Wrong on both counts.
Study actual church history not reformer myths.
I care what "Church history" says so much as what Scripture says. When Church history is contrary to Scripture, I ignore Church history in favor of Scriptural truth.
And - answer my question at the heart of all this,
Why do you, the reformers, the reformers cults , and the ten thousand cults that derived from them all disagree on Mary and all big issues of doctrine?
I am not a "reformer". I am a Scriptural Christ follower.
But I disagree with the catholic's stance on Mary because she is not God, nor is she the Son of God, nor did she die for my sins, nor was she sinless, nor did she remain a virgin after Jesus was born, nor does she intercede for me with God. She is nothing to me in terms of Salvation, Redemption, Righteousness, or doctrinal authority.
You all have the wrong answer because sola scriptura is false, and you disregard those SENT to preach. That is the sccession long before there was a New Testament Decided by the church You insult.
I disregard a self-proclaimed "priesthood" that positions itself between me and God. I am a priest of the Most High. I do not need anyone who demands that I call him "father" to be a priest between me and God, because my High Priest sits at the right hand of God, and He who was tempted just as I am but without sin is the one who intercedes for me with the Father.
You only have personal opinions.
I have Scripture. You have "church history". Which one was the Church at Berea praised for searching?
God is angry at how you treat Mary - he said so.
Where does He say that He is angry for me saying what I have said about her? Show me the Scripture, please.
Now, let me give you some Scripture showing the false doctrines that the catholic cult's priesthood promotes.
1. Priests Want to be Called "Father"
Jesus warns us: "Also, do not call
anyone on the earth your Father; for one is your Father, Who
is in heaven" (Matthew 23:9).
2. Prayers to Mary
For example: "Hail Mary, full of grace." But Jesus commands us "to pray after this manner: 'Our Father Who
is in heaven' " (Matthew 6:9). Rome presents Christ as harsh and Mary as merciful, but here is the reality:
• Jesus invites us: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are
overly burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
• Jesus assures us of His welcome acceptance: "The one who comes to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).
• Jesus is our "merciful and faithful High Priest" and is "able to help those who are being tempted" (Hebrews 2:17, 18).
3. Priests and Nuns are Forbidden to Marry
• Paul insists that"the overseer [bishop] be blameless,
the husband of one wife" (I Timothy 3:2).
• Peter was married, because Jesus healed his mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14; Luke 4:38).
• "Do we not have a right to take with us a sister, a wife, as also the other apostles?" (I Corinthians 9:5). God says, "
It is not good that the man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18).
• "To avoid sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband" (I Corinthians 7:2).
• "Now the Spirit tells
us explicitly that in
the latter times some shall apostatize from the faith … peaking lies in hypocrisy … forbidding to marry…" (I Timothy 4:1-3). This is God's description of Catholic celibacy. Celibacy is permissible if one so chooses; but it must not be commanded.
4. Never Sure of Going to Heaven
Catholics, since childhood, have been taught that, to get into heaven, one must keep the sacraments and the mass and do good works. Yet even then, they can never know for sure that they will go to heaven. What a worry! Death, to the Catholic, is fear of entering the fires of purgatory with no certainty of ever seeing their loved ones again. The priests tell them that no one can ever be sure of going to heaven. For the people who trust their good works or religion to save them, this is true, because they never know if they have done enough good works to get into heaven. Not even the Pope knows for sure, so how can he help Catholics to be sure?
God's way to salvation is the opposite of Rome's way of good works. God says not to trust in your good works, but to trust in Jesus Christ's death on the cross as the full payment for your sins. We can be 100% sure of salvation because God says: "The one who has the Son has
eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have
eternal life" (I John 5:12). "And this is the promise that He has promised us: eternal life" (1 John 2:25). "For everyone who calls on the name of
the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).
Question: Will you call on Jesus to save you from your sins, or will you try to work out your salvation through Catholic sacraments?
5. Peter as the Rock
"Then Simon Peter answered
and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered
and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal
it to you, but My Father, Who
is in heaven. And I say also to you, that you are
Peter [
petros, a pebble or small stone]; but upon
this Rock [
petra, a boulder or large rock—Christ] I will build My church, and
the gates of the grave shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you may bind on the earth will have already been bound in heaven; and whatever you may loose on the earth will have already been loosed in heaven' " (Matthew 16:16-19).
From the above passage we may conclude:
1) Jesus was referring to
Himself (
this Rock, Christ) upon which He would build His church,
not on Peter. The disciples, familiar with the Old Testament, knew
Rock to be a name of God.
a) "
The LORD is my Rock, and my fortress" (Psalms 18:2). "
He is the Rock" (Deuteronomy 32:4). "Who is a Rock except our God?" (Psalms 18:31). We see here that there is
no other rock but God—not even Peter.
b) Christ is the foundation Rock on which the church is built, not Peter. Jesus referred to Himself when He said: "
The Stone that the builders rejected, this has become
the head of
the corner" (Matthew 21:42). Paul wrote of "
the spiritual Rock that followed
them"—saying that "that Rock was Christ" (I Corinthians 10:4). Peter referred to Jesus as a "living Stone," "
the Cornerstone," a "Stone of stumbling," and a "Rock of offence" (I Peter 2:4-8).
c) When Peter tried to stop Jesus from going to the cross, Jesus rebuked him, saying: "Get behind Me, Satan!" (Matthew 16:23). Jesus wouldn't build His church on Satan.
d) In Mark 9:33-35, the disciples argued about
who was the greatest among them. If Jesus had given Peter the rank of Pope, then He would have referred to Peter as the greatest, but He didn't. Thus, Jesus
gave no special papal leadership to Peter. Nor should we.
