Things Every Christian Must Know About
the Roman Catholic Church
The Small Stuff
On the Calling of
Priests Father:
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The Apostles were called Father all the time, and they called those in the congregations (like
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2 Timothy 1:2 - "To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace
from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord" (Paul as Father)
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2 Timothy 2:1 -
"You then, my son,
be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (Paul as Father)
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Philemon 10 - "I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment" (Paul as Father)
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1 Peter
§ 3 John 4 - "No greater joy can I have than this, to hear that my children follow the truth" (John as Father)
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Also 1 Corinthians
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And Especially 1 Corinthians
- Jesus’ statement not to call anyone Father is hyperbole, the same as his statement to pluck out our eyes if they cause us to sin. He’s just making a point. If he really meant not to call anyone a biological father (like our dads) or a spiritual father (like our priests), then Paul, Peter, and John would not have done so.
On the Ten Commandments:
-
The Catholic Church did not change the Ten Commandments
to allow for statues or stained glass. The
Ten Commandments are not numbered in the Bible, and
they’re not in a list there either. They
were numbered and grouped into a list by
- Martin Luther (the founder of Protestantism) used the same numbering system as the Catholic Church. Lutheran Churches today still use the same system.
- The system most Protestants use today was created in the 16th century by English Protestants as a way to attack statues and stained glass.
On Statues, and Stained Glass:
- The Bible does not tell us not to make “graven images,” as most people believe.
The people who translated the King James Version of the Bible translated the
Hebrew word pesel as “graven images” in 1611, when there was far less
knowledge about ancient Hebrew than there is today. Over the past 400 years,
scholars (not Catholic or Protestant or even religious scholars, but secular
linguistic scholars) have learned a lot more about the language, and have
determined that word really should be “idols,” which is why most newer translations say “idols” instead of “graven images.”
- When the Bible says not to make an idol out of anything on earth, or in the seas, or in the heavens, it means that we must not treat anything on the earth or in the seas or in the heavens as a god.
- The word heavens here means the sky. The Hebrews had many different words for heaven, each meaning something different. The word for heaven, the place where God is, and where the saved go, is a completely different word.
- An idol is not simply a statue. An idol was something that ancient people
worshipped as a god. If someone treats a statue as though it itself were a god, then it is an idol. Today, it would be right to say that money and power are idols.
- God actually told the Jews to make graven images on the Ark of the Covenant. In Exodus 25:18-20, he tells the people to make carved images of cherubim (angels) for the side of the Ark of the Covenant.
On Priestly Celibacy:
-
The Bible nowhere says that a pastor must be married or have children. 1 Timothy 3:2 and
- Paul says that it is best for a person to remain single if they want to devote themselves better to God. A priest has to be completely devoted to God in every way. Catholics have celibate Priests because Paul recommended it as the best way to keep a person devoted to God.
On The Catholic Church Banning The
Bible in the Middle Ages
- The Catholic Church did not ban Bibles printed in common languages.
- There have been many, many versions of the Bible in many, many languages all throughout history. The introduction to the 1611 King James Version (the major Protestant version) even contains a list of various Catholic English translations that had been available in the past. (The King James Versions that are available today do not usually contain this introduction)
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The Catholic Church did prohibit people to read certain versions of the Bible which were produced throughout the centuries. There were a lot of cases where different
people created mistranslated versions of the Bible to try to teach people
heresies, such as Pelagianism which is the belief
that God does nothing to save us and that we do it all on our own. The Church said that people could not read these
versions.
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The Catholic Church did at certain times chain
Bibles to the pews at churches. They did
not do this to prevent people from taking the Bibles and learning from them,
they did this because before the invention of the printing press, a Bible took
the skins from 250 sheep to make and cost a fortune because there were very few
people that knew how to read and write and could copy a Bible, and so they were
very expensive to employ. After the
printing press was invented, it still cost as much to
copy a Bible as a clerk would make in 3 years.
The Bibles were chained for the same reasons
banks chain pens: people would steal them if they didn’t.
On
Relics (like a dead Saint’s bone) and Sacramentals (like Holy Water)
- Catholics do not worship relics or believe that they have magical powers.
