Why do Catholics go by church rules and not by the Bible?

Question

for example pray to Virgin Mary, and what's up with the Candles of saints and the Pope, you might as well as say we dont need God.

Answer 1

+ Sources of Doctrine +

I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you. (1 Corinthians 11:2)

The Catholic Church does not use Holy Scripture as the only basis of doctrine. It could not. The early Catholic church existed before and during the time that the New Testament was written (by Catholics).

There were hundreds of Christian writings during the first and second centuries. Which New Testament writings would become official was not fully decided until about 400 AD.

Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church (and is guiding the church today) to make the correct choices about things like:
+ The Holy Trinity (which is also only hinted at in the Bible)
+ Going to church on Sunday instead of Saturday (which is actually directly against one of the Ten Commandments)
+ The Communion of Saints
+ Which writings include in the New Testament?

Things that are even more modern like
+ Slavery is bad. Slavery is never declared evil in the Bible. This was one of the justifications for slavery in the Confederate States.
+ Democracy is good. The Bible states that either God should be the leader of the nation like Israel before the kings or kings should be the leader, "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's." This was talked about a lot during the American Revolution.

This second source of doctrine is called Apostolic Tradition.

Do Christians who do not allow the continuing guiding force of the Holy Spirit to make their beliefs more and more perfect, still endorse slavery as Colossians 3:22 commands, "Slaves, obey your human masters in everything"?

Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. (1 Corinthians 11:2)

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect1chpt2.htm#80

+ Saints +

Before Jesus Christ died for our sins and opened the gates of heaven there were no saints in heaven. Therefore there are no Old Testament writings that would mention them.

Very few of the new Christians died before most of the New Testament was written. Therefore there is little in the Bible about asking saints to pray for us.

However the last book of the Bible does talk about the saints in heaven praying.

Revelation 5:8: Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.

Revelation 8:3-4: He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne. The smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the holy ones went up before God from the hand of the angel.

The Holy Spirit guided the early Church in many things not explained in the Bible including how does the Body of Christ (believers) living on Earth relate to the Body of Christ (saints) living in heaven. We are still one Body.

Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and Methodist Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints, you, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends living here on earth to pray for you. Or, you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother living in heaven to pray for you.

Prayer to saints in heaven is simple communication, not worship.

And prayer to the saints is optional not required.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p5.htm#946

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I'm guessing you have never been to a Catholic church or have researched about the Catholic church based on this question ...

The Catholic church does abide by The Bible .... the church doctrine is based upon the Bible and the scriptures read every Sunday is what Catholics are taught to live by. Catholics live by both the Catholic Faith and the Holy Bible because these two walk hand in hand.

By praying to and respecting those that are in heaven Catholics are not saying that they "don't need a God" ... but simply asking of those who are also by His side in Heaven. We ask Saints to pray for us just as you may ask a friend to pray for you.

The Pope is the head of the Catholic church as a role model and as someone to help lead the church. It is a shame that such a good man like John Paul II has taken upon so much criticism ... but the Catholic church recognizes the Pope as leader ... just as any other church listens to a Preacher or Youth Minster for guidance.

Jesus Christ is the leader of the Catholic church ... and by saying that Catholics say they "don't need a God" you are quite incorrect.

I'm not trying to sound biased ... because so many of these answers are one way or the other .... but I just want to inform you that the Catholic church, though differing from some of the ideals of the Protestant church, is a very faith-based God centered church.

We are not "statue pray-ers" or "Mary worshipers" or non-Christians in any way ...

The Bible says not to judge one another ... and I hope that those who point the finger at the Catholic church and make assumptions understand this.

Answer 3

The most educated and sweet sounding Catholic apologists will tell you many reasons why they do not follow the Bible to the letter and have adopted practices foreign to their own scriptures.

The most common are that the Catholic Church does not because (a) the church actually predates the finalization of the Bible! (b) the Holy Spirit supposedly guides Catholics (but not apparently other christians...) and (c) Apostolic Tradition which effectively means the vatican believes it can claim an unbroken line from the time of St Peter to Pope Benedict, so effectively the Pope retains the power to say new things as if he was one of the origial apostles.

Of course these arguments are highly dubious, subjective and self serving. Usually such arguments are backed up with choice quotes and poorly formed arguments claiming that the modernization of the world requires re-inerpretation.

