Bible based Church so Anti-Catholic

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anna1983

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I posted a post on here recently about how Im feeling lead back to my Catholic faith after spending the past few years in a Bible Based-Sola Scriptura Church, Ive been doing lots of reading this week and as Im slowly uncovering the truths of the Catholic church Im becoming so excited…

For the past few years Ive been fed so many lies about the Catholic church, Ive believed that Catholics worship Mary and the Saints, the Pope is like an earthly God, Catholics added books to the Bible, Catholics pay money to get souls to heaven…I could go on there are so many more, I believed these things because I was told them by Pastors and church leaders who appeared so scripturally sound, and have studied at various reputable seminaries etc, but Im coming to realise that they have a major mis understanding of Catholicism, when you really dig deeply into the church, it is so scripturally based and sound in its teachings, and just so beautiful but the problem out there is not that people are anti-Catholic, but that they are anti-what they think Catholicism is!

Because Ive been so involved in Bible based churches the past few years almost all my friends are from these churches, Ive been mentioning to my friends about how Ive been looking into Catholicism, and Ive had such hostile responses, but i now know the truth of Catholicism, Its hard when Im choosing to go this way and I probably stand to loose the close friendships Ive had the past few years, but I got to trust God will take care of me

God bless you all
 
Isnt it frustrating?! My wife was raised in a lutheran church which had some anti-catholic sentiments. I remember the first time she and i went to catholic mass together- she said, “wow it’s so normal, it’s almost identical to my church”. She was expecting all the crazy stuff that you mentioned in your post.

I know how challenging it can be to defend catholicism, but I found that reading just a few books (the right books) can really help. I would definitely recommend “Rome Sweet Home” by Scott Hahn. Scott used to be an evangelical pastor and has now converted to the catholic church. It’s an easy read. Another good one is “Catholic and Christian” by Alan Schreck.

Welcome home,
mike

“There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church.” – Bishop Sheen
 
anna1983 said:
For the past few years Ive been fed so many lies about the Catholic church, Ive believed that Catholics worship Mary and the Saints, the Pope is like an earthly God, Catholics added books to the Bible, Catholics pay money to get souls to heaven…
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Oh, my goodness! :eek: No wonder there are so many misconceptions about Catholics and the Catholic Church out there! :nope:

Dear Anna… God bless you, as you discern the TRUTH about the Catholic Church. The “Coming Home Network” website below, might be of great value and interest to you. The founder, Marcus Grodi is a former Presbyterian Minister… now a staunch Catholic… and witness to the truth of the Catholic faith.

I hope that the information you can get on Marcus’ site will help you in your journey. May God bless you.

chnetwork.org/
 
Anna, welcome home!

I was born and raised Catholic but allowed myself to be drawn into that Sola Scriptura environment for almost 20 years before I came back. I was even studying to be a minister at one point. I am sooo glad to be back in the Catholic Church!

One side effect was that I learned a LOT of Scripture from those churches. Now that I’m home, I can see how those Scriptures support rather than refute the Catholic Church. It’s like someone turned up the dimmer switch and flooded the room with light! 😃
 
kage_ar said:
Remember, the Catholic Church IS the Bible Based Church 👍

www.biblechristiansociety.com

Great resource.
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Catholics are not just Bible based. The faith is handed down in three ways, Oral tradition, The Holy Spirit and a written record of some of the teachings know as the Holy Bible.

Jesus taught for about three years. The new testament is not a complete record.
 
littlepreo said:
My wife was raised in a lutheran church which had some anti-catholic sentiments.
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I was also raised in the Lutheran Church and honestly, I don’t think I ever heard a single anti-Catholic remark uttered in church.
anna1983 said:
For the past few years Ive been fed so many lies about the Catholic church, Ive believed that Catholics worship Mary and the Saints, the Pope is like an earthly God, Catholics added books to the Bible, Catholics pay money to get souls to heaven…I could go on there are so many more,
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So, where do people get these ideas?

Catholics worship Mary and the saints. Go into any Catholic church and you are going to find an altar with a statue of the Blessed Mother above it. Chances are someone will be kneeling in front of this altar praying. If one were not familiar with Catholic theology, what would a reasonable person conclude?

The pope is like an earthly god. The only exposure many people have to the pope is on TV. What do they see? A man dressed in bejeweled robes with throngs of adoring followers bowing down to him. It is even claimed that he can speak infallibly. To the unfamiliar, it might be concluded that he is regarded as a god.

Catholics add books to the Bible. If a Bible-reading protestant were to look at a Catholic Bible, he’d probably notice a little something extra. It would be reasonable for him to conclude that some books were added.

Catholics pay money to get souls into heaven. When you get right down to it, what are indulgences? (I have to admit that I am kind of fuzzy on the topic of indulgences myself.)

