Posted on 05/20/2008 7:45:05 AM PDT by NYer
From Christianity’s beginnings, the Church has been attacked by those introducing false teachings, or heresies.
The Bible warned us this would happen. Paul told his young protégé, Timothy, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths" (2 Tim. 4:3–4).
What Is Heresy?
Heresy is an emotionally loaded term that is often misused. It is not the same thing as incredulity, schism, apostasy, or other sins against faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him" (CCC 2089).
To commit heresy, one must refuse to be corrected. A person who is ready to be corrected or who is unaware that what he has been saying is against Church teaching is not a heretic.
A person must be baptized to commit heresy. This means that movements that have split off from or been influenced by Christianity, but that do not practice baptism (or do not practice valid baptism), are not heresies, but separate religions. Examples include Muslims, who do not practice baptism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not practice valid baptism.
Finally, the doubt or denial involved in heresy must concern a matter that has been revealed by God and solemnly defined by the Church (for example, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass, the pope’s infallibility, or the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary).
It is important to distinguish heresy from schism and apostasy. In schism, one separates from the Catholic Church without repudiating a defined doctrine. An example of a contemporary schism is the Society of St. Pius X—the "Lefebvrists" or followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre—who separated from the Church in the late 1980s, but who have not denied Catholic doctrines. In apostasy, one totally repudiates the Christian faith and no longer even claims to be a Christian.
With this in mind, let’s look at some of the major heresies of Church history and when they began.
The Circumcisers (1st Century)
The Circumcision heresy may be summed up in the words of Acts 15:1: "But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’"
Many of the early Christians were Jews, who brought to the Christian faith many of their former practices. They recognized in Jesus the Messiah predicted by the prophets and the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Because circumcision had been required in the Old Testament for membership in God’s covenant, many thought it would also be required for membership in the New Covenant that Christ had come to inaugurate. They believed one must be circumcised and keep the Mosaic law to come to Christ. In other words, one had to become a Jew to become a Christian.
But God made it clear to Peter in Acts 10 that Gentiles are acceptable to God and may be baptized and become Christians without circumcision. The same teaching was vigorously defended by Paul in his epistles to the Romans and the Galatians—to areas where the Circumcision heresy had spread.
Gnosticism (1st and 2nd Centuries)
"Matter is evil!" was the cry of the Gnostics. This idea was borrowed from certain Greek philosophers. It stood against Catholic teaching, not only because it contradicts Genesis 1:31 ("And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good") and other scriptures, but because it denies the Incarnation. If matter is evil, then Jesus Christ could not be true God and true man, for Christ is in no way evil. Thus many Gnostics denied the Incarnation, claiming that Christ only appeared to be a man, but that his humanity was an illusion. Some Gnostics, recognizing that the Old Testament taught that God created matter, claimed that the God of the Jews was an evil deity who was distinct from the New Testament God of Jesus Christ. They also proposed belief in many divine beings, known as "aeons," who mediated between man and the ultimate, unreachable God. The lowest of these aeons, the one who had contact with men, was supposed to be Jesus Christ.
Montanism (Late 2nd Century)
Montanus began his career innocently enough through preaching a return to penance and fervor. His movement also emphasized the continuance of miraculous gifts, such as speaking in tongues and prophecy. However, he also claimed that his teachings were above those of the Church, and soon he began to teach Christ’s imminent return in his home town in Phrygia. There were also statements that Montanus himself either was, or at least specially spoke for, the Paraclete that Jesus had promised would come (in reality, the Holy Spirit).
Sabellianism (Early 3rd Century)
The Sabellianists taught that Jesus Christ and God the Father were not distinct persons, but two aspects or offices of one person. According to them, the three persons of the Trinity exist only in God’s relation to man, not in objective reality.
Arianism (4th Century)
Arius taught that Christ was a creature made by God. By disguising his heresy using orthodox or near-orthodox terminology, he was able to sow great confusion in the Church. He was able to muster the support of many bishops, while others excommunicated him.
Arianism was solemnly condemned in 325 at the First Council of Nicaea, which defined the divinity of Christ, and in 381 at the First Council of Constantinople, which defined the divinity of the Holy Spirit. These two councils gave us the Nicene creed, which Catholics recite at Mass every Sunday.
