So look at this list of the years in how each catholic doctrine were developed that formed catholicism today and you will see that many Catholic doctrines were not taught as 2,000 year old after all.
Timeline of Roman Catholicism
- The Rosary – 1090 AD
- Indulgences – 1190 AD
- Transubstantiation (Innocent III) – 1215 AD
- Auricular Confession of sins to a priest – 1215 AD
- Adoration of the wafer (Host) – 1220 AD
- Cup forbidden to the people at communion – 1414 AD
- Purgatory proclaimed as a dogma – 1439 AD
- The doctrine of the Seven Sacraments confirmed – 1439 AD
- Tradition declared of equal authority with Bible by Council of Trent – 1545 AD"
I'll stop there, but as you can see..... the Church/Catholic did not always have their tradition as equal authority with the Bible for 2,000 years.
So... doctrines taught by the Church/Catholic.. not so 2,000 years old after all. And you wonder why there are Protestants.
I see that you've been
polluted by
Loraine Boettner's list. Boettner's book,
"Roman Catholicicsm" has
LONG been referred to as the
"Anti-Catholic Bible" - and with
good reason. Anti-Catholics base their opinions on
lies, myths, half-truths and
fairy tales - so Boettner's book is
aptly-deserving os this moniker.
Let's take a
closer look at the short version of
Boettner's List of Lies that you referenced . . .
1. The Rosary – 1090 AD
The Rosary is a
Biblically-based intercessory prayer that reflects on various events in the life of
Christ.
Secondly, its origin is traditionally associated with
St. Dominic and was
not “invented” by
Peter the Hermit
2. Indulgences – 1190 AD
First of all – Boettner’s
original list says that the
SALE of Indulgemces goes back to this date
(1190) – so
YOU screwed up. Indulgences have
never been
“sold” by the Church. This is one of those
urban myths that grew over time – with the help of
dishonest people like Boettner and other
anti-Catholics.
In fact, the
Council of Trent issued some
severe reforms regarding the practice of granting indulgences. Because of previous
abuses by some individuals,
“in 1567 Pope Pius V canceled all grants of indulgences involving any fees or other financial transactions” (Catholic Encyclopedia). This illustrated the Church's seriousness about
stopping abuses from indulgences. This
fictitious date of
1190 only serves to further
expose Boettner’s bogus list.
3. Transubstantiation (Innocent III) – 1215 AD
This is one of the most
deceitful claims on Boettner’s list. A declaration or decree of a Christian
belief does
NOT mean that it was
“invented” at that particular time. If that were so,
ALL of the
creeds would be considered,
“inventions”. The belief in
Transubstantiation is derived from
John 6,
where Jesus instructed his disciples to
eat his flesh and
drink his blood. At the
Last Supper, he showed
them the
means by which this was to be done (with bread and wine).
In
1 Corinthians 11:27-29, St. Paul warns us:
“Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.” A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup.
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.”
That’s a pretty
harsh warning –
if it were only a
"symbol" as most non-Catholics believe, which it is
not.
As for Transubstantiation - the
only thing
“new” about it at the Fourth Lateran Council in
1215 was the
term assigned to what was always believed -
“Transubstantiation”. As for the
word itself, it was first
used by the theologians
Magister Roland about
1150,
Stephen of Tournai about
1160, and
Peter Comestor about
1170. ALL before your fictitious date of
1215.
We see that the Early Church
vehemently believed in this doctrine in the writings of the
Early Church Fathers, such as
Ignatius of Antioch, Tertullian and
Cyril of Jerusalem. They
ALL wrote about Transubstantiation in the first
4 centuries of the Church
4. Auricular Confession of sins to a priest – 1215 AD
We read in the 1st century document,
The Didache (Teachings of the 12 Apostles) in
AD 50 that people were to
confess their sins
TO THE CHURCH. Paul explicitly writes about this in
2 Cor. 5:18-20 and
2 Cor. 2:10-11.
In about
244,
Origen speaks of the sinner who “
does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of
the Lord”. A few years later,
Cyprian of Carthage stated,
“Finally, of how much greater faith and more
salutary fear are they who...confess to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow,
making an open declaration of conscience.” (C&F p.43)
5. Adoration of the wafer (Host) – 1220 AD
WRONG.
At the beginning of the
2nd century, Ignatius of Antioch – student of
St. John the Apostle, wrote
about the
heretics of his time who
rejected this belief:
“They (the heretics) abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the
Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that
Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes
(Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2-7:1 [A.D. 110]).”
In his
Epistle to the Romans (110 AD), he wrote
"I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the
pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, which is the Flesh of Jesus Christ...and for drink I
desire His Blood" [59].
6. Cup forbidden to the people at communion – 1414 AD
BOTH the Body and Blood are contained in the host
and the cup. The communicant therefore needs to receive only
ONE or the other. In the 15th century, one of the reasons for
restricting the cup was due to the fact that some people
misunderstood the Eucharist and thought it
had to be received under both forms. By restricting communicants to the host alone the Church emphasized the true doctrine. This was a discipline – not a matter of doctrine, as the cup is again available to the entire congregation.
7. Purgatory proclaimed as a dogma – 1439 AD
The belief in
Purgatory has been believed and written about since the dawn of the Church. One need only open up the Bible and read the following Scripture verses that support the idea of final purgation before entry into heaven to see where the Early Church got their ideas:
Matt. 5:25-26, Matt. 12:32, Matt. 18:32-35, Luke 12:58-59,1 Cor. 3:12-15.
Along with the
Scriptures, Early Church writings from such
giants of the early Christianity faith like
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Ambrose of Milan and Augustine support the Catholic position that this was
always a belief of the Church.
8. The doctrine of the Seven Sacraments confirmed – 1439 AD
There is so much
wrong about this one that I could write a
10 page essay.
Suffice it to say -
ALL of the sacraments had already been
believed in,
taught and
practiced sine the
beginning of the Church.
9. Tradition declared of equal authority with Bible by Council of Trent – 1545 AD.
WRONG again.
We read in
2 Thess. 2:15 . . .
"Stand firm and hold fast to the Traditions you were taught, EITHER BY an ORAL STATEMENT – OR BY a LETTER from us."
Right here –
Scripture itself puts
Sacred Tradition ON PAR with Scripture.
So much for your
BOGUS list . . .
