GotQuestions says Catholicism is a false religion

[Cyril_Of_Canada]

"Catholicism is a false religion. If a person believes what the Catholic Church officially teaches, he/she will not be saved…

…The Roman Catholic Church teaches many doctrines that are in disagreement with what the Bible declares. These include apostolic succession, worship of saints or Mary, prayer to saints or Mary, the pope / papacy, infant baptism, transubstantiation, plenary indulgences, the sacramental system, and purgatory…

…the Catholic Church also leads many people away from a genuine faith relationship with Christ…

… The Roman Catholic Church is not the church that Jesus Christ established…"

gotquestions.org/catholicism.html

Thoughts about all this? As a potential convert to Roman Catholicism, It would ease my conscious a bit if these accusations could be addressed. Because I’ll probably face these accusations from protestants I know who wish to keep me from converting.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

Wow! There are things on the internet that are ridiculous? Who would have thought?

 

[fhansen]

Many of the Reformers and sola scriptura based Protestants in general already disagree with him on infant baptism, sacraments, apostolic succession, likely the Real Presence as well. The bible produces no great unity of beliefs among those who rely solely on it for their authority on matters of the faith. The Roman Catholic Church, OTOH, as well as the Eastern Orthodox, have their lived experience, since the beginnings of Christianity, a continuous historical legacy, that informs and supports or supplies the foundation for their whole structure of beliefs. The Church lived and taught the faith that she received before her people even began to write the New Testament.

The bible can and is interpreted many ways, by sincere and intelligent people. It supports while never conflicting with Catholic teachings but it was never intended to be a catechism or systematic, exhaustive treatise on the faith.

 

[Harry123]

worship of saints or Mary

Catholics don’t do this. They venerate the saints and Mary, not worship them. Any Catholic will agree with you that Mary and the saints are not divine and therefore not worthy of worship which is only due to Jesus/God.

 

[Micosil]

"Catholicism is a false religion. If a person believes what the Catholic Church officially teaches, he/she will not be saved…

…The Roman Catholic Church teaches many doctrines that are in disagreement with what the Bible declares. These include apostolic succession, worship of saints or Mary, prayer to saints or Mary, the pope / papacy, infant baptism, transubstantiation, plenary indulgences, the sacramental system, and purgatory…

…the Catholic Church also leads many people away from a genuine faith relationship with Christ…

… The Roman Catholic Church is not the church that Jesus Christ established…"

gotquestions.org/catholicism.html

Thoughts about all this? As a potential convert to Roman Catholicism, It would ease my conscious a bit if these accusations could be addressed. Because I’ll probably face these accusations from protestants I know who wish to keep me from converting.

Remember just this… Matthew 16:18-19:

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church***, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.*** I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

That is more than enough proof for me to ignore whatever that site says.

 

[josh987654321]

…The Roman Catholic Church teaches many doctrines that are in disagreement with what the Bible declares. These include apostolic succession,

What is the biblical support for apostolic succession? - catholic.com/quickquestions/what-is-the-biblical-support-for-apostolic-succession

worship of saints or Mary, prayer to saints or Mary,

(We don’t worship Mary or the Saints)
Saint Worship? - catholic.com/tracts/saint-worship

the pope / papacy,

Peter and the Papacy - catholic.com/tracts/peter-and-the-papacy

infant baptism,

Infant Baptism - catholic.com/tracts/infant-baptism

transubstantiation,

The Real Presence - catholic.com/tracts/the-real-presence

plenary indulgences,

Myths about Indulgences - catholic.com/tracts/myths-about-indulgences

the sacramental system

The Seven Signs - catholic.com/blog/jim-blackburn/the-seven-signs
(There is more on the sacraments, but it can be a bit lengthy as each sacrament is explained in detail).

and purgatory…

Purgatory - catholic.com/tracts/purgatory

… The Roman Catholic Church is not the church that Jesus Christ established…"

Then I would ask, which is the Church that Jesus Christ established if not the Roman Catholic Church? and by what authority do they make this claim?