- Catholics do believe that God can use a physical object to convey His Grace. Everybody believes that He uses physical water to convey His Grace in baptism, and relics are the same thing.
- Relics are used in the Bible to convey God’s Grace. In 2 Kings 13:20-21, a dead man is touched by the bones of the prophet Elisha, who had died. It says that the man came back to life as soon as he touched Elisha’s bones. This is because God’s Grace was working through them.
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In Acts 19:11-12, Paul’s handkerchief is passed around to heal people and to drive out evil
spirits from people. This is another
example of what we would call a relic.
In fact, it may be that Paul blessed the handkerchief. If he did, then it would be what we call a
Sacramental.
On
Peter’s Primacy (or, his being the leader of the 12 Apostles)
- Peter’s name is mentioned 195 times in the Bible. The second closest apostle is John, who’s name is mentioned 29 times. 60% of the time an apostle is mentioned, it is Peter. It would make a lot of sense for the writers of the gospels, and for Paul, James, and John to make reference to Peter the most if he was the leader and thus well known. It is the same reason that people write more about George Bush than they do about Senator Bill Frist: Mr. Bush is the leader, whereas Mr. Frist is below him, and so Mr. Bush is more well known. It is the same reason that we hear all about the Pope today but we do not hear about most of the Bishops: the Pope is the leader.
- In each list of the apostles in the Bible, Peter’s name is always listed first, and Judas’ is always listed last. It is very unlikely that this pattern would have been followed consistently for no reason.
- Judas is without a doubt the worst apostle. Nobody would deny this. However, he and Peter both committed similar sins: denying Christ (in two different ways). There is a definite parallel between the two, in that Peter denied Christ and repented, whereas Judas denied Christ and did not repent. Also note that none of the other apostles had their faith tested in such a way.
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Jesus tells Peter that He will give him the keys to the
- Jesus also tells Peter that He will pray for him so that his faith will never fail. This is also in the singular, so Jesus is also speaking exclusively to Peter.
- Peter is given the personal revelation from God that the Gentiles should be evangelized and allowed into the Church.
- Peter is given the personal revelation from God that all foods are clean.
-
After Paul’s conversion, he seeks out Peter
specifically to confer with (Galatians
- Peter gives instructions to all of the church leaders in 1 Peter 5:1-2, in the same way the Pope would today give instructions to all of the Bishops and Priests. This would seem like an appropriate thing to do for the leader of the Church.
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Peter is the only of the 12 apostles to have his name
changed. Name changes in the Bible
always mean something very significant.
Abram had his name changed to Abraham by God, and he is arguably the
most important person in Jewish history (if he is second it is only to Moses). Jacob has his name changed to
- In the original language that was spoken, the word Peter literally means “rock.” Jesus did not simply change the name from Simon to Peter. He changed it from Simon to Rock. When the other apostles called for Peter, they were saying the same word they used when they were talking about a rock. This is why Peter is the Rock of the Church. He was the foundation upon which Jesus would build His Church (note that Jesus is, of course the cornerstone, of the Church: the most important piece!)
The Big Stuff
On Sola Scriptura, or
Bible Only, no Tradition:
- It never says in the Bible that we must use only the Bible. This is a serious flaw. If every teaching must come from the Bible or it is untrue, as Sola Scriptura teaches, then Sola Scriptura must not be true because it is not in the Bible!
- Sola Scriptura is filled with tradition. The problem with Sola Scriptura is that everybody takes their own interpretation out of the Bible. This is why Baptists have different beliefs than Lutherans, and Lutherans have different beliefs than Presbyterians. Each denomination knows what their beliefs from the Bible are because of the private tradition that each denomination has. When a child is born a Lutheran, he or she learns the teachings that have traditionally been held by Lutherans, and when a child is born a Baptist, he or she learns the teachings that have been traditionally taught by Baptists. This is why there is can be a lot of arguing between different denominations, because their traditions disagree. Sola Scriptura people condemn tradition, but they have it themselves! The difference is that their traditions come from Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, whereas Catholic tradition comes from Peter, Paul, James, and John (who heard it from Jesus).
