Different viewpoint on the Church of Rome

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mrs_abbott

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I found this on a website and I was wondering if there was any truth to it and what you all thought of this:

Before we compare the fundamental teachings of Roman Catholicism with the Catholic Bible, it should be pointed out that the distinctive features of Catholicism originated several hundred years after the early church. Though the Catholic Church argues that its roots can be traced to Christ, the historical facts do not substantiate this claim. Roman Catholic dogma has gradually evolved over the centuries. However, none of its major traditions and doctrines were taught, defended, practiced, or embraced by the apostolic church. The following list will indicate the approximate date when the various doctrines, rituals, decrees, and beliefs were instituted:
  1. Prayers for the dead. (A.D. 300)
  2. Making the sign of the cross. (300)
  3. Wax candles. (320)
  4. Veneration of angels and dead saints, and use of images. (375)
  5. The beginning of mass as a daily celebration. (394)
  6. The worship and exaltation of Mary and use of term “Mother of God”(431)
  7. Priests begin to dress differently from laity. (500)
  8. Extreme unction. (526)
  9. The doctrine of purgatory, instituted by Gregory I. (593)
  10. The Latin Language used in worship and prayer Gregory I. (600)
  11. Prayers directed to Mary, dead saints and angels. (600)
  12. Title of “Pope” or “universal bishop” first given to Boniface III. (607)
  13. Kissing the pope’s foot, began with Pope Constantine. (709)
  14. Temporal power of the popes, conferred by Pepin, King of France. (750)
  15. Worship of the cross, image, and relics authorized in (786).
  16. Holy water, mixed with a pinch of salt and blessed by a priest. (850)
  17. Worship of St. Joseph. (890)
  18. College of Cardinals established. (927)
  19. Canonization of dead saints, first by Pope John XV. (995)
  20. Fastings on Fridays and during Lent. (998)
  21. The mass developed as a sacrifice and attendance made mandatory. (11th Century)
  22. Celibacy of the priesthood, decreed by Pope Gregory VII. (1079)
  23. The rosary, used in prayer. (1090)
  24. The Inquisition, instituted by the Council of Verona. (1184)
  25. Sale of Indulgences. (1190)
  26. Transubstantiation, proclaimed by Pope Innocent III. (1215)
  27. Auricular (private) confession of sins to a priest, instituted by Pope Innocent III in Lateran Council. (1215)
  28. Adoration of wafer (Host), decreed by Pope Honorius III. (1220)
  29. Bible forbidden to laymen and placed on Index of Forbidden Books by Council of Valencia. (1229)
  30. The Scapular, invented by Simon Stock, an English monk. (1251)
  31. Cup forbidden to the people at communion by Council of Constance. (1414)
  32. Purgatory proclaimed as a dogma by Council of Florence. (1439)
  33. The doctrine of seven sacraments affirmed. (1439)
  34. The Ave Maria (Hail Mary) invented and completed 50 years later. (1508)
  35. Jesuit order founded by Loyola. (1534)
  36. Tradition declared to be of equal authority with the Bible by Council of Trent. (1545)
  37. The Apocryphal books added to the Bible by the Council of Trent. (1546)
  38. Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX. (1854)
  39. Syllabus of Errors, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX and ratified by the Vatican Council; condemned freedom of religion, conscience, speech, press, and scientific discoveries which are disapproved by the Roman Church; reasserted the Pope’s temporal authority over all civil rulers. (1864)
  40. Infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals proclaimed by the Vatican Council. (1870)
  41. Public schools condemned by Pope Pius XI. (1930)
  42. Assumption of the Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into heaven shortly after her death), proclaimed by Pope XII. (1950)
  43. Mary proclaimed mother of the Church by Pope Paul VI. (1965)
    Many other scriptural abuses and irregularities could be added to this list: Monks, nuns, monasteries, convents, forty days of Lent, holy week, Palm Sunday, Ash Wednesday, All Saints Day, Candlemas Day, fish day, meat days, incense, holy oil, holy palms, St. Christopher medals, charms, relics, novenas, and many more. This revealing list represents an overview of the many human inventions which have corrupted, distorted, and perverted the official positions presented as truth by the Roman Catholic Church.
 
Mrs. A, you’ve found Mr. Lorraine Boettner’s ‘cheat sheat’ for his not-so-magnum opus–the book which most anti-Catholics use as the source for anti-Catholic claims. I know of several places, including the library right here at CA–which can refute all those things, point by point.

It isn’t really a ‘different’ viewpoint–it is the very same trumped up lies and distortions based on misdirection, misunderstandings, and outright falsifications made in an effort to somehow justify the misguided notions that some Protestant groups have engaged in. I carefully note that individual Protestants who have ingested this sort of trash are in a far different class than those who first, reprehensibly and knowingly, engaged in these lies for their self-justification. The individual Protestants who have been spoon fed this poison are like the innocents Jesus spoke of, the ones who were caused to sin by those evil doers for whom “it were better that a millstone be tied around their necks and them thrown into the sea than that they deceive these little ones.” I feel deep sorrow and love and pray daily for all those who are exposed to this anti-Catholicism by the selfishness of the original heretics, and thus kept for too long from the fullness of the Catholic faith.
 
This comes up every couple weeks, it is a common list which is very similar if not the same as from a book called Roman Catholicism by a guy named Lorraine Bottner.

It is easily answered and shown to be misrepresentations and outright lies. Unfortunately it is so many accusations that it takes a whole lot of typing to answer.

As Jimmy Akin describes it is the shotgun approach to destroying someones faith that Catholicism is true.
Just put out so many accusations to cause doubt and not allow someone to answer.

Maybe someone can copy and paste the answers as this is about 43 or more issues raised that would be impossible to answer in one post.

