Question: How to you respond to the following challenge?
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Do you baptise? (See Mt 28:19)
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Do you accept a visible Church? (See Eph 1:22-23; Acts 16:5;
18:22; 1 Tim 3:15)
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Do you accept the primacy of Peter? (See Mt 16:18ff; John 21:15ff)
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Do you accept the Virgin Birth? (Lk 1:26ff)
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Do you reverence Mary? (See Lk 1:48)
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Do you believe Jesus to be both God and Man? (See 2 Cor 4:4; 2
Peter 1:16; Phil 2:9ff; John 1:1, 14; Col 2:9)
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Do you believe in the Sacrifice of the Mass? (See 1 Cor 11:23-26;
1 Cor 5:7; Heb 9:26)
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Do you believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist?
(See Mt 26:26-29; John 6:52ff)
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Do you believe in the immortality of the soul? (See John 5:28, 29;
2 Cor 5:1-5)
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Do you believe in resurrection of the body? (See Mk 12:18ff)
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Do you pray for the dead? (See 2 Macc 12:45; 1 Cor 15:29)
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Do you reverence the saints? (See Apoc 14:4, 5; Mk 9:4)
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Do you observe Sunday as the Lord’s Day? (See Col 2:16)
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Do you accept the power of the Church to forgive sin? (See John
20:23)
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Do you believe in the Unity of the Church? (See Galatians 5:21,
where St Paul says of those who provoke dissension that they ‘will
never inherit the Kingdom of God.’)
If the answer to any of the above questions is “No” then a
further question suggests itself: How can you continue to call yourself
a Bible Christian?
Answer: The clever Catholic apologist attempts to impale
Bible-believing Christians on the horns of a dilemma. He gives us two
unpleasant options: either we accept every Roman Catholic dogma or else
we deny the Bible. We are rather reluctant to do either one!
The whole thing turns out to be a false dilemma. There is a mixture
of true biblical doctrines (which we readily accept) and a few
distinctive Roman dogmas which we reject. We do not reject them because
we disregard the Bible, but in fact, because we believe the Bible, and
because we realize that the “proof texts” do not really prove that
Roman position at all.
So, for example, to the first question (Do you baptise?), we readily
answer “Yes” because baptism is a rite commanded by our Lord in the
Holy Scriptures. Similarly we affirm the virgin birth of Christ, His
Deity and humanity, the immortality of the soul and the bodily
resurrection.
But to the question, “Do you pray for the dead?” we answer with
an emphatic “No.” The Bible verses proposed in support for this
practice are not proofs at all. Second Maccabees is an apocryphal book, it not part of the canon of
Scripture; whereas 1 Corinthians 15:29
says nothing about praying for the dead. (We are not sure what ‘baptism
for the dead’ means, even Catholic commentators disagree on its
meaning, so how can this verse become the sure foundation of praying for
the dead?) To learn whether we should pray for the dead or not, when we
examine the hundreds of prayers recorded in Scripture, we find no
precedent for this pagan practice.
We’re also asked whether we reverence Mary and the saints. Of
course we do! We love and respect the saints, both the living and the
departed. We meet the living saints every week in our church meetings,
and we long to meet those who are already with the Lord, though for the
time being we are separated by death and cannot communicate with them. On the
other hand Catholics do not ‘reverence’ Mary or the saints. They
dishonour them by making and bowing down before their idols, and
attributing to them titles (e.g. "Mary our life, our hope") and functions
("mediatrix of our salvation") which belong to the Lord alone.
Further, we’re asked whether we accept the visible Church. Yes, we
recognize both the visible and invisible aspects of the church of Jesus
Christ. Even the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes a similar
distinction: “The Church is both visible and spiritual, a hierarchical
society and the Mystical Body of Christ” (paragraph 779). However, by
accepting the “visible” church, we do not have to accept the
hierarchical structure of the Rome institution. The church was “visible”
well before the bishops of Rome ururped their proud and unbiblical claim to
universal authority over the entire Church.
Do we believe in the sacrifice of the Mass? No! The Mass is an insult
to Christ. Christ was offered once for all, and he is now sitting on the
right hand of the Majesty on high. His sacrifice is not being “carried
on,” “perpetuated,” “renewed,” and “re-presented” as
claimed by the Catholic Church. The Bible texts simply do not teach any
of that. On the contrary, the Bible is emphatic that the sacrifice of
Christ was done once for all; it is complete and finished; the Lord’s
Supper is the memorial and proclamation of the Cross, and not a
propitiatory sacrifice.
Do we accept the power of the Church to forgive sin? Yes we do. The
church has the power to forgive through the preaching of the Gospel. The
church is also called to discipline obstinate members and to forgive the
repentant. But that does not mean that we agree to the late invention of
private confession to the priest, absolution, penance or indulgences.
Do we accept the primacy of Peter? No we don’t. Though prominent
among the apostles, the apostle Peter never took upon himself the right
of supreme authority, universal jurisdiction and infallibility, contrary to what is claimed
by the modern bishops of Rome. Peter was a married man; the Pope is
celibate. Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I
give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” The Pope
says, “Silver and gold, I have plenty, but apostolic power I have
none.” Peter preached salvation in Jesus name alone, the modern Popes gives
hope of salvation to all religionists, whether they believe in Jesus or
not!
One final example, “Do we believe in the unity of the Church?”
Yes, we do. That’s why we receive all true believers, irrespective of
their denominational affiliation, as dear brothers and sisters, and
members of the one church, the body of Christ. Rome cannot discover the
church beyond the confines of its boundaries: “The Church of Christ,
despite the divisions which exist among Christians, continues to exist
fully only in the Catholic Church.” By excluding non-Roman Catholic Christians from
the church, the Roman magisterium injures the body of Christ to uphold
its sectarian prejudice.
In conclusion, Bible-believing Christians answer “No” to some of
the questions listed by the Catholic apologist because the Bible does
not teach those specific Catholic doctrines. Indeed we appeal to our
Catholic friends to examine their faith in the light of Scripture; hold
on to what is good, and do not be afraid to discard those doctrines which are not biblical.