Roman Catholic-basic Christian beliefs based on our interpretation of the Bible. We believe in the communion of the saints, which is praying to the saints in heaven-so they can pray for us on Earth. We believe in the bible, as God's word-written by man, and some traditions.
We don't believe in birth control, cheap grace, the rapture. We believe in celeb ant priests that take a vow of poverty, stay unmarried like Jesus. We've were established in 33 AD, and have been around for 2000 years, unlike all protestant religions founded by man. The oldest protestant faith is only 550 years old! We are led by the Pope, who controls from the seat of St. Peter.
A lot of hatred by con-men, Hohenlohe
At least we don't have multimillionaire televangelists begging for more money!
It sound to me that you don't know anything your talking about!
Sorry it's all the same to me all religions .. why should I have to pay to go to church so the church leaders can driver better cars than me and live in bigger homes than me ... sorry!
Yes...it's man-made religion, contrary to the teachings of the Bible, and it is designed to scare people and guilt them into giving money. Faith and religion are not the same things and the only person who should be prayed to is God...He is the ONLY one who can hear and answer prayers!
Just the Roman Catholic church? I think if you believe that about the Catholic Church, you need to listening to Falwell, Robertson, Frankie Graham, etc. They'll scare Jesus Christ himself.
Why does your question have the connotation that the Roman Church has their whole "doctrine" based on fear, guilt and gold?
Before bashing a religious tradition that goes back 2000 years, take a look at your own.
Catholicism is a false religion that conforms to the religions around it in a region, In America Christianity is the primary religion therefore it resembles that. Two other good points are Confession and praying to the Saints neither one has any biblical basis. In the Bible (even the one the Catholics use) Jesus says "No man comes to the Father except through me." So praying to anyone else or confessing to a priest doesn't do jack for you, Jesus made it pretty clear how to get in touch with him and how to have a relationship with him, and any other way then God's Way is the wrong way.
ALL Christianity is based on fear and guilt, and is useful in getting the "gold". But as for the Catholic Church in particular:
It really cannot be said to exist until the 4Th century, when Christianity was co-opted by the Roman Empire. That is the true birth of the Catholic Church. The Emperor had been known as "pontiffs maxi mus", a title taken by the new "Pope". And the Church modeled itself after imperial bureaucracy.
The Church created a fiction connecting itself to Apostolic succession, and claimed that Peter was the first Pope. But there is no evidence that Peter was EVER in Rome. Only Church myth. In Acts of the Apostles, he's in Jerusalem, not Rome. And he's subservient to James, who is the actual leader of the Nazoreans.
The historical record shows that the Bishop of Rome (the alleged Pope), for the first three centuries, was not Prue-eminent over all other Bishops. He did not claim the right to pronounce doctrine binding over all the Church. He did not appoint the Bishops of other cities-- these were elected by the people, and ratified by area Bishops. Church councils were called by any Bishop., not the Bishop of Rome. Except for the Council of Nicaea, which gave us the Nicene Creed. This was called by the Emperor, which shows that the Empire had taken over Christianity. It was presided over not by the Bishop of Rome, who was supposedly the Pope, but by Constantine's right-hand man, Bishop Ossius of Cordova.
Fact is, there wasn't any such thing as The Pope until 401, and Pope Innocent I, the first guy to claim authority over other Bishops. Also the most powerful man in Rome, once the Emperor bailed to Ravenna. NOW we have the Catholic Church. Whatever they say about their history before this is fraudulent.
Praying to the Saints and/or priest? That isn't what it says in the Bible.
Six "hail Mary's" and you're soul is fine? Doesn't say that in the Bible.
Go to mass on Saturday, and sex like a fiend Thur the week? Wish it were true, been searching for it, but it doesn't say that in the Bible.
Ask a Catholic if they've ever been encouraged to read a Bible. They're too busy memorizing Latin mambo jumbo and practicing ritual to repeat for their brainwashing.
Christianity is about a relationship with God. Catholisism is just another religion. Jesus came to do away with religion, cross all boundaries of religion, do away with all who stood in the way between Him and us.
Religion is about rhetoric, rules and control. Christianity is about virtue, love, peace, and fullness of joy.
A good Christian man gets close to God because he wants to. He wants to become the best man that he can. A religious man follows the rules because he fears punishment; because he has to.
first of all, i believe that there are lots of Catholic people who are good and upright and living by faith. I also know that the Catholic church values church tradition more than the bible, in fact they counsel against using the bible alone for doctrine, (so la Scripture) as error. The church used a lot of non Christian beliefs not found in the bible when founding the church. They pray to idols (the saints, the virgin Mary), believe in purgatory (an idea of the soul in limbo which came from Plato, not Jesus or the Bible), and that somehow God's grace is not sufficient for them, they must also work to get into heaven. It was responsible for the Spanish Inquisition and persecution of millions of Christians throughout Europe. The Catholic Church believes or takes the position that God founded the Church with the disciple Peter (from one verse in the Bible). They also say that the Pope is God on earth and infallible.
So the catholic church preaches another gospel other than Christ and Christ alone. They bullied people and intentionally kept them ignorant and uneducated. They threatened people with the belief that they must pay more money and say so many prayers to get into heaven. And they have never changed their position or apologized on any of these umbilical things. It took the Catholic church until just recently, to admit it was wrong for saying the earth was not flat and not the center of the universe and that Galileo Galilei was right So I am sure that there are lots of nice Catholics who will not like what I have just said, but it's true nonetheless.
They would rather keep worship ping idols (they changed the 10 commandments to fit it in) and praying to dead people, than worshiping God directly. Confession is umbilical. No man can forgive sins including the pope. Only by confessing your sins to God, and repenting can one be forgiven.
I believe most people that are knowledgeable concerning the Catholic Church would agree that with Second Vatican Two we transformed ourselves from a doctrine and church of fear to one of love. I must admit it was a wonderful transformation and well over do.
Is the roman catholic church and a gang of con-men?
