Why I Left the Roman
Catholic ChurchWhy I Left the Roman Catholic Church
Response to comment [from a Mormon]: "Is it just me, or is anyone else a bit sick and tired of the repeated trash being spewed by a few resident anti-Catholics?"
Christians are not anti-Catholic. They clarify the fact that Roman Catholics teaches: a different Jesus, a different gospel and a different way of salvation than historical Christianity. Mormonism departs from historical Christianity also. They reject the deity of Christ (the definition of a cult). Christians attempt to get idolaters and cultists to return to the word of God. It is the word of God that is our ultimate authority. No church or cult can get you into heaven. Only by repenting of sin and placing trust in God's son, Jesus can one be saved (Jn 14:6). Belief is not Jesus "plus"; it is Jesus "period". Both Catholicism and Mormonism are work based. Christianity is faith-based (Eph 2:8).
[Laughing emoticon]
I think he's laughing at me.
Response to comment [from Christian]: "Your in good company then . Bro Vinny laughs at everyone that believes scripture over fables and lies."
An allegiance to a denomination cannot trump the word of God. I don’t care if a church wants stained glass or teal carpet, but when it comes to sound doctrine, we must submit to the authority of the word of God. I think God can rescue individuals from all their religion.
[. . . historical
Christianity. . .historical Christianity. . .. ]
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
~ Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
There is a difference in what the authentic saints of the Lord believed than what the Roman Catholic Church teaches. Can you be a believer and sit in a Catholic Church? Maybe. But I think you will get out of there if the Holy Spirit is your teacher--if you are truly born again. This is not a ping pong game, as we debate doctrine. Real lives are at stake. A Christian cannot yield on who Jesus is: can he be called down from heaven to be re-sacrificed again? We cannot yield on how a person is saved: by works or grace. We cannot yield on where all worship belongs: off Mary on Jesus (idolatry). Are you so committed to your gang that you will sacrifice the teaching of the word of God?
"Then perhaps you'd like to draw a line as to when the one (authentic saints) became the other (the Roman Catholic Church)."
Sinners become saints when they repent (justification). They have passed from death to life (Jn 5:24). They have become born again (Jn 3:7). They will continue to be sanctified and one day gloried. That decision happens on this side of the grave.
""[O]ut of there. . . " to where, precisely? Jesus promised that the gates of hell wouldn't prevail against the Church he was a about to build, so where is this Church?"
Out of the mass. It is a blasphemous ritual--to think you can call the Lord down from heaven and sacrifice him again. This is what the Roman Catholic Church teaches. No one is master over the Lord at any time. Certainly not man (1 Ti 2:5). Basing religion on works is a power grab. The Roman Catholic Church as been corrupted by power and greed (so have many Protestant churches). The best place to be is in a Bible believing church. If you love the Lord, you love his word (Jn 8:31).
Jesus does not call us servants any longer. He calls us friends (Jn 15:15). He is not our pal by any means but he is our closest companion. When we work for the Lord it is a labor of love not our subjugation. We are not slaves to any church or man. Work-based faiths attempt to reach God the way of Cain (Jud 1:11) which leads to death. God makes this clear. If you wish to be judged by your works, you will be at the Great White Throne Judgment. God's plan and God's way is through Jesus alone (Jn 14:6).
When we share Christ with others; again, it is a labor of love not theft. We share the gospel because we have a heart for the lost as Jesus did. We share not for what we can get, but for what we can give. We don't fleece the sheep or lay a burden on them. Jesus came to free men not enslave them (Isa 61:1)
When we serve the Lord, it is out of love. We do not go to church to get credit or win brownie points. We do not have to keep holy days of obligation because some modern day Pharisee says so. We are to owe no man anything (Ro 13:8). We work because we love-- not to be loved. We know that we are loved unconditionally.
Church is a place where you go because you want to be there to fellowship with other believers and seek the Lord's presence. If it is not where we want to be--if it is more like Dawn of the Living Dead, we should repent of all our religion and get out. We don't do the Lord any favors. It's the same with giving (2 Cor 9:7). Give because you want to.