- Martin Luther came up with the idea of Sola Scriptura AFTER he had decided which Catholic teachings he disagreed with, NOT before. His beliefs were not based on his interpretation of the Bible, but rather the way he interpreted the Bible was based on his beliefs.
- Martin Luther stated that he might be a prophet, and he said that even angels could not judge his teachings because he was a judge above all others, including the angels. This is his basis for the accuracy of his teachings.
- The Jews of Jesus’ time also had people who believed that Scripture alone was acceptable for teaching God’s word. They were called the Sadducees, and they refused to accept any teachings other than those of scripture for the same reason Martin Luther did: they had beliefs which could only be backed up by interpreting scripture in their own way. Jesus rebukes them in the Bible for their beliefs.
- Even when scripture is used, it still must be interpreted. Acts 8:27-31 tells the story of a man reading scripture. Only through Philip’s God-given ability as an Apostle are the scriptures able to be correctly interpreted.
- Satan tries to interpret scripture in his own way to trick Jesus during His temptations. Jesus is able to correctly apply the teachings of Scripture, and thus He avoids sin. There are many, many false teachings out there that can be reached by interpreting Scripture wrongly (for example, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who use Scripture to “prove” that Jesus is not God!) Sola Scriptura is an incredible tool for Satan because every person can arrive at his or her own interpretation.
- Catholics are criticized because some of their beliefs are not explicitly stated (that is, it does not come right out and say it) in the Bible, but instead it seems to dance around what they say. However, the truths that Jesus is God, that God is a Trinity, that Hell exists, that we should worship on Sundays, and many other standard Christian beliefs are not explicitly stated in the Bible either. This is what has lead to the growth of many groups and denominations that teach lies using the Bible as a tool, like Jehovah’s Witnesses, who teach that Jesus is not God, and like Seventh Day Adventists, who teach that we must keep the Sabbath, worship on Saturday, and that the good will go to Heaven but the wicked will simply disappear into nothing and will not go to Hell. No Christian would believe this, but it is what happens when you try to reason only from the Bible.
- With that said, it is important to point out that the beliefs in Sunday Worship, Jesus as God, the Trinity, Hell, and many other things that non-Catholics believe are actually traditions themselves!
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The Dictionary of Christianity in America, a Protestant source, says that there were
over 20,800 Christian denominations worldwide in 1980. The United Nations World Census of
Religious Activities, published in 1989, places the number at 23,000. The reason there are so many different
denominations is because Sola Scriptura allows so many different interpretations of
Scripture. People who support Sola Scriptura say
that it works because the Holy Spirit will guide each person in interpreting
the Bible and protect people from mistakes.
If this were true, there would not be over 20,000 different denominations.
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One might
argue that there are so many denominations because many people are lying, or do
not receive the help of the Holy Spirit because they are in sin. Even if we limit the denominations to some of
the bigger ones, such as Southern Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian,
Episcopalian, and Pentecostals, we still have this problem. These denominations are huge, each having
millions of members. If Sola Scriptura were
true, then that would mean that out of all the millions of people in these
denominations, only one person is actually sincere and seeking God and
is helped by the Holy Spirit. If Sola Scriptura were
true it would mean that the Holy Spirit is denying help to hundreds of
thousands of devoted believers.
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Paul tells us
that it is very bad for believers to be in dissension, and that it is very
important that we have unity. See 1
Corinthians
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If every
teaching that we have is required to come from the Bible, then that would mean
that it would need to list the books of the Bible in the Bible itself.
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MOST
IMPORTANTLY:
The New Testament of the Bible did not exist
until 397. The last book written in the
New Testament is probably Revelation, which was finished between 65 and
90. Jesus ascended to Heaven around 30
or 35. This means that for at least 362
years there was NO scripture other than the Old Testament (and different Jews
had different opinions on which books belonged in the Old Testament). Paul, Peter, James, and John’s epistles were written to specific churches (like the church at
The letters of Paul and James and Peter and
John were never written with the intent of being put
together in a book. They were written to churches to answer questions that these
churches had. It was
decided in the 300s that some of these letters were inspired and should
be put together as scripture. The New
Testament was put together in 397 at the Council of
Carthage. This council was an infallible
ecumenical Council. That is the only
reason that we know that these books were really inspired. There were many other books which could have been put in the Bible. There were epistles of Barnabas, and of
Clement, and other gospels, and many others.
