The Catholic Church is the only church.
As I said earlier, the Catholic church is the only church that our Lord Jesus Christ built. It is written in the Bible:
“And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
– Matthew 16:18
In this verse, Our Lord built the Church upon St. Peter the Apostle, the first pope. Protestants claimed that they are the true church but they can’t provide any historical origin until they preach that the church is dead and God built a new one which contradicts with what Christ said: “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Then modernist and Vatican II claimed that other religions such as paganism (Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.), Islam or other Christian Sects are part of the Catholic Church because God loves and accept them. But this is Heresy. Yes, it’s true, God loves us and the people from other religions. But He also wants us to be part of His Church. That is why He only said that upon St. Peter, He will build His Church, the only Church, the Catholic Church. And also, He commanded His apostles:
“Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.”
– Matthew 28:19-20
Teach all Nations means to teach everybody about His teachings, about Him, about God and also to make them part of the Church by Baptism and by taking other Sacraments that He instituted. There is only one religion and one church that Christ has built, and that is the Catholic Church.
Catholics don’t worship Angels and Saints.
This is one of the things that the protestants criticized about us Catholics. They teach that we worship the Angels and Saints. Is this true? No it is not. We don’t worship the saints or the angels. We honor them. Worship and adorations must be given to God only. But there are types of reverence that we give to the Saints, the angels and to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Latria: A type of reverence that we give to God only.
Hyperdulia: A type of reverence that we give only to the Blessed Virgin Mary, because she is our Mother and Queen of Heaven and Earth.
Protodulia: A type of reverence that we give to St. Joseph, the foster father of our Lord and the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Proto means “first” and St. Joseph is first among the saints.
Dulia: A type of reverence that was given to the angels and saints.
So we don’t worship the saints even other christian sects told us that it is the same. Another example of reverence who is not God is a soldier who salutes to His commanding officer. Another criticism from the protestants is that we worship images and statues which contradict the teaching of the Bible. But we don’t worship statues or images, these things make us recall a person such as our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints. There’s a verse from the Bible stating about how Catholics used for statues and images. One of the example is in Numbers where God send a Fiery Serpent to punish Jews by offending God. When Moses begs of God, He instructs him:
“And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.”
-Number 21:8-9
Another example is the Ark of the Covenant where God commanded to out two Cherubim and Joshua knelt down in front of the Ark and prayed (Joshua 7:6-7). Additional example is a commoner who puts his or her hand on the chest while looking at the flag. And a soldier that looks at the flag and salute to give honor. Worship is only for God, but we also give honor and pray to the Saints including the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for us because they are now closer to God.
Purgatory
Another criticism that we Catholics received from the Protestants is the Purgatory. It’s been centuries since we defend and answer their questions. But now, our own Catholic brethren though know this seems to ignore it because they want to think that their loved ones are already in Heaven after they died. Some protestants sects also believed this and attack Catholicism that Purgatory is not in the Bible. And when a Catholic searched it and didn’t find any purgatory word. Yes, the word Purgatory is not in the Bible. But, its description is in the bible.
(See Praying for the Dead and Do we go straight to heaven when we die articles)
The Purgatory was named by the Catholic Church. Let’s give an example. There’s a city that was described by your friend but he didn’t tell you the name, so how can you go to this place if you don’t know what it is called? That is why the church name it purgatory so we know this place. Another attack from the protestants that praying for the dead is not in the Bible. For a protestant bible, there’s no content of praying for the dead because they removed the Book of Maccabees from the Bible which contains the proof of praying for the dead.
Brethren, as a Catholic, we must live our lives for Christ and remain in His Church. But we must also defend it because we are also a soldier of Christ.
[To be continued]
