Catholics and Protestants are divided. Each claim God gave them their beliefs, say different things about how we're saved, and making the wrong choice leads us to burn forever. Jesus and Paul said to avoid false teaching that can cost us our souls. How do we make the right choice?
The Word of God is the ultimate authority. It also existed before any church. We'll look at God's Word to see what Jesus said about being saved. We'll look at the Apostles' teaching. Then, examples of what they did in the New Testament. Then, we'll look at Roman Catholicism which came later.
In the Old Testament, God required people choose Him by turning away from sin (repent) and having faith in God. They worshiped and prayed to God only (1/2/3/4/5/6). God heard them (1/2/3). God banned making holy images of things or people in heaven that people venerated. If they truly believed, then our faith leads to obedience which is good for us. God's people are a precious possession that He won't abandon (see Neh. 9:16-21). He forced Israel to repent for His name's sake. God also promised to bring salvation to all nations through a Messiah who dies for their sins.
The Messiah, Jesus, shows up. He preaches the Gospel. When asked, Jesus said the work that saves us is believing in Him. His Word made people clean, physically and spiritually. The proof is that many people were saved with zero sacraments: the paralytic, the Demoniac, Samaritan woman, the forgiven woman, and thief on the cross. Also, Jesus keeps saying all who reject Him and stay in sin go to Hell (1/2/3/4/5). The Rich Man and Lazarus confirms there is no purgatory. We must choose Christ in this life.
The people who were saved also show that our works don't maintain our salvation. After they're forgiven or saved, they can't receive sacraments because Jesus and His disciples leave. If our salvation required more sacraments, they would all go to Hell. But John 10:27-30 and Romans 8:31-39 also say that Christ will not allow the devil to take His sheep away. Upon believing in Christ, He puts His seal, the Holy Spirit, in us to guarantee our future.
What about good works? Many passages show that God Himself causes good works in us (1/2/3/4/5). For instance, baptism is a symbol of how Jesus washed us clean (1/2). That's why we don't baptize non-believers, especially infants. Believers will do good works but the works don't save us. Our works earned nothing (1/2/3/4/5/6). Instead, Scripture says Christ will finish His work in us (1/2/3). The worst we can do is suffer discipline in this life or lose rewards in the next. We obey God because He is worthy of it and we are grateful for Christ's sacrifice.
We're to only bow down for and venerate God, never men. Jesus ignored Mary to say He focuses on anyone who believes. The Bible doesn't mention her after Acts. Jesus told people to call nobody Father because we're all just brothers and sisters in His kingdom. Jesus taught people to pray directly to the Father in His name. Hebrews says we have access to God. After sending the Twelve, Jesus sent out all His disciples to share the Gospel to show we're all priests. Jesus also always cited Scripture as the ultimate authority.
The Apostles preach repentance and faith to be saved. That faith comes through hearing the Word. That the alternative is hell. They say we are all priests and ambassadors who carry this Word. They tell people obedience should follow their faith.
They venerate God only, not men. They do brief compliments and prayer requests for specific saints. They never pray to Mary or dead saints. They pray only to the Father in Jesus' name. Apostles call specific people they led to conversion children as a metaphor. Nobody calls the Apostles, Father, though. The Scriptures were still the highest authority. Paul even tells Timothy to publicly read the Scripture to the churches. The Apostles were also given special authority to lay the foundation of the church before the Word was finished.
Churches carried on these traditions for a while. Then, they started having councils where men determined what people would believe. Huge problems with doctrine caused the churches to split into the Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic. Reading God's Word, the Protestants realized church was far away from God's design, broke away, and started obeying only God's Word. Now, we'll look at the false teachings of the Roman Catholic Church that inspired the break.
The word catholic was used by early Christians to mean universal. Later, the word was re-defined to mean people that follow the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Those beliefs took form almost 300 years after Christ. Their teachings were very different from what Christ and the Apostles taught. The Roman Church also had the power to punish anyone who disagreed with them.
The Word of GodThe manuscripts of the Gospel are written in Koine Greek. That was the language of the common people. Before the printing press, both books and literacy were rare. Nobody could understand God's Word. The Catholics translated the Bible to Latin (Vulgate). People who didn't know Latin had to trust the priests' opinions instead of form their own beliefs using God's Word. The Roman Catholic Church also punished people with different doctrine and some who tried to make translations accessible to everyone. Restricting access to God's Word increased the corruption of doctrine and the church.