Pelagianism (5th Century)
Pelagius denied that we inherit original sin from Adam’s sin in the Garden and claimed that we become sinful only through the bad example of the sinful community into which we are born. Conversely, he denied that we inherit righteousness as a result of Christ’s death on the cross and said that we become personally righteous by instruction and imitation in the Christian community, following the example of Christ. Pelagius stated that man is born morally neutral and can achieve heaven under his own powers. According to him, God’s grace is not truly necessary, but merely makes easier an otherwise difficult task.
Semi-Pelagianism (5th Century)
After Augustine refuted the teachings of Pelagius, some tried a modified version of his system. This, too, ended in heresy by claiming that humans can reach out to God under their own power, without God’s grace; that once a person has entered a state of grace, one can retain it through one’s efforts, without further grace from God; and that natural human effort alone can give one some claim to receiving grace, though not strictly merit it.
Nestorianism (5th Century)
This heresy about the person of Christ was initiated by Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, who denied Mary the title of Theotokos (Greek: "God-bearer" or, less literally, "Mother of God"). Nestorius claimed that she only bore Christ’s human nature in her womb, and proposed the alternative title Christotokos ("Christ-bearer" or "Mother of Christ").
Orthodox Catholic theologians recognized that Nestorius’s theory would fracture Christ into two separate persons (one human and one divine, joined in a sort of loose unity), only one of whom was in her womb. The Church reacted in 431 with the Council of Ephesus, defining that Mary can be properly referred to as the Mother of God, not in the sense that she is older than God or the source of God, but in the sense that the person she carried in her womb was, in fact, God incarnate ("in the flesh").
There is some doubt whether Nestorius himself held the heresy his statements imply, and in this century, the Assyrian Church of the East, historically regarded as a Nestorian church, has signed a fully orthodox joint declaration on Christology with the Catholic Church and rejects Nestorianism. It is now in the process of coming into full ecclesial communion with the Catholic Church.
Monophysitism (5th Century)
Monophysitism originated as a reaction to Nestorianism. The Monophysites (led by a man named Eutyches) were horrified by Nestorius’s implication that Christ was two people with two different natures (human and divine). They went to the other extreme, claiming that Christ was one person with only one nature (a fusion of human and divine elements). They are thus known as Monophysites because of their claim that Christ had only one nature (Greek: mono = one; physis = nature).
Orthodox Catholic theologians recognized that Monophysitism was as bad as Nestorianism because it denied Christ’s full humanity and full divinity. If Christ did not have a fully human nature, then he would not be fully human, and if he did not have a fully divine nature then he was not fully divine.
Iconoclasm (7th and 8th Centuries)
This heresy arose when a group of people known as iconoclasts (literally, "icon smashers") appeared, who claimed that it was sinful to make pictures and statues of Christ and the saints, despite the fact that in the Bible, God had commanded the making of religious statues (Ex. 25:18–20; 1 Chr. 28:18–19), including symbolic representations of Christ (cf. Num. 21:8–9 with John 3:14).
Catharism (11th Century)
Catharism was a complicated mix of non-Christian religions reworked with Christian terminology. The Cathars had many different sects; they had in common a teaching that the world was created by an evil deity (so matter was evil) and we must worship the good deity instead.
The Albigensians formed one of the largest Cathar sects. They taught that the spirit was created by God, and was good, while the body was created by an evil god, and the spirit must be freed from the body. Having children was one of the greatest evils, since it entailed imprisoning another "spirit" in flesh. Logically, marriage was forbidden, though fornication was permitted. Tremendous fasts and severe mortifications of all kinds were practiced, and their leaders went about in voluntary poverty.
Protestantism (16th Century)
Protestant groups display a wide variety of different doctrines. However, virtually all claim to believe in the teachings of sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone"—the idea that we must use only the Bible when forming our theology) and sola fide ("by faith alone"— the idea that we are justified by faith only).
The great diversity of Protestant doctrines stems from the doctrine of private judgment, which denies the infallible authority of the Church and claims that each individual is to interpret Scripture for himself. This idea is rejected in 2 Peter 1:20, where we are told the first rule of Bible interpretation: "First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation." A significant feature of this heresy is the attempt to pit the Church "against" the Bible, denying that the magisterium has any infallible authority to teach and interpret Scripture.
The doctrine of private judgment has resulted in an enormous number of different denominations. According to The Christian Sourcebook, there are approximately 20-30,000 denominations, with 270 new ones being formed each year. Virtually all of these are Protestant.
