<\/p>\n
I. Brief history<\/p>\n A. Catholicism as we know it today gradually developed over many centuries. Its\nroots can be traced back to digressions from the original church.\n 1. As a result, Catholics will claim that their church started in A.D. 30 on the\nday of Pentecost.\n 2. Most scholars, however, date its beginning when some of its major beliefs\nwere codified, such as the council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 or the election of\nthe first Pope in A.D. 606.\n B. Catholic means “universal” and for most of the middle ages it was the one religion\nrecognized by most western governments.\n
C. A time line of Catholic doctrines<\/p>\n
1. Having the water blessed before usage – A.D. 108-112<\/p>\n 2. Separation of clergy (preachers and elders) from laity (members) – early\nsecond century.\n
3. Special days set aside for fasting (leads to the practice of Lent) – A.D. 140<\/p>\n
4. Special vestments for clergy – second century.<\/p>\n
5. Regional elders began meeting – second century<\/p>\n 6. Sprinkling accepted as an alternative for baptism for the sick and others\nwho had special needs – A.D. 180\n
7. Babies are baptized – A.D. 180<\/p>\n
8. Making the sign of the cross when praying – late second century<\/p>\n
9. Belief in purgatory – A.D. 230 <\/p>\n
10. Prohibition of clergy to marry – third century<\/p>\n
11. Head of regional elders called bishop – third century<\/p>\n 12. Constantine calls for a council, starting the joining of church and state –\nA.D. 325\n
13. Celebration of Easter – A.D. 325<\/p>\n
14. Confessing of sins to a priest – A.D. 329<\/p>\n
15. Bishops of from major cities called archbishops – fourth century<\/p>\n
16. Monastic orders – Fourth and fifth century<\/p>\n
17. The mass replaces the Lord’s Supper – A.D. 350<\/p>\n
18. Celebration of Christmas – A.D. 360<\/p>\n
19. Theodosius declares Christianity to be the state religion – A.D. 380<\/p>\n 20. Doctrine of inherited sins, salvation by faith only, and once saved always\nsaved – A.D. 400\n
21. Candles are used in worship as a sacred element – A.D. 417<\/p>\n
22. Worship of Mary as the mother of God – A.D. 470<\/p>\n 23. Transubstantiation, the belief that the elements of the Lord’s Supper\nbecome the literal body and blood of Christ – A.D. 492\n
24. Veneration and bowing to images of saints – A.D. 500<\/p>\n 25. Extreme Unction, the anointing of the dying or dead for spiritual\nforgiveness – A.D. 528\n 26. Gregory I became archbishop of Rome which was declared the center of\nthe universal church – A.D. 590\n
27. Boniface III accepts the title of Pope – A.D. 606<\/p>\n 28. Organ introduced into worship, but removed when division was threatened\n– A.D. 670\n
29. Organ reintroduced and remained – A.D. 775<\/p>\n 30. Pope Leo IX excommunicated Michael Cerularius, the archbishop of\nConstantinople, causing the formation of the Eastern Orthodox Church –\nA.D. 1053\n
31. Rosary beads introduced – A.D. 1090<\/p>\n
32. Sprinkling accepted as a form of baptism for all people – A.D. 1311<\/p>\n
33. Laity does not partake of the cup in Mass – A.D. 1414<\/p>\n
34. Immaculate conception of Mary – A.D. 1845<\/p>\n
35. Infallibility of Pope – A.D. 1870<\/p>\n
II. Some Key Beliefs<\/p>\n
A. The church is the source of authority<\/p>\n
1. This is why Catholic doctrine evolves over the years<\/p>\n 2. It also encourages splinter groups introducing new concepts, such as\nwomen in the priesthood and permitting abortions.\n 3. The Bible is seen as a source of authority, but the church can modify it\nthrough its traditions.\n
4. Answers in the Bible<\/p>\n a. II Peter 1:3 – God has given us all things pertaining to life and\ngodliness through the knowledge of Jesus\n b. II Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is from God and is able to\nfurnish us for every good work.\n
c. John 12:48 – The words of Jesus will judge us on the last day.<\/p>\n
d. Matthew 28:20 – We are to observe all things<\/p>\n e. Galatians 1:8-10 – No one can alter God’s word (see also I\nCorinthians 4:6, Deuteronomy 4:2)\n
B. The belief that children are born sinful – inheriting Adam’s sin<\/p>\n 1. This justifies the practice of infant baptism, though the practice also creates\na “captive” membership. People grow up thinking of themselves as\nCatholic simply because they were sprinkled as infants into the Catholic\nChurch.\n 2. Catechism is used to teach children the ways of the Catholic Church. \nWhen completed, children are confirmed into the church.\n
3. Answers in the Bible<\/p>\n
a. Ezekiel 18:20 – Sin is not inherited.<\/p>\n
b. I John 3:4 – Sin is lawlessness<\/p>\n c. Romans 5:12-14 – Death comes to all because all sin, implying that\nall are under law.\n
d. What sin then has a new born child broken?<\/p>\n
e. Children are innocent – Matthew 18:3<\/p>\n C. Forgiveness of sins comes by confessing those sins to a priest. The priest will then\nassign acts of penance, which when done are suppose to remove the consequences\nof those sins.\n
1. Answers in the Bible<\/p>\n
a. I John 1:9 – We must confess our sins to be forgiven <\/p>\n
b. James 5:16 – Confess to one another<\/p>\n
c. No mention of priest involved.<\/p>\n
d. All Christians are priests – I Peter 2:9<\/p>\n
e. We cannot live as we please – Titus 2:12-14<\/p>\n D. Purgatory is a in between state where all the dead go. Unconfessed sins must be\nworked off before going on to paradise. The prayers of the living on behalf of the\ndead is believed to speed up this process.\n
