Roman Catholicism

127 Pages·2011·10.71 MB·English

by  By Mahttp://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-

Roman

Catholicism

 Scripture and
Tradition

 Authority

 Salvation

 Mary

 The Mass
Matt Slick
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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

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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

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Roman Catholicism
A brief analysis
By
Matt Slick

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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,
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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.‖

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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.‖

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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).
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