Baptism
Are you born again?
Yes, Catholics are born again the Bible way. Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born of water and the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God. Our bodies are born at our birth, and our souls are born again at our Baptism.
Confession is unnecessary. I can go directly to God in prayer to ask for forgiveness.
At the Last Supper, Jesus said "do this in memory of me." He didn't say "do this every Sunday." I can go to Mass whenever I feel like it.
At the Last Supper Jesus told his apostles he had eagerly desired to eat the Passover meal with them. After his Resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples and broke bread with them. The first Christians devoted themselves to the breaking of the bread. If we are living in a state of grace, we can break bread every time we go to Mass.
The third commandment instructs us to "keep holy the Lord's day." We go to Mass on Sundays to keep the third commandment. God wants to continue breaking bread with us. The Catholic Church obliges us to attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and to receive Communion at least once a year, but encourages us to receive Communion as often as possible, even daily.
Confirmation was made up by the Catholic Church. There is no mention of it in the Bible.
From that point on, the apostles laid hands on the newly baptized to strengthen them in the Holy Spirit. The Bible mentions Confirmation as the "laying on of hands." Peter and John were sent to Samaria to "lay hands" on the new believers, because they had only been baptized, so that they may receive the Holy Spirit. It wasn't enough that they had been baptized, they needed to be confirmed as well.
Why do Catholics call priests Father when it is prohibited in the Bible?
The prohibition was not taken literally. The disciples recognized that they became spiritual Fathers of the faith through the gospel and so referred to themselves as Fathers and addressed the Christian communities as their children. Jesus was warning against honoring a man as if he were literally God. In other words, he was warning against priests who would use their position of spiritual fatherhood as an abuse of power to control others for personal gain. Besides nobody has a problem with calling their dad "father," nor with using the titles of "teacher" and "master" (e.g. trainmaster), for that matter.
Anointing of the Sick is just a simple prayer and anointing. It doesn't really heal sickness.
Jesus wants to heal us, that is why he commanded his apostles to cure the sick. The Bible tells us that the apostles laid hands on the sick, anointed them with oil and healed them. Anointing of the Sick is the sacrament through which priests have continued Christ's ministry of healing. Whether or not a person is healed physically is up to God. He wants what is best for us and will therefore permit suffering that is conducive to our salvation.
Baptism is just symbolic. It is not necessary.
The Bible tells us that Baptism forgives us our sins, invites the Holy Spirit to live inside of us, makes us children of God and saves us.
Why should I confess my sins to a priest? Men can't forgive sins.
After his Resurrection, Jesus appeared to his apostles to forgive sins. He commissioned them for the ministry of reconciliation, saying "as the Father has sent me, so I send you." Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." Today's priests act in the person of Christ to hear confessions and forgive sins in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Catholics re-sacrifice Jesus at every Mass.
Jesus cannot be re-sacrificed. He is eternal, and that means his sacrifice is eternal. It exists in all times, past, present, and future. In other words, God takes the same sacrifice of Jesus's body and blood on the cross and makes it present again at every Catholic Mass. He has done this all around the world throughout history, in the past, and present, and will continue to do so into the future, until the end of time.
Confirmation is just a coming-of-age ceremony, like a bar mitzvah or quinceañera. It's unnecessary; just another excuse to throw a party.
Confirmation is never anything like a coming-of-age ceremony. It is a laying on of hands and anointing of the Holy Spirit for spiritual maturity, not physical. We are spiritually born at our Baptism and are spiritually matured at our Confirmation. Just as in Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descends upon confirmands and strengthens them. It brings to maturity the gifts and charisms they received from the Holy Spirit at their Baptism.
The early Church understood the necessity of Confirmation for new believers to reach spiritual maturity, that is why it practiced Confirmation from the very beginning and taught the sacrament as a basic teaching of the faith.
The New Testament tells us that all Christians are priests. The Catholic priesthood is unnecessary.
It is true that we are all priests. Through our Baptism, we form part of a common priesthood. However, this does not mean that we don't need a ministerial priesthood as well. The Israelite people in the Old Testament were also priests, and yet they had both a common priesthood and a ministerial priesthood. Jesus established our New Testament ministerial priesthood at the Last Supper when he commanded his apostles to "do this in remembrance of me." Our Catholic priests are the successors of the apostles, and they continue to carry out this and other commands given to them by our Lord every time they celebrate the sacraments.
Anointing of the Sick is just a pious ritual. It can't forgive sins.
