This link has the most complete list of doctrines seen by non Catholics as false. Please give arguements to be used when these are brought up in conversation.
Sure thing:
1. Calling the Priests “Father” is forbidden
Unlike english, hebrew, aramaic, and greek have multiple words for “father”. The word Jesus tells us NOT to use for ANY man (not even our own biological fathers) is Abba. Abba is a greek and aramaic combination of the greek title “ba” (for dad) and the aramaic honorific A-, which turns the title of ba into a proper name. In other words, Abba is NOT the title of a father, but rather is a NAME which means THE Father.
Why the warning? Because Caesar at this point had declared his divinity, claiming to be a partial God and therefore demanding that the subjugated jews reference him as “Abba Caesar”, which would have been calling Caesar by one of God’s names.
Counter point: Paul calls himself the spiritual father of MANY of the people he writes to, and often refers to FATHER Abraham as a spiritual father as well. In this context, there is NO WAY to understand that Christ meant that we can never use the english title of father to refer to anyone at all…
2. Praying repetitive words using Rosary beads is forbidden.
Matthew 6:7 ACTUALLY says that we are not to babble incoherently like the pagans who believe that God can be MADE to do their will because of their many words. The rosary is NOT a prayer held in the words said. Rather the rosary is a contemplative prayer, a meditation on the life of Christ through the sacred mysteries of the life and passion. The words are NOT there to make God listen to us, but rather to serve as a means by which we are given time and space to focus on our own devotion to Christ’s life and it’s key events/mysteries. The beads are merely a counting tool, because trying to COUNT while trying to meditate on the life of Christ would be very difficult.
3. Virgin Mary
Let’s start with asking if Mary had other sons and look at the “proof” of Matthew 13. Let’s assume that Jews only had 100 different male names at the time (we know there were many more than that). The probability that a random brother of Christ would share the same name of one of his disciples at this point is 12/100. That would be unlikely, but a believable coincidence. However, the four “brothers” named are EXACTLY the same four names as four of Jesus’ disciples. Let’s consider that the combined probability of multiple events is the product of multiplying the probability of all four events separately. This means that the probability is 12^4/100^4… so the probability that is 81/390625… those are pretty desparate odds… any gambler can tell you that you should NOT bet that these four were biological brothers based on this statistic (and because the Jews had more than 100 male names, the odds are even worse in reality). The odds say that the brothers referenced are ACTUALLY the disciples of Christ who happened to be there at the time.
So how do we know Mary was eternally a virgin? Because she has to be according to Isaiah, who gives prophecy that the King of Israel (Christ) will enter through the king’s door (Mary’s womb), and that NO ONE but the king will be allowed to pass through this door… ever.
4. Every Christian drinks of the communion cup
It is a false claim that we are forbidden to drink from the Cup. However, it should be noted that since Christ’s nature is inseparable, to eat only the species of bread is still to receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ in fullness.
Let’s look at their scriptural evidence: Matthew 26:27 is a comission to the apostles (and their successors), not to all men. 1 Cor 11 is warning against communion where each person brings their own bread and wine (if they can afford it) and offers it singly rather than as a community. As such, the poor were excluded from communion. Paul’s caution here is that they need to be making a community offering because the Eucharist is our sign of unity… and that the poor should not be excluded. It is NOT mandating that we MUST drink from the chalice at all masses.
5. All Christians are saints
The church teaches that all Christians are indeed saints, and that we hope to be sanctified and to become Saints (not the difference in capitolization).
6. All Christians are priests
The church teaches that all people share in the universal priesthood through Christ’s death and resurrection. The modern word for priest comes from the greek presbyteros, which is a specific title of ordination given in the new testament (in other words, priests fill a special ORDAINED office of priesthood as presbyters).
To be continued…