2) Peter was given the
keys of the kingdom, but only in the sense that it was Peter who opened the door to preaching the Gospel to Israel on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38-42) and to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:34-46). Still, everyone enters the kingdom through
Christ, not Peter.
3) Priests do not have the power to bind, loose, forgive, or not forgive sins—because only God has this power.
6. Was Peter the First Pope? No, because:
1) Peter was married (Matthew 8:14, 15; I Corinthians 9:5). Popes cannot be married.
2) Peter wore no crown, as the pope does.
3) Peter had no wealth (Acts 3:6), as the pope has.
4) Peter rejected the "traditions" of the fathers (I Peter 1:18), yet Catholic teachings are based on human traditions.
5) Peter would not allow men to bow down to him (Acts 10:25-26), as the pope does.
6) Peter never took the title "PONTIFIX MASIMUS" or "PONTIFF," as all popes do. This was the title of pagan Roman emperors, meaning "chief bridge-builder between earth and heaven." Only Jesus can claim this title (John 1:51). For a pope to take this title is blasphemy against Christ. Peter never spoke like a pope, never acted like a pope, never dressed like a pope, and people never approached him as a pope.
7. Papal Infallibility (Declared in 1870)
When a pope is speaking in his official position on any issue of faith or morals, he is speaking infallibly, without error. But the apostles never regarded any man (except Jesus) to be infallible. Only the Word of God is without error. Paul rebuked Peter for being deceived by Judaizers (Galatians 2:11-14). Papal infallibility is seen to be false, as these events reveal:
1) Five popes—Innocent III, Gregory XI, Clement IV, Hadrian VI, and Paul IV—all disagreed with papal infallibility.
2) Pope Eugene IV (1431) had Joan of Arc burned alive as a witch, but later Pope Benedict (1919) declared her to be a saint.
3) Pope Stephen VI (896) had the dead Pope Formosus (891-896) dug up, tried, questioned, fingers hacked off, dragged through the streets of Rome, and thrown into the Tiber River.
4) Pope Hadrian II (867) declared civil marriage to be valid, but Pope Pius VII (1800-1823) declared it to be invalid.
5) The pope and 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, when Hitler was losing World War II, Pope Pius XI condemned him. Surely, these errors of judgment and contradictions between popes disproves papal infallibility to any honest, open-minded person.
8. Confessing Sins to a Priest—to obtain absolution of sins.
Catholic Canon Law (870-888) states that a priest has the power to forgive sins, and that confession to a priest at least once a year is necessary for salvation. The Bible gives these examples of confessing sins
to God only:
1) When Simon of Samaria sinned after being baptized, Peter told him to
pray to God for forgiveness (Acts 8:22). Peter did not hear his confession.
2)
The apostles never heard confessions. Peter, speaking about Jesus, said: "Everyone who believes in Him receives remission of sins through His name" (Acts 10:43). Peter did not forgive the sins of Cornelius, or anybody else.
3) Paul did not forgive the sins of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:30-34).
4)
Only God and Jesus can forgive sins (Mark 2:5-11).
5) When Peter denied Christ, he confessed it to God and was forgiven. But when Judas betrayed Jesus, he confessed it to the priests and then committed suicide (Matthew 27:3-5).
Catholics' auricular confession to a priest is evil because:
1) It
gives power to the priesthood—to suppose they can absolve sins.
2) It
pollutes the mind by holding impure thoughts in the mind long enough to make confession.
3) It gives a priest
power over a female by claiming that God requires all sins crossing her mind to be disclosed to him. The very things a would-be seducer would like to know are the thoughts of his intended victim. Virtue would be safe nowhere.
4) It requires the priest to make
improper and disgusting suggestions to elicit possible sins not yet confessed.
This practice of confession has greatly corrupted community morals, as seen by many Catholic priests being sued for sexual abuse of women and children. God says: "For there
is one God, and
one Mediator between God and men—
the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5). Hence, priests, Mary, and saints are
not mediators between God and man. Only Jesus is. By pointing people to priests, to Mary, and to saints, Rome is turning people
away from Christ.
9. Priests as Mediators Between God and Men
All believers are "priests" with direct access to God through Christ. "But you
are a chosen stock, a royal priesthood" (I Peter 2:9). Priests as mediators increase the priests' control over people. This turns people away from Christ. "For there
is one God, and
one Mediator between God and men—
the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5).