Jansenism (17th Century)
Jansenius, bishop of Ypres, France, initiated this heresy with a paper he wrote on Augustine, which redefined the doctrine of grace. Among other doctrines, his followers denied that Christ died for all men, but claimed that he died only for those who will be finally saved (the elect). This and other Jansenist errors were officially condemned by Pope Innocent X in 1653.
Heresies have been with us from the Church’s beginning. They even have been started by Church leaders, who were then corrected by councils and popes. Fortunately, we have Christ’s promise that heresies will never prevail against the Church, for he told Peter, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). The Church is truly, in Paul’s words, "the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).
I was refering to comments made in the thread yesterday, not official church doctrinal teachings. Mine is a summary of what i took from those comments, which I do not pretend represent the official church position.
Yes, I’m a dad, and I often come up with clever “teaching moments” which invariably lead to the equivalent of me having to pick up all the boards and put them away.
:-)
I'm not going to argue that the Church has done a great job being forceful and clear with its teachings - I don't think it has. However, your post was "If there's no diversity of Catholic doctrines in the church" - I was just demonstrating no diversity of doctrines in the Church. There isn't, regardless of how much we fail in following the doctrines.
So, you're telling me, then, that if I selected the half-dozen closest Catholic schools to where I live, that if I investigated the school curricula, I would find all of these things:
...teachings of the worship of Mary?
I can't imagine you'll find anyone teaching the worship of Mary, since that isn't a teaching of the Church.
...teaching of prayer to deceased people?
Deceased people? No way! To people that have fallen alseep in Christ, and are fully alive in Him? Then, definitely, I pray to a variety of Saints every day, asking them to keep me in their prayers to God.
...active veneration of holy relics?
You should find veneration of Relics, since things which had touched St. Paul brought Miracles, wrought through the Hand of God. Acts 19:12.
Or if I was to review the Catholic church curricula & sermons for the past year of six Catholic churches closest to where I live, I would find evidence of:
...live, active teachings to married women NOT to use birth control?
I would hope so - Homilies if is germaine to the Scripture of the Liturgy, otherwise in the flyers or groups meeting at the Church. Although if your Priest doesn't think it is a problem within his flock, then maybe not.
...20th century Mary European revelations?
I'm sorry - I don't follow. You'll have to be more specific.
I would like to encourage you to stay in the FReligion forum longer. Though I do not always agree with what you post, your posts have brought a much needed breath of fresh air to many of the threads you have visited.
Please reconsider.
BTL
>>Yes, I’m a dad, and I often come up with clever “teaching moments” which invariably lead to the equivalent of me having to pick up all the boards and put them away.<<
I do that too!
And shake my head. But not as back as the day I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let my girls take all the packing popcorn out of a BIG box and play with it outside.
Three, maybe four hours to clean it up! Geez. Sometimes I know I’m Polish.
Do you have a family photograph on a mantel at home or on your desk at work?
Yes, but Jesus wasn’t available that day so he is missing from the picture.
No motives attributed. It read pretty straight forward to me.
This is a fuller explanation: Link
As you can see, the picture could be worse for Catholics. Of those whom much was given, much will be required. When a Protestant separates himself from the Church he often has the excuse that he was raised Protestant. It is often a valid excuse, especially if one never learned Catholicism other than from his anti-Catholic pastor. On the other hand, when a Catholic violates the disciplines of his Church such as regular Mass attendance, indissolvability of marriage, sinfulness of contraception, obligation to evangelize others -- he cannot say that he did not know better.
I'd be glad to help: heretic is by definition Christian. Yes, some Christians are going to hell. Participation in heresies is not a good idea if salvation is the goal.
Hersey are beliefs that come from man and or the devil not the Holy Spirit Who gives us the Truth. When I hear a religion that claims to teach Christ and His salvation yet adds something like purgatory to the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross I am concerned for those that follow such dark lies.
Sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit in us here after being born again not in some place that is neither named or even described in any way in the word of God. Jesus never taught it because it does not exist. It came about because a lot of money could be had be those who feared hell.
To accept that the Roman Catholic Church has any part in Jesus Christ’s church it would have start with the clear evidence they follow His Word. There are catholics that are saved but far to many only hope they are saved....and that is the words out of their own mouths. Faith in Christ and His finished work of salvation is not optional.
Nope.
All Christians will be in Heaven. Reprobates will be in Hell. And yes, there are reprobates in God’s visible church.
This is classic speaking past one another. What you say is Protestant theology: a Christian is one who has been saved by a profession of faith, which means he is among the elect.