The Pope attempts to steal Christ's glory. This has never been done nor will it ever be done (Ga 6:7). No religious leader has ever drunk the cup of wrath that Jesus drank. No leader on earth stands in the place of the Lord. Jesus' church is an organic body of believers worldwide. Some live in huts but few live in Rome (Protestants are guilty of greed, corruption and compromise too).
It is criminal to sit in a Roman Catholic Church and never hear the true gospel (there is one-- coming to the Lord by grace through faith [Eph 2:8]).
See:
"I didn't ask you a question about justification, McFly. I asked you when the Church went from being a bunch of 'authentic saints' (your words) to a bunch of pagan Romanists."
We like the same movies. At least we have that in common Brother Vinny.
To answer your question, I don't know. What I do know is that a little compromise with the teachings of the word of God leads to leavening of the whole lump (Ga 5:9). It takes a return to the word of God to cure the lump.
Is the whole Catholic Church filled with God-haters? No. I am sure there are parishioners sitting in pews who want to know the Lord. But people get confused with all the "religious bells and smells which obscure the gospel" as Adrienne Rogers used to say. There have been authentic believers in the Roman Catholic Church for centuries (see: What Christianity Has Done for the World). I have no doubt that these men were born of the spirit of God (Jn 3:7). I don't really care if they were called Catholic or Protestant. We can guess that they were believers by their fruits (Mt 7:16). But there was a time when the Roman Catholic Church leaders hid the word of God from the people. This opposes the commission of Jesus' teaching (Mk 16:15).
If the Roman Catholic Church would return to the teachings of Jesus none of this would be a problem. But they hold themselves higher than the authority of God (Jn 8:31). When an organization will not submit to the authority of God's word, it has gone off course. When did that happened exactly? I am not sure. The apostle Peter warned, "Beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked (2 Pe 3:17)." False teachers have always been among us. Only the word of God can cure the disease.
"[The mass is blasphemous]-- a pile of dung."
We disagree. I have heard Christians share the gospel with Catholics as gently as can be. I have heard Christians share the gospel with Catholics in a matter of fact manner. How ever you say it--this is the gospel of Jesus. Stop taking offense. It is all about God's grace (Ro 1:16). Men do not draw near to God by the Eucharist (Jn 12:32). It has no mystical power. The Lord is not housed in a wafer. He is not a vine or a door. Men draw near to him by a personal relationship. It happens no other way. Only the Holy Spirit can enable a man to know that he is saved after trusting in the LORD (not church, not men) [Pr 3:5, 1 Jn 5:13].
"[Y]ou're spitting from your mouth the same load of feces I hear from dodge..."
These are old arguments. Can't you see that your response is the same as Catholics of old? They used to murder believers. They attempted to put to death the word of God. But this won't happen. God won't allow it (Mk 13:31). Have you persecuted Dodge because he shared the truth of the gospel of grace with you (Ga 4:16)? What else in new with you people (Jn 4:48)? Do you think when you hear that little bell ring that the host becomes our Lord for a priest to sacrifice? I know usher boys who used to ring the bell untimely just to throw the priest off. There is no magic in the bell. No transfiguration takes place. It is smoke and mirrors. Pull back the curtain and expose that man behind the curtain. Return to the word of God.
Why don't you get on the right side (Jos 24:15)? Catholics and Protestants both have their problems. But why not identify with the word of God and see which where that leads you? Ask the Lord where he would have you be--in a church filled with dead ritual or in a bible church laboring through the word of God. Have they ever read Romans at mass? I didn't think so.
We are commanded to agree (1 Pe 3:8)--and this is your first Pope speaking. Your current Pope encourages study of the word of God so that is good. That is an improvement from 100 years ago. Once we get by these doctrinal issues, reasoning with the Lord and other believers (Isa 1:18), we can get on to important issues like saving the lives of unborn children. At least fundamental Christians and Catholics agree on life for now. That is something. But Satan is winning now by his divide and conquer technique.