International Bible Teaching Ministries
Catholic
Question 1: Should we believe in purgatory?
ANSWER: Purgatory is not a biblical doctrine! It is a false doctrine of the apostate Church which says that Catholics, who are too good to go to hell and too bad to go to heaven, go into an intermediate place (purgatory) in order to be purged from their sins to become fit for heaven! This false doctrine rises from the sinful practice of selling indulgences to provide money into the bulging treasury of the Catholic Church. The doctrine holds that the Catholic Church knows how long each Catholic is to spend in the fires and punishment of purgatory and that the amount of time can be significantly reduced, depending upon the number of indulgences purchased. In fact, a Catholic destined for punishment in purgatory may purchase a “Plenary Indulgence,” so that he or she may totally by-pass purgatory and go straight to heaven. A Catholic, according to their Church’s teachings, may also gain specific indulgences by praying the “Rosary,” i.e., counting beads to keep track of the number of times the one praying says the “Hail, Mary” and/or “Glory be to the Father.” The sale of indulgences by the Catholic hierarchy was the primary motivation that caused Martin Luther, a one-time Catholic Priest, to leave the Catholic Church and to usher in the Protestant Reformation of the 15th century.
The Bible, in opposition to this fallacious purgatorial doctrine, teaches that "it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). There is no second chance! Luke 16:26 teaches that there is a great gulf fixed, so that none can travel from one place to the other after death!
Question 2: Is there any scripture that says Priests and Nuns should not marry?
ANSWER: It is obvious to all that the Catholic Church forbids their Priests and Nuns to marry. That forbidding to marry is wrong can clearly be seen in I Timothy 4:1-3. Those who do so are those who have departed from the faith (Vs.1)! Nonetheless, one may make a personal decision not to marry, provided that he or she does not succumb to the temptations that often befall a single person (I Corinthians 7:8-9). The apostle Paul is an example of one who chose not to marry! But this same apostle tells us in I Corinthians 7:1, "to avoid fornication, let every man have is own wife, and let every women have her own husband." So we see that a decision to marry, or not to marry, is a choice that each person has to make and, further, that the decision should be made only with careful consideration to biblical principles. The sin of religious people and organizations relative to marriage (and many other issues) is that they make laws where God has not legislated. In other words, they proclaim a gospel that is different from the New Testament. These are to be accursed (Galatians 1:6-9)! The forbidding of priests and nuns to marry by the Catholic Church has given rise to the terrible promotion of illegal, illicit, and sinful sexual activity that has totally pervaded that group around the world, and for which millions of dollars (much of which has been collected through the sale of indulgences) have been paid to the many innocent people (mostly children) who have been sexually assaulted and raped by those Catholic Church officials who have “left the natural use of the women (Romans 1:26-32)” to seek those of the same sex, very often because they were initially kept from marriage in violation of Holy Writ.
Question 3: Is the teaching of Catholicism about celibacy scripturally accurate?
ANSWER: No! "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife . . ." (I Corinthians 7:2). "Marriage is honourable in all . . ." (Hebrews 13:4). Those who forbid others to marry are those who have departed from the faith (I Timothy 4:1-4)!
Question 4: Why do most people not honor Mary, since God Himself honored her?
ANSWER: Certainly we are to honor those to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7). Therefore Mary is to be honored, as are all, but neither she nor any beyond that which is scripturally due. In Luke 1:47, we read, "all generations shall call me (Mary) blessed." But in Luke 11:27-28, we learn that those who hear the word of God and keep it (Christians) are more blessed than she! The scriptures do not make Mary deity; neither do they teach that any should pray to, or through, Mary. There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (I Timothy 2:5).
The perpetual virginity of Mary (Matthew 1:24-25; Matthew 13:55-56), her bodily assumption into heaven, her elevation to the position of mediator between God and man are false teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church. They are not to be found in scripture and are, therefore, sinful additions to what God would have us believe (Galatians 1:6-9; Revelation 22:18-19).
Question 5: Is it right for a man to make confession to a priest, as do the Catholics?
