Unbiblical Inventions Of The Catholic Church

Just to avoid Catholic knee-jerk reactions to what I am going to point out here, by “unbiblical” I mean things that were not practiced or taught by the early Church of the New Testament. Sure, you can find something in the Old Testament to seemingly justify various Catholic teachings and practices but those are often dishonest equivalencies such as claiming that the two winged cherubim on the ark of the covenant is justification for Catholic statues, which it most certainly is NOT. God commanded Moses to make ONE ark and TWO cherubim. God NEVER commanded Catholics or even the first century Church to make ANY statues of Mary or others. And yet Catholics have made literally millions of statues, not realizing that they are mimicking pagan idol worshipers in their use of religious statues in the practice of their religion.
 
So here is a list of many of the UNBIBLICAL Catholic inventions:

1. a sacramental system
2. holy water
3. the mass
4. the eucharist
5. transubstantiation
6. the sign of the cross
7. statue veneration
8. christenings
9. miraculous medals
10. confession booths
11. confession to a priest
12. sacrificial priesthood
13. religious candles
14. religious clothing
15. penance
16. relics
17. scapulars
18. incense use
19. shrines
20. mass cards & masses for the dead
21. crucifixes
22. monstrances
23. stations of the cross
24. praying novenas
25. praying the rosary
26. celebrating Lent
27. celebrating Ash Wednesday
28. celebrating Christmas
29. celebrating Easter
30. celebrating All Souls Day
31. celebrating All Saints Day
32. belief in the assumption of Mary
33. belief in the immaculate conception
34. holy orders
35. holy days of obligation
36. purgatory
37. indulgences
38. treasury of merit
39. rosary beads
40. altars in church meeting places
41. last rites (a.k.a. extreme unction)
42. confirmation ceremonies
43. first holy communion ceremonies
44. mary statues
45. saint statues
46. saint canonization
47. calling church leaders “father”
48. calling bishops “popes”
49. calling popes or bishops “holy father”
50. classes of Christians called popes
51. classes of Christians called priests
52. classes of Christians called nuns
53. classes of Christians called cardinals
54. classes of Christians called altar boys
55. classes of Christians called altar monks
56. specialized buildings called monasteries
57. specialized buildings called convents
58. establishing political embassies around the world
59. a magisterium
60. the idea of oral tradition superseding Scripture
61. secret societies like Opus Dei or the Jesuits
62. praying to mediators in Heaven other than Jesus
63. religious headquarters on earth (such as the Vatican)
64. torturing and murdering people considered heretics
65. a false works-righteousness plan of salvation

The true Church, as described in the pages of the New Testament, was a far simpler entity than the religious monstrosity that is Catholicism. There was no massive clerical hierarchy. There was no 900 page Catholic Catechism. In fact, there were no Catholics – just Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ. Most gatherings of these believers were in homes, not in big fancy expensive buildings. Usually each local church was overseen (but not necessarily tightly controlled) by a plurality of elders. There were no popes and no priests. Communion was a memorial service commemorating the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and also celebrating the future wedding feast of the Lamb in Heaven some day. And communion was celebrated with ordinary bread, not some round wafer patterned after the sun god to be paraded around in a starburst-patterned “monstrance” that pagan sun god worshipers would use. Ironically, the persecuted underground churches that we hear about around the world today are more like the first century church than what we see in both Catholic and Protestant churches nowadays. Something to think about.
 
Our website has an entire section dedicated to sharing biblical information “About Church” that we encourage you to examine. — RM Kane
 

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