Let me pick one… 22 since it is my favorite number.
Celibacy, is that really evil? It is imitating Jesus, something Jesus recommended and difficult as Jesus described.
So who is being more obedient the person imitating Jesus or the person saying it is wrong to do so?
(even if people fail to do it, there are many who successfully imitate Jesus in this way, the failures do not mean Jesus was wrong)

In Christ
Scylla
 
This list busts me up every time I see it. It’s as though somebody sought to prove that the current United States wasn’t really the nation created during the Revolutionary War by offering the following list (all dates made up):

First steam locomotive: 1831
Phone lines first installed in White House: 1885
Republican Party formed: 1850
Thanksgiving National Holiday made law: 1930
First electric Christmas Tree lights: 1910
Hollywood becomes center of movie industry: 1920
Hawaii added to union: 1959

…and on and on and on…
 
I’m not familiar with Church History, as far as knowing whether or not these things are true or false. If false, can you provide sources or dates to show the truth?
For questioning Catholics such as myself, this list can be deceiving, if it is in fact false.
 
Hilarious - how on earth was the Ave Maria (Hail Mary) invented in 1508, about 300 years AFTER St Dominic gave the Rosary the form we know today (including the Aves, of course - the first half of which is directly quoting from the Bible).

And how were prayers for the dead an invention of the Catholic church when the Jew Judas Maccabeus was praying for the dead in OT times (read the second book of Maccabees)

And
I love the hodgepodge of supposedly unscriptural ‘irregularities’ at the end - including
a) Lent (based on Christ’s 40 days fasting and praying in the desert),
b) Palm Sunday (hello, it’s in the Gospels that the people of Jerusalem greeted Jesus with palm branches),
c) novenas (based on the nine days the apostles spent praying in the upper room between the Ascension and Pentecost).
 
It is, in fact, false. For example, on #1:
Prayers for the dead were used by devout Jews in the time of the Maccabbees, 100 years before the birth of Christ. There is not an iota of evidence to support a ‘slapped on’ date of 300 A.D. as though this practice had never existed prior to that date, and the implication that the Catholic Church (hint, the only church, the reformation was still 1200 years away at this point) ‘made up’ this practice in direct opposition to the ‘real’ teaching of Christ, who apparently never prayed for the dead because there is no chapter and verse that “Lo, the Lord spake unto thee, Pray thou for those who have died from now on.” The date is given because at approximately this time, the Church no longer was forbidden or persecuted in the Roman Empire, and so people were no longer secretly praying for the dead. Of course, they were no longer secretly offering the Mass, or secretly crossing themselves, or secretly ordaining bishops. . .but, of course, if you want to raise ‘doubts’ in people, pretending that some practice of a faith was somehow ‘added on’ or was ‘changed’ is a great sneaky way to do so.
 
Tantum_ergo said:
The date is given because at approximately this time, the Church no longer was forbidden or persecuted in the Roman Empire, and so people were no longer secretly praying for the dead. Of course, they were no longer secretly offering the Mass, or secretly crossing themselves, or secretly ordaining bishops. . .but, of course, if you want to raise ‘doubts’ in people, pretending that some practice of a faith was somehow ‘added on’ or was ‘changed’ is a great sneaky way to do so.
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Thank you for clarifying. What about some of those others on that list? Are any of them right?
 
mrs_abbott said:
Thank you for clarifying. What about some of those others on that list? Are any of them right?
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Well the veneration of saints and Extreme Unction are both way off.

There’s an account of the martyrdom of St Polycarp - which occurred and was written about in the early 100s AD - that speaks of his bones being gathered up and venerated after his death.

And extreme unction (anointing of the sick) is seen in James 5:14

‘Is any sick among you? let him call to him the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord’
 
Mrs Abbott,
There is a link to a thread called “List of un-biblical Catholic practices” above. On that thread, there is another link to the most concise answers to each of these “un-biblical” practices. Once you read it, you’ll understand how much bubkis these really are. I was first shocked by the list, too, but I read that link and now I know how much crud they really are. Example: Wax Candles (320 ad) - who cares that the Catholic Church uses wax candles. Does that change how you or I are to believe in Christ? No! So, Boettner was (he’s dead now, right?)trying to catch Catholics off-guard by showing all these practices as un-biblical. But, anyway, read that thread, or the Catholic.com answer to understand the truth.
 
mrs_abbott said:
Thank you for clarifying. What about some of those others on that list? Are any of them right?
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Honestly Mrs. Abbott, please read the links I gave you in post 2, then report back if you have any other questions. Was my post totally ignored?? 😦
 
RCCDefender said:
Honestly Mrs. Abbott, please read the links I gave you in post 2, then report back if you have any other questions. Was my post totally ignored?? 😦
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No, sorry. My computer won’t pull up links today, for some reason. I tried but no luck. Thanks for the info, though. I saved them in hopes of being able to access them later.
 
mrs_abbott said:
No, sorry. My computer won’t pull up links today, for some reason. I tried but no luck. Thanks for the info, though. I saved them in hopes of being able to access them later.
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Okay, thanks! Sorry if I sounded harsh…

Just type in catholic.com in your address bar and go to the Anti-Catholicism tab on your left under Library. Then you’ll see the two titles I listed.
 
mrs_abbott said:
Thank you for clarifying. What about some of those others on that list? Are any of them right?
Click to expand...
Even those that might be right, don’t prove anything. I mean, does the Church rise or fall on wax candles, or on when the Jesuits were formed, or when the College of Cardinals was established?

A 2000 year-old Church, which has grown from a few thousand members to over a billion, spreading from ancient Palestine over the entire planet, will certainly look different now than when it began. I look different now then the day I was conceived. Think of the list I could make about my own development in the womb and out of it. But I’m still me.
 
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