Background
Since its beginning, with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD, making Trinitarian Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic church has, over the centuries, accumulated a vast corpus of doctrine/dogma.
These beliefs which have accreted are simply the traditions of man and most have absolutely no basis in Scriptura. Without the foundational principle of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), the RCC (Roman Catholic church) has adopted numerous beliefs not rooted in the final authority of Scripture. In fact, it’s so bad that the RCC has elevated its traditions, as well as its magisterium, to the same level of authority of Scripture.
In this post, I’ll analyze various important RCC doctrine/dogma.
Sacerdotalism
The office of priest, as defined in the RCC, is unbiblical. Scripture gives us the offices of pastor and elder. The RCC priest has the power to forgive sin. This is unbiblical. The New Testament does declare the priesthood of all believers. The priest in the RCC has no power to forgive sins. Nor does he have power to bind and loose. That extraordinary gift died out with the last living Apostle John around 100 AD. The RCC claims that its priests act in persona Christi – which means literally “in the person of Christ”. This is blasphemous!
Salvation
Salvation in the RCC is predicated on the sacraments. Grace is given through the Catholic’s participation in the various sacraments. Sadly the sacramental system is not salvific. We are saved solely by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Scriptures alone, for the glory of God alone. Salvation is strictly monergistic (we are saved by the work of God alone). Salvation in the RCC is synergistic (man cooperates with God) and semi-pelagian. For my analysis of the sacraments see the link below.
Papal Power
The RCC popes claim absolute power and jurisdiction over every single church on earth. They foolishly and blasphemously believe the Pope is Christ’s vicar on earth. Further the RCC teaches that when a Pope is speaking on faith and morals He is infallible. The pope has no such powers. The papal office is an anti-Christ office.
Magisterium
The RCC magisterium is the teaching authority of their church. They claim it is infallible, this belief is simply delusion. The magisterium is merely a fallible collection of the traditions and opinions of certain men. Every church has a magisterium, but the RCC errantly believes theirs is infallible. Once a belief has been added to the magisterium, a Catholic is bound to assent to it, or else they would be excommunicated and be out of communion with the RCC.
Mass
The sacrifice of the mass is the apotheosis of RCC theology. It is the one truly essential thing (sine qua non) of RCC theology. RCC apologists insist that:
- The sacrifice of the mass is unbloody.
- It is the true presence of Christ in the communion gifts.
- Christ is not re-sacrificed in each mass said.
- The mass is a participation in the once and for all sacrifice of Christ at Calvary.
The RCC defines the way the wafer and wine become thee Body and Blood of Christ as transubstantiation. The mechanics of the mass is defined by the RCC using outdated and fatuous Aristotelian metaphysics of accidents and substance. Clearly, these concepts are not accurate.
My response to the 4 points above:
- Some eucharistic “miracles” (as defined by the RCC) where the wafer turns into heart tissue and bleeds has been observed. I believe this is genuine, but it’s not from God. It is a counterfeit being employed by Satan to ensnare Catholics.
- I believe the gifts of communion are spiritual food, not literal carnal flesh and blood.
- If Christ is brought down and sacrificed (this is in the liturgy) then it is a re-sacrifice.
- They claim it is a once and for all sacrifice, yet if this were true then the whole mass would be irrelevant and not necessary.
Belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the communion gifts produces a false Christology whereupon Christ is bifurcated being in multiple places simultaneously (this is no problem for the His divinity), but yet His human body is being separated and re-sacrificed with every mass.
Mariology
The Marian beliefs receive enormous attention in the RCC. An objective outsider will soon be aware of the huge amount of attention to Mary. This is in stark contrast to Scripture, which gives very little attention to Mary, and when it does it’s usually in the context of Christ doing or saying something. In fact in Scripture when people outside Mary’s home were heaping praise on her, Christ rebuked them. If you want to read my analysis of Marian beliefs, you can click the links below.
The Early Church and The Development of Doctrine
RCC apologists will frequently assert that Catholic beliefs are found in the Early Church. Further with the “development of doctrine”, as defined by RCC Cardinal Newman, RCC apologists assert not only that their “new” beliefs are not novel, they will further assert they were believed by the church always, even going back to the Early Church. A careful analysis of the very earliest Early Church, namely the New Testament Church, one will find that many RCC beliefs are not present.
Patristics
The RCC places great emphasis, I’d argue too much, on the beliefs of the Early Church Fathers (ECF). The beliefs of the ECF are a mixed bag. One often contradicts another. But even if all the ECF were of the same mind, it still doesn’t mean their positions must be correct. As we Reformed follow the guiding principle of Sola Scriptura, we must always be as the Bereans, and compare, contrast, and analyze every single belief against the light of Scripture. This is why one could make a case for baptismal regeneration, based on the teaching of the ECF. Yet, clearly, Scripture shows this belief to be unbiblical. If you click on the link below, you’ll see many Catholic beliefs which are absent in the Early Church.
Infant Baptism & Baptismal Regeneration
RCC theology teaches that infants should be baptized in water (paedobaptism), even though there is not a single explicit and unambiguous case of infant baptism in Scripture. Further, they assert that infant baptism is salvific (it saves them).
Both of these positions are unbiblical. They are responsible for leading billions of souls to Hell. So this is truly Satanic, and are doctrines of demons.
Biblical baptism is believer’s baptism (credobaptism). When a person has repented and believed the Gospel, and trusts in Christ Alone as their Lord and Savior, they will obey Christ and get baptized (by immersion) as a public proclamation of their faith.
Conclusion
As we have seen, the RCC has a huge amount of false doctrine/dogma. They reject the 5 Solas, they reject the 5 Points of Calvinism, and at the Council of Trent they anathematized the gospel. Thus they are guilty of teaching another gospel. For a good discussion of the central beliefs of Roman Catholicism, see the lectures by Dr. R.C. Sproul at the link here.
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