In Catholic theology, a Christian is one who has been baptised and did not commit an apostasy (e.g. became atheist or Muslim). At the end of everyone's life Christ judges him for his works and he either will be saved and go to heaven as one of the elect, or he will go to hell.
The judgement is based on the state of the soul at the point of death. A Christian who also obeyed the Church and repented of sin dies in the state of sanctifying grace and is saved. A Christian who dies burdened by sin and unreconciled is condemned. A non-Christian has no ordinary means of grace as he does not go to Church, and any such that are saved at all, are saved as an extraordinary expression of Christ's mercy.
This probably did not convince you to become Catholic, but it should help you understand what these words mean coming from a Catholic. In my experience, 90% of daily ecumenical bickering between Protestants and Catholics is simple lack of familiarity with the other side's terminology.
If you want to be on the Catholic Theology for non-Catholics list but are not on it already, or if you are on it but do not want to be, let me know either publicly or privately.
Sorry for the double pings, if any.
I think he’s referring to Fatima and Lourdes.
I did that with my granddaughter, only I didn’t go outside. My husband was disgusted but we had fun! It took a while to clean up.
Under that definition, since people are made by our Creator-God, then everybody is a “miracle” who arrive by God opening the womb of a woman, and therefore we are all “relics,” eh? (No, I don’t see any “relics” in the Bible the way Catholics define them)
But let’s just say, for argument, that relics were “acceptable” and all that mattered is that the relic was “authentic” vs. “junk.” According to this catholic.com response which argues for accepting relics, a concession is made: The Church has never pronounced that any particular relic—even that of the cross—is genuine. But, the Church does approve of honor being given to the relics that can with reasonable probability be considered authentic. http://www.catholic.com/library/Relics.asp
If the church cannot authoritatively say such a relic is indeed “genuine,” why bother?
Me: ...20th century Mary European revelations?
You: I'm sorry - I don't follow. You'll have to be more specific.
Our Lady of Fatima and the supposed “secrets” given as revelations.
I can't imagine you'll find anyone teaching the worship of Mary, since that isn't a teaching of the Church.
Then what’s it doing in the Catholic catechism? "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." (footnote is Paul VI, MC 56) http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a9p6.htm#II
Also, the comment below was posted at: http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=88719
The painting in Warsaw and the crucifix in Rome depict Rome's dogma that Mary is the co-redemptress with Christ, that she intercedes for men from heaven and aids in their salvation. Note the following quotations from the Vatican II. “Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but BY HER MANIFOLD INTERCESSION CONTINUES TO BRING US THE GIFTS OF ETERNAL SALVATION. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of ADVOCATE, HELPER, BENEFACTRESS, and MEDIATRIX" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 8, II, 62, pp. 382-383). A plaque in the Chapel of the Virgin of the Grace at Saints Vincent and Anastasius Church in Rome says, "Cardinal Benedetto Odescalchi, who became the pope with the name of Innocent XI, initiated THE WORSHIP OF THE IMAGE, placed on the altar in 1677, and wanted his heart to be buried here, not in the main chapel." This is only one example of many that could be given of the term "worship" used in regard to Mary in Rome's churches.
Deceased people? No way! To people that have fallen alseep in Christ, and are fully alive in Him? Then, definitely, I pray to a variety of Saints every day, asking them to keep me in their prayers to God.
Well, I’m not the only one who “frames” it in a similar manner. Note this Catholic commenting on the same forums.catholic.com: Catholics believe that they can ask deceased Christians, particularly those known to be in heaven, for their intercession with God. Because of her unique relationship with Christ and because of her.
re: diversity of doctrinal teaching…I decided to check Catholic curricula online and didn’t progress too far. But here’s the first site I checked… Saskatchewan Catholic Curriculum…
I looked at their “prayer and celebrations” sections.
Sure enough, there was an example of teaching praying to saints:
God, Creator and source of all holiness, the work of your hands is manifested in your saints, the beauty of Your truth is reflected in their faith…All you saints in heaven, teach us to live for God and others. Intercede for us that we may show courage to live our lives as you have. Amen…Leader: Together let us pray the “Our Father” for the communion of saints. …All you saints of heaven, teach us to live for God and others. Speak to God for us that we might have the kind of courage you showed in your lives. We ask this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. http://wblrd.sk.ca/~cco/new_site/celebrations/litsaints.html
So that would be an argument in your favor about consistency. Still, at: http://wblrd.sk.ca/~cco/new_site/celebrations/prayers.html , I could find earth day prayer, prayer for christian unity, prayer for peace…but no prayer to Mary. Under its celebration section, same thing…http://wblrd.sk.ca/~cco/new_site/celebrations/celebrations.html I can find a reconciliation prayer service, a Holy Spirit celebration, a “Prayer Service: Listening to God” a reenactment of the Last Supper, a prayer to saints, but no prayer to Mary.
