Tell me what you perceive regarding Catholicism?

Question

As a former Catholic, I have noticed a lot of weird beliefs regarding Catholicism. I think one chick was trying to say they don't follow the Bible. I agree that it has incorporated a lot more ceremony, pomp and circumstance, and (the Catholics I know) don't call themselves Christian (they are Catholic). So what are some of the "strange" things you see in Catholicism compared to other Christian denominations? [Belief in a God aside.] Or what misconceptions would you like to clear up?

PS I don't follow any God religions. I'm just from a Catholic family.

Answer 1

I am a former Catholic as well. Although I longer believe in or practice Catholicism or any other type of Christianity - there are some things I would like to clear up.

Catholics DO NOT worship Mary.
-There is ONE prayer to Mary and it does like this:
"Hail Mary, full of Grace the Lord is with you. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of the womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen"
-Does that sound like Mary worship? Catholics simply respect and honor her as the mother of Jesus. They ask for her prayers since she is close to God. Simple as that.
-That is the biggest misconception I want to clear up.

Catholics do not worship Saints.
-Same concept. Saints are respected and honored for their good deeds, etc. They are supposedly close to God and Catholoics ask Saints to pray for them as well.

The whole Baptism thing:
-It seems that many faiths (Baptists specifically) believe that Catholics will go to Hell because they are not "saved".
Catholics are baptized at birth to cleanse the child of original sin. Later on in life, usually as a teenager, a Catholic will get 'Confirmed' into the Church. This is pretty self explanitory. No Catholics do not get "saved" per se...but you get the idea.

Catholics do not worship objects:
-Catholics do not worship objects such as crucifixes and rosaries. Rosaries are simply prayer tools and crucifixes honor Jesus for dying for their sins.

Catholics do not think they can "Play God" by forgiving others for their sins.
-When a Catholic confesses their sins to a Priest, the Priest tells them basically what they can do to make it right. For example if they wrong someone, what to do to make it right, etc. The Priest does not offer forgiveness, the Priest guides the person as to how to repent for their sins so that God will forgive them.

There's plenty more but these are the biggest issues for me. I hope this sheds the light on some of the issues and that at least one person reads this and learns from it instead of spreading senseless rumors.

Great question!

Answer 2

The problem with Catholicism is the same in most all religions. The bible is used to support a belief rather than beliefs based on the bible. Catholicism has had many centuries to evolve into an almost belief over bible system. It is the end result of most religions that last that long. It is why you have people rebel and start their own branches of religions from it. However eventually even they become as off as them.

Here is the concept. The Jews had no translations to deal with in their language of the old testament and laws. It was exactly as was given them by Moses and the prophets. They studied with exactness what it said and kept its concepts. Even with this devotion they still did not recognize the messiah when he came.

So how does a christian type person expect to know what reality is with a bible translated and interpreted in a variety of languages, shifted from one belief and religion to another, and then used for their own purposes? On top of it the study is not near as exact as it was before. Matter of fact some people come out of seminary more confused than before.

What you have is a variety of religions that have a flavor to fit the need of just about every person based on their emotional need. If you feel the bible does not have enough answers there is a Mormon religion that has another book to teach you from. If you feel you want to be intellectual and different than anyone else there is a Jehovah's Witness religion to feel that need. If you want to be charismatic and excited there are Pentecostals. If you want to be calm and conservative there are Baptists.

The bottom line is that you are not dealing with truth in any of them but emotional support. If you want truth, seek God himself. Religion is only a vehicle to hopefully get you to that truth. The problem is that it is always an invention of man and doomed to fall short.

Answer 3

I don't know a whole lot about Catholicism, but from what I've seen, a lot of Catholics appear to worship idols, they put Mary before Jesus and God. But that's just what I've perceived in my own opinions, I don't understand the Catholic religion, and I don't pretend to, either. I'm not here to judge.

Answer 4

They are the beast power of Revelation 13 and the little horn power of Daniel 8 - see link below.

They do alot things not Biblical like praying to saints and Mary and saying that she is the queen of heaven. They diefy objects like the crucifixs, holy water, etc. They put themselves in the place of God by saying they can forgive sins and change God's law - Changing Saturday Sabbath to Sunday research that change. They help alot of poor people but they are teaching doctrines of devils underneath it all and that does not equate goodness. They also believe you are saved by works that is why they get so much funding. They believe in pergatory which is a place where those who die go and wait for processing. These are a few among alot of doctrines that are not Biblical and intermingled with paganistic customs.

Answer 5

i'm a Roman Catholic...and we are also chrisians and we're not the only people who call ourselves by our religious name, Protestants dont call themselves christians but protestants..same thing for baptists...and about us not following the Bible that's not true at all, like how can we be christains and not follow the Bible...some people say that we praise Mary as a god, that's not true, we just show our appreciation and thanx for being the mother of our savior, when Gabriel came to her to ask her if she was willing to choose her faith and she said yes...so we say thank you, as simple as that...and what other stuff we celebrate? saints, again we dont pray TO them but we can ask ther intercession towards God and Jesus because they were such good and faithful people we want to be more like them to get into the Kingdom of heaven.anyone and everyone who beleive in Christ and in God are christians, regardless if they are catholics, baptists, protestants..

Answer 6

I am catholic and I attend church every Sunday with my family. There is a lot of Catholics who don't really practice their religion, they don't attend mass and they have no clue what is going on in their church. Those are the people who complain about their religion not following the bible. During a mass, our priest reflects on a specific chapter of the bible and discusses its meaning with the congregation. No, we don't hold a bible in our hands during a mass but we hold a book with a summary of what will be discussed on each mass for us to follow. Catholics don't adore idols, but we keep them as a remainder of those who had great lives to imitate. Having and image of Jesus in our homes remind us of his ever present image in our hearts. Holy Mary does not come before God, but she is viewed as a great example of faith since she was the first disciple to believe in Jesus' miracles (John 2, 5-7) and she stayed with him when the rest of his disciples went hiding after his crucifixion. She is the mother of God and when we pray to her with our holy rosary we ask her to guide our lives for us to come closer to her son, Jesus. During our rosary we meditate in the experiences lived by Jesus on Earth which are reflected on the bible. That helps us bring Jesus closer to our daily lives.
I am very happy with my religion because most Catholics don't judge others for their beliefs. We don't have to call ourselves Christians because everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is Christian since Jesus is the whole base of Christianity. We respect them and even open our doors to those from other religions who come to preach on us because as long as they are sharing the word of God that is ok.
I am sharing my knowledge of Catholicism as I understand it and practice. Given the limited space, I can't really go into too much detail, but I hope what I've written might help shed some light on a few common misconceptions. God bless you all!!!

Answer 7

I am struggling with this right now. What I dont like is how the church changes its rules.. It used to be you couldnt get a divorce. NOw you can AND get remarried.

It used to be you couldnt eat meat on fridays. Now you can.

It used to be a lot strikcter. Now NON catholics go to Holy Communion.
I am thinking about leaving the church.
Great question by the way!

Answer 8

Research even deeper and you will find the roman catholic church to be very evil and against god, in fact the anti christ is to come from the catholic church.

Answer 9

catholocism and its foundations are pretty cruel, check out the crusades.

its a man made institution that has gone sour with child molestation and other ridiculous habits that prove that believing in god is one thing and attending a church is another.

and the catholic bible talks about slaying dragons.

Answer 10

I percieve that religion to be all about intolerance and power. The only reason to become a preist is to have power over others.

religion should be about harmony, not power.