How do Sola Scriptura
people know that these books are not scripture and should not
be read? They know because the
Council of Carthage said so.
MORESO, the council used tradition to pick
the books to put in the Bible. Paul,
Peter, and the rest of the apostles handed down their teachings to their
successors, their successors to theirs, and so forth. The
books in the Bible were decided on the criteria of
which books best represented the tradition that had been handed down
from the apostles. The entire
Bible, which today Sola Scriptura
people use, was put together from tradition.
The Council of Carthage was what the Church
calls and infallible ecumenical council.
The Bible does not say anything about these, it is only because of tradition
that was passed down from Paul, James, Peter, etc., that we know that these
councils can be used to determine things without error. If we do not believe in tradition, then we do
not have any way of knowing which books are scripture and which ones aren’t,
because the tradition of the ecumenical council was used
to put the Scripture together.
On
Salvation by Works and Faith Together
- Catholics do not believe that a man can be saved by his own works.
-
Catholics believe that only faith can save a
person, and that works must go side by side along with it. Catholics believe that works without faith
will not save anybody.
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All
Christians believe that only God’s Grace saves us. Catholics do too. In the Catholic belief, God wants us to have
faith. When we have faith, we are
cooperating with God, and letting his Grace create faith in us. All Christians believe this. Catholics also believe that God wants us to do
good works, and that if we do them we are cooperating and letting God’s Grace do works through us.
All Christians believe this.
Catholics believe that if we do not do good works, we are not
cooperating with God, and we are ignoring Him.
Non-Catholics do not believe this.
They will accept that God is doing good through
a person when He is, but they deny that a person is ignoring God when someone
does not do what God wants. Catholics
accept the gifts of God and the responsibility that God has given. Non-Catholics will accept the gifts of God,
but deny that He gives us any responsibility (because works are optional to
them).
-
When we hear the word “faith” today, we think of
something different from what the people of Jesus’ time thought. To us, faith means we believe and we
trust. People of Jesus’ time also thought of obedience and loyalty
when they spoke about faith. When an
ancient person was told to have faith in Christ, they
knew that they were supposed to believe in Christ, trust Christ, and obey and be loyal to Christ. Anytime a
writer in the Bible used the word faith, they were telling us to do all four of
these things. Since Christ tells us that
we must help the poor, be good to people, and do other good works, we must
follow his commands.
-
Jesus
says that if we love Him we should obey his commands (John
-
In John
9, Jesus heals a blind man. This is the
famous blind man who cries, “I was blind but now I see!” When Jesus comes to the man, He tells the man
to do something (go and wash in the pool of Siloam). After this action, the man receives
his sight. He had to perform a work, not
just have faith.
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Jesus
says on judgment day, He will tell those who have done good works to go into
Heaven, but He will tell those who have not done good works to depart from Him
into the eternal fire. (Matthew
25:31-46)
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Non-Catholics
believe that all a person has to do to be saved is
believe in Jesus and believe that He is Lord.
The people Jesus sends to the eternal fire in this passage do have
faith. They call Him Lord! When they plead with Him, Jesus does not seem
to care that they call Him Lord. He is
concerned with the fact that they have done no good works.
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James
goes out of his way to tell us that faith alone is not enough. His entire epistle was
written to counter certain people who at the time were teaching things
like salvation by faith alone. He tells
us many things. He tells us that even
demons believe in Jesus, and believe He is the son of God, and call Him Lord. (
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The
idea that true faith always leads to works is just wrong, and you can tell just
by thinking about your experiences. True
faith can lead to works, yes. In
fact, it is only through the Grace of God that we are able to do good works at
all. If not for the Grace He gives us,
we are too selfish and wicked ourselves to do anything. However, I am sure that you know some people
who do not have faith who do good works.
Their works are a result of God’s Grace working in them, but they don’t
know it, and they have no faith in Him.