Do these attitudes really make someone “anti-Catholic?” I would argue not. It just means they don’t understand. In fact, I’ll take it a step further. Even if someone fully understands Catholic theology and teachings but disagrees, that simple disagreement does not necessarily make them “anti-Catholic.”
littlepreo;4811339":
There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church." – Bishop Sheen
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I think this is pretty accurate. 👍
 
These splinter groups were formed for the most part because the leaders of those groups had a grudge with the Church. These groups tend to survive by preaching easy salvation or health and wealth.

Lucifer is always trying to pull people away from the church and his arguements have decived many.He has been successfull because he does not come out ask people to worship him directly, he offers these other alternatives that seem benign on the surface.

You can easily see through this if you look at those groups that preach hatred of the Universal Christian (Catholic) Church. You will also see that there are ties between violent hate groups and these anti catholic religions.

Not that those who fall victims to these deceptive groups, are evil, they are victims. The prince of darkness is the prince of lies and deception.
 
rick43235 said:
I was also raised in the Lutheran Church and honestly, I don’t think I ever heard a single anti-Catholic remark uttered in church.

So, where do people get these ideas?

Catholics worship Mary and the saints. Go into any Catholic church and you are going to find an altar with a statue of the Blessed Mother above it. Chances are someone will be kneeling in front of this altar praying. If one were not familiar with Catholic theology, what would a reasonable person conclude?
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There are also statues of other historical figures. In most of the churches I have been in there is a statue of mary on the left and a statue of Joseph on the right. So why do they only say we “worship mary” but not joseph. It is not because of the presense of a statue.
rick43235 said:
The pope is like an earthly god. The only exposure many people have to the pope is on TV. What do they see? A man dressed in bejeweled robes with throngs of adoring followers bowing down to him. It is even claimed that he can speak infallibly. To the unfamiliar, it might be concluded that he is regarded as a god.
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But Protestants seem to have the same reaction to television ministers. Using this logic, should we assume they worship them?
rick43235 said:
Catholics add books to the Bible. If a Bible-reading protestant were to look at a Catholic Bible, he’d probably notice a little something extra. It would be reasonable for him to conclude that some books were added.
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They would have to be ignorant to the fact that the Bible was written many centuries before the creation of these protestant religions and therefore things must have been taken out by their leaders.
rick43235 said:
Catholics pay money to get souls into heaven. When you get right down to it, what are indulgences? (I have to admit that I am kind of fuzzy on the topic of indulgences myself.)
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Then why do protestants follow Televangelist?
rick43235 said:
Do these attitudes really make someone “anti-Catholic?” I would argue not. It just means they don’t understand. In fact, I’ll take it a step further. Even if someone fully understands Catholic theology and teachings but disagrees, that simple disagreement does not necessarily make them “anti-Catholic.”

I think this is pretty accurate. 👍
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If they understand the truth but do not follow it, What are they?
 
rick43235 said:
Even if someone fully understands Catholic theology and teachings but disagrees, that simple disagreement does not necessarily make them “anti-Catholic.”
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The church I was a part of for a while was decidedly and without apology “anti-Catholic.” The Catholic Church was interpreted to be the Whore of Babylon from the book of Revelation, and the Pope was the anti-Christ. Preists and nuns dig tunnels between their residences so they can have illicit sexual encounters with each other and then hide the babies that result. You have no idea just how much of this is out there in people’s minds about the Catholic Church.

These Bible-believing, Protestant preachers and congregants were not just on a mission to win converts to Christ. They were on specific missions to save people FROM the Catholic Church. I knew a man who claimed that it was his calling to reach out to Catholics as his “ministry” so that they might be saved. They do not regard Catholics as Christian, and they are VERY, VERY anti-Catholic. If you’ve ever read some of the tracts they hand out to people you would have a better idea. Sad, scary, and all too true. I lived with some of these people.
 
royal_archer said:
There are also statues of other historical figures. In most of the churches I have been in there is a statue of mary on the left and a statue of Joseph on the right. So why do they only say we “worship mary” but not joseph. It is not because of the presense of a statue.

**I just used Mary because she is the most obvious example. I could have used Joseph or any other saint who happened to have a statue in a church. But my point is, if an “outsider” were to see a Catholic kneeling down and praying before a statue, it would not be unreasonable for him to conclude that the person was worshipping the entity represented by the statue. **

But Protestants seem to have the same reaction to television ministers. Using this logic, should we assume they worship them?

**Maybe my experience has been different than yours, but I have NEVER seen a television minister revered in the same manner as the pope. Not even close. **

They would have to be ignorant to the fact that the Bible was written many centuries before the creation of these protestant religions and therefore things must have been taken out by their leaders.

**Yes, they probably are ignorant of that fact. Given that they are operating from a position of ignorance, it is logical that they would assume that books have been added to the Catholic Bible. It does not necessarily have anything to do with anti-Catholic sentiment. **

Then why do protestants follow Televangelist?