10. Purgatory
Purgatory is an imaginary half-way place between heaven and hell, where un-forgiven sins are allegedly purged away. But God says believers go to the
grave at death, where they "sleep" until the resurrection (I Corinthians 15). The following verses show purgatory to be false: Christ
purged all of our sins (Hebrews 1:3); and, there is now
no condemnation to those in Christ (Romans 8:1). The purgatory teaching is a great evil, because it is:
1) A terrifying prospect of entering a place of unspeakable torture, with no way to avoid it. Catholics live in fear of spending an unknown number of years in purgatory, never knowing when they'll get out.
2) A great money raiser. Suffering in purgatory, Catholics say, may be shorten by gifts of money, masses, and prayers by the priest. So it is a fraud and a colossal racket, because it deprives the poor of their last pennies and exhorts large funds from the rich in exchange for nothing! 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?
3) Represents God as a "respecter of persons." A rich man passes more speedily through purgatory and into heaven than the poor man. But the Bible teaches that eternal life is a free gift (Romans 6:23), equally available to everyone.
11. Idols and Images for Worship
The Catholic
Council of Trent states: "It is lawful to have images in the church and to give honor and worship to them…. Images are put in churches that they may be worshipped." But what does God say about images?
1) "You shall not make for yourselves any graven image…. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them" (Exodus 20:4-5; also Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 16:22).
2) "Lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a graven image, the likeness of any figure, the likeness of male or female" (Deuteronomy 4:16). This forbids statues of Mary, Jesus, etc.
3) "Cursed
is the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD" (Deuteronomy 27:15).
4) The early Christians "
turned from idols to God" (I Thessalonians 1:9).
12. Church Tradition
Catholics prefer
tradition over the Bible and use tradition as their authority for doctrine.
1) Peter rebukes those holding to human tradition in I Peter 1:18—"Your futile way of living, inherited
by tradition from
your forefathers."
2) Jesus rebukes human tradition: "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your
tradition?... [You] have made void the commandment of God for the sake of your
tradition…. 'For they worship Me in vain, teaching
for doctrine
the commandments of men' " (Matthew 15:3, 6, 9).
We should reject every human religious tradition not found in the Bible. We must obey
God rather than men (Acts 5:29).
13. Infant "
Baptism" (Instituted in AD 370.)
Catholic infant "baptism" is not Bible baptism, because:
1) No baby was ever sprinkled with water in the Bible. Check it for yourself.
2) A condition for baptism is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 8:36, 37), yet no baby can satisfy this condition.
3) Baptism in New Testament Greek means to
immerse, but "sprinkle" is a different Greek word altogether
(rantizo).
4) Seeking baptism should be a well-thought-out personal decision. When you are sprinkled as an infant, that was your parents' decision. Being baptized as an adult is your decision.
14. Confirmation
Catholic
confirmation is supposed to confer the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. But like baptism, the
laying on of hands is not for children, but for adults. Nowhere in the Bible is a child given the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands.
15. Mary Veneration
Mother and child worship began at the Tower of Babel in 2000 BC, when
Queen Semiramis commanded her people to worship herself and
Tammuz, her son. She claimed he fulfilled the prophecy of Genesis 3:15, allegedly being the virgin-born savior promised to Adam and Eve after the Fall. Later, when people scattered all over the world, they took this "Mother and Child" worship with them:
• In Canaan, it became known as Ashtoreth and Baal worship
• Ancient Egypt worshipped Isis and Horus
• Ancient India worshipped Devaki and Krishna
• Ancient Rome worshipped Venus and Jupiter
When Constantine in AD 320 commanded pagans to become Christians, the pagans just changed the name of "mother and child worship" from Venus and Jupiter to
Mary and
Jesus. This tradition has continued in the Catholic Church to today, even though the Bible
never mentions Mary veneration. And the wise men brought their gifts to Jesus, not to Mary.
Other aspects of Mary veneration include:
1)
Perpetual Virginity: The claim is that Mary remained a virgin all her life, having no other children.' The following verses disprove this error: Matthew 13:55-56; John 7:5.
2)
Immaculate Conception of Mary: The claim is that Mary was born sinless and led a sinless life. Pope Pius IX made this assertion in 1854 and declared Mary to be infallible. Furthermore, he said: "There is no salvation to those who do not believe this dogma." The Bible, however, denies this: All have sinned (Romans 3:23), and no one is truly righteous (Romans 3:10).
3)
Assumption of Mary: The idea is that Mary ascended into heaven in bodily form. This was made official and infallible by Pope Pius XII in 1951. However, the Bible plainly says that
no man has ascended up to heaven (John 3:13).
4)
Prayers to Mary: We pray to God, not Mary, as per Jesus' instructions in Luke 11:2, etc.
16. Anti-Bible Attitude
1) From 1382 to 1500 AD, many Christian martyrs were burned to death with
Wycliffe's Bible tied around their necks.
Tyndale published thousands of New Testaments in English, and smuggled them into England where they were rapidly distributed. The Catholic Church seized and burned many copies of Tyndale's New Testament as well as burning Tyndale himself at the stake in 1536.
2) Catholicism today permits Catholics to read the Bible, but teaches that it is sinful to put any interpretation on the Bible that is contrary to Catholic beliefs.
3) Anti-Roman Catholic verses are ignored, saying: "
That's just your interpretation." This transfers authority away from the Bible to Rome.
