The Catholic Church. False teachings like no birth control and no divorce?
The false teaching I specifically referred to in my post was that of Simony - which was condemned by St. Peter as recorded in the New Testament. Acts 8:20 "But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!” The Catholic Church based on taking one of the analogies of Salvation mentioned in the Bible namely, Justification not as an analogy, but as an “explanation” of Salvation - Catholics built an entire system of: Merits, Indulgences, Purgatory etc. which was no where found in the Bible nor in the Early Church. This “selling/purchasing of Indulgences” which was a common practice of the Catholic Church leading up to and during the life of Martin Luther was clearly Simony - the attempted selling/purchasing of a gift of God, His Grace (Divine Energies) needed for Salvation.
It is interesting that you bring up birth control and divorce. Are these issues that you have problems with?
Birth Control is not mentioned specifically by Jesus nor mentioned in the Bible; however, the blessings of children & curse of childlessness is. All marital acts between husband and wife should be open to new life and the spouses should separate for times of deeper prayer/fasting as described in the New Testament - this equates to about 50% of the year. The regular abstinence alone reduces the likelihood of pregnancy. Couples experiencing marital difficulty can meet with their Spiritual Father to see if intentional spacing of children may be permissible to them by use of non-abortive forms of birth control such as NFP.
Divorce is mentioned specifically by Jesus and is recorded in the Bible. Jesus declared that marriage was intended to be until death, but that He had allowed Moses to allow His people to divorce due to the hardness of their hearts. Jesus also repeated mentioned that for reasons of sexual immorality divorce is permitted: Matt. 5:32 & Matt. 19:9. And in the Old Testament in Jeremiah 3:“6
The LORD said ** also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel
has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.** 7 And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery,
I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.” My bolding. Through this Scripture, it is clear that even God Himself gave a divorce certificate to His “old” Bride, the people of Israel for the same reason Jesus cites as a reason for divorce. Jesus in the New Testament explains that there is a valid reason to obtain a divorce. But currently, the Roman Catholic Church does not teach or practice this teaching of Jesus permiting divorce in certain circumstances. The current Roman Catholic Church practice of issuing Annulments rather than Divorces (declaring that a marriage never existed between a husband and wife) is not present anywhere in the Bible or teachings of Jesus, nor in the Early Church Fathers’ writings.
