QUESTIONS
THE POPE'S BOYS
COULDN'T ANSWER
Joseph Tirrito had a lot of questions about his Catholic faith. So, he wrote them down and handed them to the experts. One by one, the Pope's boys passed Joseph off to the next good old boy. This process helped Joseph to leave the Roman Catholic Church. Perhaps these questions will help YOU to decide it is time to get out of the Old Mother.
Joe Tirrito asks some pointed question:
I don't have the Monseignor's answer because he didn't give me written responses. Instead, we had a two-hour discussion of some of the more important ones.
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Enclosed is a series of questions regarding the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, as they relate to the teachings of the Bible.
I have been a member of the Roman Catholic Church all my life. However, over the last year, as I have become more interested in the Bible, I have come to see that the Church holds many doctrines which are (or, at the very least, seem to be) contrary to the Word of God.
As my confirmation approaches, I have become increasingly concerned about these doctrines, and, moreover, the Church’s view of the Word of God. The Lord’s Word seems so simple and plain in its statements, and the Church seems to have complicated the matter by compromising the Bible to suit its own doctrines. My own position is that if I am correct (and my position comes after a lengthy period of careful study of the Divine Word), I should not be confirmed in the Church, and perhaps even leave the denomination altogether; so great seem to be the discrepancies between Church doctrine and gospel teaching. However, if I am wrong, in my wish to do the will of God according to His Word, I would very much desire any misunderstandings I may have to be corrected. For in all of Christianity, there is no perfect congregation, and no perfect denomination; nevertheless, it is the desire of the true child of God to belong to the most faithful congregation he can find.
If it is at all possible, please respond to this letter AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, by answering the attached questions. My address is printed at the top of this page.
Thank you, and may the Lord richly bless you. Amen.
Sincerely,
Joseph Tirrito
Questions concerning Roman Catholic Doctrine and Biblical Teaching.
All Scripture references are according to the Authorized King James Version.
Below is the list of questions which I have, regarding the discrepancies and contradictions between the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the teachings of the Bible. Please give careful thought to each one.
May the Lord richly bless you with truth and grace as you answer these questions. Amen.
I. On the Word of God.
1. In light of the many contradictions between the Deuterocanonical (Apocryphal) books and the Bible, and in light of the fact that God warns us against adding to His Word (The Revelation XXII:18): How does the Church justify its adoption of the books as divinely inspired and canonical?
2. In light of the command of God against adding to His Word (The Revelation XXII:18); and in light of the fact that Paul the Apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, twice warns that any preaching of any other gospel than the gospel of the Bible merits the eternal damnation of God (Galatians I:8-9): How does the Church justify Roman Catholic apologists’ usage of the Gnostic gospel called The Protoevangelium of James to support its doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity?
II. On Salvation by Divine Grace Alone.
3. In light of the Bible’s teaching that immediately after death comes the judgment of the soul (St. Luke XVI:22-26; II Corinthians V:6-8; Hebrews IX:27): How does the Church justify its belief in purgatory, in which place there can be redemption after death?
4. In light of the Bible’s teaching that we are not saved by our own good works, but by the grace of God which comes through Jesus Christ’s faith and work at Calvary, which faith is outwardly manifested by the Holy Ghost in our faith in Him, and that an earnest and ongoing desire to do the will of God also is but the result of that same salvation (Romans III:10-31; IV:3-5; Galatians II:15-21; III:2-3, 5-6, 10-14, 21-26; Ephesians II:4-9; James II:8-11): How does the Church justify its various legalistic doctrines?
III. On the Priesthood.
5. In light of the fact that God alone can forgive sins committed against Him, and that since we do not know what sinners are among God’s elect (these alone are saved (Romans VIII:29-30), and therefore to forgive men’s sins against God is to presuppose what men God saved at Calvary and is also to usurp His sovereign authority to forgive sins against Him: How does the Church justify its position that priests may forgive sins, even in the most holy Name of the Lord?
6. In light of Paul’s statements that there is only “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy II:5): How does the Church justify its establishment of a priesthood to mediate between God and man?
7. In light of the fact that after the cross, sacrifices by priests were never to be offered again because Christ had offered the sacrifice of Himself once and for all (Daniel IX:24-27; Hebrews IX:22-28): How does the Church justify its perpetuation of the divine Sacrifice, by offering the Communion bread as a sacrifice?
8. In light of Paul’s command to Timothy that both bishops (from the Greek word episkopos [pronounced “ep-IS-ko-pos”], referring to a clergyman in a position of authority—i.e., a pastor) and deacons are to be married and to have at least one child (I Timothy III:2, 4-5, 11-12): How does the Church justify its ecclesiastical law requiring priestly celibacy?