Thoughts about all this? As a potential convert to Roman Catholicism, It would ease my conscious a bit if these accusations could be addressed. Because I’ll probably face these accusations from protestants I know who wish to keep me from converting.

I hope the following links I provided help you, there is also many more articles on this website regarding the following questions raised that I believe may help you.

I hope this has helped

God Bless You

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[josh987654321]

Remember just this… Matthew 16:18-19:

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

That is ultimately what it comes down to for me too.

.

I believe Scott Hahn is also a great evangelizer among protestants (he used to be protestant himself), you can youtube him if you like (especially his conversion story).

I hope this has helped

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh

 

[Gorgias]

Thoughts about all this? As a potential convert to Roman Catholicism, It would ease my conscious a bit if these accusations could be addressed.

Sure! No problem!

…The Roman Catholic Church teaches many doctrines that are in disagreement with what the Bible declares.

The Church teaches that Jesus left us a Church, not a book. (Interestingly enough, in that book, you can see that this is true, and that Jesus promised His protection and aid would be given to the church He founded, and not the book they’d later write. )

These include apostolic succession

Apostolic succession is in the Bible. Look at Acts 1:15-26; they found a successor to the Apostle Judas.

, worship of saints or Mary

The Church doesn’t ‘worship’ anyone but God. We honor saints (including Mary), and that’s Scriptural, too. Paul constantly talks about the good things that the saints in the Church are doing!

, prayer to saints or Mary

Again, Scriptural. Look at Mark 12:27 – “you are greatly misled; God is the God of the living, not the dead”. We pray to the saints and Mary only inasmuch as we’re asking them to pray for us (which is, again, Scriptural), knowing that they’re alive in the spirit and we know that they pray for us (see Revelation 8).

, the pope / papacy

Matthew 16 – Jesus tells Peter that he will have “the keys to the kingdom” in the Church that He will found. Then in John 21, he confirms Peter’s ministry to “tend [Jesus’] sheep.”

Do we see him being called ‘pope’ in the Scriptures? No. Then again, did you call your mom “Mom” when you were newborn? Did that make her any less your mom, until you were able to call her ‘Mom’?

, infant baptism

In Acts, we see that whole households were being baptized. Not just the adults, mind you – whole households.

, transubstantiation

Transubstantiation is only the philosophical/metaphysical explanation ‘how’ the Eucharist takes place.

, plenary indulgences and purgatory…

An indulgence isn’t ‘forgiveness for sins’, it’s the remission of punishment due to (already forgiven) sin. We see it in 2 Maccabees – they prayed that their deceased friends should attain to heaven.

, the sacramental system,

Again, it’s Scriptural: “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life within you” – “do this in memory of me”. “Whose sins you forgive, are forgiven them in heaven.” “Baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” All of these are Jesus’ own words in the Gospels.

…the Catholic Church also leads many people away from a genuine faith relationship with Christ…

It does? Where’s the evidence?

… The Roman Catholic Church is not the church that Jesus Christ established…"

Almost true. The Catholic Church (along with the Orthodox Church) is the church that Jesus Christ established. The various Reformation denominations (and the non-denominational communities) are the ones that were founded by men (and bear their names!) – 1500 years after Jesus founded His Church…

 

[CompSciGuy]

In my college days, I used to go to that site all the time for apologetics resources (I was evangelical at the time and was struggling to keep my faith). Even then I remembered them being very biased and making statements without really backing them up. Fortunately for me there was a very wise pastor at the church I was going to at the time who actually made time to talk through things with me as I was being torn between Christianity and secularism. Even more fortunate was the fact that a few years later I found the Catholic Church…

 

[chero23]

Catholics don’t do this. They venerate the saints and Mary, not worship them. Any Catholic will agree with you that Mary and the saints are not divine and therefore not worthy of worship which is only due to Jesus/God.

