Catholicism is Not Real Christianity

Definitions: Prayer (Christian): The attempt by a believer to contact and speak with God Christianity: The belief that all of man kind is sinful (Isaiah 53:6, John 3:3, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23), the penalty for sin is eternity in hell (Romans 6:23, Romans 5:12, 2nd Thessalonians 1:8, Revelation 20:15, Revelation 21:8), Jesus came to earth and died in our place (Romans 5:8, John 3:16, 1st Timothy 1:15, 1st Peter 1:18-19), and that faith in Jesus Christ is the ONLY path to Heaven (John 11:25, John 14:6, John 6:40, Mark 1:15, Acts 26:18, Romans 10:13, 1st Corinthians 3:11, Galatians 3:26). Worship: Reverent honor and homage paid to god or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred. (http://dictionary.reference.com...) Bible: Sacred text written and inspired by God teaching mankind morality, truth, and the path to Heaven. The Catholic Church: The Christian church characterized by an episcopal hierarchy with the pope as its head and belief in seven sacraments and the authority of tradition. (Read Matthew 15:3, 6, 7) (http://www.thefreedictionary.com...) Pagan: Pertaining to the worship or worshipers of any religion that is neither Christian, Jewish, nor Muslim. (http://dictionary.reference.com...) 1. My opponent states that the Catholics do not pray to the saints, but merely ask them to pray for them, as they would ask a friend to pray for them. But, truthfully there is a difference. When asking someone such as a friend to pray for you, it is intended that their prayer go to God. But... There is no Biblical statement allowing or making it neccesary to use saints as mediators. Actually, the Bible condemns such acts. Asking a saint to "pray for us", is using the saint as a mediator between the prayer-giver and God. But Jesus says He is the ONLY mediator: "For there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man CHRIST JESUS." - 1st Timothy 2:5 (Emphasis mine). Also see John 14:6. As you can see, Jesus makes no mention of asking dead saints to pray for us. In fact, the Bible never even mentions canonization of saints! Every single believer, living AND dead, is a saint! (http://www.gotquestions.org...). "Thou shalt not make unto thee ANY graven image, or ANY likeness of ANY THING that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt NOT BOW DOWN thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;..." - Exodus 20:4-5 (Emphasis mine). http://3.bp.blogspot.com... While it is true that the Jews in Old Testament times created idols, it is also true the O.T. Jews were punished for idolatry many times by God. Exodus 20:4 specifically states that idols are prohibited. "Thou shalt not many unto thee any graven image...". My opponent claims that it is okay to have images as long as they are not worshipped. He claims they are used to remind us of parts of the faith. A statue of Jesus will invitably remind someone of Jesus, right? Jesus is to be worshipped. What this does is cause the statue to be venerated, which is idolatry. Examples are when Catholics kneel to the alter and bow to statues or pictures. The reason that not many Catholics realize this is because it is not taught: The Ten Commandments in the Bible: ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.' TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.' FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.' SIX: 'You shall not murder.' SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.' EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.' NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.' TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.' (http://www.allabouttruth.org...; Exodus 20) Taught in Catholic Catechism: ONE: I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve. TWO: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. THREE: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. FOUR: Honor your father and your mother. FIVE: You shall not kill. SIX: You shall not commit adultery. SEVEN: You shall not steal. EIGHT: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. NINE: You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. TEN: You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. (http://www.beginningcatholic.com...) Notice that the Ten Commandment taught in the Catholic Catechism is MISSING the 2nd Commandment taught in the Bible, the one speaking about idolatry! It has been deleted! As an ex-Catholic, I remember being taught the second list, in fact, that is the list in the back of my old Catechism book! All they did to keep it ten Commandments was split number ten in half and make it two separate ones. Revelation 22:18-19: "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." It is a damnable sin to add to the Bible or to take from it, yet the Catholic Church has done both. 2. Opposite of popular belief, Peter is NOT the rock that the Church was built on; Jesus was. The CHRISTian Church was founded by CHRIST, not Peter. The word "Peter" actually means "little pebble". Jesus is the Rock (Foundation) of the Church, not a pope. Jesus was described many times as the "conerstone", which is the most important part to a structure. (http://bible.cc...). The papcy is sinful. The Pope is called "The Vicar of Christ", meaning Jesus' "stand-in" guy on earth. The only ones who "stand-in" are the saints themselves. The Church is ordered to do Christ's work on earth. This is one of the New Testament's central themes. A common way to address the pope is "Holy Father". The name Holy Father is mentioned once in the Bible... it is speaking of God! John 17:11: "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. HOLY FATHER, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." (Emphasis mine). The pope (as well as priests) claim they can forgive sins. Catholics once again claim that the priest is only a mediator, BUT... "For there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man CHRIST JESUS." - 1st Timothy 2:5 (Emphasis mine). Priests are also called "father". Matthew 23:9: And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." My opponent says that "Our need for the hierarchy is also based off of our need for the Sacraments." Sacraments are NOT Biblical. John 3:3 states someone must be born again to gert salvation, not that they need to complete seven sacraments. These are traditions of man. "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God BY YOUR OWN TRADITION? Ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites." - Matthew 15:3, 6, 7 (emphasis mine). Unfortunatly I ran out of character space to give examples of statements 3 and 5, so please read these articles and I will try to go indepth on those two next time. http://tinyurl.com... http://tinyurl.com...