The Vatican II Council affirmed that “both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal feelings of devotion and reverence.”¹    Therefore, many Catholics are taught that if they question the Catholic church, they are in fact, questioning God!

What does Jesus Christ and the Bible say about tradition?

Jesus charged the religious leaders of his day for holding to tradition over Scripture:

• “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”
   (Matthew 15:3).

• “Ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites.”
   (Matthew 15:6-7).

• “In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”
   (Matthew 15:9).

PAPAL INFALLIBILITY (declared in 1870 AD)

“Papal Infallibility” means that when a pope is speaking in his official position on any issue of faith or morals, he is speaking infallibly, meaning without error.   This is a most dangerous doctrine because it gives the Roman Catholic church the authority to teach whatever it wants.  The apostles never regarded any man to be infallible, only the Word of God is said to be infallible.

Catholicism claims that Peter was the first pope.  The amazing truth is, in fact, that the Bible knows no such office as a “pope.”  Peter was married, which would have disqualified him according to Catholic law.   If Peter was the first pope, certainly the Bible does not declare him to be infallible for in Galatians 2:11-14, Paul found him to be in error when he was deceived by Judaizers.  Paul said, “…when Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.”

The following events from history show the error of papal infallibility:

• Pope John XII, in the Liber Pontificalis (the Catholic publication discussing the lives of the popes) said that “he spent his entire life in adultery.”

• Popes Innocent III, Gregory XI, Clement IV, Hadrian VI, and Paul IV all disagreed with papal infallibility.

• Pope Stephen VI (896) had the dead pope Formosus (891-6) tried, questioned, fingers hacked off, dragged through Rome and thrown in the Tiber river.

• Pope Hadrian II (867) declared civil marriage to be valid, but Pope Pius VII (1800-23) declared it to be invalid.

• Pope Eugene IV (1431) had Joan of Arc burned alive as a witch, but later Pope Benedict IV in 1919 declared her to be a saint.

• Pope Pius XI in 1929 endorsed Fascism and called Mussolini "a man sent by God." However, before World War II, he warned people against Mussolini.

• The Vatican advised the German Catholic Party to vote for Nazi candidates. In 1933, the Vatican and Hitler signed a concordat, where the Catholic church swore allegiance to the Nazi government. Later on Pope Pius XI condemned Hitler.

How can a supposedly infallible man make so many errors of judgment, and even contradict other so-called infallible popes? Surely this disproves papal infallibility to any honest, open-minded person.

INDULGENCES

The Catholic doctrine of indulgences teaches that in order for a person to be free from the punishment of his/her sins, the church is required to pray for a person’s  rehabilitation even after they have confessed their sins to a priest. The person must do penance works such as fasting, making pilgrimages, giving money, making prayers or inflicting pain on oneself, as a penalty for sins committed.

Historically, people found it easier to pay money to the Roman Catholic church than to pray for long hours.  The Roman Catholic church issued the person with an official statement that he had received release from the penalties through the payment of money. This document was called an indulgence. They could be bought for friends and relatives who had died and passed into purgatory, thus shortening the time that they would have to spend there.

Martin Luther objected to Tetzel (a Catholic indulgence seller) who publicly announced to people that if they put a coin in a box, a dead relative's soul would immediately pop out of purgatory. His advertising slogan was: "As the coin in you pop, a soul from purgatory doth hop."

Obviously, this teaching cannot be found in the Bible. After Word War II, the Archbishop of Winnipeg asked mothers who had sons killed in the war to pay $40 to have masses said on behalf of their sons to guarantee their salvation and entrance to heaven. This practice is still observed in many parts of the world, and accounts, in part, for the great wealth of the Catholic church.

The Bible is not merely silent in the matter of indulgences, but actually prohibits the very concept of it.  Jesus warned against this in principle by his condemnation of the religious leaders in Matthew 23:14, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”  The Pharisees of Jesus' day, as well as Catholic priests of today, did similar things with the widows of their day.  They ask her if she wants her dead husband to go to heaven. If yes, she will have to pay the priest to say a mass to pray for his soul to leave purgatory. Widows usually don't have much money, so they are told to sell their houses to pay for it. This is how widows’ houses are devoured by priests who for pretence make long prayers.

The Israelites were forbidden to give money for the dead. “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psalms 49:7). No gift of money can save another person – only the blood of Christ can do that.  Peter said, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold...but with the precious blood of Christ…” (1 Peter 1:18,19).  Nobody is redeemed with indulgence money.

PURGATORY

Purgatory is taught to be a half-way place between heaven and hell where unforgiven sin is purged away. This teaching is found nowhere in Scripture and is very evil because:

•  It gives people into a false sense of security; that they will avoid hell.

•  It denies that Christ's blood sacrifice on the cross is sufficient to pay for all our sins. It says that Christ did not die for all our sins, so we must be punished for them in purgatory.