1. Purgatory is not mentioned in the Scriptures<\/p>\n 2. Luke 16:19-31 shows the dead in two states: paradise and torments. There\nis no way to go from one to the other.\n E. Past saints, especially Mary, are venerated. It is believed they function as\nintermediators between the living and God.\n 1. Images are used to pray before. All Catholics deny that this is idol\nworship, stating that the images are just representations to focus the mind. \nThey do not believe the saint is physically there. Yet, this is the same\nargument idol worshipers would make.\n 2. Many common Catholics take the images to superstitious levels. A statue\nof Mary or St. Joseph is supposed to keep your house in good order. \nMedallions of St. Christopher is supposed to prevent injuries.\n
3. Answers in the Bible<\/p>\n
a. There is no example of prayers being offered to anyone but God<\/p>\n b. Luke 9:32-35 – The disciples wanted to offer worship to Moses,\nElijah, and Jesus. God said Jesus only.\n
c. Luke 4:8 – Worship God only<\/p>\n
d. Acts 10:25-26 – Peter refused worship<\/p>\n
e. Rev 19:10, 22:8-9 – An angel refused worship<\/p>\n
f. The foolishness of idols – Isaiah 44:9-20<\/p>\n
III. Talking with a Catholic about Catholicism<\/p>\n
A. There are two basic groups of Catholics<\/p>\n 1. The common Catholic who was born into the religion. He does some of\nthe practices and perhaps goes to services a few times a year, but doesn’t\nhave any firm belief in the teachings of the church.\n 2. The devote Catholic firmly believes the teachings of the church on an\nintellectual level. They may disagree with the church in certain areas, but\nsince the church can evolve, believe it is their duty to encourage the\nchange.\n B. Calling the worship of images as idol worship will not work. Too many terms are\nredefined. Those caught up into the superstitions will ignore all logic.\n C. Emphasize the authority of Christ and the importance of man not to tell God what\nto do.\n 1. Show that the Scriptures teach God’s full plan and that no one has the right\nto change them.\n
D. Then show the plan of salvation. <\/p>\n
1. Many Catholics are relieved to learn that infants are not born in sin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I. Brief history A. Catholicism as we know it today gradually developed over many centuries. Its roots can be traced back to digressions from the original church. 1. As a result, Catholics will claim that their church started in A.D. 30 on the day of Pentecost. 2. Most scholars, however, date its beginning when some of its major…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[1599],"class_list":["post-9265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-roman-catholic-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-wrong-with-catholicism\/","url_meta":{"origin":9265,"position":0},"title":"What is wrong with Catholicism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the difference between Catholicism and Christianity? What is wrong with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church? Answer: This is a large subject on which many books have been written. I will not be able to address this question in detail, but perhaps giving an overview will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1202,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-catholicism-start-and-when-did-it-happen\/","url_meta":{"origin":9265,"position":1},"title":"Why did Catholicism start and when did it happen?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did the religion Catholicism start and what year did Catholicism start? Answer: Why Catholicism started is fairly straightforward. Man has a difficult time leaving something alone. There is a strong desire to modify things with the goal of \"improving\" things. This tendency is encouraged by Satan who wants\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-i-left-the-catholic-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":9265,"position":2},"title":"Why I Left the Catholic Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Weaks Twenty-One Years a Catholic I grew up a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Most of my mother's side of the family had been Catholic for generations. However, in February of 1985, I found I was no longer content to be part of the Catholic Church just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34636,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-was-the-church-in-smyrna-established\/","url_meta":{"origin":9265,"position":3},"title":"When was the church in Smyrna established?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother Hamilton, Our local fellowship of congregations has been impacted by the doctrine of Preterism, with a number of problems caused by one individual in particular who has garnered a small but aggressive group of followers holding to Max King's teachings. In an article on your site, \"70 A.D.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23668,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-think-you-were-fair-in-your-analysis-of-the-roman-catholic-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":9265,"position":4},"title":"I don’t think you were fair in your analysis of the Roman Catholic Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I do not\u00a0believe that your answer to the question \"What is wrong with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church?\" is fair nor factually accurate. First off, you started with the statement, \"Catholicism has its roots in Christianity, but it has long\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34638,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/70-a-d-ism-and-the-date-of-revelation\/","url_meta":{"origin":9265,"position":5},"title":"70 A.D. ‘ism and the Date of Revelation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Carl A. Allen The doctrine of \"70 A.D.'ism\" demands that all the writings of the New Testament books be before 70 A.D. There is no way the books could be after that date. Their doctrine holds that the \"Second Coming of Christ\" occurred in 70 A.D. If there are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}