The Bible is clear. St. James encourages people who are sick to call on the priest to be anointed, and he writes that if any person has committed any sins, they will be forgiven. The Catechism states that the Anointing of the Sick effects "the forgiveness of sins if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of penance." Writings from early Church Fathers indicate that, from the very beginning, the Anointing of the Sick was known to cause real physical and spiritual healing.
Babies should not be baptized. They have no sins.
Babies are born with original sin. The Bible tells us that through Adam and Eve's disobedience all humans were made sinners.
Jesus might have given his apostles the authority to forgive sins, but not today's priests.
Bishops and priests are the successors of the apostles. The power to forgive sins has been passed down to them through the laying on of hands in the sacrament of Holy Orders. Jesus didn't just commission his apostles to forgive sins in the first century, he meant for the ministry of reconciliation to be carried on by his representatives throughout the ages for all peoples to receive his mercy.
We receive ordinary bread and wine at Communion. The Eucharist is just a symbol of Jesus. It doesn't actually turn into his body and blood.
The gospel of John chapter 6 is clear on this teaching. Jesus said he is the living bread which came down from heaven, and the bread he gives is his flesh for the life of the world. He said unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we do not have life within us. He said anyone who eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life and he will raise them on the last day. When his followers could not accept this teaching, they left him and stopped following him. Jesus did not back down from his literal teaching. He was not speaking symbolically. He let them leave.
Confirmation is an adult acceptance of the faith. The sacrament should never be conferred on young children without their consent.
For the first 500 years of Church history, all three sacraments of initiation, which are Baptism, Confirmation, and Communion, were conferred at the same time on infants, and in that order. Over time, as Christianity spread, it became increasingly difficult for bishops to confer sacraments on so many people, in so many far away places. To fix this problem, the Roman Catholic Church separated the sacraments, allowing for priests to baptize, and bishops to confirm at a later date, when they could travel and be present.
In 1910 Pope Saint Pius X moved First Holy Communion to the age of Reason, which is age seven, and in 1932 the Catholic Church gave official permission to administer Confirmation after First Holy Communion. There is nothing wrong with conferring Confirmation on young children and infants. To this day, bishops in Eastern Orthodox churches in countries such as Russia and Egypt, etc. still confer the sacrament upon infants in the original order.
The Catholic Church is outdated. Women should be ordained to the priesthood.
The male only priesthood is divinely revealed dogma. The practice was given to us by God and therefore cannot be changed. Jesus chose among only men to be his apostles and first priests. God has always revealed himself as a man and only a man can represent a father and a brother. Also, if God had revealed himself as a female, none of the following relationships would make sense. 1. God the Father and Mary our Mother. 2. Jesus the bridegroom and his bride, the Church. 3. Mary (wife) conceiving by the Holy Spirit (her husband).
Anointing of the Sick is just for the dying. You should only call the priest if you are absolutely certain the person is about to die.
You should never wait until the last minute to call the priest. The person might die before the priest arrives. Anointing of the Sick is not just for the dying. It is also for the seriously ill and aging. Therefore, a person may be anointed multiple times in their lifetime; anytime they need it. The Last Rites are for the dying. They are a series of three sacraments: 1. Confession, 2. Anointing of the Sick, and 3. Last Holy Communion (Viaticum).
The Bible does not mention infant Baptism.
1. Jesus welcomed little children and said the Kingdom of God belongs to them.
2. Peter tells us that the promises of Baptism are also for children.
3. In the New Testament, when a person converted, they and their entire household were baptized.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 tells us that there is only one mediator between God and humans, Christ Jesus.
Jesus restored our relationship with God the Father when he died on the cross for our sins. He was the perfect sacrifice. No one else could have redeemed us. It is in this sense that he is our one mediator. This, however, does not mean that other people can't mediate between us and God. There is more than one way to be a mediator. Sharing the gospel, interceding in prayer, offering up suffering, and baptizing, etc. are all ways even lay people can mediate.
How can you believe that the Eucharist is the literal body and blood of Jesus, when it still looks and tastes like plain bread and wine.
With the priest's words of consecration at every Mass, which are the words of the Last Supper, the bread and wine turn into the literal body and blood of Jesus. The substance of the Eucharist changes, while the accidents, or physical properties of the bread and wine remain the same.
This phenomenon is unique to the Eucharist and is called Transubstantiation. It is a miracle. Jesus gives himself to us in an unbloody manner so that we can consume him.
