A BIBLICAL EVALUATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
 

    The Catholic Church is the one true Church established by Jesus Christ for the salvation of all mankind (Rev. John A. O'Brien, The Faith of Millions.
    You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine (the apostle Paul's instructions to Titus, Titus 2:1).
    The purpose of this book is twofold: (1) to help non-Catholic Christians better understand what Roman Catholicism believes and practices and (2) to help Roman Catholics evaluate their own church on the basis of biblical teaching. This is necessary since, as Catholic apologist Karl Keating correctly points out in What Catholics Really Believe - Setting the Record Straight, "Catholics are required to hold and believe all the declared doctrines of the Church." No one can deny that substantial changes have occurred in the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican II, the major Roman Catholic council intended to usher in "the beginning of a new era in Roman Catholic history." Since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has increasingly encouraged its members to read the Bible and apply it to their lives. Also, it is no longer a serious sin to attend non-Catholic churches. Perhaps the most important change in Catholicism is its allowance of a new freedom for the biblical gospel itself. Modern Roman Catholicism is commendable in other ways as well. Socially the Church has consistently maintained a high view of the sanctity of life and of marriage. Biblically it has continued to defend the inerrancy of Scripture, at least as an official doctrine of the Church. Theologically it accepts the orthodox view of the Trinity, Christ's deity, and His atonement. Spiritually it has a good understanding of the seriousness of sin and its consequences in eternal judgment.
    Nonetheless, all this does not mean that the Church is without problems. Perhaps the most serious issue in Roman Catholicism is its unwillingness to accept biblical authority alone as the final determiner of Christian doctrine and practice. For example, by accepting Catholic Tradition as a means of divine revelation, even biblically correct teachings in the Church become hedged about with unbiblical trimmings, which in turn tend to either revise, neutralize, or nullify the truth found in the Bible. We agree with Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones that, in many ways, the problem "is not so much a matter of 'denial' of the truth, but rather such an addition to the truth that eventually it becomes a departure from it." This truly unfortunate situation illustrates a principle Jesus taught - that even heartfelt religious traditions can become a means of leading people away from God's best for their lives. On one occasion Jesus told the leading religious figures of His day, "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men" (Mark 7:8). Regardless, no one can argue with the statement that "...the Roman Church has been one of the most powerful influences in the history of all civilization..." Thus, because Roman Catholicism is a major world religion having more than a billion adherents, and because its influence in the world is sizeable, a biblical evaluation of the teachings of the Church is vital.
 

    If God has revealed Himself to mankind, can we know where that revelation is found? Can we identify it? In other words, can we truly know what God has spoken to us?
    What constitutes divine revelation is crucial because without it, very little can be known about God - who He is, what He has communicated to us, and what He expects of us. The question of divine authority is inseparably bound to the issue of divine revelation. Only that which comes from God has divine authority. Only God's revelation has authentic and inherent power to command obedience.
    Has God spoken? If so, where has He spoken?
    Protestants have traditionally maintained that God has spoken solely in the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament. Only these books are divinely authoritative. In contrast, Roman Catholicism teaches that in addition to the Protestant Bible, there are five other sources having divine authority. First, there are additional books written between the Old and New Testaments, known to Catholics as the deuterocanonical books and to Protestants by the term "apocrypha." Roman Catholics consider these books genuine  Scripture and include them as part of their Bible. Second, Catholicism maintains that divine authority is to be found in the authorized Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, which is also classified as the "Word of God." Third, divine authority (infallibility) is given to the Pope when he speaks officially on matters of faith and morals. Fourth, when speaking or teaching in conjunction with the Pope and orthodox Catholic Tradition, Roman Catholic bishops are also held to be infallible, and hence, divinely authoritative. Finally, official Roman Catholic interpretation of the Bible (Catholic teaching) is considered to have divine warrant and authority. In essence, all five of these sources can be summarized by the term "Roman Catholic Tradition." Protestantism rejects these additional sources of divine authority, and this underscores the single most important division between the two churches. Neither Protestants nor Catholics can deny this issue. Divine authority cannot be found in the Bible alone and at the same time in various additional sources of alleged revelation if these deny the Bible. Because God does not contradict Himself (2^nd Corinthians 1:17-20; cf. Psalm 145:13; Galatians 3:21; Hebrews 13:8) and cannot lie. He cannot affirm one set of teachings in the Bible and then declare them wrong through additional forms of revealed Tradition. Therefore, Protestants believe that if the Bible truly is God's Word (as Catholics also maintain), then anything that conflicts with biblical teachings cannot possibly be from God. In short, this issue is crucial because Catholic Tradition and biblical revelation conflict with one another on matters of vital importance, such as the means of salvation. In the end, this may have great personal consequence, including the uncertainty about or even the unintended rejection of the true means of salvation. No one can deny that devout Catholics, like Protestants, sincerely wish to do God's will; they desire to know what is pleasing to God so they may live their lives accordingly. This is why the issue of biblical authority is so crucial.

John Ankerberg & John Weldon