“Papal Infallibility” means that when a pope is speaking in his official position on any issue of faith or morals, he is speaking infallibly, meaning without error. This is a most dangerous doctrine because it gives the Roman Catholic church the authority to teach whatever it wants. The apostles never regarded any man to be infallible, only the Word of God is said to be infallible.
Catholicism claims that Peter was the first pope. The amazing truth is, in fact, that the Bible knows no such office as a “pope.” Peter was married, which would have disqualified him according to Catholic law. If Peter was the first pope, certainly the Bible does not declare him to be infallible for in Galatians 2:11-14, Paul found him to be in error when he was deceived by Judaizers. Paul said, “…when Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.”
Purgatory is taught to be a half-way place between heaven and hell where unforgiven sin is purged away. This teaching is found nowhere in Scripture and is very evil because:
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith...speaking lies in hypocrisy...forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats” (1 Tim 4:1-3).
Notice that the Bible states that one sign of departing from the faith is “forbidding to marry.” The Catholic church, in support of celibacy, quotes Matthew 19:11, 12 which merely teaches that it is permissible to be celibate if one so chooses, but it is never to be commanded.
INFANT BAPTISM (invented in 370 AD)
Though this might be surprising to many people, the Bible knows nothing of infants being baptised. The word “baptism” in the New Testament, means to “immerse, to dip, to fully whelm.” One man asked Philip in the Bible, “What doth hinder me to be baptised?” Philip plainly answered (giving the qualification for baptism): “…If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest” (Acts 8:36-37). Therefore, a person must be able to place their faith in Christ before they can be baptised.
Baptism means nothing unless a person has received Jesus Christ as their Saviour. It is simply an act of obedience to picture the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism does not save a person as the Catholic church claims. Only Christ's blood can cleanse us from sin.
OTHER MEDIATORS between God and man
One very disturbing teaching by the Roman Catholic church is that there are other mediators between man and God other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice...
The Bible plainly states, “…there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
PRAYERS TO SAINTS
Praying to “saints” is a Catholic device to stop people from praying to God and turns people away from developing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Once again, this false doctrine teaches that dead saints are more approachable and helpful than Jesus Christ is. Prayers to saints are contrary to the Christ’s instruction to pray, “After this manner pray ye: ‘Our Father’ (Matthew 6:9).
The Bible forbids man to contact the dead in Deuteronomy 18:10-11, “There shall not be found among you any one that...is a necromancer.” A necromancer is one who seeks to contact the dead. Much of what is attributed to saints is false. For example, St Philomena was proclaimed a saint by Leo XII, and Pope Gregory XVI blessed one of her images. Rome later admitted that she never existed and in 1961 struck her off the list of saints.
There is no Bible example of praying to saints, nor is there any Bible example of them having power to answer prayer. We pray to God the Father with Jesus as our only intercessor. Once again, “There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
WRONG GOSPEL
Most importantly, the clear Bible way for man to be forgiven has been changed by the Catholic church. Catholics, since childhood are taught that to get to heaven one must keep the sacraments, the mass, and do good works. This is different from the Bible's definition of the gospel.
Question: What is the gospel?
Answer: “I declare unto you the gospel...how that Christ died for our sins...that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
The Gospel message saves us: “…the gospel of Christ...is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16). Therefore the gospel message is that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again. We are saved when we believe this message and receive Christ as our Saviour. This means that we must trust Christ's blood sacrifice on the cross as being the full payment for all our sins.
Paul strongly warns against preaching or believing “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6-9). “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, LET HIM BE ACCURSED” (Galatians 1:9).
FINAL THOUGHT
We at CRAOM.net hope and pray that by reading this article you will stat praying about this issue. The Catholic people are very confused in their theology. They need good Christians to reach them with the true saving Gospel and help them. See one thing I have noticed is that dealing with the Catholic people is that you have to be extremely patient. Catholic people have been taught all this false beliefs for thousands of years and now it is a way of life and traditions. But as hard as it is to reach to them there is nothing hard for our lord Jesus Christ. I would humbly ask all of you to pray and learn as much as you can about them so that Christ can use you to help a lost Catholic with the whole counsel of God.