Even more importantly, look at yourself. Have you ever just been too lazy to do
something? Or too selfish? Has there been a time when your faith told
you that you should give your money to the poor instead of buying a new
television, or that you should help your family instead of going out? Did you buy the TV set or go out anyways, and
then feel guilty about it? Do you
believe in Christ? If you can answer yes
to these questions, then you do have true faith but you did not perform a
work! True faith can lead to
works, but it does not always lead to works. When we do good works, it is often a
sacrifice for us to do so, and sacrifices are hard, and a personal choice, and
we often choose not to make them. The
non-Catholic perspective often (though of course not always) denies the idea
that we have to make sacrifices in our lives for God.
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Our
faith allows us to do good works, but it does not force us
to. As any Christian will tell you, God
loves us so much He gave us free will.
That is why we can choose between Heaven and Hell, even though He wants
us to choose Heaven. If faith always
resulted in us performing good works, that would mean God forces us to do good
works, which completely goes against the idea that He gave us free will.
On
the Blessed Virgin Mary, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, and her
Perpetual Virginity
- Catholics DO NOT worship Mary. This can not be stressed enough. Some Catholics insist and believe that they do worship Mary. They are saying something completely against the teaching of the Church because they either don’t understand the real teaching, or because they have personally chosen to worship Mary (just as ancient Jews under Moses’ guidance personally chose to worship Balaam and other idols even though Moses said not to). The Second Vatican Council contains a command against such people, stating the great sin involved in worshipping Mary and condemning excessive emotional displays for the Blessed Virgin.
- Catholics do honor Mary, and feel a great deal of love for her. They also respect her very much. If you watch Mel Gibson’s film. The Passion of the Christ, you will understand this very easily, and much better than could ever be expressed in words.
- All of the Catholic teachings about Mary, such as her Immaculate Conception, her sinlessness, and her Assumption, are based on truths that can be found very easily in your Bible. See what follows!
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Mary tells us that all generations will call her
blessed (Luke
- Aramaic (the language Jesus, Mary, Paul, Peter, etc. spoke) is what is called a Semitic language (Hebrew is too). In Semitic languages, there is no way to say things like, “the most,” or “the least.” For instance, in a Semitic language, if you want to tell somebody that they are the most wise person in the room, you must say, “You are wise among them.” When the angel in Luke tells Mary, “Blessed art thou among women,” he/she/it is telling her that she is the most blessed of all women. Remember that this is an angel; angels do not simply throw words around, so if the angel says she is the most blessed woman then it is true. This has some important implications. If Mary is the most blessed woman, that means she must be more blessed than any other woman, including Eve. Eve was the most blessed up until that point because she was the only woman ever to live without original sin. This is truly a blessing. This means that Mary had to have been conceived without original sin or else she would not have even been as blessed as Eve. This explains the Immaculate Conception.
- Mary was sinless because of the angle’s statement, too. If Mary had no original sin, she was only as blessed as Eve, not more blessed than Eve. This cannot be, since the angel told her that she was the most blessed woman. Therefore, Mary has to “one up” Eve, and live her entire life without sin. It is the only way that she could be more blessed than Eve. This explains Mary’s sinlessness.
- Mary’s Assumption comes from the fact that she never sinned. The only reason we ever die is because of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, death entered the world. If Mary never sinned, if she never even had original sin, she could not die. This is why she had to be Assumed into Heaven.
- Many may wonder why Mary was able to go through life and not sin. It is because God blessed her with freedom from original sin. Adam and Eve could have never sinned, but they chose to willingly commit a sin. This led to their fallen nature, and in this fallen nature we are prone to sin. Mary, thanks to God’s Grace, did not have a fallen nature. She could have sinned, but she did not have a tendency, and an urge to sin, like the rest of us do. Original sin creates this urge to sin. This urge is called concupiscence, and we all have it. When we come to Jesus, He forgives us the original sin, and it is gone, but we still have our concupiscence, which is why we still sin. Mary was born without concupiscence.
