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The Unbiblical Teachings

o

Roman Catholicism

A

review o Loraine Boettner s

Roman atholicism

y Joe Morecraft

All

of

Loraine Boettner' s books are helpful

to

Christians

who are

seeking

to

understand the great truthsofBiblical,

Refonned

Christianity. Writing

as

a Christian layman,

his books are some

of

the most readable in'my entire

library. His book,

The

Reformed octrine of

Predestination

transformed my life

and

my preaching.

Boettner'sbook Roman Catholicism is no less important

It is the clearest and most thorough critique of the

teachings of Roman Catholicism from a

Reformed

Christian perspective that

I

know of.

I

earnestly pray that

these "tastes"

of

his

book

will only whet

your

appetite to

buy the book and "devour" the whole thing.

Boettner's one concern

in

his book is to compare the

teachings of Rome with the unerring standard of the

Bible: To the law and the testimony f hey speak not

according to this word, surely there is no moroing for

them," (Isa 8:20).

His

conclusions about Rome can

be

summarized by Mark 7:7,13- But

in

vain do they

worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts

of

men

... making void

the

word

of

God by your

tradition,

which

ye

have delivered: and many such like things

ye

do."

1. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

VERSUS

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Boettner quotes John Gerstner, formerly Professor

of

Church History

in

Pittsburgh Theological Seroinary, to

distinguish "catholic"

from RomanCatholic - Strictly

speaking

'Roman

Catholic' is a contradiction

of

terms.

Catholic means universal; Roman means partiCUlar. Itis

the Protestant and not the Romanist who believes in the

catholic church. Protestants believethechurchis universal

or catholic;

Rome

cannot discover it

beyond her own

communion.

Our

formula is: 'UbiSpiritusibiecclesia'

'Where the Spirit is there is the church.'

Her

motto is:

'Ubi ecclesia ibi Spiritus'-'Where the (Roman) church

is there is the Spirit.' It is because of the prop er historic

use

of the word'catholic' thatProtestants do not hesitate

to recite it in the Apostles' Creed.

We

cling to

the

word

because

we

cherish the concept. Rome

has

no monopoly

on it; indeed, as

we

have suggested,

it

is a question

whether she has any right to it." (page 22)

2.

THE

ROMAN

CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

As over

against the great Biblical doctrines

of

the

unique andall sufficient mediatorship

and

priesthoodof

Jesus Christ and the priesthoodof all believers in Christ,

The

Council ofTrent,

whose

decrees," writes Boettner,

must

be accepted

by

allRoman Catholics under pain of

mortal sin or excommunication, says: 'The priest is the

man ofGod, the ministerof God ... He that despiseth the

pries t despiseth God; he that hears him hears God.

The

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priest remits sins

as

God, and that which he calls his body

at the altar is adored as God by hiInself

8nd

by the

congregation....

t

s

clear

that their function is such that

nonegreatercan be conceived. Wherefore they are justly

called not only angels, but

also

God, holding as they do

among

us

the powerand

authority of

heimmortalGod.'

(pageS )

Boettner quotes another source, bearing the official

approval

of

the Roman Catholic Church, as .saying:

"Without the priest the death and

pasSion ofoUr

Lord

would beofno avail tous. See the powerof he priest By

one word from his lips he changeS a piece

of

bread into a

God A greater fact than the creation

of

a world." (page

51

3. THE TRADITION OF THE CHURCH

Boettner believes that

the

controversy over tradition and

biblical authority is ''the basic difference between

Protestantism and Roman Catholicism." (page 75) True

Protestants believe that all traditions and standards

of

he

Church must be kept subordinate to the Bible, as the

written Word

of

God,

the

divine authority

of

which is

inerrant, all- sufficient, and final.

n

contrast to this,

Roman Catholicism teaches that there are threesources

of

authority: the Bible,

the

developing traditions

of

the

which, and nature/reason. \

''In professing to interpret the Bible in ilie 'light

of

tradition, the Roman Church

in

reality places. radition

above the Bible, so that the Roman Catholic is governed;

not by the Bible, nor by

the

Bible and tradition, but by the

I church itself which sets

up

the tradition and says whatit

I

means. -

...

e m u s t p o i n t o u t h o w o m e a l s o n u l l i f i e s

or destroys the Word.

