Today is the 504th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Five hundred and four years ago, Martin Luther, in God’s providence, nailed 95 theses to a door and unwittingly began a movement that changed Christianity forever. This day is significant because I was born and reared in the Roman Catholic Church.
Though I wasn’t as devout as my mother or eldest sister, being a Roman Catholic was core to my identity. Hence, when God graciously saved me through a protestant Bible study, I resisted leaving the RCC.
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I wanted to attend protestant churches but couldn’t bear to abandon my family’s tradition. So, I didn’t get baptized as a new believer; I continued observing catholic rites like Ash Wednesday and attended mass on Easter and Christmas. I even thought I would participate in Sunday morning protestant service and Sunday/Saturday evening mass. This brilliant initiative lasted about a week.
But to my surprise and my family’s dismay, I eventually left the RCC for good. Once I began reading and studying God’s Word, I noticed inconsistencies between Scripture and the Catholic Catechism. I told myself I would leave the RCC if I found ten inconsistencies, but I never finished that list. The more I searched the Scriptures and learned about God, the less interested I became in the RCC or defending it. Then one day, I realized with shouts of joy that my link to the Roman Catholic Church was severed. I no longer considered myself Catholic and didn’t feel a twinge of guilt about it. I was blissfully free!
Over the years, I have thought about completing that list to see if I could find ten heresies of the Roman Catholic Church (I had formally written down three). So for Reformation Day, I finally decided to finish my list. And here are ten reasons why I left the Roman Catholic Church and will never return.
1. Work-based salvation
First and foremost, the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t teach the biblical gospel but a work-based gospel. Whereas the Bible says we are saved by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9), Roman Catholicism says we are justified by faith plus the sacraments.
There are seven sacraments in Roman Catholic teaching: Baptism, Holy Communion or Eucharist, Confirmation, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. These sacraments are not just symbolic but actually confer grace. Their catechism says, “the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ Himself is at work.”
The Bible never mentions the seven sacraments or their necessity for salvation. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Moreover, the Bible only speaks of two ordinances, baptism of believers and the Lord’s Supper. And contrary to Roman Catholic teaching, both are purely symbolic.
2. Mariology
The Roman Catholic Church teaches many extra-biblical doctrines about Mary. They say Mary was born without a sinful nature and the stain of original sin (Immaculate Conception), she remained a virgin forever (Perpetual Virginity), and upon her death, Mary’s body and soul were taken to heaven (Assumption). These teachings are man-made doctrines with no shred of biblical support. In fact, they contradict Scripture. All men are born in sin (Romans 5:12; 3:23), and Jesus had brothers and sisters (Matt 13:55-56, John 2:12).
What is even more concerning is the idolatry of Mary. Now many Catholics quickly say they don’t worship Mary; they only honor her. I have made that clarification myself many times before. But it is a distinction without a difference. Roman Catholics call Mary the mother of God, pray to her for intercession, and give her near equal status to Christ.
3. Pope/papacy
According to the RCC, the pope comes from an unbroken line of succession of bishops going back to the apostle Peter. And this apostolic succession grants unique authority to the pope. He is the holy father or most holy father, the head of the church, the vicar of Christ (the representative of Christ on earth and has the same authority over the church as Christ), and the High Priest or Pontiff (bridge-builder in Latin). Furthermore, the pope’s words are infallible when he speaks authoritatively on doctrines or matters of faith from his seat (ex-cathedra).
In other words, the pope has the same titles and functions as the Triune God. That is blatantly unbiblical.
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Scripture says God alone is inherently holy (1 Sam 2:2). Only God the Father deserves to be called Holy Father and bear the spiritual authority that comes with it (Matthew 23:9). The head of the Church is Jesus Christ (Eph 1:22-23, Col 1:18). There is no biblical evidence for apostolic succession. Christ is our High Priest and the only bridge or mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5).
Finally, the vicar or replacement of Christ on earth is the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-18). Only His words, the Sacred Scripture, are infallible and supremely authoritative in matters of faith, morals, and practice (2 Tim 3:16-17).
4. Intercession of the saints
The RCC encourages Catholics to pray routinely to Mary and the saints (deceased Christians who lived with exemplary holiness). Many Catholics also like to say they don’t pray to the saints but merely ask them to pray for them. They liken it to asking someone on earth to pray for us. But it is another distinction without a difference. In practice, there is little to no difference between prayer and their so-called “petition.”
It is not the same as earthly intercessions because Mary and the saints are dead. And dead people cannot hear us. To say deceased saints can listen to us makes them omniscient like God, which is heresy.
When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, He directed His prayers to God the Father and never taught them to pray or speak to deceased people in heaven. Moreover, we already have an intercessor in heaven praying for us, Jesus Christ (Heb 7:25). Even if the dead could petition God on our behalf, God would not listen to them more than His own begotten Son. So the practice is unbiblical and useless.