In the New Testament, St. Paul warns the Corinthians not to receive Communion without recognizing the Real Presence.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins, helps us grow in faith, and saves us. It does not bring us gifts.
In the Old Testament Isaiah prophesied that the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon Jesus, giving him a Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge and fear of the Lord. The same Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus at his Baptism descends upon us. It brings us those same gifts at our Baptism, and then strengthens them in us at our Confirmation.
Other lists of gifts can be found in the New Testament as well. Gifts such as teaching, generosity, acts of mercy, faith, evangelization and discernment of spirits, etc. The Holy Spirit produces all of them and distributes them individually to each person as he wishes, to equip us for the work of ministry, and for the building up of the Church.
Priests should be allowed to marry.
Priests are married. They represent Jesus the bridegroom and are therefore married to the Catholic Church, his bride. Priests take vows of celibacy in order to follow Jesus's example and dedicate themselves completely to his ministry. Jesus spoke of men like himself who would choose celibacy for the "sake of the kingdom." St. Paul chose to remain unmarried and encouraged others to do the same in order to serve the Lord without distraction. By their celibacy, priests live out on Earth the wedding feast of the Lamb in Heaven where the Church will be eternally married to Christ its groom, and there will no longer be any marriage between men and women. The Church has been constant in its magisterial teaching and tradition. Numerous council and authoritative papal documents have upheld priestly celibacy. It is a mandate written into canon law and it is highly unlikely to change.
Jesus's sacrifice on the cross paid the price for our sins. We can't offer God our own sufferings.
St. Paul rejoiced in his sufferings because he could offer them for the sake of the Church. Just like St. Paul, we can unite our sufferings to the sufferings of Christ and offer them as a sacrifice to God the Father, for the forgiveness of our sins and others, and for the sanctification and salvation of ourselves and of the whole world. Our Catholic faith encourages us to "offer up" not only our sufferings, but also our prayers, good works, sacrifices, fasting, penance and almsgiving, etc.
Babies can't have faith. Children should be old enough to understand and choose Baptism for themselves.
In the Old Testament Israelite baby boys were welcomed into the Jewish faith at 8 days old. Their parents provided the faith for their circumcision.
Today, even newborns may be welcomed into the Catholic faith. Their parents and godparents provide the faith for their Baptism. Baptism replaces circumcision.
Catholics use Confession as a free pass to sin all they want.
One of the conditions for making a good confession is to have a firm purpose of amendment. This means we must be serious about trying our best not to commit the same sins again. Anyone confessing a sin that they have no desire or intention of giving up cannot make a good confession. Such a confession would be invalid.
Eating Jesus's flesh and blood is cannibalism. How can the Church accept this?
Jesus is not dead. He is eternal. Therefore, his body and blood are a living sacrifice.
The same way that Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed the multitudes in the gospels, he multiplies his flesh and blood in the Eucharist to feed all of humanity. We do not diminish his body when we consume him.
We have not made a killing of him for the purpose of nourishing our bodies. He willingly gave his life for us, to become our heavenly food, not for our bodies, but for our souls.
Catholics think Baptism is ineffective by itself. They claim we need Confirmation to make our Baptism valid.
The Catechism tells us that Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. It is not a completion of the sacrament of Baptism, as if Baptism were incomplete on its own. They are two separate sacraments, not two halves of a whole. Instead, Confirmation completes what began at Baptism. It is a ratification of Baptism and a strengthening of Baptismal grace. Meaning, it permanently seals us, signifying that we belong to Christ and his Church, and it strengthens and makes firm the graces we receive from the Holy Spirit, which are the gifts and charisms we received at our Baptism. Therefore, it strengthens our faith, gives us the courage we need to defend it, and equips us for the work of evangelization.
Jesus did not leave us a hierarchical Church. The New Testament Church was just a gathering of believers in people's homes.
Any good CEO knows you can't run a business without structure. The same is true for any type of entity or organization, such as a sport, a school, or a country. As head of his Church, Jesus intentionally left men in charge of his ministry, to preach the gospel and celebrate the sacraments. His apostles passed on this ministry to other men by the laying on of hands in the sacrament of Holy Orders. The New Testament makes specific references to an order of bishops, priests and deacons already existing in the early Church.
The sacraments are just an invention of the Catholic Church. They are not biblical.
The sacraments were instituted by Christ and evidence for them can be found throughout scripture. Both the New Testament and writings from early Church Fathers reveal that the early Church was Catholic. They celebrated the sacraments and passed them on to new believers, urging them to hold on to what they were taught.