She

maintains that alongside

of

he

written Word there is also an unwritten Word, an oral

tradition, which

was

taughtby Christ and

the

apostles but

which is not in the Bible,whichrather was handed down

generation after generation . .. This unwritten Word

of

God,itis said, comes toexpressionin the pronouncements

of

the church councils and

in

papal decrees.

t

takes

precedence over the written Word and inteiprets

it

The

pope,

as o

s personal representative on the earth, can

legislate for things additionalto theBibleas new situations

arise." (page 76-77)

The Counsel of Chalcedon FebruarylMarch 1991 Page 32

Boettner

goes

on to point out that

the

Bible of

Roman

Catholicismis differentfrom the BibleofProtestantism.

This is a

serious

difference, which is often overlooked.

4. THE PAPACY

Boettner

pointS

out that Roman Catholicism

teaches

that Peter, the apostle

of

ChriSt, was the frrst Roman

Catholic

Pope.

He then

spends

twenty pages

using

the

Bible to refute

that

yiewpoint. His arguments are

convincing. He concludes his comments with this

paragraph: "The doctrine of the primacy ofPeter is just

one moreof'the many errors that the Church of Romehas

added to the

Christian religion. With the exposure of

hat

fallacy the foundation

of

the :Roman Church is swept

away. Thewhole papal system stands orfans

depending

on whether or not Peter was a pope in Rome, and neither

the New Testament nor reliable historical

records

give

any reason

to

believe that

he

ever held thatposition orthat

he ever

was

in ROme." (page 124)

According to an official New York Catechism: "The

pope

takes the

place ofJesus Christonearth ... By

divine

right the pope has supreme and full power in faith and

moralsOvereach andeverypastorandhis flock Heisthe

true Vicar of Christ, the

head of

the entire church,

the

father and teacher

of

all Christians. He is the infallible

ruler,

the

founder

of

dogmas,

the

author

of

and

the

judge

of

councils;

the

universal ruler

of

truth,

the

arbiter of

the

world,

the

supreme judge of heaven and

earth, the

judge

of

all,

being

judged by no one, God himself on earth.

Pope Leo

xm

declared that

the

Pope holds "upon

earth

the place of God

Almighty."

(page 127)

s. THE PLA(:E OF MARY

IN ROMAN CATHOLICISM

Mary,

the

mother

of

Jesus, plays a central role in Roman

theology. Although Protestantism appreciates

Mary,

as

most blessed ofGod, being themotherofJesus,whilestil

a virgin. ButRoman Catholicismleads people to worship

her. Margaret Shepherd, an ex -nun, illustrates

this

worshipful veneration

of

Mary, when

she writes:

"No

words can define to my

readers

the feeling

of

reverentia

love I had for the Virgin Mary. As the humble supplian

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kneels before

her

statue he thinks of her

as

the tender,

compassionate mother of Jesus, the friend and mediatrix

of sinners.

The

thought

of

praying to Christ for any

special grace without seeldng the intercession

of

I\1Ju:y

never occurred to me. (page

141)

Boettner describes

how

Rome

has

idolatrously exalted

Maly

by teaching her immaculate conception, i.e., she

was

born sinless, her perpetual virginity, (inspite of the

fact that she and Joseph had other children after Jesus),

her assumption, i.e., she was raised from the dead and

enthroned

as

Queen of Heaven, and her position as co

redemptrix with Christ

A particularly helpful distinction betweenofficialRoman

statements onMary and the Bible

is

drawn on pages

138-

140, where Boettner shows thatMary

is

given the exalted

position belonging to Christ alone, that she

is

glorified

more than Christ, that she is the gate to heaven instead of

Christ, that she

is

given the power that belongs to Christ

alone,

that she

is

our peace-make rather than Christ, and

that she is given the glory that belongs to Christ alone.