**I’m not sure I understand your question. Are you referring to the fact that some people send tons of money to televangelists? If so…yes, I’m sure many people are trying to “buy their way into heaven” by supporting their favorite televangelist. But, the Catholic Church is the only one I know of that has a formalized system of indulgences. **

If they understand the truth but do not follow it, What are they?

**Maybe we are defining “anti-Catholic” differently. To me, anti-Catholic refers to one who has an active hate for the Church. For example, there is a certain TV preacher (can’t remember his name) who refers to the Church as “the whore of Babylon.” Now, that dude is anti-Catholic. On the other hand, by my definition anyway, one who has heard and understands Catholic teachings but, for whatever reason, simply does not believe, is not anti-Catholic. He has no hate for the Church…he just doesn’t believe the same things Catholics do. To me, there is a difference. **
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TommyWommy said:
The church I was a part of for a while was decidedly and without apology “anti-Catholic.”
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Undoubtedly, they are out there. Sorry you crossed paths with them. I’m just saying that just because someone is non-Catholic doesn’t necessarily mean that they are anti-Catholic.
 
rick43235 said:
Catholics pay money to get souls into heaven. When you get right down to it, what are indulgences? (I have to admit that I am kind of fuzzy on the topic of indulgences myself.)
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Indulgences have absolutely nothing to do with money.

There is nothing to “buy” with regard to indulgences. Rather, one does the indulgenced action (reading the Bible with attention and devotion for a continous period of 30 minutes, for example, or by praying five decades of the Rosary), you go to Confession, receive Holy Communion and say a few prayers for the Pope. None of which involves any exchange of money, or even anyone else knowing about it, unless you tell them.

In the Middle Ages, it so happened that one set of indulgenced actions involved giving money to various charitable causes (one of which was the restoration of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, which was in severe disrepair at the time) - this was referred to as “buying an indulgence” by some, who felt that it was unfair that some people could gain an indulgence by giving money to a cause, rather than having to sit for 30 minutes and read the Bible, or sit down and pray the Rosary, etc.

That particular set of indulgences has since been removed from the Handbook of Indulgences. But you could never actually “buy” an indulgence, since it isn’t a material thing, to begin with. It’s just a special favour from God, by agreement with the Church (Matthew 18:18), where He purifies your soul at times when you pray and read the Bible.
 
TommyWommy said:
Anna, welcome home!

I was born and raised Catholic but allowed myself to be drawn into that Sola Scriptura environment for almost 20 years before I came back. I was even studying to be a minister at one point. I am sooo glad to be back in the Catholic Church!

One side effect was that I learned a LOT of Scripture from those churches. Now that I’m home, I can see how those Scriptures support rather than refute the Catholic Church. It’s like someone turned up the dimmer switch and flooded the room with light! 😃
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**Hello,

I was wondering, can you give and example of the statement you made? Here is what I’m talking about: you said “I can see how those Scriptures support rather than refute the Catholic Church.” I guess an example of something you were taught, which was used to refute, but now supports the Catholic teaching. Thanks.**
 
Wow!
I was just telling my husband that I was told all of these horrible things about the Catholic church ( the ones listed in the first post)when I was a kid, and then I turned around and clicked onto the forums and saw this. I am still searching but more and more I feel like I am being called to the Catholic Church. So much so that it is a little scarey. Scarey only because I have a need to understand fully what God wants of me and I am not sure I can find out what that is.
 
allisonP said:
Wow!
I was just telling my husband that I was told all of these horrible things about the Catholic church ( the ones listed in the first post)when I was a kid, and then I turned around and clicked onto the forums and saw this. I am still searching but more and more I feel like I am being called to the Catholic Church. So much so that it is a little scarey. Scarey only because I have a need to understand fully what God wants of me and I am not sure I can find out what that is.
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**Are you asking what is the will of God? I know if you are walking according to His will; then the everyday life decisions become easier. **
 
jmcrae said:
Indulgences have absolutely nothing to do with money.

There is nothing to “buy” with regard to indulgences. Rather, one does the indulgenced action (reading the Bible with attention and devotion for a continous period of 30 minutes, for example, or by praying five decades of the Rosary), you go to Confession, receive Holy Communion and say a few prayers for the Pope. None of which involves any exchange of money, or even anyone else knowing about it, unless you tell them.

In the Middle Ages, it so happened that one set of indulgenced actions involved giving money to various charitable causes (one of which was the restoration of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome, which was in severe disrepair at the time) - this was referred to as “buying an indulgence” by some, who felt that it was unfair that some people could gain an indulgence by giving money to a cause, rather than having to sit for 30 minutes and read the Bible, or sit down and pray the Rosary, etc.

That particular set of indulgences has since been removed from the Handbook of Indulgences. But you could never actually “buy” an indulgence, since it isn’t a material thing, to begin with. It’s just a special favour from God, by agreement with the Church (Matthew 18:18), where He purifies your soul at times when you pray and read the Bible.
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**Here is a link to a general history of indulgences; it is easy to read and fairly brief.

wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/INDULGE.HTM**
 
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