“Considering the apostate state of many so called Christian denominations today, I have more in common with my Roman Catholic partner than I do with a lot of Christians so called that I meet in church buildings no matter what name is on the sign out front.”
That is a very true statement. I was born and raised Catholic and remained Catholic until I was 40 (I’m 47 now). I was born again when I was 31 and remained a Catholic for nine years, mainly because I saw so many other screwed up denominations and even though I increasingly had issues with the extra-biblical doctrines within the Catholic Church, I remained there because I didn’t know where else to go. Finally some independent Baptists started up a Bible study in our neighborhood and I was blessed to eventually meet their pastor and join a Bible-believing church.
All that said, I’ve known many saved Catholics over the years and have some family members who are still Catholics but I know they’re saved. And by saved, I mean they have received Christ as Lord and Savior and believe in salvation by grace alone through faith alone and nothing else. I know some might find it hard to believe such people exist within the Church but there are many.
One of the reasons is that in many Catholic parishes, you can go to Mass for years without ever hearing about doctrines like praying to Mary and the Saints and Purgatory. Also, the core doctrine of the Catholic Church — the Nicene Creed — is the same as most Protestant denominations.
The challenge I had was that the more I studied the Bible, the harder time I had reconciling these extra-biblical doctrines with the Scriptures. I couldn’t find Purgatory anywhere and I found no biblical precedent for praying to Old Testament saints like Abraham and Moses, so I couldn’t figure out why we should be doing that today.
The only response I got was that we must put the writings of the Catechism and the “infallible” declarations of the Pope on the same level as Scripture. But common sense tells you they cannot have the same authority because the latter two lack authors with a direct connection to Christ like most of the New Testament writers had. Not to mention the history of corruption within the papacy throughout the centuries.
Suffice it to say, the Catholic Church itself has issues to be sure, and when I was a Catholic, I had no problem admitting that. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of saved people there. One of the main reasons I decided it was time to part company was when my daughter turned 5 or 6 and I could not in good conscience raise her in a church and at the same time tell her to ignore certain practices. Also, at the end of the day, if one is a devout Catholic, it seems that they would end up with at least a partial works-righteousness theology just based on the Purgatory doctrine alone.
I could be totally off base, but this is just my view after spending many decades in the Catholic Church.
I don't find that hard to believe at all.
I don’t believe you are totally off base at all.
One of the first times my ministry partner and I talked doctrinal differences was on one of those points you mentioned. Her response? “It’s not in the Bible.”
I know several within our circle who have followed the path you chose and left the RCC. My ministry partner has not as yet chosen to do so, but she’s still young..
But then, so are you. ;-)
(I’m the oldguy..;-)