World Religions - Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholicism
What do Catholics believe?
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Catholic beliefs incude the following:
- Direct and continuous organizational descent from the original church founded by Jesus Matthew 16:18, who, according to tradition, designated the Apostle Peter as its first leader.
- Belief that Jesus Christ is Divine, a doctrine officially clarified in the First Council of Nicea and expressed in the Nicene Creed.
- Belief that the elements in the Eucharist become really, truly, the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ at consecration, resulting in the Real Presence of Christ. Many additionally believe that, because Christ himself is present in the sacrament, he is to be honoured in it with the worship of adoration.
- Possession of the "threefold ordained ministry" of Bishops, Priests and Deacons.
- All ministers are ordained by, and subject to, Bishops, who pass down sacramental authority by the "laying-on of hands", having themselves been ordained in a direct line of succession from the Apostles (see Apostolic Succession).
- Belief that the Church is the vessel and deposit of the fullness of the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles from which the Scriptures were formed. This teaching is preserved in both written scripture and in unwritten tradition, neither being independent of the other.
- A belief in the necessity and efficacy of sacraments.
- The use of sacred images, candles, vestments and music, and often incense and water, in worship.
- Veneration of Mary, the mother of Jesus as the Blessed Virgin Mary or Theotokos (i.e., "God-bearer" or "Mother of God"), and veneration of the saints.
- A distinction between adoration (latria) for God, and veneration (dulia) for saints. The term hyperdulia is used for a special veneration accorded to the Virgin Mary among the saints.
- The use of prayer for the dead.
- The acceptance of canonizations.
- Requests to the departed saints for intercessory prayers.
Areas of Concern
The Catholic religion is composed of traditions which are not based upon the Word of God. Matthew 23:9 warns us not to reverence any man as "Father." Yet, this is exactly what the Catholic religion practices. 1st Timothy 4:1-3 warns us...
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.” 1Timothy 4:1-3
Catholicism teaches it's members not to eat meat (during Lent) and forbids its priests from getting married. The Catholic Bible contains the same instructions but the Vatican encourages people to listen to the Holy Father in Rome, the local priest, and their catechisms instead of studying the Word of God for themselves. The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church clearly stand against the teachings that are in the Holy Word of God.
The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was without sin, but the Bible clearly teaches that even Mary needed a savior. See Luke chapter 1 verses 46 and 47.
"And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior..."
Have your say regarding Catholicism, right here. Direct Forum Link
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Further online Resources
Good News for Catholics: www.gnfc.org
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Are you ready for the inevitable? There is no need to be fearful of that inevitable moment, so long as you are prepared and as long as you are not taking comfort in something that sounds nice but is really just positive but wishful thinking. Make your life journey count, consider your eternal destination. Just believing in a lie wont make it truth, no matter how much you want it or how appealing that lie is. It is better to know the truth than to live in the delusion of a lie. No one likes being deceived, but in a world of political correctness, acceptance and anything goes, it is easy to side-step the truth of reality. What REALLY is true?
Can we just make up our own truth and say "well that is true for you, but my truth is something else"? Surely we can't all be right, especially when there are so many contradictory beliefs and top world religions out there.
ABSOLUTE GOLD..... Be great to get my hands on some of those.
Comments
Ridiculous: Which aspects in particular are you referring to Max?
Hah, no worries Tim. There are already some good discussions happening in the evolution forum, so feel free to jump in and contribute in that or in the Catholicism forum too.
Warm regards,
Heath
Hi Tim,
Keep going to the gym, I’m sure it’s not what He meant :)
I see what you mean about there being a verse somewhere that can be warped to support almost any belief. I guess we need to be careful not to develop whole doctrines around the interpretation of one scripture, but instead only when there are multiple supporting scriptures that support and point to the same thing. Presuming that we hold the same esteem for the Bible, then we can look to it to check our beliefs and what others are saying to make sure that we haven’t allowed the teachings of a professor, priest or well-meaning parent to distort the Bible’s original teachings. I don’t think you will find a totally unbiased site anywhere when you are talking about religions and faith. Maybe an Encyclopaedia or a dictionary but then again, they often run with a bias towards textbook evolution. This website is still a great place to express your personal beliefs and to discuss with others what theirs are. The starting canvas might be bias but that’s always a great way to get some discussion going which will then open up the floor for some also bias opinions from every different spectrum. Everyone will have their bias or belief which they are entitled to. Maybe I will try to set up a parallel site for interfaith dialogue sometime which simply has a dictionary definition for each world religion and then set up a forum for discussion.
Heath
Faith of Choice Admin
Hi Claudia, thanks for your feedback!
Catholicism has been listed as a separate faith to “Christianity” because there are some fundamental differences in the beliefs of Catholicism and lets say "Evangelical main-stream Christianity". I understand that they are often grouped together by many as one religion but there are reasons why we believe they are different enough to warrant separate listings. Catholicism has some very unique teachings that are not found in the broader “Christian” faith. ie: The Bible's used are significantly different. The Catholic Church has a number of additional books in it’s Bible http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_the_Bible
; their source of authority is different (Christians are taught that the Holy Bible is the complete source of authority, whereas for Catholics, there appears to be more emphasis placed upon the traditions of the Catholic Church and Vatican and the "infallible" word of the Pope):
Paragraph number 97 (The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church)
"Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God"
But the Word of God says something different:
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. ” (Colossians 2:8 ) KJV
Anyway, this is a huge can of worms and would be a great discussion topic for the Faith of Choice Forum and it would be helpful to hear your objections in more detail (ie: start with what you believe to be one or two specific errors in content), then we can address them and provide Biblical evidence to support our findings. If you post in the forum, make sure to create a username and to submit your email address so that you can hear other Catholics, Christians and other faith opinions and responses.
Kind regards,
Heath
Faith of Choice Admin
When i first approached this website, i thought it was a good way for others to read and learn about my faith (Catholicism, which is denomination of Christianity, thank you very much, so why it's classified as a separate faith is unbeknown to me), clearly this is not the case.
Firstly, the 'problems' section of this page shouldn't even be there if you're actually adhering to what this website claims and 'educating' people in an unbiased way so they can make their own decision.
Secondly, it is so SEVERELY incorrect and biased i cannot even begin to explain. If one day you decide to actually read a catechism of the Catholic church or speak to a priest/religious, then you'd realize that your terribly incorrect assumptions (which is all that they are) are absurdly misleading to anyone reading this.
I'm offended by this ignorant portrayal of Catholicism.
That is all.
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