Of course, what is never said is that the Council of Trent (1545) was ratified again by the 1st Vatican Council and the 2nd Vatican Council as official doctrine- in other words, a large part of Catholic faith remains wholly 16th century dogma!

The real and underlying reason why the Vatican feels free to change the rules on an ongoing basis is because it has never been a faith based on the teachings of Jesus (unlike reformed churches). Instead it is a church based on subverting the teachings of Jesus and the apostles and the perpetuation of power.

See:
http://one-faith-of-god.org/final_testament/end_of_darkness/evil/evil_0200.htm

Answer 4

They do not believe that the bible is the final authority. The pope is the living authority on earth. They also believe that saints like the Virgin Mary can be prayed to- protestants don't- and that they can put in a good word for them with God.
That's why, among many other things, catholics will ask protestants why, since the bible does not authorize moving the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, protestants make Sunday the sabbath. The pope did so for the catholic church and the protestant churches followed that example, even though they have no recognized authority for doing it.

Answer 5

Why are people taking this question as an intentional insult? Why can't the asker just be interested and asking a question out of curiosity. I personally have a few questions of my own about the Catholic church, but I don't question them because I want to insult Catholics or I think their faith is wrong. I believe faith meand something different to each individual and if that's what gets them up in the morning then I'm glad they have that. I do not have a faith as I can't buy into it , but that's just me personally, I do sometimes wish I could believe in something, but it doesn't stop me being interested in others beliefs. Besides, questioning a problem or something you don't understand about a religion r faith may end up converting that person as any sensible answer may be enough to prove to the asker that there is a god. It's not very godly to take offence to people who are just asking a question. Just take the time to answer and leave it at that, nastiness or arrogance is not the answer anyone is looking for.

Answer 6

The church policies are based on the bible. Many Catholics pass to church on a daily basis. Ash Wednesday (Lent) represents the 40 days Christ spent contained in the barren area, which in turn, represents the 40 years that Moses and the human beings of Israel spent contained in the barren area. Sunday mass is a social gathering of the life, dying and resurrection of Christ. extreme high quality eh? "do this in memory of me." So, we did. The bible has many prayers in it. examine the e book of Psalms these days? Too undesirable with regard to the beginning administration. i ask your self why a variety of of ladies human beings now a days have breast cancer? The church would not sell fornication even although. it is easy ludicrous. The Pope is the top of the church in the international. contained in the comparable way, there are rulers of worldwide places, heads of agencies, presidents of different agencies.

Answer 7

The first thing that you have to understand is that the Catholic Church was the original Church founded by Christ. All of the Christian and orthodox churches that exist today splintered from that original Church. Secondly Catholics read the entire Bible at their weekly Mass readings over a three year period which repeats itself. I believe Jesus in the Gospel of St. Mathew Chapter16 vs.17-20 said"Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven. This is why Catholics have a Pope, Jesus ORDAINED it. Anyway why not take the time to study Catholicism on your own, in order that you would be able to answer many of the questions that you seem to have about this belief system. If you are Christian, think of it as studying your roots.

Answer 8

Catholics adamently defend and follow the scriptures. The Bible is the Inspired Word of God, and we are taught to venerate it with the highest esteem. All Catholic doctrine can be found in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture. We worship God and God alone.

God bless.

Answer 9

Because in the Dark Ages the church wanted to control the people to make money for i forgot the reason... so the pope made people obey them and if any one went against them they would torture them or even kill them. some of the things they made peopel do was pay penance to be forgiven and believe that the pope was greater than the scripture. and the pope could arrest anyone. also they had to believe that if people didn't believe anything the pope said they would go to this nasty place called hell. this stuff was cut by a lot cuz of the waldenses and only about a few percent still goes on in catholic churches but not very much crucial and scary stuff. like penance or torture.

Answer 10

It is because Catholics go by their own ideas and not the bible. the reason they could do this was by the time anyone could read the bible these rules were something all people accepted. This is why there was a split in Christianity the Catholics that don't follow what the bible says and other groups that try to follow the bible.

Answer 11

thats not true.........thats an opinnion......... we believe in both yes we have candles of saints aand stuff like that but its not like we worship them we pray to them for help their is only one true god and we all love and worship him. theirs a difference between worship and praying o and by the way Peter was the first POPE so tahts how the whole pope thing got started and yes there was a bunch of shady popes back in the day............. but religion used to be a big mess during the midevil time period.......for instance Martin Luther broke away and started the Lutherns and so on and so forth down the line