6.

THE

MASS

One of the most repugnant things about Roman

Catholicism

is

the Mass. The Creed

of

Pope Pius IV,

which

is one

of the official creeds of the Roman Church,

says:

'I

profess that in the Mass

is

offered to God a true,

proper,

and

propitiatory sacrifice [that is, a sacrifice

which satisfies the justice of God and so offsets the

penalty for sin1 or the living and the dead; and that in the

most holy sacramentoftheEucharist [Communion] there

is truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood,

together with the soul and divinity,

of

our Lord Jesus

Christ; and that there is a conversion

of

the whole

substance of the bread into the

body,

and

of

the whole

substance of the wine into the blood, which the Catholic

Church calls Transubstantiation.' The Council of Trent

declared: 'The sacrifice

[in the Mass

1

s identical with the

sacrifice

of he

Cross, inasmuch as Jesus Christ

is

a priest

and

victim

both.

The only difference lies in

the

manner

of offering, which is bloody upon the cross and bloodless

on our altars.'

A Roman Catholic, John A

0

Brien, whose books are

widely read, says: 'The Mass with its colorful vestments

and vivid ceremonies

is

a dramatic re-enactment in an

unbloody manner

of he

sacrifice

of

Christ on Calvary.

(page

169)

Boettner explains Rome's view of the Mass by saying

that: The Church of Rome holds that the mass

is

a

continuation

of

he sacrifice that Christ made on Calvary,

that it

is

in reality a re-crucifixion

of

our Lord over and

overagain,inanunbloodymanner.-Christsupposedly

is

offered in sacrifice every time the mass

is

celebrated,

that is, daily, in thousands

of

Roman Catholic churches

throughout the world. - In the sacrifice

of

the mass

the

Roman priest

becomes

an 'AlterChristus,' that is, 'Another

Christ,' in that he sacrifices the real Christ upon the altar

and presents im for the salvation of he faithful and for

the deliverance

of

souls in purgatory. The Roman Church

teachesthatChrist,intheformofthe 'host' (the consecrated

wafer), is inreality upon the altar, and that the priests have

Him n their power, that they hold im n their hands, and

carry

Him

from place

to

place. (page 174).

This is in direct contradiction to the Word

of

God which

teaches us that by the once-for-all and unrepeatable

sacrifice

of

Jesus Christ, He has cleansed

us

from all sin,

Reb. 9:12; I John 1:7. Transubstantiation in the Mass

amounts to.cannibalism,

i.e.

the eating

of

he literal flesh

and blood of Jesus.

7.TH CONFESSIONAL

Concerning the confession of sins, Roman Catholicism

teaches: Confession

is

the telling

of

our sins to an

authorized priest for the purpose

of

obtaining forgiveness.

- The priest does not have to

ask God to forgive your

sins. The priest himselfhas the power to do so in Christ's

name. Your sins are forgiven by the priest the same as

i

you knelt before Jesus Christ and told them to Christ

himself. (pages 196- 197)

This flies in the face

of

the Word

of

God. Who can

forgive sins, butone, even God? (Mark2:7). ..TheSon

of

man has authority on earth to forgive sins,

(Mat. 9:6).

Every penitent sinner has the blessed privilege

of

confessing

his

sins directly to

God- If

we confess our

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sins, he is faitbfulandrighteous to forgive us oursins,.and

to,

cleanse us from

all unrighteousness,

I John

1:9).

''There is

one God,

One Mediatoralso between

God and

men, himself man, Christ Jesus,

I Tim.

2:5). The

publican, burdened with

his

sense of sin, simply bowed

his head and in prayer directly

to

God,

prayed,

God,

be

thou merciful to me a sinner, Lk. 18:9f).