•  It denies the Biblical doctrine of true salvation in Christ and certainty of eternal life, forcing a person to work for their salvation.

The Bible states clearly that Christ purged our sins on the cross:  “When he had by himself purged our sins” (Hebrews 1:3).  One must ask the question:  Why did Jesus talk many times of heaven and hell and never once mention purgatory?  Why didn't the apostles discuss purgatory?   Would the Bible forget to instruct us on something so important? Of course not. When a believer dies he is immediately present with Christ.  “To be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord”  (2 Corinthians 5:8).

For the Roman Catholic, purgatory teaching is:

• A terrifying prospect of entering a place of unspeakable torture. Millions of Catholics live and die in great fear of death and in fear of spending an unknown number of years in purgatory. Christ came to “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15). Roman Catholicism is a religion of fear.

• A great money raiser – suffering in purgatory may be shortened by gifts of money, masses, prayers by the priests, etc.

If the Pope or priest, really has the power to shorten or stop the suffering of souls in purgatory, why does he not, if he is a good man, render that service freely and willingly as a service to humanity?  Purgatory is a “gigantic fraud” and a “colossal racket,” because it deprives the poor of their last pennies and extorts large funds from the rich in exchange for nothing.  How does the priest know when to stop saying masses?  How do they know when the person is out of purgatory?

The purgatory doctrine represents God as a respecter of persons.  A rich man can pay more for prayers and masses, than can a poor man can. The rich man therefore passes more speedily through purgatory into heaven than the poor man. The Bible teaches that entrance into heaven is not based on one's wealth, but on one's response to receiving Jesus Christ as Saviour alone.

PRIESTS

A Roman Catholic priest is one who acts in the place of Christ, supposedly making believers into Christians by “baptising” them. He is said to be able to convert the bread into Christ's flesh in the mass, and that he is able to forgive sins in the confessional.

In the Bible, all ministers are called elders, bishops or pastors (all referring to the one office) but there is no office of “priest” in the New Testament.  Christ is our great High Priest, the only mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), so there is no need for other priests to mediate for us. Peter never called himself a priest, but he did call himself an “elder”  (1 Peter 5:1).

In Revelation 1:6 and 1 Peter 2:5, 9 all believers are declared to be priests, that is, they have direct access to God through Christ. We don't offer an atoning sacrifice because only Christ did this on the cross.

CELIBACY of priests and nuns

The Forbidding of priests and nuns to marry was introduced in 1079 and has consequently led to much immorality among the preisthood. What does the Bible say?

• "A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife." (1 Tim. 3:2).

• Peter was married, because Jesus healed his mother in law (Matthew 8:14 and Luke 4:38).

• “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

• “To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2).

•  “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith...speaking lies in hypocrisy...forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats” (1 Tim 4:1-3).

Notice that the Bible states that one sign of departing from the faith is “forbidding to marry.” The Catholic church, in support of celibacy, quotes Matthew 19:11, 12 which merely teaches that it is permissible to be celibate if one so chooses, but it is never to be commanded.

INFANT BAPTISM  (invented in 370 AD)

Though this might be surprising to many people, the Bible knows nothing of infants being baptised.  The word “baptism” in the New Testament, means to “immerse, to dip, to fully whelm.”  One man asked Philip in the Bible, “What doth hinder me to be baptised?”   Philip plainly answered (giving the qualification for baptism): “…If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest” (Acts 8:36-37).   Therefore, a person must be able to place their faith in Christ before they can be baptised.

Baptism means nothing unless a person has received Jesus Christ as their Saviour. It is simply an act of obedience to picture the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.   Baptism does not save a person as the Catholic church claims. Only Christ's blood can cleanse us from sin.

OTHER MEDIATORS between God and man

One very disturbing teaching by the Roman Catholic church is that there are other mediators between man and God other than the Lord Jesus Christ.   Notice...

•  The priest, not only makes Christ's death on the cross unnecessary, but he also takes Christ's place as intermediary between man and God when he says that you cannot be saved unless you come to mass performed by him.  He is sometimes called the ‘vicar’ meaning ‘in the place of.’

•  Mary, also was later pictured as a mediatrix. Saint Alphonsus Liguori described two sinful men standing before two ladders. Mary at the top of one, and Christ the other.  When the sinner tried to climb to Christ, he saw the angry face of Christ and was defeated. But the one who climbed Mary’s ladder ascended easily and was presented to Christ by Mary.  The story was supposed to show how much more effectual prayers to Mary are.

PRAYERS TO SAINTS

The Catholic church invented a special class of Christian who has died called a “saint.” The Bible, in contrast, states that all true believers are “saints.”   Notice the use of the word in the New Testament:

•  “to the saints which are at Ephesus” (Ephesians 1:1).