- Mary’s perpetual virginity is not something that Catholics just claim happened to make Mary more Holy. It happened for a reason. When Mary’s mother (St. Anne) became pregnant, she swore that she would devote her child to the Lord. So, when Mary was born, she was put into something similar to today’s convents. This required that Mary was vowed to live a virgin for he entire life. When she became older, Mary needed a guardian who would protect her and respect her virginity. All of the widowed men of the town were called upon, and out of them Joseph was chosen. It happened that Joseph had a number of children from his previous marriage, which could explain the references to Jesus’ brothers in the gospels (on top of the fact that Hebrew tradition and also the Aramaic language required that all of Jesus cousins be called His brothers). In fact, when Mary became pregnant, both her and Joseph got into trouble with the temple authorities. All of this data is recorded in a very early document, called the Protoevangelium of James, written in 120.
- Often times, Protestants criticize the title of Mary as “Co-redemptrix.” They will claim that Catholics put Mary as one who works equally with Christ in the redemption of man. This is very false, and Catholics do NOT teach this. The prefix “Co” comes from Latin, and means, literally, “with.” Co-redemptrix means that Mary cooperated with Christ in our redemption, but she is clearly inferior and played and inferior role. In fact, Catholics also teach that we are all co-redemptors and co-redemptrixes, though not so much as Mary (hence her specific title), given that she is the one whom agreed to cooperate with God in bearing Christ.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY:
Mary is the
second Eve. This is very, very important
and is the key to understanding the Catholic view of Mary. It draws on the very, very first prophecy of
Christ ever given by God, all the way back in Genesis! In Genesis 3:15, God curses the serpent for
causing Eve to sin, and God says, “And I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, and you
shall strike at His heel.” Woman’s seed
is Christ! This prophecy is truly
incredible once you understand it. It
does not just predict Christ, but also the virgin birth. At the time it was written (and even today to
a large degree), it was very unusual to talk about a
woman having a seed. Men’s seeds were
always talked about, but women weren’t though of as having a seed. The male’s semen was his seed and the language
was used because in part man was seen as planting
it. People did not think of women as
having seeds (most, if not all, probably did not even realize women had any
reproductive organs. It was a very
popular thought that women were nothing more than incubators for the men’s
semen, and that everything needed to make a child came from the male.) Because of this, God’s statement is very odd,
because he talks about a woman’s
seed. This, as we know now, is because
Christ was born of only a woman, and
there was no male seed to talk about.
With all of this, it is easy to see that Genesis
Sin entered the world through Eve, a virgin, because she chose to sin. Before her, the world was without sin. Salvation entered the world through Mary, a virgin, because she bore Christ. There is a parallel then between Mary and Eve. Mary and Eve were both blessed, they both had no original sin, and neither had concupiscence. However, Eve made the wrong choice, in disobeying God when she chose to eat the apple, so through her sin entered the world and she received concupiscence. Mary made the right choice, by obeying God in agreeing to bear Christ, so through her Salvation entered the world. It is very important to understand these parallels. Parallels like this run through the entire Bible. God seems to be very fond of them. In any case, they mean something, and are not to simply be ignored.
Mary’s role as the second Eve is a centerpiece which connects all the rest of the Marian beliefs together. (Of course the statement of the most blessedness from the angel does too, but it is more a starting point then a centerpiece). Every Christian knows about the parallel between Jesus and Adam. Jesus is the new Adam. Through Adam, sin entered the world, but through Christ, Salvation did. Paul talks about this in his epistles. There is another parallel here, one between the old/new Adam and the old/new Eve. Both the old Eve and the old Adam are similar in that sin entered the world through them, and in that they were both born without sin and both disobeyed God. We already know that the new Adam was born with no sin, and that He obeyed God, and salvation entered the world through Him. The key is that just like the similarity between the old Adam and old Eve, there is also a similarity between the new Adam and the new Eve. If the new Adam was born with no sin, the new Eve had to be too. If the new Adam was a perpetual virgin, then so was the new Eve. If the new Adam never sinned, nor did the new Eve. If the new Adam was assumed into Heaven, so did the new Eve. No Christian will deny the importance of parallels in the Bible. However, only Catholics accept this parallel.
On the Sacrifice of the
Mass and Transubstantiation
-
Catholics
do not teach or believe that Christ is sacrificed
again and again during each
-
Catholics
explicitly believe and teach that each Mass is a re-presentation of the
sacrifice at