THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
Catholicism
INTRODUCTION
Seeking Understanding
As we start this new study on the major denominations, we need to make one thing crystal clear. The purpose of this study is NOT to tear down other denominations and then exalt our denomination. Few of us are even qualified to make an honest and accurate assessment of what others believe. A little bit of humility is definitely appropriate here.
Rather the purpose of this study is to enlighten us as to what fellow brothers and sisters in Christ believe. Billy Graham at the Dallas crusade of 2002 relates the story of a Baptist who goes to the horse races. He goes only to view the races; he will not gamble because he believes gambling to be sinful. Before the first race begins, he sees a Catholic priest walk up to a horse who is to run in the first race and blesses that horse. (Now that horse is not necessarily favored to win the race.) When the shoots open, the horse bolts out of that gate, leaving all the other horses in the dust. By the end of the race he is at least 4-5 lengths ahead of the closest horse behind him. The Baptist is amazed at this. He then sees the Catholic priest do the same thing before each race; each horse the priests blesses wins his race by 4-5 lengths.
This has really caught the attention of the Baptist. He thinks: "I am going to see which horse the priest blesses before the next race, and then I am going to place every bit of money I own on that horse. It won't be gambling since gambling involves risk. There is no risk here; it's a sure thing!" So the Baptist places everything he owns on the next horse the priest blesses.
The gun fires, the gates open, and the blessed horse shoots out of the gate like the previous ones before him. He goes around the first bend already a good 4-5 lengths ahead of the closest horse behind him. He lengthens the lead in the back stretch up to 8 lengths. He goes around the final bend, a good 10 lengths ahead. Then all of a sudden, to the Baptist's horror, the horse drops down dead.
The Baptist is horrified and runs up to the priest. "What happened? I don't understand it. I lost everything! Every horse you blessed won his race--except the last one! What happened?" The priest says: "Crazy Baptist; can't tell the difference between a blessing and the last rites." Like I said, a little bit of humility is necessary when approaching this study. We seek to understand, not criticize.
Two Major Points of Agreement
Because of our background it is very easy to trash or dismiss Catholicism lightly. That would be a serious mistake. The reason is that there is some important common ground between the Catholics and conservative evangelical Christianity. Two areas in particular reveal our unity.
POINTS OF DIFFERENCE
Introduction
Unfortunately the areas of disagreement between Catholics and conservative evangelicals are far more numerous than the areas of agreement. One thing that must be said for the Catholics is that they have correctly identified what are the major areas and doctrines of Christianity. Unfortunately we disagree strongly with the way they have addressed these areas and the content they have placed in Christian doctrines. These areas include the way we receive the grace of Jesus, spiritual authority, church government, and the meaning of the Lord's Supper and baptism.
The Way We Receive the Grace of Jesus
Catholics like conservative evangelicals believe that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. We have done nothing to deserve this salvation. In fact we all agree that instead of deserving salvation, we deserve damnation. God though is a gracious God and has graciously sent Jesus to die for our sins. We call this grace. The only way to be saved is to receive this gracious gift of God.
The question then becomes, "How do we receive this grace?" Official Catholic theology teaches that a Christian receives this grace 7 different ways: (1) infant baptism, (2) confirmation at the age of 12, (3) the Mass (or Lord's Supper), (4) penance, (5) marriage, (6) OR holy orders (in which a person becomes either a monk, nun, or priest), and (7) last rites at the time of death. [Now the insidious thing about this set-up is that it encompasses the whole life of a person, from birth (baptism) to death (last rites). It moreover encompasses some of the major times in your life between birth and death, puberty and marriage. If you buy into the Catholic system, it has you from womb to tomb.]
BAPTISM: Catholics believe that whenever Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden that the entire human race sinned with him. How then do we get rid of Adam's sin? By baptizing the babies. Now a baby who is not baptized does not necessarily go to hell. In fact if the baby dies before he has a chance to accept or reject Jesus, then he goes to a fair place called limbo. The only problem is that in limbo this child will never see the face of God, the goal of human existence. (We call this event "the beatific vision.") Catholics are deadly serious about this belief. For this reason pious Catholics will go to the back of abortion clinics and baptize the discarded fetuses. Moreover, if you or your baby is born in a Catholic hospital, it has probably been christened, with or without your knowledge or approval. Although the Catholics may be right, the problem with this belief is that there is NO scriptural authority for it.
CONFIRMATION: At the age of 12 Catholic children undergo intensive training in a study called "catechism." At the end of the training the Catholic children then affirm their belief in Christ and other teachings of the Catholic church. Although there is no scriptural support for this, there are some cultural reasons why children go thru confirmation (Lutherans practice this as well).
