WHY CATHOLICISM CLAIMS TO BE UNIVERSAL - TO BE THE TRUTH THAT EVERY PERSON NEEDS
Christ founded one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church which is one in faith so we are told. We are told that the Church in communion with the pope is that Church. This says other Churches have broken with it and can go astray as they don't have the protection of the Holy Spirit. Catholicism says it is meant for every person and the Church is a gift for all but not all are willing or ready to come to it. Catholic means inclusive and for all in that sense. That presupposes the Church has the truth. Other Churches supposedly make errors. Errors include heresies such as the Bible being the head of the Church not the pope and losing the authority to perform valid sacraments such as turning bread and wine into Jesus.
One prime supposition is that God is intimate with us and tells
us about himself through his Church.
What this Church says and does
To doubt what God has revealed is to call God a liar. It’s a sin
when it happens wilfully. To doubt is to think you might be wrong.
If you won’t let yourself doubt that shows that you have a neurosis
and are mentally ill about religion and are afraid of the truth. If
you really believed, you wouldn’t be afraid of the truth or afraid
of doubt. To doubt what God has revealed is not to call God a liar
for God being God cannot lie but to wonder if he really revealed it.
The Church doesn’t want you to know if it made up its doctrines
while pretending they were from God. Banning doubt is necessary if
you want power over others through religion.
The worst lie is how the Church says all the Bible is inspired and
from God so "if anyone receive not as sacred and canonical the said
books entire and with all their parts as they have been used to be
read in the Catholic church, and as they are contained in the Old
Latin Vulgate edition… let him be anathema" Council of Trent.
Vatican 1, 1870 repeated this teaching, so the Church "accepts and
venerates all the books of the Old and New Testaments, since one God
is the author of both, with equal piety and reverence".
Why this is Bad
To suggest you know or believe God cannot lie and that you would be
able to doubt his veracity is ridiculous.
What this Church says and does
The Church likes to have nobody saying anything critical about it
Why this is Bad
To let dishonesty like that thrive would be criminal. The notion
some have that we should criticise everything we want to except
religion is ludicrous for religion tries to make people afraid to
think for themselves unlike everything else so it should be
criticised more than anything
What this Church says and does
Though we can do good works without God inspiring them and helping
us to do them, only good works done with the help of God (grace) are
efficacious for salvation. God even helps us obtain the gift of
faith which is why we describe it as a supernatural gift from God
enabling us to believe all he has revealed to his Church
Why this is Bad
Anybody can have a feeling or thought or inspiration and imagine it
is from God. Student priests are certain that God has given them the
grace of a vocation to the priesthood and the next time you look
they are convinced they were wrong! To say that God is inspiring
your thoughts and feelings when you know day by day you could be
inspiring them yourself is total dishonesty and arrogance. It is the
stuff out of which madness is made. It is not God these people are
reaching out to, it is what they want God to be. It’s idolatry.
What this Church says and does
Roman Catholicism claims to have the fulness of truth thanks to
God not man. That is what it means by saying it is the one
true Church.
Why this is Bad
Two people believing the same thing does not make them one in faith.
John and Mary believe that Jesus rose again. John believes because
he feels it. Mary believes it because she mistakenly thinks all
scholars believe in it. They only share a conclusion but not the
faith. John trusts his own feelings and Mary trusts the scholars or
what she thinks they teach. John and Mary are not one in faith or
trust. They are inventing their faith and nobody agrees on why they
believe. Each person invents a faith anew for themselves that just
happens to look like the faith of others. This is proven from the
fact that it is not evidence that causes faith for few agree on the
evidence and it is only interpretation based on what they wish to
believe. They say faith is God showing them the truth but we know
from the previous discussion that they know and we know this isn’t
true. It is really what they guess and feel God is telling them that
causes their faith not evidence or God. It’s of human origin. If it
wasn’t believers would believe for the same reasons for God would be
helping them see what the evidence actually says. There is no real
faith without evidence and you know you cannot truly believe that
John stole the cashbox unless you have evidence that it must have
been him and nobody else. The faith and faith content each person
chooses is just a random selection. It only coincides with what
others believe for the sake of handiness or of fitting in with the
crowd or because they happened to have had the same tastes. The
Christian has no right to take his faith seriously. Bigotry is at
the root of it when he does. He may do nice sweet ecumenical things
but the basic attitude is still bigoted.
What this Church says and does
We proclaim the message of Christ in its fullness
Why this is Bad
You hide nearly all of your nastiest doctrines in books that few
read to fool your sheep who then think you are great for you hide
your true colours. Jesus talked a lot about Hell in the gospels, he
told the Pharisees and scribes exactly what he thought of them and
the apostles did the same. Yet you go about all sweetness and light.
For example, how many Catholics know that oral sex is a sin and that
Christ taught that exorcism should be performed often for demonic
possession is very common (Matthew 12:45) or that saints were
canonised in the past because of the extreme torments they inflicted
on themselves? Even your own complain at your preferring popularity
over teaching what your God says must be taught.