Reply to this tweet: https://twitter.com/grcastleberry/status/1567338256097853448
Do not be deceived. Rome is a false church. The pope. The cardinals. The celibate priests. Purgatory. Mary as co-redemptrix. The Eucharist as a “sacrifice” of Christ. Mortal sins. Baptismal regeneration. Salvation by faith & works. Indulgences. All contrary to the Word of God.
There must be a visible head, otherwise any group will splinter into factions. All human groups do this. Every "church" without a visible head does this: split, split, split. Jesus set a visible head, Peter. The Church of Rome inherited his headship and still has it today.
Not in the Bible and not essential to Catholicism. It's just a way of promoting priests to leadership.
Not essential to Catholicism, but highly recommended.
- Married priests create sons of bishops; then bishops start redirecting church assets for the advantage of their sons.
- Priests practice sexual abstinence before offering mass, and if you offer mass daily then... you are always abstaining. Sexual abstinence before sacrifice comes from Jewish practice before AD 70.
Purgatory is real and biblical. Nothing in the Bible counters that heaven-bound Christians may need a cleansing before beholding the vision of God in heaven. When Isaiah sees The Lord in Isaiah 6 he is like "Woe is me! I am a sinner!" and then an angel grabs a hot coal from the altar and purges him by touching it to his tongue.
That title, co-redemptrix, not in the Bible. But God places her Yes to the angel Gabriel as an essential Yes in our salvation. She consents to the Incarnation, without which we would not be saved. She deserves some credit and we owe some fulfillment of "All generations will call me blessed".
In the Bible. Catholics and Protestants agree Good Friday was a sacrifice. The night before, Jesus taught the disciples a liturgy-- "this is my body broken for you" and "this is my blood poured out for many". Those liturgical words applied Thursday night as he held the bread and the cup; and they applied the next day on the cross. Those words were connected. The Eucharist is a sacrifice, and one commanded to be repeated, "do this in remembrance of me".
Sort of in the Bible. In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve are told, "you shall surely die the same day" if you eat the fruit. They ate it. They didn't die. But they died spiritually that day. Grace was extinguished in their hearts and they were alienated from God. Some sins are like that. If you do them (with full knowledge and free consent) you are alienated from God and must repent or you die outside God's friendship and go to Hell.
"Baptism saves you" is in the Bible in 1 Peter. Also when the Apostles spread their teaching, shouldn't we expect the following generations of Christian writers to echo it? And what if they all teach Baptismal Regeneration? Is it possible the Apostles reject a doctrine, then all Christian doctors in the early church teach it?
Also in the Bible. "Justification by faith alone" is found once in the Bible. It has the word "not" in the middle. "Justification is not by faith alone", James 2.
Mostly in the Bible. Jesus tells the Apostles, "whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven." Indulgences are a use of that power.