MY PERSONAL VIEW CONCERNING THE CHURCH OF ROME

I MAKE A GREAT DISTINCTION BETWEEN CATHOLICS AS PEOPLE AND THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM THAT IS THE CHURCH OF ROME. I find it easy to befriend Catholics while standing opposed to the doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church. Both the Church and the people have a right to their beliefs. There are many instances in which they are convinced that I am wrong. I do not hold that against them. They will and often do, stand up to me and tell me why they believe I am wrong. I am not going to change my mind but I respect them and I listen to them.

You do not have to agree with me. You must choose your own standard. My personal standard, the very foundation upon which I stand, is the Bible. It is, for me, the absolute standard by which all doctrine and religious belief stand or fall. I accept it as absolute, unquestionable truth.

Where we speak of any group or system of belief, my standard is the same. Does it agree with or contradict the Word of God? Where any church, religion, group or individual promotes any belief or doctrine that is opposed to Scripture, I stand opposed.

NEITHER THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY NOR THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY ARE IN THE BIBLE.  Pope Pius IX declared the Immaculate Conception of Mary an article of faith on December 8, 1854. The Assumption of Mary was not even Catholic Doctrine until 1950 when Pope Pius XII declared it to be so. Since the declarations of the Popes not only invent new things not found in Scripture but also violate several clear Biblical concepts, I reject that doctrine. This is consistent with my foundational standard.

Let us not talk about my knowledge of the Catholic Religion. Let us use Catholic sources and Catholic Bibles. Every word of this is from well-known and accepted Catholic sources.

In his book The Faith of Millions, John O’Brien, a Catholic priest and Research Professor of Theology at Notre Dame, explains the procedure of the mass.

“When the priest pronounces the tremendous words of consecration, he reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man. It is a power greater than that of monarchs and emperors: it is greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of Seraphim and Cherubim. Indeed it is greater even than the power of the Virgin Mary. While the Blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man—not once but a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows His head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.”

COMPARE THAT WITH:

24 For Jesus is not entered into the holies made with hands, the patterns of the true: but into heaven itself, that he may appear now in the presence of God for us.

25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holies, every year with the blood of others:

26 For then he ought to have suffered often from the beginning of the world: but now once at the end of ages, he hath appeared for the destruction of sin, by the sacrifice of himself.

27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment:

28 So also Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many; the second time he shall appear without sin to them that expect him unto salvation. Hebrews 9:24-28 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

So, how would you reconcile this? Do you side with the Bible or the Esteemed Professor of Catholic Theology? I personally cannot reconcile the two opposing ideas. Consistent with my deepest principle, I reject the Catholic Doctrine of the Mass. The same principle causes me to reject Catholic doctrine concerning Mariology, Saints and Purgatory.

John O’Brien: Research Professor of Theology at Notre Dame and prolific author of books and pamphlets.

Born 20 January 1893 in Peoria, Illinois, John A. O’Brien attended St. Patrick School, the Spalding Institute, Holy Cross College (Worcester, Massachusetts), and St. Viator’s College (Bourbonnais, Illinois). Bishop Edmund M. Dunne ordained him as a priest of the Diocese of Peoria and he celebrated his first Mass 18 June 1916. He served as chaplain for the Catholic students at the University of Illinois and earned a Ph.D. in psychology there. He started the Newman Foundation at the University of Illinois. He began his career as an author of Catholic books by organizing symposia (Catholics and Scholarship and The White Harvest) and writing about Evolution and Religion. In 1938 he published a book about Catholicism called The Faith of Millions which became a best seller (200,000 copies by 1945), was reprinted in 27 editions, and was translated into 10 languages. He remained at the University of Illinois for twenty-two years. In 1939 he spent a year at Oxford University and produced a book about communism, Thunder from the Left. (http://archives.nd.edu/findaids/ead/html/OBR.htm)