Roman Catholicism  Scripture and Tradition  Authority  Salvation  Mary  The Mass Matt Slick i Copyright, Matthew J. Slick, 2011 All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder. For permission, contact Matthew Slick at Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Why a course about Roman Catholicism? .................................................. 1 A Cause for Concern ............................................................................. 3 Don‘t Exceed What is Written ................................................................. 4 Terminology ........................................................................................ 5 Review of Introduction Section............................................................................... 6 Scripture and Tradition .......................................................................................... 7 Scripture verses Tradition or Scripture and Tradition .................................. 7 Roman Catholic Sacred Tradition ............................................................. 8 What Did Jesus Say About Tradition and the Religious Leaders? .................. 10 Roman Catholics, Tradition, and 1 Cor. 11:2 ........................................... 11 Roman Catholics, Tradition, and 2 Thess. 2:15 ........................................ 12 Roman Catholics, Tradition, and 2 Thess. 3:6 .......................................... 13 My Church Father can beat up your Church Father .................................... 15 Apocrypha ......................................................................................... 16 Review of Scripture and Tradition ......................................................................... 18 Authority ..............................................................................................................19 Roman Catholic Church Authority .......................................................... 19 Peter ................................................................................................ 21 Peter, the Rock, as the Foundation of the Church ..................................... 21 The Papacy ....................................................................................... 24 The Magisterium................................................................................. 28 Review of Authority ............................................................................................ 29 Salvation ..............................................................................................................30 Attaining Salvation ............................................................................. 30 Maintaining Salvation .......................................................................... 33 Two Kinds of Sin: Venial and Mortal .............................................................. 34 Purgatory .......................................................................................... 35 A Biblical Response to Purgatory ........................................................... 36 Indulgences....................................................................................... 37 Two Kinds of Indulgences ............................................................................... 38 iii Regaining Salvation ............................................................................ 39 Penance........................................................................................................... 39 On Judgment Day ............................................................................... 50 Review of Salvation ............................................................................................ 51 Mary .....................................................................................................................52 Mary According to the Roman Catholic Church ......................................... 54 Marian Devotion ................................................................................. 57 Comparing Mary to God ....................................................................... 58 Hail Mary, Full of Grace ....................................................................... 62 Mary, the Mother of God ...................................................................... 64 Apparitions of Mary............................................................................. 65 Guadalupe, Mexico, 1531 ................................................................................ 65 Rue Du Bac, France ......................................................................................... 67 Lourdes, France .............................................................................................. 68 Fatima, Portugal ............................................................................................. 69 Conclusion about the Roman Catholic View of Mary ....................................... 71 Review of Mary .................................................................................................. 72 The Mass ...............................................................................................................73 The Mass as a Continuing Sacrifice ........................................................ 75 A Biblical Response to the Catholic Mass ................................................. 77 Review of The Mass ............................................................................................ 81 Appendix ..............................................................................................................82 Resources used in this course ............................................................... 82 Witnessing Tips .................................................................................. 83 The Gospel for Roman Catholics ............................................................ 84 Terminology ...................................................................................... 88 Nicene Creed, 325 A.D. ....................................................................... 92 Documentation From Early Church Fathers .............................................. 93 Scripture and Authority ....................................................................................... 93 Salvation by faith and/or works ........................................................................... 94 Baptism necessary or not necessary for salvation ................................................... 95 Purgatory .......................................................................................................... 97 Other Quotes ..................................................................................................... 98 Documentation by topic ....................................................................... 99 INDEX .................................................................................................................116 iv v Roman Catholicism A brief analysis By Matt Slick 0 Introduction Why a course about Roman Catholicism? 1. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest church in the world with over 1 billion members in approximately 100 countries. It has a wide variety of traditions that influence and are influenced by different cultures. 2. The Roman Catholic Church is headquartered in Vatican City (also known as the Holy See), which is the world‘s smallest country and is located entirely inside the city of Rome, in Italy. It covers approximately .44 square km, has less than 1,000 citizens, and employs 3000 workers. All of Roman Catholicism is governed from this location. 3. The Vatican‘s wealth is estimated to be between $10 Billion and $15 Billion. It has investments in banking, insurance, chemicals, steel, 1 construction, and real estate. It pays no taxes. 4. The Roman Catholic Church claims to be the only true Church. It claims to have an unbroken history of apostolic succession dating back to Peter. CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, PAR. 870 "THE SOLE CHURCH OF CHRIST WHICH IN THE CREED WE PROFESS TO BE ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, AND APOSTOLIC, . . . SUBSISTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, WHICH IS GOVERNED BY THE SUCCESSOR OF PETER AND BY TH E BISHOPS IN COMMUNION WITH HIM.‖ 1 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,833509,00.html 1 5. The Roman Catholic Church claims both to represent Jesus and to properly convey to the world the true biblical teachings concerning Faith and Morals. TRENT, SESSION 4, "DECREE CONCERNING THE EDITION, AND THE USE, OF THE SACRED BOOKS") "...NO ONE, RELYING ON HIS OWN SKILL, SHALL, -- IN MATTERS OF FAITH, AND OF MORALS … PRESUME TO INTERPRET THE SAID SACRED SCRIPTURE CONTRARY TO THAT SENSE WHICH HOLY MOTHER CHURCH…HATH HELD AND DOTH HOLD.‖ 6. The Roman Catholic Church uses the Bible and Sacred Tradition in order to communicate what it says is God‘s truth: CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, PAR. 82 ―THE CHURCH, TO WHOM THE TRANSMISSION AND INTERPRETATION OF REVELATION IS ENTRUSTED, DOES NOT DERIVE HER CERTAINTY ABOUT ALL REVEALED TRUTHS FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES ALONE. BOTH SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION MUST BE ACCEPTED AND HONORED WITH EQUAL SENTIMENTS OF DEVOTION AND REVERENCE.‖ CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, PAR. 2051 7. The Roman Catholic ―THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE Church claims to have the MAGISTERIUM OF THE PASTORS Magisterium which is the EXTENDS TO ALL THE ELEMENTS OF body of bishops that DOCTRINE, INCLUDING MORAL DOCTRINE, WITHOUT WHICH THE exercises its infallible SAVING TRUTHS OF THE FAITH CANNOT teaching authority. BE PRESERVED, EXPOUNDED, OR OBSERVED.‖ 2 A Cause for Concern CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, PAR. 100 ―THE TASK OF INTERPRETING THE WORD OF GOD AUTHENTICALLY HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED SOLELY TO THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE CHURCH, THAT IS, TO THE POPE AND TO THE BISHOPS IN COMMUNION WITH HIM.‖ 8. The Roman Catholic Church claims to have the authority to interpret God‘s word, teach, and proclaim the true Christian faith. If that is so, why does it teach the following?  "If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified… by this faith alone…let him be anathema," (Council of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 14).  ―Mary, by her spiritual entering into the sacrifice of her divine son for men, made atonement for the sins of man…" (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, page 213).  "Sins must be expiated. This may be done on this earth through the sorrows, miseries and trials of this life and, above all, through death. Otherwise the expiation must be made in the next life through fire and torments or purifying punishments," (The 2nd Vatican Council, p. 63).  In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere 'to the end' and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ," (CCC 1821).  "Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification," (CCC 2010).  "The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples…that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments," (CCC 2068).  "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods," (CCC par. 460). 3