Amen

 

[CompSciGuy]

Cyril, there have been some really solid responses here. There is a lot in scripture that supports the Catholic faith.

I myself am a convert to Catholicism from Evangelical Protestantism. The articles on this site have been invaluable to me when I was converting.

Here is one on the papacy:
catholic.com/tracts/peter-and-the-papacy

The so-called “worship” of saints:
catholic.com/tracts/saint-worship
catholic.com/video/praying-to-mary-a-biblical-defense

Apostolic succession:
catholic.com/tracts/apostolic-succession

And so on…
Read the Church Fathers. The way I look at it, if you want to know the kind of Christianity the apostles handed on to us, the Church Fathers are the way to go. Some of them were actually trained by the apostles themselves (St. Ignatius of Antioch) and so forth. You will find that basically all of the Catholic traditions have been there since the beginning.

The fact that the Catholic Church (as a whole) with its apostolic succession is the Church that Jesus founded and was carried on by his apostles is undeniable. It is a historical fact. Sola scriptura is nowhere in the Bible. Like someone said earlier, Jesus gave us a Church, not a book. From the earliest days heresies were rising up, using scripture to justify their false beliefs about the nature of Christ and the Trinity, as well as other aspects of the faith. During this time, there was only one way of knowing what the truth was: look to the Church that holds apostolic succession. If you don’t believe me, ask Ignatius of Antioch, the disciple of the apostle John himself:

See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is administered either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude of the people also be; even as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. —Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Ch 8

But inasmuch as love suffers me not to be silent in regard to you, I have therefore taken upon me first to exhort you that you would all run together in accordance with the will of God. For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is the manifested will of the Father; as also bishops, settled everywhere to the utmost bounds of the earth, are so by the will of Jesus Christ… Let us be careful, then, not to set ourselves in opposition to the bishop, in order that we may be subject to God. —Letter to the Ephesians, Ch 3,5

One of the hardest things in converting from Evangelical Christianity is abandoning the idea of sola scriptura. Sola scriptura is not a valid standard to use. It was invented 1500 years after Christ by a man named Martin Luther and was centered around his own personal philosophy. It is not what Christ or his apostles taught. It is also important that you force yourself to understand the truth that Catholicism is Christianity, and for a very long time that was the only Christianity there was. Catholic “theological innovations” are not actually innovations… they are apostolic teaching.

God bless!

 

[MT1926]

"Catholicism is a false religion. If a person believes what the Catholic Church officially teaches, he/she will not be saved…

…The Roman Catholic Church teaches many doctrines that are in disagreement with what the Bible declares. These include apostolic succession, worship of saints or Mary, prayer to saints or Mary, the pope / papacy, infant baptism, transubstantiation, plenary indulgences, the sacramental system, and purgatory…

…the Catholic Church also leads many people away from a genuine faith relationship with Christ…

… The Roman Catholic Church is not the church that Jesus Christ established…"

gotquestions.org/catholicism.html

Thoughts about all this? As a potential convert to Roman Catholicism, It would ease my conscious a bit if these accusations could be addressed. Because I’ll probably face these accusations from protestants I know who wish to keep me from converting.

I would start by recommending a book by Tim Staples, “Sword of the Spirit” It touches on all of these topics briefly. It is an audio book also and can be listened to in about 5 hours.

It all comes down to authority, which is why they are against Apostolic succession and the Pope. Think about it in life today. Get rid of the Authority and anything goes.

Tim says 2 things that registered with me and make perfect sense. If everyone holds the keys of Peter then no one has the keys. Basically in my mind what he is saying , if everyone has a key to the lock then what is the sense of locking the door. Not to mention if you are going to give everyone the keys to the door what ever you have behind the door must not be very valuable because you are leaving it unprotected. The second thing he has said often is, if the Bible has no Authority that protects it’s interpretations then you are your own authority, which allows you to read whatever you want into the Bible’s interpretations. We all read the Bible with our own backgrounds and answers in the back of our mind. We know the answers before we read the verses and read those answers into the verses. Which brings us right back to the question who’s interpretation is correct and how do you know you have the authority to say your interpretation is correct?

