Dianna Mendoza sent me this letter she wrote in response to the Candy Brauer’s anti-Catholic
comments on her blog. As Candy would probably never publish them, and they were too long for my comment boxes, I told Dianna that I would be happy to publish it on my blog.
I was all excited at what a wonderful site I had found… until I saw the Anti-Catholic section on the left side discreetly placed. I have known some Protestants to be Anti-Catholic but this is the first time that I have heard someone claiming that Catholics are not Christian! Let’s do take a look at the bible shall we Candy. The Catholic Church has preserved and defended the Bible for 2000 years from destruction and error. She has grounded her doctrines upon the Bible and always has held the Bible in highest veneration. That is why the Roman Catholic Church has the right to call the Bible, Her Book! Like that do you…. well keep reading, I have numbered the list so you can keep up.
1) The Roman Catholic Church gave God’s holy scripture the name Bible. The Word Bible comes from the Greek word biblia which means “the books”.
2) The Roman Catholic Church in all her wisdom decided which books were inspired and should make up the Bible. In the 382 AD, Pope Damasus I directed the Council of Rome to compile the first New Testament. The bishops at the Council of Carthage in 397 AD, under the direction of St. Augustine settled and declared the inspired books of the Old and New Testament.
3) The Catholic Church produced more than 600 editions of the Bible in different languages before the first Protestant Bible ever appeared. A Catholic could read the Bible in German, Italian, Spanish, French, Bohemian, Flemish, and Russian before the Reformation.
4) The first Bible ever printed by a printing press was the Catholic Gutenburg Bible in 1456.
5) Martin Luther changed the Bible. First, he took 7 books (Tobit, Judith,Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1&2 Maccabees) out of the Old Testament because they caused problems for his new theology. Second, Luther had a trouble with verses such as (James 2:24) “See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” So he inserted the word ALONE in Romans 3:28 to make it read, “For we hold that a man is justified by faith alone apart from the observance of the law.”Luther even stated,”You tell me what a great fuss the Papists are making because the word ‘alone’ is not in the text of Paul. If your Papist makes such an unnecessary row about the word ‘alone,’ say right out to him: ‘Dr. Martin Luther will have it so,’ and say: ‘Papists and asses are one and the same thing.’ I will have it so, and I order it to be so, and my will is reason enough. I know very well that the word ‘alone’ is not in the Latin or the Greek text, it was not necessary for the Papists to teach me that.” Cited in John Stoddard, REBUILDING A LOST FAITH The Catholic Church believes the Bible is equally inspired: not selectively inspired as Luther did.
6) The Roman Catholic Church did chain Bibles before the invention of the printing press. This was done not to hinder anyone from reading the Bible but to prevent people from stealing it. Bible scholars estimate that the cost of one Bible during the Middle ages was equivalent to 10 years of wages.
7) The word Trinity is not in the Bible. This word was invented by the Catholic Church to try to explain the mystery of there being three persons in one God .
8) The over used question used by Fundamentalists, “Do you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” is not found in the Bible.
9) The phrases which say, “The Bible alone is to be used as the sole rule of faith.” or “Saved by faith alone” or “Once saved always saved ” are absent from Holy Scripture.
10)Why does the Catholic Church call the Latin Bible Vulgate? The term comes from the Latin word vulgata which means the popular edition. Vulgata is derived from the Latin word vulgas which means “common people.” In other words, the Latin Bible is for everyone!
Here is some questions that I know you will just “love” to answer about the bible!
1) If the “Bible Alone” is the sole guideline of the Christian faith, how were people saved in the past if they didn’t have a Bible to guide them? It was over 300 years after Christ’s resurrection for the Bible to be complied in its’ present form and 1500 years for the Bible to be mass printed.
2) Why does the Bible state the Church is built upon Peter and not the Bible? “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.”(Matt 16:18)
3) Christ told the apostles to go forth and preach. Only five of the twelve apostles wrote books of the Bible. So why didn’t Christ tell them to go forth and write His gospel so all future generations could read it? That is what Mohammed did.
4) How come the Bible says the Church is the pillar and foundation of truth and not the Bible? “But if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1 Tim 3: 15)
5) Why do Protestants follow only the Bible and ignore Holy tradition when the Bible clearly states that tradition is of great importance? “Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.” (2 Thess. 2:15)
6) How do you know for certain which books of the Bible are divinely inspired and which translation is correct without an infallible authority?
7) If each individual reader is guided by the Holy Spirit to interpret the Bible correctly, why are there over 25,000 different Protestant denominations disagreeing with each other about the Bible’s meaning?
8) Why do Protestants claim that they are justified by faith alone when the Bible clearly says we are justified by faith and works? “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2 : 24)
9) Today’s Protestant Bibles are based on the King James version. King James was a political leader not an ecclesiastical authority. What authority did he have to produce a Bible? Absolutely none! So the question arises, suppose the President of the United States decided to produce a Bible. Would you trust your salvation to the Bill Clinton version of the Bible?
10) Does your Bible contain all the books of the Old Testament that Christ read from or is it like the Protestant Bible that is missing seven books? (Tibet, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 & 2 Maccabees)
And here is some bible quotes for you to take in.