•  “to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi” (Phil. 1:1).

These people were living when Paul wrote to them.  They were simply ‘average’ Christians in the local churches.

Praying to “saints” is a Catholic device to stop people from praying to God and turns people away from developing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.   Once again, this false doctrine teaches that dead saints are more approachable and helpful than Jesus Christ is.  Prayers to saints are contrary to the Christ’s instruction to pray, “After this manner pray ye: ‘Our Father’ (Matthew 6:9).

The Bible forbids man to contact the dead in Deuteronomy 18:10-11, “There shall not be found among you any one that...is a necromancer.”  A necromancer is one who seeks to contact the dead.  Much of what is attributed to saints is false. For example, St Philomena was proclaimed a saint by Leo XII, and Pope Gregory XVI blessed one of her images. Rome later admitted that she never existed and in 1961 struck her off the list of saints.

There is no Bible example of praying to saints, nor is there any Bible example of them having power to answer prayer. We pray to God the Father with Jesus as our only intercessor. Once again, “There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

CONFESSION OF SINS to a priest

Catholic Canon law 870 and 888 state that a priest has power to forgive sins, and confession to a priest at least once a year is necessary for salvation.  The belief that we may obtain forgiveness by confession of our sins to another man is totally without support in the Scriptures.  The Bible gives these examples of confessing sins to God only:

The apostles never heard confessions, but said in Acts 10:43 that: “through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”

• Peter never forgave the sins of Cornelius (Acts 10:44-48).

• Paul never forgave the sins of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:30-34).

• Only God can forgive sins. “Who can forgive sins but God only” (Mark 2:5-11).

Only God, whose law has been violated, can pardon or forgive an offence. No third person can forgive a sin between two people.  Catholic confession is evil because:

• It gives so much power to the priesthood to suppose that they can absolve sins.

•  It pollutes the mind by keeping impure thoughts in the mind long enough to make confession and to state them in words.

• It gives a man such power over a female to suppose that it is required by religion that all sins passing in her mind should be disclosed to him. The very things that a seducer would like to know are the thoughts of his intended victim. Virtue would be safe nowhere. This practice has greatly corrupted community morals as seen by so many Catholic priests being sued for sexual abuse of women and children.

IDOLATRY

The Catholic Council of Trent declares that: “It is lawful to have images in the church and to give honour and worship to them...Images are put in churches that they may be worshipped.” The Oxford dictionary defines an idol as: “An image used as an object of worship. A person or thing that is the object of excessive devotion.” An idolater is a devoted admirer of idols.

WRONG GOSPEL

Most importantly, the clear Bible way for man to be forgiven has been changed by the Catholic church.  Catholics, since childhood are taught that to get to heaven one must keep the sacraments, the mass, and do good works. This is different from the Bible's definition of the gospel.

Question: What is the gospel?

Answer: “I declare unto you the gospel...how that Christ died for our sins...that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

The Gospel message saves us: “…the gospel of Christ...is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16).  Therefore the gospel message is that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again. We are saved when we believe this message and receive Christ as our Saviour. This means that we must trust Christ's blood sacrifice on the cross as being the full payment for all our sins.

Paul strongly warns against preaching or believing “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6-9).  “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, LET HIM BE ACCURSED” (Galatians 1:9).

What is so ironic is that the Roman Catholic church has actually placed a curse upon anyone who believes the Bible teaching of salvation by faith alone.  At the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the declarations of which are  still in force, the Roman Catholic Church formally condemned the biblical teaching by saying: “If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that it is this confidence alone that justifies us, let him be anathema (cursed).” ²

Compare this to what the Bible says about salvation:

•  “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

•  “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

•  “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal 2:16).

The Bible teaches that no amount of good works can save us.   By believing that good works brings forgiveness, one can never be 100% sure that they have eternal life.  Let me ask you, dear reader, do you know that you have eternal life?  The Bible says we may know this:  “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; THAT YE MAY KNOW that ye have eternal life…” (I John 5:12-13).

CONCLUSION

What do you want to base your faith upon?  The changing traditions of men or the infallible Word of God?  Why not start your new life with Christ by renouncing your trust in any religion or even your own good deeds & morality and come to God as a sinner, believing that Jesus Christ died to save you.  Call upon Him as your Lord and Saviour.  The Bible makes it so simple, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). Only men complicate it.  Why not pray something like this...

Dear God,

I realise that I am a sinner, and that no religion or any good deeds can pay for my sins.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He alone paid for my sins when He died upon the cross.  I now turn to Him alone as my Saviour and call upon you Lord Jesus Christ to come into my heart to be my Saviour and to give me the gift of eternal life according to Your promise.  Amen

Footnotes
¹  (Vatican II documents, "Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation," Chap. 2, 9, p.682).
²  (Sixth Session, Canons Concerning Justification, Canon 12).

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