Basically, the churches teachings aren’t in disagreement with the Bible. Gotquestions.org just disagrees with the Church’s 2000 year old interpretations of scripture. I can not figure how people now a days can read a book written a week ago and take it as truth, but read the writings of the church Father’s written from the oral teachings of the Apostles 2000 years ago and say the church Father’s weren’t inspired and therefor in error.

God Bless,

Keep studying on this sight it is all here in plain English simple enough that even I can understand.

 

[chero23]

Sure! No problem!

The Church teaches that Jesus left us a Church, not a book. (Interestingly enough, in that book, you can see that this is true, and that Jesus promised His protection and aid would be given to the church He founded, and not the book they’d later write. )

Apostolic succession is in the Bible. Look at Acts 1:15-26; they found a successor to the Apostle Judas.

The Church doesn’t ‘worship’ anyone but God. We honor saints (including Mary), and that’s Scriptural, too. Paul constantly talks about the good things that the saints in the Church are doing!

Again, Scriptural. Look at Mark 12:27 – “you are greatly misled; God is the God of the living, not the dead”. We pray to the saints and Mary only inasmuch as we’re asking them to pray for us (which is, again, Scriptural), knowing that they’re alive in the spirit and we know that they pray for us (see Revelation 8).

Matthew 16 – Jesus tells Peter that he will have “the keys to the kingdom” in the Church that He will found. Then in John 21, he confirms Peter’s ministry to “tend [Jesus’] sheep.”

Do we see him being called ‘pope’ in the Scriptures? No. Then again, did you call your mom “Mom” when you were newborn? Did that make her any less your mom, until you were able to call her ‘Mom’?

In Acts, we see that whole households were being baptized. Not just the adults, mind you – whole households.

Transubstantiation is only the philosophical/metaphysical explanation ‘how’ the Eucharist takes place.

An indulgence isn’t ‘forgiveness for sins’, it’s the remission of punishment due to (already forgiven) sin. We see it in 2 Maccabees – they prayed that their deceased friends should attain to heaven.

Again, it’s Scriptural: “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life within you” – “do this in memory of me”. “Whose sins you forgive, are forgiven them in heaven.” “Baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” All of these are Jesus’ own words in the Gospels.

It does? Where’s the evidence?

Almost true. The Catholic Church (along with the Orthodox Church) is the church that Jesus Christ established. The various Reformation denominations (and the non-denominational communities) are the ones that were founded by men (and bear their names!) – 1500 years after Jesus founded His Church…

Ding ding ding ding.

You are the winner.

 

[1ke]

Thoughts about all this?

You’re going to have to study and make up your own mind. I would suggest staying away from sites such as that one and focusing on RCIA. These topics should be covered in the classes offered by your local parish. For any specific questions, you can post them here one at a time.

That is a fringe site, it is not making an attempt to understand the Catholc faith. It is discussing a caricature it has created. 99% of the Christian churches it there believe Catholics are Christian. Many of them believe some or most of what Catholics believe.

As a potential convert to Roman Catholicism, It would ease my conscious a bit if these accusations could be addressed.

For this particular brand of “Christian” I just suggest ignoring it. If you want to discuss a topic, post a thread on that one topic, per forum rules. Karl Keating’s book Catholicism and Fundamentalism is a good one to have if you have these sorts of people in your life.

Because I’ll probably face these accusations from protestants I know who wish to keep me from converting.

I think you must know the wrong sorts of Protestants, because when I converted I never got a single ounce of that. No questions and certainly none of those accusations from Protestant family or friends. I don’t know a single person who believes this IRL. Only online have I ever encountered this sort of person.

Might be time to consider a new group of friends, because I’ve never encounter one of these types who could be reasoned with in any way.

