Remaining in the Catholic Church
Question: If a person is in the Catholic Church and has
accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, and yet refuses to leave
the Catholic Church with its false teachings, is it because God has not
yet opened his eyes or is it because he is being stubborn?
Answer: There is no simple answer to your question. Someone who
has accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour should
leave the Roman Church because it teaches a false gospel. A genuine
Christian should join a Bible-believing church to worship God with his
brethren and for mutual edification.
Yet some who claim to have received Christ as Lord and Saviour remain
active members of the Roman Catholic Church. There may be several
reasons. The first one that comes to mind is this: Not everyone who
claims to have received Christ actually did so. They remain in the Roman
Catholic Church because it is still very much their home despite the
many unbiblical doctrines and practices.
Yet others may be truly saved and yet remain for a time in the
Catholic Church. Some do so for lack of knowledge. Later on they see the
inconsistencies and contradictions between the teaching of the Bible and
the Catholic Church and are forced by their conscience to leave. For
instance, how can a Christian who believes that the blood of Jesus
cleanses us from all sin, remain in a church that teaches there is a
purgatory where a person is cleansed from sin by his personal suffering?
Others are simply stubborn, as you say. They are stubborn because of
some ulterior motive. Perhaps they don't want to be persecuted or
because they fear social and family pressures. This is really worrying,
for Christ warned us that "whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in
this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will
be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38). They have every reason to
doubt whether they are truly saved or not.
Another person asked...
Question: Billy Graham does not tell
Catholics who have accepted Jesus as personal Saviour to leave the
Catholic Church. I am a Catholic who accepted Jesus as personal Saviour. I
do not believe that baptism results in salvation. I still consider it’s
OK to baptize infants. I do not pray to the Virgin Mary or the Saints. I
do not believe in purgatory. I do not believe that the pope is infallible.
I do not believe that the Mass is a sacrifice. I do not believe in
transubstantiation. I consider The Holy Eucharist to be a memorial of the
sacrifice of Christ. I do not go to confession. I confess the sins
directly to Jesus. There are Catholic priests who preach about accepting
Jesus as personal Saviour.
Answer: I find it difficult to
understand your stand. How can you remain a member of a church if you do
not agree or submit to its doctrines and discipline? Billy Graham is not infallible
(and he does not claim to be!) and therefore you should check out whether
his advice on this matter is right or wrong. Please consider the following
three points:
1. You are accursed by the Roman Catholic Church because you
deny some of its main doctrines. The following are some of the curses
lumped on your head ("anathema sit" means "let him be
accursed"):
-
Baptism: "If anyone says that the Roman Church...does
not have the true doctrine concerning the sacrament of baptism,
anathema sit...If anyone says that baptism is ...not necessary for
salvation, anathema sit (Council of Trent, Session 7).
-
Purgatory: If any one says, that, after the grace of
Justification has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is
remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such
wise, that there remains not any debt of temporal punishment to be
discharged either in this world, or in the next in Purgatory, before
the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened to him; let him be
anathema (Council of Trent, Session 6).
-
Papal infallibility: The Roman Pontiff... possesses...that
infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his Church to enjoy in
defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such
definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by the
consent of the Church, irreformable. So then, should anyone, which God
forbid, have the temerity to reject this definition of ours: let him
be anathema (First Vatican Council).
-
Transubstantiation: If anyone denies that in the sacrament of
the most holy Eucharist the body and blood, together with the soul and
divinity, of our lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is
truly, really and substantially contained, but says that he is in it
only in a sign or figure...anathema sit (Council ofTrent, Session 12).
-
Sacrifice of the Mass: If anyone says that the sacrifice of
the Mass is merely an offering of praise and thanksgiving, or that it
is a simple commemoration of the sacrifice accomplished on the cross,
but not a propitiatory sacrifice...offered for the living and the
dead, for sins, punishments, satisfaction and other necessities,
anathema sit (Council of Trent, Session 12).
-
Confession: If anyone denies that the sacramental confession
was instituted, and is necessary for salvation, by divine Law; or says
that the manner of confessing secretly to a priest alone, which the
Catholic Church has always observed from the beginning and still
observes, is at variance with the institution and command of Christ
and is a human invention, anathema sit (Council of Trent, Session 14).
2. The Roman Catholic demands your mental submission to the
teaching of the magisterium, whether you believe it or not.
-
While the assent of faith is not required, a religious
submission of intellect and will is to be given to any doctrine which
either the Supreme Pontiff or the College of Bishops, exercising their
authentic Magisterium, declare upon a matter of faith or morals, even
though they do not intend to proclaim that doctrine by definitive act.
Christ's faithful are therefore to ensure that they avoid whatever does
not accord with that doctrine (Canon Law, 752).
-
While not infallible in their teaching, [Catholic
bishops] are the authentic instructors and teachers of the faith for
Christ's faithful entrusted to their care. The faithful are bound to
adhere, with a religious submission of mind, to this authentic
Magisterium of their Bishops (Canon Law, 753).
3. As a Christian, you are called to walk according to the truth.
If, by the grace of God, you know the truth of the Gospel and you are now
trusting in Christ, your Lord and Saviour, it is only natural that you
should turn away from every falsehood and embrace the doctrines of Christ.
How can you remain in fellowship with a church that upholds so many
doctrines that you know to be false? Why don't you seek and join a local
Christian community where the Gospel is faithfully preached and obeyed?
Please ask yourself: Can I remain a member of a church that curses me?
Can I consider myself a faithful Catholic since I disregard and disobey the
magisterium's claim of supreme teaching authority? Can I conscientiously
follow Him who is the Truth while living a lie?
|