IV. On the Papacy.
9. In light of the fact that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church (Ephesians V:23); and in light of the fact that Jesus’ statement that “upon this rock I will build my church” refers to the Greek word petra [pronounced “PET-ra”] (meaning “a mass of rock”), and He refers to Peter , saying, “Thou art Peter,” using the Greek word Petros [pronounced “PET-ros”] (meaning “a piece of rock”), thus referring to two different objects (Himself the former, and Peter the latter, as evidenced by other occurrences of petra and Petros in the Greek New Testament); and in light of the fact that our Foundation must be the Lord Jesus Christ (Isaiah XXVIII:16; I Corinthians III:11), lest our foundation fail and we fall: How does the Church justify its belief that the Pope, as the successor of Peter, is the foundation and head of the Church?
10. In light of the fact that men, with the exception of the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is eternal God (I Peter I:19), are universally fallible and imperfect (Romans III:10-18); and in light of the fact that there is no more divine revelation outside of the Bible (The Revelation XXII:18), thus ending any possibility of God guiding men through any means, except through the Scriptures: How does the Church justify its belief in the infallibility of the Pope?
11. In light of the fact that we are to call no man our spiritual father, for only God is our Father (St. Matthew XXIII:9): How does the Church justify its usage of the title “Father” for its priests, and its usage of the title “Holy Father” for the Pope?
V. Miscellaneous Issues.
12. In light of the fact that the gospel is circumscribed by the whole Bible (The Revelation XXII:18- 19): How does the Church justify its position that the authority of the traditions of the Church, the decrees of œcumenical councils, and the official decrees of the Papacy are coequal to the authority of Scripture?
13. In light of the fact that divine revelation ended with the close of St. John’s apocalypse (The Revelation XXII:18); and in light of the fact that Satan will come in the end time with signs and wonders, even to the point that his gospel seems to be the truth, and even to the point that, were it possible, he would deceive God’s elect (St. Matthew XXIV:23-27; II Corinthians XI:13-14; The Revelation XIII:13-14); and in light of Jesus’ statement that “an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign” (St. Matthew XIII:39); and in light of the fact that we are to give no heed to those who claim an additional miracle or revelation (Deuteronomy XIII:1-6): How does the Church justify its firm belief that divine revelations, divine apparitions, and divine miracles still occur today?
14. In light of the Biblical teaching that only those who believe in God through Christ (including those in the Old Testament who were faithful to Jehovah, which was the Son’s revelation of Himself to Old Testament Israel before His incarnation (Isaiah XLIII:11)) will become saved (Exodus XX:1-6; St. John III:3, 5-7; St. John XIV:6): How does the Church justify its teaching, which I have heard in my own religion classes, that Jews and Moslems (according to the Church) worship the Father, even as true Christians?
14. In light of the Bible’s very clear teaching that certain ones (the elect) were predestinated by God to salvation by Him from before the Creation, and that certain ones were not, but that those who were elected to salvation by God will not ever fall from grace (St. John VI:37, 39, 44, 70; Romans VIII:29-30, 38-39; Ephesians I:4-5; The Revelation XIII:8): How does the Church justify its belief in the free will of man to accept or to reject God’s forgiveness in his life?
15. In light of the fact that Mary, too, needed a Saviour (St. Luke I:46-47); and in light of the fact that all people, except the Lord Jesus, but including Mary, are sinners and are fallible (Romans III:10-18); and in light of the fact that God had elected her, not for the purpose of bringing glory to her, but for the purpose of bringing glory to Himself, by instructing her to do His will (St. Luke I:38); and in light of the fact that Mary did have other children with Joseph (St. Matthew XIII:55-56): How does the Church justify its doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity, and also the larger issue of its belief in Mary’s sinlessness?
16. In light of the fact that we are not to glorify, venerate, or devote ourselves to any being except for the Triune Godhead (for this reason is He called the “ ‘Blessed’ Trinity”), and that we are not to devote ourselves to graven images (Exodus XX:4-6): How does the Church justify its veneration of Mary and of the other saints?
17. In light of the Biblical truth that we are not to respect the persons of men, for all men, with the exception of the Lord Jesus, are sinners (James II:8-11); and in light of the fact that no man is justified by his own works (Romans III:19-20): How does the Church justify its requirements for canonization, one of which is “extraordinary holiness”?
18. In light of the account of a six-day period of creation by God, given in Genesis I; and in light of the fact that we are not to take away from what the Bible says is true (The Revelation XXII:19), because all Scripture, even down to the last jot, is divinely inspired and God-breathed (II Timothy III:16; II Peter I:21); and in light of the fact that we must use the Bible as its own interpreter and as the source of justification for all of our doctrines (II Peter I:20; II Timothy II:15): How does the Church justify recent comments by the Pope which seem to imply that a compromised theology which allows that, while God did create all things, He did so through an evolutionary process, and that the Biblical story of Adam and Eve can therefore be discounted as Hebrew mythology, is permissible within the realms of Biblical Christian doctrine?
Now, having heard the whole matter, please answer these two final questions:
1. If I am correct in my beliefs, is it right for me to be confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church?
2. And also: If I am correct in my beliefs, is it right or wrong for me to remain a member of the Roman Catholic Church? For Paul writes to Timothy: “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (II Timothy III:5).
I thank you for having heard my concerns and for answering them. May the Lord richly bless you. Amen.
Sincerely,
Joseph Tirrito
