I received this email in response to Yesterday’s post:
Bob – I am sure you got blasted on that one . . . and I am sure you could care less. I am interested, though, in hearing more about your plan to return to the Roman Catholic Church – the Christian faith that tracks its origin directly to Peter, upon Jesus designating him “the rock” upon which the church would be built.
From there, as you point well, Protestant Christians “protested” something they didn’t like and left that faith – or left another denomination that had left earlier. What’s interesting is that many, if not most, don’t even understand what the word Protestant means, much less what they are protesting.
My response: You’re funny . . . I will never join that cult. I’ll write about the Catholic church in tomorrow’s WFTD. For my thoughts on the subject tune in.
To begin, my friend seems to think that only him and Catholics seem to understand what a Protestant is. Okay here is the dictionary definition of Protestant: Christianity – A member of any of several Christian denominations which separated from the Roman Catholic Church.
Most Catholics try to argue that we were here first. While some like my friend argue that Peter is the rock to whom Jesus referred in Matthew, others dismiss that thought and, in my mind, rightly say Jesus is the rock. Indeed, there are over 100 Bible verses that confirm Jesus being the rock. Here are two examples: Psalm 18:2 – The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 1 Corinthians 10:4 – And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
The Roman Catholic Church states that Peter is the rock to which Jesus referred in Matthew as evidence that it is the one true church. Even if Peter is the rock in Matthew 16:18, this is meaningless in giving the Roman Catholic Church any authority. For one thing, Scripture nowhere records Peter being in Rome. Scripture nowhere describes Peter as being supreme over the other apostles. The New Testament does not describe Peter as being the “all-authoritative leader” of the early Christian church. Peter was not the first pope, and Peter did not start the Roman Catholic Church. The origin of the Catholic Church is not in the teachings of Peter or any other apostle. If Peter truly was the founder of the Roman Catholic Church, it would be in full agreement with what Peter taught in Acts 2, and 1&2 Peter, but it is not.
The correct interpretation of the rock is that Jesus was referring not to Peter, but to Peter’s confession of faith in verse 16: “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus had never explicitly taught Peter and the other disciples the fullness of His identity, and He recognized that God had sovereignly opened Peter’s eyes and revealed to him who Jesus really was. His confession of Christ as Messiah poured forth from him, a heartfelt declaration of Peter’s personal faith in Jesus. It is this personal faith in Christ which is the hallmark of the true Christian. It is those who have placed their faith in Christ as Peter did that are the church! Peter expresses this in 1 Peter 2:4 when he addressed the believers who had been dispersed around the ancient world: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
I would never become a Catholic for the same reasons so many abandoned that faith based on theological differences during the Reformation (or in some cases later). It would take a volume to go over all the mistruths being taught by this organization, but one that is particularly disturbing is praying to Mary for salvation and redemption. That is as far from the truths presented in the Bible as one can venture. Nice try but Mary the mother of Jesus is departed flesh like the rest of humankind. We should pray to God and not departed flesh such as Mary and/or the churches designated saints and redemption only comes through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is clear on that, and a myriad of other things done in the Roman Catholic church such as confession to a priest instead of God. We don’t need an intermediary for confession or prayer, according to the Bible we are to confess our sins and pray directly to God ourselves. We don’t need to go through some priest to advocate for us, that is Christ’s responsibility. Infant baptism is not biblical, Jesus wasn’t baptized as an infant, we are emulating Him when being baptized. I don’t believe in calling priests “Father”, the Bible unequivocally states call no man father but God.
I have many friends who are Catholics and to include some who left that religion. Most tell me they left because the Bible is not taught and as they searched the Bible on their own it became evident that much of that church’s teaching are derived from man and not God.
Roman Catholicism claims that it is the church that was established by the apostles, and as a result, it is the one true church. When I read the New Testament, however, the church I see is most definitely not the Roman Catholic Church. In the New Testament church, there is no pope, no cardinals, and no priests mentioned. There is no infant baptism, apostolic succession, worship of Mary, or prayer to saints. In the New Testament, the Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of Jesus’ once for all sacrifice, not a continual re-presentation of that sacrifice. The “we were here first” argument does not match the New Testament evidence.
One thing all 30,000 Protestant denominations agree on is the fact that the Roman Catholic Church is very wrong on numerous very important issues. That is why they left. The disagreements Protestant churches have between each other are minuscule in comparison to the disagreements between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. Even within the Roman Catholic Church, there are many Catholics who do not agree with various doctrines of their own church. Due to culture, tradition, and belief that the Roman Catholic Church is the one true church, though, they choose to remain in the Catholic Church rather than dividing and starting new churches for reasons known only to them.
In most Old Testament references, God is not just described as a rock, but the Rock. The Israelites understood that God was not just one source of strength and protection. He was their only strength, their only hope, and their only refuge. There is an implied supremacy here that points to the ultimate sovereignty of God. The word pope is not mentioned.
Psalms 18:31
For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?