The Catholic church also persecuted or killed people who made Bible translations for everyone. Around 1300, John Wycliffe opposed Catholic doctrine and inspired a movement to translate the Bible from Latin to other languages, like English. The Catholic Church banned such work in 1408 with the "Constitutions of Oxford." William Tyndale was burned for his English translations that God inspired King James to use later. Over six billion copies were made by today's time. Casiodoro de Reina left Catholicism, opposed the Inquisition, and wrote the Reina-Valera in exile. It's the dominant Bible in Spanish. Jan Hus was burned for saying Catholic teaching could not contradict the Bible and translating the Bible into Hungarian. Later, Protestants translated it to thousands of languages, organizations put many versions online, and the WEB is public domain.
The Catholic Church couldn't stop God from giving people His Word. Now, we'll use it to show Catholic teaching is false.
Popes
They first doctrine said that specific men, the Popes, were equal to Scripture in authority and infallibility. This would let men invent new teachings that the Bible wouldn't support while claiming God's authority. They justified that by claiming Peter was the first Pope. Yet, Paul overruled Peter in doctrine. That makes the claim unlikely. Also, Deuteronomy says (1/2/3) we always put God's Word first, no contradictions are allowed, and those God sends will never make false predictions. Popes often contradicted God's Word. Therefore, they don't speak for Him.
The Popes also did many evil, contradictory things over time. People pointed out that they can't be infallible if they contradict each other. Later, around 1800's, they created a doctrine called ex cathedra that lets them pick and choose when they're claiming to be infallible. If they mess up, they'll say it wasn't a moment God was talking through them. Another problem is that, like the Pharisees did with their regulations, Catholics put the truth and practices of God's Word second to what men say. That's why Catholic church looks nothing like the churches in the Bible.
Faith and Works?
Catholicism teaches salvation by a mix of faith and works. They added sacraments that we have to keep doing to maintain our salvation. While we're all priests, they say specific men are priests. Instead of only God, who also call those priests "Father." While the cross paid for all sin, they said that priests have to personally forgive your new sins. They place the burden on your shoulders that Jesus already removed. This is salvation by works that Jesus, Paul, and Hebrews warned against. Galatians says that anyone deserting the real Gospel is accursed.
Idolatry
The Catholic church replaced worship with idolatry. God's Word says Jesus is sinless because God was His Father instead of having Adam's blood. Catholics teach God changed Mary to make her sinless. They venerate and offer prayers to Mary and dead saints instead of exclusively giving that to the Father. While holy images are banned, they build images of both Mary and saints that they bow down to. They teach people to focus on God less in order to focus on mere humans more. Instead of full access to God, they also tell you to go through other humans.
Evangelism is Not Imperialism
The Catholic church showed its corruption. While Christ spreads through His Word, the Catholic church grew by conquering people. The Catholic Inquisition murdered millions of people. The church also lied that people could use money to remove their sins with indulgences. They're doing that again. They tried to kill the Reformers who returned to the original Gospel. They blocked mass-produced, English Bibles. They keep lying about their history since knowing it will undermine the false authority of their church. The recent Pope is more tolerant of homosexuality than prior Popes. Hundreds of millions of people have left or avoided Catholicism to be in churches that spread by putting God's Word first.
The Old Testament, Jesus, and the Apostles all preach the same Gospel. We're saved by faith in Christ alone. Our works have nothing to do with it. Then, we worship and pray to God alone. We all have access to Him, forgiveness of sins, and a mandate to share the Gospel. Many churches kept traditions that look just like what's in the Bible.
The Catholic church preaches a false gospel, pretends men have God's authority, encourages worshiping idols, and the church spread by coercion and murder more than anything. Recently, Popes are more tolerant of sin. Catholicism is a false teaching that looks nothing like the Bible.
You should leave the Roman Catholic Church immediately. Find a Biblical church. If one isn't in your area, join one online or start a Biblical group in your house. That's still better than being in a church with false gospel giving worship to humans.
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