Furthermore...the catholic church forbid the reading of scriptures..and brought on the Dark ages for such a ban. Additionally bringing into the church heathen practices in order to maintain the power they coveted once Rome fell. And were quick to put the people under bondage and further inflicted all types of atrocities toward it's members if they failed to comply.
Pagan rituals and practices continue to this very day within it's doors and an outright refusal to abide by the absolute clarity of God's Holy word these are not to be done....by their practices and their beliefs they have nullified the very salvation Christ's death, burial and resurrection affords to men. Therefore they keep the souls of men from the very assurance of salvation Christ gives...further adding insult to injury Catholicism teaches it is sinful to “know” ones security rests in Christ.
Catholicism is not even remotely close to the early church they so often claim as their beginning,.....they left and forfeited that years ago and to this day continue to deceive and mis-lead it's members.
The Catholic church did not forbid anyone to read scripture. Think about it, in the early centuries most people couldn't read at all and those who could, could only read their own language. Bibles were hand written by Catholic monks and were therefore extremely expensive. Only royalty, the very wealthy, and libraries could afford them. It wasn't until the 1500's that a printed version was available that people could afford and there weren't real many of those. Catholicism dates from the time of Christ and yes, they teach the same thing now that the earliest church taught. Don't forget that Christ promised the church that He would be with her until the end of time. She was not apostate until the protestants came along to save her, she was hale and hearty throughout history. Because the Catholic church is infallible, she cannot teach that which is in error, nor does she. You say that she deceives her members....explain how please, I say its impossible. You say that the bible was in play long before the Catholic church...let me point out that only the old testament existed with the Jewish religion and that the new testament was compiled by the Catholic church as she grew during the time that the new testament was being written. Without the Catholic church, we would not have a bible. While the church itself did not write the bible, she certainly collected the various letters, parables, stories etc. which make up the book. There was no one else there....the apostles, disciples and followers were the beginnings of the Catholic church and they, acting like the new organization that they were, wrote things down in an orderly fashion to preserve them for posterity....what's so hard for you to understand???