Catholic Dogmas Refuted

On 3 February I posted the article, “Some Roman Catholic Dogmas” to demonstrate the chronology of when these man-made dogmas came into existence.  One of my readers suggested that I amend the article to put in Scripture which refutes each point.  That’s the purpose of this entry.

While I will cite Scripture for some of these, other will have links to articles (either mine or others on the ‘net) which have the Scriptures in their examinations of the topics.

300 A.D.  Prayers for the dead.  Hebrews 9:27 says after death comes judgment.  No prayers of intercession can help someone after they have died.

300 A.D.  Making the sign of the cross.  There is nothing unbiblical about this; it’s just a tradition of men.  There is also no requirement to do this, so if the RCC says it is necessary, then they are wrong.

375 A.D.  Veneration of angels and dead saints.  No biblical support for venerating angels.  Should we hold them in respect? Yes, but virtual worship?  NO?  Rev. 22:9.  “Saints” are all who believe, not special people set apart by Rome.  We do not venerate them either.

375 A.D.  Use of images in worship.  This is idolatry.

394 A.D.  The Mass as a daily celebration.  Apparently, at this particular period in history, the Mass was no more than a celebration of the Lord’s Supper (I may be wrong), since it was over 800 years before transubstantiation was declared dogma.  Nevertheless, Jesus said “as often as you do this,” but gave no command as to how often the Lord’s Supper was to be celebrated.

431 A.D.  The title “Mother of God” assigned to Mary.  This title was assigned not to heighten Mary’s position, but to emphasize that Jesus was God.  At this point there was no problem with this title.  The problem is where they went with it later.

526 A.D.  Extreme Unction (Last rites).  Absolutely no biblical warrant, with nothing similar being found in Scripture.  The rite is supposedly supported by Mark 6:13 and James 5:14-15, but these dealt only with anointing of the sick, not blessings over various parts of the body for supposed sins by these parts, nor confession by a dying person, etc.  While in Scripture anointing with oil was an established practice, it seems to have been for medicinal purposes or symbolism, since the oil itself had no miraculous properties (and there was no example of the oil being prayed over first to give it some mystical power.)  It takes extreme eisegesis to come to the conclusion that such a rite conveyed grace.

593 A.D.  Doctrine of Purgatory — Gregory I. 

600 A.D.  Prayers to Mary and dead saints.

786 A.D.  Worship of cross, images, and relics.  Relics are no where even mentioned in Scripture as being important for anything.  This is nothing less than idolatry.

995 A.D.  Canonization of dead saints.  Again, no biblical warrant for “canonizing” anyone.  All Christians are saints.

1079 A.D. Celibacy of priesthood.  Forcing priests to be celibate is totally unbiblical (actually, the who priesthood is unbiblical, since the Bible teaches the priesthood of believers )(Other passages are Rev. 1:6 and 5:10).  There is no reason why a priest cannot marry.  In fact 1 Tim. 4:3 speaks of false teachers who forbid marriage.

1090 A.D.  The Rosary.  This is nothing but a superstition amulet for repetitive prayer (Matthew 6:7).  Not only that, but it also includes praying to Mary, and focusing on all the unbiblical attributes Rome has assigned to her.

1190 A.D.  Indulgences.

1215 A.D.  Transubstantiation — Innocent III.

1215 A.D.  Auricular Confession of sins to a priest. As noted above, there is no biblical warrant for the Catholic priest, nor is there biblical warrant for confession sins to him.

1220 A.D.  Adoration of the wafer (Host).

1414 A.D.  Cup forbidden to the people at communion.  The Bible teaches that the people all participate in the bread and the cup.  To forbid one is to go against the Lord. 

1439 A.D.  Purgatory proclaimed as a dogma.

1439 A.D.  The doctrine of the Seven Sacraments confirmed.  The sacraments are as follows: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance and Reconciliation (confession), Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, Matrimony.  Rome claims these sacraments are a source of grace.  Baptism is commanded in the Bible but it imparts no grace, and the Catholic teaching on baptism is unbiblical.  Confirmation is a man-made ordinance with no biblical warrant and no grace is imparted.  Eucharist is the Lord’s Supper (Communion) and again was commanded but the the Catholic version is idolatry and unbiblical; no grace is imparted even in biblical eucharist.  Penance is a man-made with absolutely no biblical warrant, and confession has been addressed above.  Anointing the sick has been also addressed above. There is no biblical warrant for “Holy Orders” as a sacrament; men are appointed as Elders/Bishops (same office) and Deacons but such appointment is not sacramental nor does it impart grace.  The priesthood has been addressed above, and was established to continue the Jewish system because Rome claims that the Church replaced Israel, which itself is an unbiblical position.  Marriage is nowhere hinted at in the Bible as being sacramental, and no grace is imparted via marriage.

1545 A.D.  Tradition declared of equal authority with Bible — Council of Trent.  When Scripture discusses tradition in the New Testament, the meaning is the teaching of Christ and the Apostles handed down to the churches.  Rome’s meaning is traditions of men developed long after the New Testament Church was established.  Rome’s traditions have no biblical warrant, were not instituted by Christ, and therefore cannot be on an equal authority with Scripture.

1546 A.D.  Apocrypha added to the Bible.

1854 A.D.  Immaculate Conception of Mary.

1870 A.D.  Infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals — Vatican Council.

1950 A.D.  Assumption of the Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into heaven shortly after her death.

1965 A.D.  Mary proclaimed to be Mother of the Church.

I hope this will be beneficial in understanding the unbiblical nature of the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.