A Conversation Between A True Bible-Believing Christian And A Heavily Indoctrinated Roman Catholic

This dialog is a composite of many actual conversations that I, as a bible-believing Christian, have had with Catholics in Facebook discussion forums. Very often, Catholics will reply with some very harsh statements and crude language. What I have included here omits the truly nasty comments I have received. I must admit that not every professing Christian in these forums is kind-hearted in their comments to Catholics.
 
True Christian: Did you know that your Church is deceiving their members on many religious teachings and practices?
 
Roman Catholic: That’s just your opinion. The Catholic Church is the one true Church started by Jesus in 33 AD.
 
True Christian: Actually, the true Church was started by Jesus but it was not the Catholic Church. It was the Church described in the New Testament which was very different in their teachings and practices from the Catholic Church.
 
Roman Catholic: No. We have a line of 266 popes going back to the first pope, the apostle Peter.
 
True Christian: Actually, Peter was never a pope. He never had that title nor did he have a role as leader over the entire Church. There were other leaders, referred to as bishops, who oversaw local churches in other regions. And contrary to Catholic claims, the Catholic Church did not exist during the first century. It evolved over the course of several centuries, as a mixture of Christianity and pagan religions.
 
Roman Catholic: I don’t believe that. You’re just a heretic like Luther. Your religion didn’t exist until 500 years ago. We’re the one true holy and apostolic Catholic Church!
 
True Christian: Actually, if you take the time to study the Bible, especially the New Testament, you will see that most of Catholicism’s teachings cannot be found in the Bible.
 
Roman Catholic: Don’t tell me that our teachings are not in the Bible. We have the Magisterium and other spirit filled leaders and theologians who are much more qualified than you or your sect leader to interpret the Bible. Plus we have the writings of the Church Fathers and “sacred traditions” to refer to.
 
True Christian: But much of the Catholic Church teachings are based upon Scriptures taken in isolation or out of context or derived from unverifiable outside sources like those “sacred traditions” you mentioned.
 
Roman Catholic: You’re just a heretic, one of 40,000 Protestant denominations. We’re the one true holy and apostolic Catholic Church!
 
True Christian: Actually, I am going by what the Bible teaches and in there, there is no mention of many Catholic Church inventions such as scapulars, miraculous medals, votive candles, indulgences, purgatory, rosary beads, mass cards, statues of saints, sacrifice of the mass, eucharists, sacred heart pictures, Marian shrines, stations of the cross, the immaculate conception, the assumption of Mary, popes, cardinals, monks, Catholic priests, nuns, eucharistic ministers, last rites, masses for the dead, veneration of relics or any of the Catholic holy days of obligation.
 
Roman Catholic: You’re just a heretic. All non-Catholic churches are man-made. We’re the one true holy and apostolic Catholic Church!
 
True Christian: Actually, if you examine the New Testament, and look at the ordinances and practices of the early Church as described in there, you will see that what is being described is most definitely NOT the Catholic Church.
 
Roman Catholic: I disagree. We gave you the Bible. Only our clergy can properly interpret the Bible. They tell us what the Bible means. We need to trust them otherwise we will end up like the Protestants with 40,000 different sects.
 
True Christian: Actually, GOD gave HIS CHURCH the Bible, through Moses, the prophets and the apostles. And it is cults that tell their followers to rely on the cult leaders to interpret the Bible for the cult members.
 
Roman Catholic: But you didn’t have a Bible until we compiled it.
 
True Christian: Actually, the early Church had the Old Testament Scriptures and the letters to the churches and the 4 gospels before the first century ended. They were not waiting around for the Catholic Church to print a Bible centuries later.
 
Roman Catholic: But we have Christ in the Eucharist. Your sect does not.
 
True Christian: Actually, Jesus is ruling and reigning over the TRUE Church from heaven and He does that through the Holy Spirit indwelling true twice-born believers, those who have received Christ by the “new birth” referred to by Jesus in John chapter 3.
 
Roman Catholic: As Catholics, we receive Jesus every time we receive the host during the sacrifice of the mass.
 
True Christian: Believing in transubstantiation – the idea that each Catholic eucharist contains the entire body, blood, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t mean it’s true. Your Church has taken the words of Christ in John chapter 6 literally, when they were meant figuratively as Jesus pointed out in John 6:63.
 
Roman Catholic: That’s just your opinion. You’re just like the people who walked away from Jesus when He said we must eat His body and drink His blood.
 
True Christian: Actually Catholics are like those people who walked away from Jesus because, like the people who walked away, Catholics believe that Jesus was speaking literally. But Catholics think they are better than the ones who walked away from Jesus because Catholics accept the idea that Jesus was promoting cannibalism, though they will never call it cannibalism.
 
Roman Catholic: Like I said before, your just another Protestant heretic who abandoned the one true Church.
 
True Christian: It is an honor to be called a heretic when sharing biblical truth with lost, hell-bound Catholics.
 
Roman Catholic: I am NOT hell-bound! I may have to spend some time in Purgatory but as long as I don’t die in a state of mortal sin, my church says I don’t have to worry about Hell.
 
True Christian: Sadly for you, there is no such place as Purgatory, regardless of how your church tries to find evidence for it in 2 Maccabees or elsewhere. Those who die in their sins, any sins, without having been truly born-again, will spend eternity in Hell.
 
Roman Catholic: Well that’s good to hear, since I was born again at baptism as an infant when the priest baptized me.
 
True Christian: Sorry, but that is not true. Being born again involves a supernatural act of God apart from any Catholic priest and apart from any water baptism ceremony. It is the event that turns a lost sinner into a new creature in Christ, when they repent and believe the Gospel of Christ… salvation by faith alone in the merits of Christ alone.
 
Roman Catholic: But salvation is not by faith alone. Works are necessary as the Bible says in James chapter 2 that faith without works is dead.
 
True Christian: If you read James chapter 2 carefully, you will see that works are the FRUIT of salvation, not the cause of it, when James says “I will shew thee my faith by my works” in verse 18.
 
Roman Catholic: I refuse to believe that. The Catholic Church has the Treasury Of Merit, intercession of Mary, intercession of the saints and masses for the dead that can help us get into heaven, so salvation by faith alone cannot be right.
 
True Christian: The Bible makes no mention of any soul-saving power in those things you just listed. On the other hand, the Bible clearly states that salvation is by the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and by His sacrificial blood alone!
 
Roman Catholic: We Catholics don’t believe that. We believe that Christ’s death only makes it possible for people to be saved. They still have to be baptized, participate in the sacraments and cooperate with God.
 
True Christian: Your false beliefs won’t change truth. They won’t change reality. Christ’s atoning death at Calvary was sufficient payment for sin and the ONLY acceptable payment – to God – for sin, for all those sinners who will ever believe in Christ and His merits ALONE for their salvation.
 
Roman Catholic: That’s just Protestant heresy. You’re nothing more than a child of the devil!
 
True Christian: Well then, I am in good company. Jesus Himself said: “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” Matthew 10:25
 
— RM Kane