We are

also

commanded to confess our

faults to

one

another as Christians, when we have sinned against each

other, James 5:16; Acts 19:18, but never are we

commanded to

confess

our sins

to

office-holders called

priests in order to receive forgiveness from

God:

8. THE PLACE OF PURGATORY ,

IN ROMAN CATHOLICISM

Boettner explains

that:

The Roman Catholic Church

has

developed a doctrine in which it is held that

all who

die at peace with the church, but who are notperfect, must

undergo penal and purifying suffering in

an

intermediate

realm known

as

purgatory. Only those believers

who

haveattainedastateofChristianperfectiongoimmediately

to

heaven. - The doctrine of purgatory rests on

the

assumption that while God forgives .sin,

His

justice

nevertheless demands that the sinner must sllffer the

full

punishment due to him for

his

sin before

he

will be

allowed

to

enter heaven.

''The Roman Catholic people are taught that the souls of

their relatives and

friends

in purgatory suffergreat torment

in the flames, that

they are

unable

to

help themselves, that

not even

God

can help them until

His

justice has been

satisfied, and that

ouly

their

friends on

earth can shorten

or alleviate that suffering. Purgatory

is

supposed to be

under

the

special juris(iiction of

the

pope, and it is

his

prerogative as the representative of Christ

on e rth to

grant indulgences (Le., relief from suffering)

as

he sees

fi t (pages 218-219) .

This

doctrines gives

to the

death and funeral of

the

Roman Catholic a

dreadful

and repellent aspect Under

theshadowofsuchadoctrinedeathisnot,asinevangelical

Protestantism, the

corningof

Christ for

his

loved one, but

the ushering

of

the shrinking soul into a place

of

unspeakable torture.

I t is

no wonder that millions of

he

Counsel of Chalcedon FehruarylMarch 1991 Page 34

. people

bom

in the Roman Catholic

Church,

mowing

practicallynothingabouttheBiblebutbelievingimplicitly

in

the doctrines

of heir

church,

shouldlive

and

die infear

ofdeath,infearofspendinganunkiloWnnumberofyears

in

the pain

and anguish of that place

called

purgatory.

How tragic

that these people live in fear

and servitude to

the priests, who they are

taught

to

believe

hold

in their

hands

the

power of

ife

anddeath,when

all

the time

Christ

has paid for their redemption in

full.

(pages .219-

220)

Romanism

teaches that: ''The painsofpurgatory arevery

severe,surpassing anything endured in

this

life. ''There

is absolutely

no doubt that

the

pains of

purgatory in

some

cases endure

for entire centuries.

(page

220)

The doctrine of purgatory cannot be

found in the

Bible.

Instead,wereadChristSaying: ''Hethathearethmyword,

and

believethhim

that

sent me, HATH

eternal life, and

cometh not into judgment, but hath passed

out

of

death

into life, (John 5:24).

8. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE

OF PENANCE

(SALVATION BY WORKS)

A Roman Catholic training manual, INS1RUCTIONS

FOR

NON-CATHOLICS, states:

in the sacrament of

penance, Godgives

the

priest the power to bring sinners

back into

the

state of grace and to prevent

them from

falling

into the abyss

of

hell

. Moreover,

after

confession

some temporal punishment due to sin generally remains ,

and some

of

his

punishment

is

taken

away

in

the

penance

(prayers) the

priest

gives

you

to say

.

You should perform

otheracts ofpenancealso so

that

you can

make

up

for the

temporal punishment due to sin and to avoid a

long stay

in purgatory. (pages

254-255)

Over against this merit system of forgiveness of

sins

earnedbygoodworks

stands

Protestantism, which teaches

that salvation

is

by grace through faith, and not by

meritorious

works,

Eph. 2:8ff; Rom. 3:28. Boettuer

drives

home

is point.

by

quoting

C.D. Cole

:

The basic

andfataierrorofRomanismisthedenialofthesufficiency

of Christ

as

Savior. It

denies the

efficacy of

His sacrifice

on the

cross.

