There isn’t anything that I can see in this article that Catholic Answers hasn’t addressed at some point. The trouble is that these arguments are so weak that I have trouble believing they are sincere, and people who put their desire to be right ahead of intellectual honesty aren’t going to be persuaded by reason. In any event, his three main arguments are that he doesn’t believe Jesus requires human effort for salvation, that he doesn’t believe in papal lineage or authority, and that he doesn’t believe in the use of statues or the veneration of saints. None of these arguments is either new or, in my opinion, particularly hard to address.
For example, the author claims that the Catholic Church doesn’t accept the Gospel because “to the free gift of salvation it adds the necessity of human effort.” Yet in Matthew 7:21, Jesus tells us, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." So Jesus is saying that belief isn’t enough; we actually have to
do stuff!
In Matthew 7:26-27, Jesus says, "And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
Again, we find Jesus telling us that his grace requires a response from us. Consider this passage (Matthew 25:34-45):
"Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’
"Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
"And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
"Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
“Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’”
Feeding the hungry? Clothing the naked? Caring for the ill? Visiting the imprisoned? Does this not demonstrate that Jesus wants more from us than just a mental, even heartfelt acknowledgment of himself as Lord, God, and Savior, but for us to live out the Gospel in our actions?
Here’s an article by Tim Staples on the subject:
catholic.com/magazine/articles/we-can-work-it-out
The next paragraph is just circular logic:
Rome claims to trace her lineage in an unbroken line that extends all the way back to the apostle Peter to whom Christ said, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” In this way she says that she is the church with the power and authority to demand the allegiance and bind the conscience of every Christian. I do not recognize such lineage and, therefore, do not recognize such authority.
So, the author doesn’t accept the lineage of the Church because he doesn’t accept the lineage of the Church. That’s like saying I don’t accept that chickens are birds because I don’t accept that chickens are birds.
But it is really the denial of papal authority, not the claim thereof, that breaks from the original teachings of Christianity, as this article demonstrates:
catholic.com/tracts/the-authority-of-the-pope-part-i
The claim about Catholics worshiping statues is, in my opinion, so ludicrous that I have trouble believing anyone who makes it actually believes it and isn’t just throwing whatever arguments he can out there to see if anyone will bite. I don’t worship statues, but I do have statues and other items that help me visualize Jesus, Mary, the saints, etc.
Here are some articles from CA on the use of statues:
catholic.com/tracts/do-catholics-worship-statues
catholic.com/blog/tim-staples/so-catholics-worship-statues
catholic.com/quickquestions/how-can-the-church-allow-statues-when-exodus-20-forbids-it
And here are a couple on the veneration of saints:
catholic.com/tracts/saint-worship
catholic.com/tracts/praying-to-the-saints
You remain in all my prayers.
