsible for the Inquisitions in which they search for people who believed a different Christianity then theirs and they would burn them at the stake for "heresy".

3. Roman Catholism is commonly caught selling indulgences to remove sin of loved ones that have passed away and help them get to heaven. Another form of works salvation.

AND THE WORST....

4. THEY DON'T READ THE BIBLE.

FACT: Catholics are taught that only the priests can understand the Bible and the common man in the pew cannot understand the Bible without the priests help.
-Even at mass there is no Bibles, they use something called the "Sunday Missal" where they read along with what the priest is saying and find their hymns and songs. Catholics don't believe that the bible is 100% accurate they believe what the priests tell them over the bible. I would say that 95% of Roman Catholics have never read the bible because according to their cathechism it's not even neccessary and according to the priests its harmful to the developing of faith.

FACT: The Pope teaches that he can change what is in the Bible if he wants.

And here we come to a conclusion, The reason why the Roman catholic church is so apostate is because they do not read the Bible or believe it. When the first person to come out of the R.C church, Martin Luther, protested against their evils the first thing he posted after he posted Solos Cristos was Solos Scritura, which means "Solely Scripture" or "Only Scripture". Martin Luther had a good answer to the problem, maybe we should listen to him.