Catholicism

This page was inspired by a conversation that I had with my dad the other night over dinner. My dad knows that I'm a Christian, but he asked me what the difference between my beliefs and a Catholic's beliefs are. I think that most of the exposure that he's had throughout his life has been from the Catholic church and even the Catholic influence in various movies.

My objective in writing this is not to split the church up even further, but just to present various biblical facts. You can take them as you wish, but these are points that I find very important to my faith, so that is why I want to share them with everyone.

No, Catholicism is not a Christian denomination. A friend of mine said it best the other day: Some of the people that go to Catholic mass every Sunday are Christians too, but the vast majority are not. Catholics do things that are un-biblical and most Christians would not do.

Like creating and honoring statues and other idols, conversing with the dead, etc

Catholics have many prayers that are addressed to dead people. The most famous of these is the prayer of the Rosary, where they pray repetitively to Mary. Other prayers are addressed to the "saints". The fact is that the bible strictly forbids talking to the dead. In praying to Mary and the saints, Catholics are practicing necromancy. This should not be done. The only one you should ever pray to is God. This includes Jesus because Jesus is God, as is God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. You may pray freely any of God's three persons of God. In fact, the bible says that the Holy Spirit will intercede all of your prayers.

Catholics believe any object that has been blessed by an ordained priest contains the Spirit of God. They are then told to have respect for all blessed objects because it is the temple of God. My mother (a Catholic) was even taught that if you accidentally drop something that has been blessed that you should pick it up and kiss it. This is a form of idolatry and it should not be done by anyone. It is not wrong to have a statue, but the statue should not be seen as more than just that - a statue. A piece of porcelain with a bit of paint on it, whether it has been blessed or not. The fact is, in New Testament times (which we live in right now), WE are the temples of the Spirit of God and He resides within all Christians. There is no need for a "blessed" object since we are blessed with His Spirit!

A Christian is someone who believes in the complete works of Jesus Christ and only through Him are you able to have all of your sins forgiven. Catholics do not believe that his works were complete.

Well, Catholics have invented a place called Purgatory. It is a place that you go after you die if you have any sins that have not been forgiven so that you can pay the price of those sins and be cleansed of them, much like the Hell found in Islamic beliefs. Catholics also believe that if enough people pray for you after you die, they can affect whether you go to Heaven or Hell, or even lessen your time in Purgatory, which is why you see Catholic priests praying for dead people at funerals. None of these things do you see anywhere in the bible because Jesus's works were complete! He came to the earth to pay the full penalty for all of our sins. Notice how there are two alternatives here; either the law (i.e. good works) or God's grace. Obeying the law means to try to obey all of the commandments that God has given to us through Moses. Jesus does not seek to defy the old scripture, but his death actually creates a new pact between all of humanity and God (Galatians 3:15-22). It doesn't matter what we do or how bad we are, there is nobody that is too evil to come back to God. God will not reject anyone that comes to Him. Take, for example, the Parable of the Compassionate Father (also known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son). In this parable, the son turned his back on his father and left home to go and live a "wild" life. He became involved in prostitution and lost all of the money that his father had given him and ended up nearly starving to death because of his way of life and bad habits. He thought that maybe he could work for his father as a slave that he would accept him into the house. He thought that it would be hard to get his father to forgive him. When he arrived, not only did he meet up with his father, but his father literally came running towards him and gave him a new robe and killed the fattest calf for them to feast upon. In the same way, if you even make that first step towards God, he will RUN to meet you and throw a huge party for you, giving you his cload, a ring, and a nice thick piece of steak cooked to perfection, baked potatoes, a side of steamed veggies.

I agree! The fact is that no matter how good of a person you are, you still make mistakes from time to time. Since Jesus's work on earth was complete, all of your sins will be forgiven if you accept Him as your personal Lord and Saviour.

Well, accepting Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour means the following:

• Acknowledging that you have done wrong in your life. This can be as small as telling a "little white lie" to as large as murder, or wasting your entire life on drugs, alcohol, prositution. It doesn't matter, because we have all done something that we know is wrong in the eyes of God
• Acknowledge that Jesus, the Son of God, born of a virgin and the Holy Spirit of God, lived a completely sinless life and was crucified to pay the penalty for all of your sins. You must intellectually know that salvation has nothing to do with your works, and that it is only by the grace of God that you can be saved (See Ephesians 2:8-9).
• You must ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and promise to turn from your ways. This is called repentance. You do this by prayer. Prayer is our way of communicating with God and he will always hear your prayers. No matter how bad we've been, he will run towards us if he hears us praying to ask for forgiveness, just as the father in the parable above came running towards his son when he got close to the house.

A prayer is something that comes from your heart. Anyone can say anything they want and not mean it, but God knows what you feel in your heart. This prayer is only an example and in no means has to be said word-for-word: You know what? I know you just read this prayer and you didn't actually pray it. Well at least that's what I did the first time I saw a prayer like that. But the more important question is 'does this prayer express what you feel in your heart?' If it does, go back, read it again, read it twice, three times, as many as you want, but you need to pray it yourself. Like I said, it doesn't have to be these exact words, but whatever you feel in your heart. You just need to open up to the Lord.

If you just prayed that prayer, I have a surprise for you! You just died and you've been born again into the Spirit of God. His Spirit just entered your body! Not only that, but you can be sure that you will have eternal salvation in Heaven! Angels are rejoicing in Heaven at this very second! How was that for easy? It is unfortunate that so many people tell us that we need to be good to get to Heaven. The reality is that being good will do nothing. In fact, if anything it is backwards. Being good does not lead to your salvation, but your salvation leads to you being good. So that is the next step in your life - to learn about what it means in the eyes of God to be a "good person". If you don't have a bible, you're going to need one. A bible is a necessary tool for the spiritual growth of all Christians. Most churches will give away bibles for free. You can also read the bible online. The version that I use for this website is from the NET Bible. All Christian book stores sell bibles as well.

The next step is to start to attend a bible-believing Christian church. If you are not sure whether or not they are bible-believing, ask them for a church statement and make sure that they believe in only One God and that they believe in salvation only though the grace of God through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ and not through works. Attending church is not a necessary part of your salvation, BUT having fellowship with other Christians is very necessary for your growth as a Christian. They will be your support when you need it and they can help you in any area of your life. Christians are definitely some of the best people you will ever meet.

And of course, the most important part in your growth is prayer. God is like a friend and you communicate with him through prayer. Just like a friend, if you don't communicate with him, your relationship will become sour. The bible says that you should pray to God in everything, giving thanks to him: