The Christian Post published an article on December 8, 2024 about the First Vatican Council, which began December 8, 1869. This Roman Catholic Church Council decided that the pope, the leader of the Church cannot make a mistake about certain matters of faith, and that Jesus’ mother, Mary, never sinned. Are these claims actually Biblical? We’ll see.
Part of this article appears below:
This week in Christian history: . . . First Vatican Council begins
First Vatican Council begins – Dec. 8, 1869
rom 1869 to 1870." width="400" height="245" />A contemporary painting of the gathering of Catholic Church leaders for the First Vatican Council, which went from 1869 to 1870. | Wikimedia Commons
This week marks the anniversary of when the First Vatican Council, an influential gathering of Catholic Church leaders that would last nearly a year, held its opening proceedings.read more
Sexual Abuse By Catholic Clergy Settled in New York
The state of New York has settled a class action lawsuit over sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, and others are pending. What does this tell us about the Catholic Church? What does the Bible have to say about sexual misconduct?
“Likewise, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding towns, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual promiscuity and practiced unnatural vice, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire”—Jude 7 NAB
All types of sexual immorality are condemned by the Bible. However, the Catholic Church has often looked the other way, or even worse, has covered up such gross wrongdoing by its leaders. The Bible even foretold one of the contributing factors that has led to such wickedness.read more
CATHOLIC GROSS PEDOPHILIA SCANDAL IN CHILE LIKE SODOM
“They dress my people’s wound, but on the surface only, with their saying, ”’All is well.’ All well? Nothing is well. They ought to be ashamed because they have practiced abominations with no sense of shame.” (Jeremiah 8:11,12 REB)
In January 2018 the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) dealt lightly with the gross priestly sex scandal in Chile. Now, with even more expose’, the chickens are coming home to roost in that all 34 RCC bishops in Chile have offered to resign. read more
SEXUAL PREDITOR PRIEST ONLY TOLD TO DO BETTER AND PRAY
“They dress the wound of my peopleas though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the Lord.” (Jer 8:11,12)
The following article well illustrates how lightly the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) has historically treated sexual molesting priests and other higher-ups in the RCC. This problem is nothing new. It likely goes back hundreds of years, if not all the way back to the beginning of the church. Why?
Priest accused in 124 Guam sex abuse cases ages quietly, alone
Haidee V. Eugenio and Dana Williams, Pacific Daily News and Nora Hertel, St. Cloud (Minn.) Times, USA TODAY NETWORK
Published 6:48 p.m. ET May 5, 2018 | Updated 8:17 p.m. ET May 6, 2018
Statues of the Virgin Mary and portraits of Jesus loom over Louis Brouillard in his small apartment. He lives alone, two blocks from Pine City Elementary School and across the street from St. Mary’s Catholic preschool — close enough to hear children’s laughter when they play at recess.
The retired priest no longer wears a collar, but the people in this small town an hour north of Minnesota’s Twin Cities still call him “Father.” He is 96 years old.
Brouillard’s peaceful life stands in stark contrast to the torment of 122 men and two women – all middle-age or retired now — who accuse him of sexually molesting them as children on the island of Guam. They have broken long-held silences and filed lawsuits. Some have protested and begged for justice. Somehave left the church.read more
VATICAN ADMITS GUILT NOW IN CHILE SEX ABUSE SCANDAL
“She defiled herself with immorality and gave no thought to her future. Now she lies in the gutter with no one to lift her out.” (Lamentations 1:9 NLT)
How would you feel if your child had been sexually abused by a trusted member of the clergy, and when you found out and then brought the pedophilia to the attention of the higher-ups in the church, they pooh-poohed what you reported, claiming it never happened, and that you were the real problem, calling you a liar and a troublemaker? What if, instead, you were actually the abuse victim yourself, in the above scenario? What if you were called such a lying trouble-maker by the highest-ranking person in the church?
In January 2018, when the news broke about the horrible sexual abuse scandal Chile, the pope did exactly that! See the article: Abuse Victims Meet With Pope Francis: ‘We Need Concrete Actions’
ROME — The first thing Pope Francis said, when he met privately on Sunday with Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of sexual abuse, was: “Juan Carlos, I want to say sorry for what happened to you, as the pope and also for the universal church.”
The second thing he said, Mr. Cruz recounted on Wednesday, was, “I was part of the problem, and that’s why I am saying sorry.”
“To me, that was very telling,” Mr. Cruz said. The pope, he said, “had called me a liar, and he apologized for that.”read more
“Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.” (1 John 2:4)
The recent sexual abuse scandal involving the now disgraced Archbishop Anthony Apuron highlights once again the greatly entrenched long-term problem the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) both caused essentially and covered up! Why has this problem been so pervasive and persistent?
“And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer
Jesus is the Mediator between God and man. Yet Trinitarians claim Jesus is God.
The Bible says there is only ‘one mediator between humans and God.’ Who, or what, is that?
“This, then is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven . . . “—Matthew 6:9 NIV.
“No one comes to the Father except through me”—John 14:6
“There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus”—1 Timothy 2:5 NIV
While they all give ‘lip service’ (Mark 7:6-13) to the principles that the scriptures above express, Christian denominations have differing views on the exactly how the mediatorial relationship between them and God operates. So, yes, they all “say” that Jesus is the mediator, but in actual practice things are not exactly the way the Bible says they should be. For example, Catholics teach that Christians must go through their priesthood and their hierarchy, including their Pope, to have a relationship with God. Others teach that one can only have a relationship with God through their particular denomination, organization, or church. Some have even thought, or taught that a relationship with God was only possible through one particular pastor. Trinitarians often simply ignore this vital relationship. Let’s make clear what the scriptures say about this:
“The true worshippers will worship the Father”—John 4:23
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved”—John 10:8 NIV.
The Father of Jesus, Almighty God, is the only one who should be worshipped, according to the scriptures. But we must go through his Son, Jesus Christ, to have this relationship. Why?
“Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here”—Hebrews 9:11 NIVread more
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Jesus personally appointed Peter as the leader of the church, and the pope is Peter’s successor to that position. At the root of this doctrine is the claim that Jesus appointed Peter as leader when he called him a “rock.” But is this really what the Bible teaches?
Jesus Referred to Peter as a “Rock”
In Matthew 16, Jesus was speaking in front of a rather large cliff face near Caesarea Philippi. There is no doubt that this is historical, that is, it actually took place.
“You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church”—Matthew 16:18 NAB
The Greek word for Peter is “Petros”, which means “a small stone,” whereas the Greek word for
Pope Francis arriving to celebrate Mass at the Las Palmas Air Base in Lima, Peru
The Pope visited Chile in January 2018 (click here for a news article about it). A prominent priest in Santiago had been exposed as a serial child molester. The Pope had appointed this serial molester’s understudy as Bishop there, under much protest, due to the fact that victims say this newly appointed Bishop witnessed personally, and was obviously well aware of such atrocities, but never voiced any opposition to it. The Pope, in response to these protesting voices, accused these Catholics of slandering the new Bishop. After much protest against his calloused attitude, the Pope has now apologized. So much for “papal infallibility”, despite the fact that he “exalts himself above every so-called god and object of worship, so as to seat himself in the temple of God, claiming that he is a god” (2 Thessalonians 2:4 NAB)! Also, the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has tolerated and covered up their grossly immoral, pedophile priests for centuries, makes it an abomination in the sight of God. Notice the principle expressed at Deuteronomy 23:18: “You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of the LORD your God” (NASB), “dog” is footnoted as being “male prostitute, sodomite”. This Hebrew word for “dog” also likely refers to “a pederast, one who practices ANAL INTERCOURSE, ESPECIALLY WITH A BOY”. This is exactly what the RCC has done by allowing these predatory pedophiles to remain in the service of the church! Romans 1:26,27 tells us exactly what God thinks of such: “God gave them over to shameful lusts . . . the men . . . were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men” (NIV). What will God do about this? In his due time, he says “I will remove them from tending my flock so that the shepherds will no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them” (Ezekiel 34:10 NIV). The RCC with its pedophile, immoral priests will be exterminated by God permanently!
Apocrypha – Inspired by God or Invented by Humans?
“I shall bring my work to an end here too. If it is well composed and to the point, that is just what I wanted. If it is worthless and mediocre, that is all I could manage”—2 Maccabees 15:37,38 NJB
The writer of the Apocryphal book 2 Maccabees, in effect, seems to admit that he is not inspired by God.
The Apocrypha is accepted as being genuine by some people and some large religious organizations, such as the Roman Catholic Church, today, but rejected by many others. Some of it is included in various versions of the Bible, but is absent in most. The Apocryphal books accepted as canonical by the Roman Catholic Church are: Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 =&0=&
Is it inspired by God, or invented by humans? Let’s examine some evidence to see if we can find the answer.
Is the Apocrypha inspired by God or invented by humans?
The Jews knew of the Apocrypha, but NEVER ACCEPTED any of it as canonical. For the Jews, any books written after Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi’s time (such as the Apocrypha) were not considered inspired. They considered the canon closed after this time (by circa 400 BCE or before).
Jesus said “Whoever serves me must follow me.” (John 12:26 NIV) He spoke against those who “nullify the word of God by your tradition.” (Mark 7:13 NIV) What did Jesus consider the Old Testament (OT) to be?
“The Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44 NIV) What books were included in the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms (the Writings)? There were 24 by their count; 39 by our count today.
The Law contained five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The Prophets was composed of eight books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets (as one book).
The Writings included eleven books: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah (one book) and Chronicles.
Notice that no Apocryphal books are included in these three OT sections! Jesus and the New Testament (NT) writers quoted from all three of these OT sections, but THEY NEVER QUOTED FROM THE APOCRYPHA! Since most of the NT quotes of the OT are from the Greek Septuagint Version (LXX), the absence of even a single quote by Jesus or NT writers from any of the numerous Apocryphal books speaks volumes!
The above Scriptures were kept at the Temple according to Deuteronomy 31:24-26, 1 Kings 22:8-13 and Josephus, down to the time of its destruction in 70 CE. But the APOCRYPHAL BOOKS WERE NEVER KEPT AT THE TEMPLE.
Following Jesus means accepting the same OT books that he accepted as inspired, which are the 39 books of the OT from Genesis to Malachi, but not including “cleverly devised stories” such as the Apocrypha. (2 Peter 1:16 NIV)
In fact, early Christians (and we today) were commanded not “to devote themselves to myths,” which would certainly include the Apocrypha, since it’s full of myths! (1 Timothy 6:3-4 NIV)
The Septuagint is the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and was in Greek. There is no evidence that the Septuagint originally included the Apocrypha. There is no evidence that the apostles made use of the Apocrypha. The NT does not quote it. There is solid evidence against it. Inspired scriptures told Christians “not to concern themselves with myths,” which would rule out the Apocrypha for Christians. (1 Timothy 1:4 NAB) Also, the Apostles preached: “Admonish them sharply, so that they may be sound in faith, instead of paying attention to Jewish myths,” which precludes Apocryphal writings from Christians. (Titus 1:13-14 NAB)
The Apocryphal books were never “taken out” of the Septuagint, as some claim, because they were never there to start with. When the Apostle Paul was “trying to convince [the Jewish leaders in Rome] about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets,” he was using the 24 (our 39 today) OT books. (Acts 28:23 NAB)
Luke 24:44 proves that Jesus and the early Christians did not accept the Apocrypha, since these books were not included in “the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.”
The Jewish Council of Jamnia (90 CE) explicitly excluded all Apocrypha. The canon they accepted were the 22 books that both Josephus and Jerome said were inspired (our 39 today), and none of the Apocrypha! The Jews were aware of the Apocrypha, but did not accept any of it as inspired.
The expressions below include the 39 OT books, but none of the Apocrypha:
“The Law or the Prophets.” (Matthew 5:17 NJB) The entire OT – but no Apocrypha.
“From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah.” (Matthew 23:35 NJB) From the beginning to the end of the OT, as arranged in Jewish Bible – but no Apocrypha.
“Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets.” (Luke 24:27 NIV) The entire OT – but no Apocrypha.
“Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44 NIV) The entire OT – but no Apocrypha.
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