With the Holy Spirit interceding for us on earth (Romans 8:26-27) and the Son of God interceding for us in heaven, we do not need the saints.
5. Idolatrous worship
Roman Catholic worship is replete with idolatry. Besides Mary’s adoration and the saints’ intercession, the RCC also uses statues, icons, and images during mass and considers them necessary for worship. I have even seen Catholics bow down before them in prayer. This practice blatantly defies the second commandment, which forbids us to make graven images nor bow before them (Ex 20:4; Deut 5:8).
Furthermore, the RCC has also altered the ten commandments to justify their unbiblical practice. In the Catholic Catechism, the second commandment is attached to the first and often gets overlooked or omitted, while the last commandment is split into two. (I will never forget my shock when I discovered this. Though I grew up in church, I heard the second commandment for the first time when I was 23!)
6. Purgatory
Purgatory is where deceased believers go to purify themselves and atone for their sins so they can enter heaven. The RCC claims a trip into purgatory is necessary because some believers might still have venial sins, and nothing unclean can enter heaven (Heb 12:14). While it is true that the unrighteous will not enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-11), purgatory is not the solution.
Scripture doesn’t teach of such a place; it is a pure invention of the Roman Catholic Church. And a diabolical one because it belittles the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Jesus already bore the punishment for our sins, and believers are no longer under any condemnation (Romans 8:1). His death is sufficient payment (Heb 7:27), and His blood is adequate cleansing (1 John 1:8).
7. Confession and penance
The Roman Catholic Church instructs Catholics to confess their sins to priests and then perform works that express sorrow for their sins. The penance usually consists of reciting a prayer like the Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary a certain number of times or fasting. This, too, is unbiblical.
The practice of penance is not in Scripture. The Bible doesn’t require us to confess our sins to anyone, but God and priests do not have the authority to forgive our sins or tell us how to atone for them. More importantly, we can never earn God’s forgiveness or atone for our iniquities. Our best works are like filthy rags before Him (Isaiah 64:6). It is only through the perfect work of Christ that we can receive God’s forgiveness (2 Cor 5:21).
As the old hymn says, “nothing can for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus; naught of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
8. Transubstantiation
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When I was eight, my brother told me we eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood during Holy Communion. I thought he was messing with me, but years later, I realized he wasn’t. In Roman Catholic teaching, after the priest blesses the bread and wine, they become the literal flesh and blood of Christ. However, they maintain an outward appearance of bread and wine. It is called transubstantiation, and it is unbiblical.
The RCC teaches this based on a wrong interpretation of Scripture. Furthermore, the doctrine of transubstantiation also means that at every Lord’s Supper, the priest breaks the body of Christ and spills His blood again. In other words, Jesus is sacrificed over and over for our sins. But Scripture clearly states that Jesus died once and for all, and we do not need to crucify him again (Hebrews 7:27; 10:10).
9. The ordained priesthood
The Roman Catholic Church sharply distinguishes between ordained priests and lay believers. Much like the priests in the Old Testament, priests in the RCC are necessary to dispense grace. The Catholic Catechism says, “they [priests] receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and his person.” This distinction is unbiblical because, in the new covenant, all believers are priests (1 Peter 2:5-9), and we all have a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Cor 12:7). Jesus alone is our high priest. He has already given us access to God (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Furthermore, the Bible also never mentions the office of priests in the church, but only those of elders, bishops, overseers, and deacons.
The RCC also imposes celibacy on priests even though Scripture never commands church leaders to remain celibate. It should be a personal choice. (Ironically, the RCC forbids priests to get married when Peter, whom they consider the first pope, was married.) Besides adding an unnecessary yoke to men, the forced celibacy of priests is probably the primary cause of the numerous cases of sexual abuse of children in the RCC: that and the irrevocability of priesthood status.
10. Rosary and rote prayers
The rosary is a system of prayer in the Roman Catholic Church where a person recites the same prayers repeatedly. Though some prayers come from Scripture and are orthodox, praying the rosary is unbiblical for three reasons. First, it encourages rote repetition while praying. While using the rosary, a catholic will recite Hail Mary 53 times, the Lord’s Prayer 6 times, and a couple of other prayers. But Jesus clearly instructed us not to use vain repetitions when we pray (Matthew 6:7).
Second, the rosary makes us worship and pray to Mary, saying things like, “Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.”
And third, the prayers addressed to Mary outnumber the prayers to God, thus making Mary more significant than God.
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, may God help me, Amen.
Martin Luther
There are many more issues with Roman Catholicism, but these ten are sufficient to make anyone leave the RCC and never turn back. To sum them all up, I left the Roman Catholic Church because it is a heretical false church. She worships other gods before the Lord, denies the glorious gospel of Christ, and opposes the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.
More importantly, I left the Roman Catholic Church because God graciously saved me from it. Soli Deo Gloria! Post Tenebras, Lux!
Happy Reformation Day!
Grace and peace to you!
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