Romanism

has

a Christ, but .

he is

not

sufficient as a Savior. What he did

on Calvary

must be

repeated (in

the

Mass)

and

supplemented

(through works

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of

penance),

and

this makes priestcraft and

sacrarnentarianismnecessary. Romanismis acomplicated

system

of

salvation

by

works. t

has

salvation

to

sell, but

not on Isaiah's terms-without money and withoutprice,

sa 55 :1.

t

offers salvation on the insta1bnent plan, and

then sees to it that the poor sinner

is

always behind in his

payments, so that when he dies there is a large balance

unpaid,

and he must continue payments by sufferings in

purgatory, or until the debt

is

paid

by

prayers, alms,and

sufferings ofhis living relatives and friends. The whole

system and plan calls for merit and money, from the

cradle

to

the grave, and even beyond. (page 257-258).

Cons

i

derthi.s

contrast: Rome

says-"If

anyonesaith that

justifying faith

is

nothing else but confidence in the divine

mercy

which

remits sin for Christ's sake alone; or, that

this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified, Jet

im be anathema,

(i

.

e.

cursed

of

God), (Sess. VI, Can.

12).

(page 261)

The Bible says that anyone who would

base his salvation on his own merit or works

is

Being

ignorant ofGod ' s righteousness, and seeking to establish

their own, they did not subject themselves

to

the

righteousness of God, Rom. 10:3.

9. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC LITURGY,

CEREMONIES AND RITUALS

Thegorgeous vestments, colorful processions, pageantry

and

mystifYing

symbolism, the stately music, the solemn

intonations

of

he priests ina singsong voice,

the

flickering

candles , he tinkling bells, the sweetsmellingincense

..

-

all

are

designed to impress the senses and the emotions.

All of which is "a purely man-made religious display, a

ritualistic ceremony that

is

not even hinted at anywhere in

the

Bible

(page 270)

Boettner's assessment

of

all this pageantry and liturgy

is

to the point: ''Romanismis largely areligion ofceremonials

and rituals, and as such it is a far departure from the purity

and simplicity

of

the Gospel. The supposed blessing

is

mysterious andmagical. No really intelligentparticipation

is

required

on

the part of the people. THey are largely

spectators watching the pageantry and

are

supposed to be

blessed simply because they are there. - Fifteen

centuries of history make it clear that the Roman ritual

is

powerless to uplift the world. Indeed,is itany wonder that

Roman Catholic countries areproverbially impoverished,

illiterate, and degraded

?

We charge Rome with obscuring

rather th n revealing the simply truth

of

the way

of

salvation

as

set forth in the Bible, and with the additionof

many doctrines and practices not found in the Bible.

(page 276)

10.

THE

ROMAN CATHOLIC VIEW

OFCELmACY

According to Rome, a single, celibate state is superior

to marriage, and The CouncilofTrent even pronounced

an

anathema against

all

who teach that the married state

is

preferable

to

that

of

virginity

or

celibacy. Thus on the

one hand she exalts marriage, [as a sacrament], while on

the other she degrades it In the eyes

of

Rome there

is

something unclean about marriage. The boy who enters

a monastery

to

study for the priesthood, and the girl who

enters a convent, are taught, not that sex

is

the normal

reproductive instinct found in every healthy person and

animal, butthattheseromanticdesires aresinful,something

to be ashamed of. (page 299)

Over against this Roman view, which originates with

Manichaeism and Gnosticism, is the Biblical view of

marriage and family as presented by Charles Hodge: It

is only in the married state that some of the purest, most

disinterested, and most elevated principles of our nature

are called into exercise. All that concerns filial piety, and

parental and especially maternal affection, depends on

marriage for its very existence. It is in the bosom

of

the

family that there is a constant call for acts ofkindness,of

self-denial, of forbearance, and of love. The family,

therefore,

is

thespherethebestadaptedforthedevelopment

of

all the social virtues; and it may be safely said that there

is

far more of moral excellence andof true religion to be

foundin Christian households, thanin the desolate homes

of priests, or in the gloomy cells of monks and nuns.

(pages 303-304)

Boettner concludes his book with a chapter entitled, A

System Tested by

Its

Fruits: ' in which he

writes:

We

have now examined the distinctive features of Roman

Catholicism and have found that each oneof hem is false

and truly formidable

in

its consequences of leading

(Boettner continued on page 23)

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