 

[chero23]

"Catholicism is a false religion. If a person believes what the Catholic Church officially teaches, he/she will not be saved…

…The Roman Catholic Church teaches many doctrines that are in disagreement with what the Bible declares. These include apostolic succession, worship of saints or Mary, prayer to saints or Mary, the pope / papacy, infant baptism, transubstantiation, plenary indulgences, the sacramental system, and purgatory…

…the Catholic Church also leads many people away from a genuine faith relationship with Christ…

… The Roman Catholic Church is not the church that Jesus Christ established…"

gotquestions.org/catholicism.html

Thoughts about all this? As a potential convert to Roman Catholicism, It would ease my conscious a bit if these accusations could be addressed. Because I’ll probably face these accusations from protestants I know who wish to keep me from converting.

Look at the bottom of my post. I have a book that I made in regards to apologetics. All the things you mentioned I have, with bible verses. check it out.

 

[mackbrislawn]

"Catholicism is a false religion. If a person believes what the Catholic Church officially teaches, he/she will not be saved…

…The Roman Catholic Church teaches many doctrines that are in disagreement with what the Bible declares. These include apostolic succession, worship of saints or Mary, prayer to saints or Mary, the pope / papacy, infant baptism, transubstantiation, plenary indulgences, the sacramental system, and purgatory…

…the Catholic Church also leads many people away from a genuine faith relationship with Christ…

… The Roman Catholic Church is not the church that Jesus Christ established…"

gotquestions.org/catholicism.html

Thoughts about all this? As a potential convert to Roman Catholicism, It would ease my conscious a bit if these accusations could be addressed. Because I’ll probably face these accusations from protestants I know who wish to keep me from converting.

“Catholicism is a false religion.”

It’s funny how they declare Catholicism to be a false religion, then they turn around and make a true religion from the holy book of that false religion!

Does doing that make any sense to you?

 

[Trad_Catholic27]

Wow that’s a very dangerous website and gravely uninformed about Catholicism.

If you want to know about our Faith as Catholics it is better to stick with Catholic Answers or EWTN

 

[7_Sorrows]

You’re going to have to study and make up your own mind. I would suggest staying away from sites such as that one and focusing on RCIA. These topics should be covered in the classes offered by your local parish. For any specific questions, you can post them here one at a time.

That is a fringe site, it is not making an attempt to understand the Catholc faith. It is discussing a caricature it has created. 99% of the Christian churches it there believe Catholics are Christian. Many of them believe some or most of what Catholics believe.

There are many protestants out there who might confront him about converting. So he is wise to already wanting to learn about Catholic apologetics.

I never go to this site and I don’t know who runs it.
It seems like another thread started here on Islam referenced a question from Got Questions. Does the site strictly deal with religious questions?

For this particular brand of “Christian” I just suggest ignoring it. If you want to discuss a topic, post a thread on that one topic, per forum rules. Karl Keating’s book Catholicism and Fundamentalism is a good one to have if you have these sorts of people in your life.

I think you must know the wrong sorts of Protestants, because when I converted I never got a single ounce of that. No questions and certainly none of those accusations from Protestant family or friends. I don’t know a single person who believes this IRL. Only online have I ever encountered this sort of person.

Might be time to consider a new group of friends, because I’ve never encounter one of these types who could be reasoned with in any way.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Does anyone know who runs this site?
Is it strictly for questions about religion?
I don’t think I would trust this site after reading what it said about Catholicism.

 

[paulrxp]

GotQuestions doesn’t ever have any answers. It merely distorts beliefs and teaching of the Catholic Church to make it appear what it(GotQuestions) teaches is Biblical and true.

The only question any of us have to ask ourselves,(whether Catholic or Protestant) is whether or not we are a part of the Church that the Lord Jesus Christ founded and left for our eternal salvation. Only that Church has the fullness in Truth.

There’s nothing to fear. Follow the path. Go back in time until you’re at the very feet of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There will be no way to go back 2000 years without that path going through Holy Mother Church. May God bless you on your journey.