If, by "Church" you mean the Vatican magisterium, then when a man separates himself from that misguided institution and becomes a Protestant, the heavens rejoice.
It is often a valid excuse, especially if one never learned Catholicism other than from his anti-Catholic pastor.
I learned most of what I know about Catholicism from ex-Catholics and even current Catholics.
From those discussions with Catholics on FR I've learned to recognize and rebuke rebuke the manifold errors of Rome such as viewing Mary as a "co-redeemer;" believing priests are "another Christ;" thinking relics and statues of dead people have any place in the Christian life; putting Scripture on the same (and often lesser) level than tradition; and buying into the wholesale mysticism and alchemy that is the errant Lord's Supper as interpreted incorrectly by the RCC.
I do agree with you, however, that "of those whom much is given, must will be required."
Therefore, considering the bounty men have in the Holy Scriptures and the indwelling Holy Spirit, we Protestants are required to preach the Gospel in truth which thankfully, illustrates the many transgressions of Rome and its false bishop.
Are you as Holy as St. Paul? Now, I don't know you from Adam, so you may very well be, but I know I'm not, and I highly doubt anyone will be after my relics. Did you check Acts 19? "So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them." I don't see the jump you make to everyone being a miracle - Scripture speaks for itself here.
If the church cannot authoritatively say such a relic is indeed “genuine,” why bother?
Because they can help bring people closer to God - the same reason we bless physical things. Humans are not mere spirits, we are physical creatures as well, and concrete things help us focus on God.
Our Lady of Fatima and the supposed “secrets” given as revelations.
Okay, gotcha. First, no one is required to believe in any particular Marian appearance. They are private revelations, and do not hold the same rank as Scripture or Tradition. However, I think if you look at the messages of any of the RECOGNIZED (cannot stress that enough) apparitions, you will find they all point to Christ. As such, I don't see a problem teaching or discussing them.
Then what’s it doing in the Catholic catechism? "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." (footnote is Paul VI, MC 56) http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a9p6.htm#II
Devotion is intrinsic to worship - they are not one and the same. Worship is for God alone. Also from Mirialis Cultus, "This devotion takes into account the part she played at decisive moments in the history of the salvation which her Son accomplished, and her holiness, already full at her Immaculate Conception yet increasing all the time as she obeyed the will of the Father and accepted the path of suffering (cf. Lk. 2:34-35, 41-52; Jn. 19:25-27), growing constantly in faith, hope and charity." We are devoted because she demonstrates the greatest example of following God's Will - Christ was divine, and we can not be Him, but Mary was a true daughter of Eve - our human nature is reflected in her. She shows us how to say "yes" to God, whatever He says.
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=88719 - I see only two posts when I check this link, a question regarding "Mary worship" and an answer. There are some issues in that post (which doesn't appear at the link), so if you could double-check where you got it from, I'd like to read the whole thread and make sense of it. However, the BVM continually aids in my salvation (I hope) by praying for me to God.
Well, I’m not the only one who “frames” it in a similar manner. Note this Catholic commenting on the same forums.catholic.com: Catholics believe that they can ask deceased Christians, particularly those known to be in heaven, for their intercession with God. Because of her unique relationship with Christ and because of her.
Okay - you notice the poster states "those known to be in heaven." If someone is heaven, they are not deceased - maybe semantics, but a difference, IMHO.
Sure enough, there was an example of teaching praying to saints
Notice the actual request of the prayer to the saints: "Speak to God for us that we might have the kind of courage you showed in your lives." I would ask you to do the same for me - I dunno if you're especially courageous, but I ask that you keep me in your prayers. Again, like I said above, Christians who "die" become more fully alive than any of us. Since the Saints are in Heaven, and we know Heaven can hear us (see, the Psalmist commanding Angels) we can ask the saints to pray for us.
If you want prayers to Mary, it is probably not on that site for the same reason the Our Father isn't - the Hail Mary is committed to memory pretty darn early. Its something most Catholics just know.
What a hoot to use this verse as an argument for Church authority. The author should post the context.
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