THE MASS/LORD'S SUPPER: Catholics teach that the bread in the Lord's Supper is literally the body of Christ and that the wine used in the Lord's Supper is literally the blood of Christ. When the priest blesses the bread and wine, they literally become the body and blood of Christ. They may look like bread and taste like wine; however, they are literally the body and blood of Christ. Every time the priest presents the mass, Christ is once more sacrificed. (What is interesting about this set-up is that ONLY the priest can transform the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. ONLY the priest can give grace. This man has power indeed since grace is the one essential for salvation.)
(To understand what Roman Catholics teach about "the perpetual sacrifice of Christ" go to
http://alumni.cs.ucsb.edu/~evodius/mass.html.)
MARRIAGE: According to Catholics you receive grace either at the time you get married or at the time you submit yourself to holy orders (monk, priest, or nun). In order to receive grace, Catholics celebrate the mass whenever they get married.
HOLY ORDERS: If you do not get married, then you are to join one of the holy orders as either a priest, monk, or nun.
PENANCE: Catholics believe that Christians should go and confess their sins to the priest. After hearing confession, the priest then prescribes what acts of penance the confessor should perform in order to receive grace for forgiveness. For example, the confessor may have to recite the "Hail, Mary!" 10x or say the Pater Noster ("The Lord's Prayer") 20x in order to receive forgiveness of sins.
LAST RITES: This rite actually has 3 parts: (1) penance in which the dying person is contrite and asks for forgiveness of sins, (2) anointing with holy oil, and (3) the Lord's Supper. Again, there is no scriptural support for this rite.
Now these 7 acts are called the 7 Sacraments. In each of these instances Catholics believe that you receive God's grace whenever you partake of the 7 sacraments.
Conservative evangelicals, on the other hand, believe that the only way to receive the grace Christ died to give us is by faith, that is, a simple reception of what He has died to give us (Eph. 2:8-9). We shall look deeper into this as we look at the basic beliefs of conservative evangelicals.
Spiritual Authority
Like conservative evangelicals Catholics believe that the Bible is God's Word and that has authority over God's people. However, Catholics also believe that other documents and authors are authorities in the area of religion. They believe that man apart from the Bible can come up with authoritative knowledge about God. For example, Catholicism is basically the unique blending of Scripture with the philosophy of Aristotle. (We will see how this works when we study Lutheranism.) When Martin Luther attacked the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, he attacked it because of Aristotle's influence on Catholicism.
Other religious authorities include the pope, whenever he speaks ex cathedra, that is, whenever he speaks from the throne. The great church councils are considered authoritative, even when they contradict each other.
How do Catholics handle the fact that many times their authorities contradict each other? They claim that God is so complex that it is only natural that there would be different views about God. These views contradict only in our minds but not in the mind of God. Both yes and no can be true at the same time in the mind of God.
Church Government
It is easy to see why the Roman Catholic Church is not democratic but rather hierarchial, that is, some men are above others. Only the priest can change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ which are necessary for salvation. Not just anybody can become a priest. The bishop/archbishop must ordain a person to become a priest. Not anybody can just become a biship or archbishop. The pope must appoint him. Therefore, the hierarchy has the pope first, followed by the bishop/archbishop, followed in turn by the priest, and last of all you and me. There is definitely a totem pole of authority in the Catholic church.
The primary offices of the church are (1) the pope, (2) the cardinals, (3) the archbishops, (4) the bishops, and (5) the local priests.
According to the RCC Jesus gave ultimate spiritual authority on earth to St. Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom!" (Matt. 16:16-19). It is a fact that before dying Peter went to Rome and lived among the Roman Christians. This fact helped the Roman church gain in prestige and popularity. Eventually, the bishops of Rome claimed that just as Jesus had given the keys of the kingdom to Peter, so Peter had given the keys to the bishop of Rome who succeeded him. That bishop in turn gave the keys to the bishop who succeeded him, etc., etc. By the late sixth and early seventh centuries the bishop of Rome [Pope Gregory 1, also known as "the Great" (590-604)] claimed that he was the foremost of the bishops. Although he did not call himself "pope," Gregory nevertheless is the bishop of Rome who formed the concept of the papacy.
A cardinal is a senior official in the Catholic Church, a member of the College of Cardinals, ranking below the Pope and appointed by him during a consistory of the College. Cardinals are collectively referred to as the College of Cardinals. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College of Cardinals and making themselves available individually or collectively if the Pope desires their counsel. Most cardinals have additional duties, such as leading a diocese or archdiocese or running a department of the Roman Curia. In addition to this, the college of cardinals is the body which selects the next pope. Since the pope selects who serves in the college of cardinals and the cardinals select the next pope-, popes tend to be the same from generation to generation.
An archbishop is an elevated bishop. Usually, this means that they lead a diocese of particular importance called an archdiocese, a super diocese. An archbishop is equivalent to a bishop in sacred matters but simply has a higher precedence or degree of prestige.
A bishop governs several congregations, while the priest is in charge of a single local congregation.