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Bible Will I Find: Presently Practiced Catholic Teachings? By: Gary Colley
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Bible Will I Find: Presently Practiced Catholic Teachings? By: Gary Colley
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The word "religion" means a system of faith and practice. Different kinds of religion are found in the Bible (Jews, pure, vain, etc.). But different religions are not made by the New Testament. It contains one system of faith and practice, and that is by Christ authority (Eph.4:1-6; Matt.28:18-20). The creed of the churches of Christ is not humanly written, but simply consist of the fact that we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Col.3:16-17). It is only when some add their humanly written creeds, councils, and synods to the Bible that different religions are established. The doctrines and practices of men are diligently protected by the perpetrators, and advantage is taken on the unsuspecting. For instance, it cannot be found in the Bible that a "Pope is the head of the church" (Eph.1 :22-23); That there is such a thing as "papal infallibility" (In.16:13); That there is a "clerical priesthood" (I Pet.2:9); That any man is to be called "Father," "Reverend," or "The Very Right Reverend" in a religious sense (Matt.23:5-12); There is not to be found in the Bible any reference to a
"celibate rule" (I Cor.9:5; Heb.13:4); Neither is there any "monasticism," "inherited sin," "infant baptism," sprinkling for baptism, nor "baptism of desire," with salve blessed by the Pope. There is no teaching in the Bible that "Mary is the mother of God," "immaculate conception," no "bodily assumption," "perpetual virginity" (Matt.13:53-57; 12:46-50; I Cor.9:5).
The Scriptures never teach anyone to "pray to Mary ," or count the beads of a "rosary." The teachings of"purgatory"are opposed to clear Bible teaching (Lk.16). Never is there taught in the Scriptures "indulgences" for sin, nor "prayers for the dead." There are only living saints referred to in the Bible, never those who are "canonized" after death. We are not taught in the Bible the "veneration of saints." There is no "mass" referred to in the Scriptures, Latin or otherwise! There is no such teaching as the doctrine of "Transubstantiation" where it is believed that the bread and fruit of the vine are changed by the prayer of a priest into the literal body and blood of the Lord (I Cor.11 :23-29). Forbidding of meats is not commanded to early Christians, but is an identification of some who would later fall away in apostasy (I Tim.4:1-4). No one can find the early church of the New Testament having "holy water," burning incense, having "lent," or using what are called "sacraments" in their worship unto God (Jn.4:24). The early church did not enter into the practices of preserving relics, or putting up statutes. All of the afore mentioned doctrines are now being practiced in our world, but are not the religion of Christ, since they cannot be found taught or commanded in the Bible. --Gary Colley