“For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”(Mt.16:27)
“If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”(Mt.19:17)
“He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.” (Lk.10:26-28)
“And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” (Jn.5:29)
“Who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.”(Rom.2:6, 13)
“For we must all appear before the jugment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor.5:10)
“Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”(2 Cor.11:15)
“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?”(Jas.2:14)
“Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”(Jas.2:17)
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works? You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rabab the harlot also justified by works? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”(Jas.2:21-25)
“The Father, who without pariality judges according to each one’s work.”(1 Pet.1:17)
Now lets move on to the “Catholics worship statues!” claim you have made. Despite how ridiculous the claim is, people still make this accusation. They say that because Catholics have statues in their churches and pray in front of them, they are violating Exodus 20 :4-5, “You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in water under the earth.”
Let’s point out that it’s right to warn people against the sin of idolatry. The accusation that Catholics are idolaters because they have images of Christ and the saints is completely incorrect, being based on a misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and use of statues. Not only did God never condemn the use of statues in worship, he actually commanded their use!
Protestants forget about the numerous passages where the Lord commanded the making of images such as, the golden angels on the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25:18-22), the golden angels and fine linen embroidered with angels in the Temple built by Solomon (2 Chr 3:1-14), and the bronze serpent God told Moses to make in order to heal Hebrews from serpent bites (Num 21:8-9). This scriptural evidence obviously shows that God allows images.
Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall Christ and His faithful followers. Just as it helps to remember one’s mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants themselves use pictures of Jesus and other Bible pictures in their churches for the purposes of inspiring people and teaching children, especially those who haven’t learned to read. Catholics also use statues to commemorate certain events, much like Protestant churches that have three-dimensional nativity scenes at Christmas.
If one measured Protestants by the same rule, then by using these “graven” images, they would be practicing the “idolatry” which they accuse Catholics of practicing. The fact is, there’s no idolatry going on in these situations. God forbids the worship of images, but he doesn’t ban the making of images in general. If he had, movies, videos, photographs, manger scenes, paintings, drawings, and all sorts of things would be banned, since they too are images.
Fundamentalists Protestants love to quote (Matthew 23:9) to confuse unsuspecting Catholics because it states, “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven”. Arrogant Fundamentalists will then exclaim, ‘see you Catholics are going against the Word of God because you call your priests father’. Are these Protestants correct in their assertion? The answer is a resounding no! One must first look at this Bible verse in context in order to understand its meaning. “they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt 23:7-12) After reading the verse the proper interpretation of the passage becomes crystal clear. Jesus did not intend a prohibition of titles, but is is a warning to the prideful and arrogant not to seek titles that would make them superior to others while they usurped authority that comes from God.
If one would actually make the absurd argument that the three titles found in these verses (Rabbi, Father, and Teacher) are the issue, then a whole series of synonyms are also prohibited such as, professor, coach, doctor, dad, or grandfather. No serious student of the Bible adheres to this silly interpretation of this verse. The Catholic practice of calling priests fathers is right in line with the Bible. In both testaments, priest and father are used quite often. Micah addressed the Levite: “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest.” (Judges 17:10) St. Paul writes: “For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). So the next time someone says it is wrong to call a catholic priest “father”, you can respond, ‘Not according to the Bible!’
Protestants deny that St. Peter was the first pope and reject the papacy of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. It is quite obvious they forgot to open their Bibles and read how Christ while on earth instituted the papacy.
1)”And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.” (Matthew 16:18-19)
2) Peter’s name occurs first in all lists of apostles. (Mt 10:2; Mk 3:16; Lk 6:14; Acts 1:13). Matthew even calls him the first, “These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John.” (Matt.10:2)
3) Peter is regarded by Jesus as the Chief Shepherd after Himself, singularly by name, and over the universal Church. “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’ Again Jesus said, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me?’ He answered, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’ The third time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.'” (John 21:15-17)
4) Peter is regarded by the Jews as the leader and spokesman of Christianity. (Acts 4:1-13)
5) Peter is the first person to speak (and only one recorded) after Pentecost, so he was the first Christian to “preach the gospel” in the in the Church era. (Acts 2:14-36)
As a Catholic, I have the most personal relationship possible with our Lord. Would you like to know how?
* A Catholic’s personal relationship with God begins when they are “Born Again” through the sacrament of baptism. In this sacrament, the Lord forgives mortal, venial, and original sin as well as permanently marking the soul with a sign of His grace. One must remember Christ words, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit.” (Jn 3:5)
* When a Catholic does good works for their neighbor they are meeting Christ face to face. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matt 25:35-36)
* The sacrament of confession is a personal encounter with Jesus. Christ established this beautiful sacrament to free us from our sins when He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:22-23)
* When a Catholic reads or hears Scripture they are experiencing the Lord in a profound and intimate way. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)
* Personal Prayer is a one on one conversation with God which takes many forms such as, a novena, praying a rosary, or a simple petition from the heart. “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matt. 6:6 )
* The worthy reception of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is the most personal experience one can have with our Savior. One truly receives the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. “For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” (John 6:55-56)
* Catholics encounter Jesus in very special way in the sacrament of anointing of the sick or commonly call the last rites. In this sacrament bestowed through and only through a Catholic priest, Christ forgives sin, heals the body if it is His will, and strengthens the soul for the journey home. “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he is in sin, they shall be forgiven him.” (Jm 5:14)
Note: Catholics are not alone on the road to salvation, but are assisted and strengthened by the Communion of Saints, which is the spiritual solidarity of the faithful Church upon the earth, the souls in purgatory, and the saints in heaven.
I will offer my nightly rosary for you Candy and all the others misguided/misinformed readers of your site! In Jesu et Maria, Mrs. Dianna