ANSWER: No! It is not! Catholic Priests cannot, in the place of God, absolve (forgive) a person’s sins, as they claim. The idea of confessing to a Priest does not come from the Bible, but rather from the apostate Catholic Church. They often try to support this ungodly practice by reference to James 5:16 which says, “Confess your faults one to another.” The verse, however, does not say ‘confess your faults to the Priest!’ If it were the case (and it isn’t) that this passage teaches that one must confess to the Priest, then it is also the case that, since we are to confess one to another, that the Priest must then confess to the one who has just confessed to him! The Catholics, of course, reject not only this logical conclusion, but also the passage itself! They, therefore, do not represent the church of the Bible!
Question #6: Do you believe that the Catholic Church teaches things that are not biblical?
ANSWER: Yes! We do truly, after lengthy investigation and study, believe that many things taught by the Catholic Church are non-biblical and were not taught or practiced by the early church in apostolic times. Since these things were not taught, believed, or practiced at that time, but were established “after” the Bible was completed we have clear evidence that they cannot logically be authorized by the Bible.
For example:
1. Prayers for the dead began about 300 AD. (Three hundred years is a long, long time!)
2. Making the sign of the cross 300 AD.
3. Wax candles 320 AD.
4. Veneration of angels and dead saints, and use of images about 375 AD.
5. The Mass as a daily celebration about 394 AD.
6. The first exaltation of Mary with the term “Mother of God” first applied in 431 AD.
7. Priests began to dress differently than the worshipers 500 AD.
8. The doctrine of Purgatory established by Gregory I in 593 AD.
9. Latin Language for worship imposed by Gregory I in 600 AD.
10. Prayers directed to Mary, dead saints, and angels in 600 AD.
11. Instrumental music first introduced, but highly opposed in 600 AD.
12. Title of Pope, or Universal Bishop, first given to Boniface III by Emperor Phocas in 606 AD.
13. Kissing the Pope’s foot began with Pope Constantine in 709 AD.
14. Temporal power of Popes given by Pepin, King of France in 750 AD.
15. Worship of the cross, images, and relics were first authorized in 786 AD.
16. Holy water, mixed with salt, blessed by a priest in 850 AD.
17. College of Cardinals (now 70) first established in 927 AD.
18. Canonization of dead saints by John XV in 995 AD.
19. Fasting on Fridays and during Lent first in 998 AD.
20. Celibacy of the priesthood decreed by Pope Gregory VII in 1079 AD.
21. The rosary begun by Peter the Hermit in 1090 AD.
22. Sale of indulgences in 1190 AD.
23. Transubstantiation proclaimed first by Pope Innocent III in 1215 AD.
24. Auricular Confession of sins to priest instituted by Pope Innocent III in Latern Council in 1215 AD.
25. Adoration of the wafer (host) decreed by Pope Honorius III in 1220 AD.
26. Bible forbidden to laymen – placed on the index of forbidden books by the council of Valencia in 1229 AD.
27. Pouring officially substituted for immersion in baptism in 1311 AD.
28. Cup forbidden to the people at communion by the Council of Constance in 1414 AD.
29. Purgatory proclaimed as a dogma, Council of Florence in 1438 AD.
30. Doctrine of Seven Sacraments affirmed in 1439 AD.
31. Tradition declared of equal authority with the Bible by the Council of Trent in 1546 AD.
32. Apocryphal books added to the Bible, Council of Trent in 1546 AD.
33. Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1854 AD.
34. Infallibility of the Pope, Vatican Council in 1870 AD.
35. Bodily Assumption proclaimed by Pope Pious XII in 1950 AD.
None of the above can be found in the Word of God by which you and I will one day be judged (John 12:48). These things were unheard of in biblical times and, therefore, cannot be of the Bible. If the doctrines of any church are different from the doctrines of the Bible, if they are more or less than found in the Bible, then it is the case that it is not the church of the Bible! If they are different from the Bible, it follows then that they are of man and not of God. Jesus said that the doctrines of men constitute vain (empty) worship (Matthew 15:9). Surely, we will not be judged by their (church) doctrines in that day, but, rather, by the words of Christ (John 12:48). Therefore, "we ought to obey God (the Bible) rather than men" (Acts 5:29).