Former Roman Catholic Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel writes:
Roman Catholics continue to declare that their church is the one true church founded by Christ. I challenge Catholics to look in the Book of Acts, which is a history of the first century church, and find any of these traditions and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Priests offering sacrifices for sins
• Indulgences remitting punishment for sins
• People praying for souls in purgatory
• Church leaders forbidden to marry
• Infallible men or popes
• Salvation dispensed through the sacraments
• Headquarters in Rome
• Rosaries, scapulars, holy water, crucifixes, statues or praying to Mary.
I suggest Catholics either change their motto, “semper idem,” which means “always the same,” or quit declaring their church is the church Christ founded.
(www.proclaimingthegospel.org)
Catholics Should Believe Their First Pope - One Way Jesus
The Sufficiency of Christ - One Way Jesus
Religion Cannot Save Anyone - One Way Jesus
- Richard Bennett (Former Catholic Priest)
The following is from GotQuestions:
The Roman Catholic Church contends that its origin is the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ in approximately AD 30. The Catholic Church proclaims itself to be the church that Jesus Christ died for, the church that was established and built by the apostles. Is that the true origin of the Catholic Church? On the contrary. Even a cursory reading of the New Testament will reveal that the Catholic Church does not have its origin in the teachings of Jesus or His apostles. In the New Testament, there is no mention of the papacy, worship/adoration of Mary (or the immaculate conception of Mary, the perpetual virginity of Mary, the assumption of Mary, or Mary as co-redemptrix and mediatrix), petitioning saints in heaven for their prayers, apostolic succession, the ordinances of the church functioning as sacraments, infant baptism, confession of sin to a priest, purgatory, indulgences, or the equal authority of church tradition and Scripture. So, if the origin of the Catholic Church is not in the teachings of Jesus and His apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, what is the true origin of the Catholic Church?
For the first 280 years of Christian history, Christianity was banned by the Roman Empire, and Christians were terribly persecuted. This changed after the “conversion” of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Constantine provided religious toleration with the Edict of Milan in AD 313, effectively lifting the ban on Christianity. Later, in AD 325, Constantine called the Council of Nicea in an attempt to unify Christianity. Constantine envisioned Christianity as a religion that could unite the Roman Empire, which at that time was beginning to fragment and divide. While this may have seemed to be a positive development for the Christian church, the results were anything but positive. Just as Constantine refused to fully embrace the Christian faith, but continued many of his pagan beliefs and practices, so the Christian church that Constantine promoted was a mixture of true Christianity and Roman paganism.
Read more: https://www.gotquestions.org/origin-Catholic-church.html
Was Saint Peter the first pope? (GotQuestions)
Is apostolic succession biblical? (GotQuestions)
Related:
25 Reasons Peter Was Not the First Pope (Wretched Radio)
Is Peter the rock on which the Church is built? (CARM)
Why You Must Leave the Roman Catholic Church (The Cripplegate)
A Tale of Two Gospels (The Cripplegate)
I could not agree more. It is ironic, however, because the reading of the Bible is exactly why Protestants reject the teachings of Roman Catholicism. Rome contradicts the Bible!
POPE URGES "FAITHFUL" TO CONSULT BIBLES AS MUCH AS TEXT MESSAGES - Speaking from his apartment balcony at Vatican Square this week, Pope Francis called on the "faithful" to consult the Bible as much as text messages. "What would happen if we turned back when we forget it, if we opened it more times a day, if we read the message of God contained in the Bible the way we read messages on our cellphones" ("Pope Urges Faithful," Newsmax, Mar. 5, 2017). That's good advice even if it does come from an unlikely source. In fact, frequent consultation of the Bible is the reason why I don't believe in the pope. In the pages of Holy Scripture, I have never found a pope, a pontiff, a prelate, a papal blessing, a papal chair, a papal palace, the primacy of Peter, the primacy of Rome, a cardinal, an archbishop, a mass, prayers to a host, the baptism of an infant, the annunciation of Mary, the enthronement of Mary, prayers to Mary, prayers to dead "saints," confession of sins to a priest, purgatory, holy pilgrimages, a rosary, a scapular, veneration of relics, or really anything uniquely pertaining to the Roman Catholic Church. (David Cloud, Friday Church News Notes, March 10, 2017, Way of Life, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected])