Why do Catholics continue pagan rituals?

Question

Why do Catholics take part in all these rituals that have pagan pasts?

The papacy
hierarchal church order
the adoration of Mary
the Rosary
Sunday worship
the Mass
confessions
bowing down
the sign of the cross
infant baptism
Lent
Easter
Christmas

are all examples of religious rites conceived in Babylon rather than the Bible.

I believe this conflicts with the 1st and 2nd commandments.

Catholics commemorate the Babylonian pagan rite of Lent, by celebrating the Bacchanalia under its new name "Mardi Gras." Lent itself is based upon the Babylonian practice of weeping for Tammuz - the Son of the Sun.

Answer 1

You barely scratched the surface.

If you know the story of Constantine you know he was pagan. He deceived many weak minded Christians when he tricked them into believing what he was do was of God.

Pagan never converted but rather used Christian names and symbols on their own gods and traditions.

Everything the catholic church represents is pagan. Every symbol has a pagan meaning. I have looked into this for years.

Read Revelation Chapters 17 & 18

They have infiltrated their doctrines in every major religious organization.

Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Answer 2

Hi there, I would think that you would look into the pagan side of things more before making such statements. No, I am not Catholic. However, you do not state what your "denomination" is either. Instead of attacking Catholics, or any other denomination, why not follow the real teachings - such as love your neighbor or the Golden Rule with is a common thread in all of the denominations. You said, "It is sad that people ignore these facts and continue to follow these man made traditions." It is even more sad when some feel superior to others because of some text book learning but haven't learn how to put the learning into application. Keep on studying and learning.... it would be really nice to see people having actual discussions on these boards and answering questions instead of posing attacks and deeming certain denominations as stupid or petty. Have a blessed day!

Answer 3

I was born Catholic but do not practice for MANY reasons.

I would like to address the catholics that have answered in defense. My father was studying to be a priest, my mother taught Catholic Sunday school, and I was an altar boy.

Many Catholics will argue that they do not pray to The Virgin Mary. Traditional Catholicism reveres the Virgin Mary. This is very apparent especially in predominantly Catholic countries. Here in the US it is not so apparent. When you walk into a Catholic church, say in Europe or Latin america, The walls are lined with saints, paintings, statues, and candles.

This is called Idolatry. In front of some churches there are candles with a statue or picture of a saint. Then there is a place for you to kneel. That is adoration.

One major pillar of faith for the Catholic belief is the notion that Mary died a virgin. This is simply not true. The bible gives accounts where it talks about the brothers and sisters of Jesus. To say that they were brothers in a spiritual sense is not true, since, if you go to back to the original language, the word from brothers is the same in all the accounts as well as the word for brothers when it is talking about blood relatives. Ever heard of the book of James? james was the half brother of Jesus. Mary had her duties as a wife to Joseph and she fulfilled them.

Another belief is the belief in the Ascension of Mary. Mary died. She was buried. Nowhere in the bible does it say anything about an ascension of Mary. Which brings me to another point. The Catholic church has 2 belief systems. The scriptural approach, and the traditional approach. Furthermore, the Pope, is not merely the head of the church. He is considered "Vicar of Jesus". A vicar is a person who takes the place of and represents another man. The Pope can decide to make July 9th a holiday conmemorating the day Bob learned to walk, and it will be done. It was a pope, infact, that decided to start teaching the notion that Mary ascended.

Now many Catholics will say that I'm not telling the truth, which shows how little they really know about their own faith. I grew up, going to church every Sunday, taking my communion, going to Sunday school, and rarely read the bible. I was never encouraged to. And I atteneded many churches since I moved often. I simply believed what I was told.

This and many other reasons, which I base on scripture alone, not on what some guy wearing a dress tells me, are why I have left the catholic faith. And I am, by far, not the only one.

Answer 4

You forgot candles and incense.

Sorry pal. Pagans don't honor the pope. Never have. So how can that be pagan? Pagans have no hierarchy. So how can that be pagan? Pagan's don't follow Christ. So why would they honor his mother? Pagans don't use ANY day of the week as a day dedicated to the Lord. So how can Sunday worship be pagan? Pagans don't have mass. The mass comes from our Jewish fathers. Go to synagog and you will see. Pagans don't believe in sin so how can confession be pagan? Bowing down is biblical. So if you're calling that pagan I'd REALLY like to know what bible you're reading. Fasting for 40 days is biblical. Jesus did it himself. So how is Lent pagan? Easter is - again - Jewish in origin. Christmas is when it is because during the early history of Christianity we were persecuted so we had to hide our worship among pagan rituals. Such as Yule.

Answer 5

There were so many different religions in the ancient past that there is bound to be similarities to Christianity.

These resemblances are superficial and external.

Similarity in words and names is nothing; it is the sense that matters.

Catholic rituals are Christ-centered and not pagan.

Rituals are all around us. Humans are ritualistic beings. We make rituals out of everything.

In our everyday lives, kissing your spouse hello and goodbye, shaking hands with friends and strangers, prayers before meals and bed, celebrating holidays the "family" way, even doing your morning toilette.

Rituals also give reassurance to children, adding a sense of confidence through repetition. Family members are brought together and bonds are strengthened.

Society has rituals: graduations, inaugurations, the Independence Day, New Years, Halloween, parades, the Olympics opening ceremonies.

Religion also has rituals, like baptism, marriage, and funerals.

This is the way humans live, celebrate and rejoice. This is also how we pass our values and traditions onto future generations.

With love in Christ.

Answer 6

None of these are "pagan rituals concieved in Babylon". The ignorance and misinformation is amazing. I could go through each and every one of these and demolish it, but for someone who's so far off track, why bother.

P.S. - The Christian Bible was compiled under the auspices of the early Catholic Church. Without the Catholic Church, the Bible as we know it today would not exist.

Answer 7

Bah! All the rituals ordained by God in the Old Testament also have nature religion parallels. I am sure that if we looked closely enough we would find "pagan' parallels to the rituals of your sect.
Catholicism condemns the adoration of Mary or of anyone other than God. All of the things you listed have biblical warrant and foundation.

Answer 8

If you think that these are pagan ritual then you don't know what Christianity really is, just like so many people in this world (especially the U.S.). The early Christians believed a certain way, and that way is the same way as the Catholic Church of today believes, just in a different era with SO many more wicked people within the Church itself and Satan having much more prevelance in this world today.

If you think for a second that the early Christian "worship service" resembled a Baptist, Penecostal or Mormon service over the Holy Mass, then you are gravely mistaken. The early Christians, just like today, celebrated Mass and the Holy Eucharist (Holy Communion), that is feeding on the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. This is why the Romans and Jewish authorities made the claim of cannabilism against them. The other Christian customs were all VERY early practices, with the Holy Catholic Church using her authority given by Christ. The papacy began with St. Peter and lives on today, and there are a ton of writings showing that the Christian community submitted to Rome (the seat of the Pope) to settle Church conficts and differences. As a matter of fact, all of what you have written can be clearly seen in the writings of the early Christians, the Church Fathers - known as patristics.

Heirarchal church order, by the way, is stated in the Bible in several occasions, most notably in 1 Timothy. The rosary is a Biblical prayer, we ask Mary to pray for US. In the Bible, the canticle of Mary in Luke 1 states about Mary - "all ages will call me BLESSED." Infant Baptism is also totally Biblical, remember Jesus stated to let the children come to Him, because the kingdom of God is for such as them. Also, in Acts most notably but also in the Episltes we see whole households getting baptized, entire families that at that time of Jewish values you better believe that there were infants involved. Also, the true doctrine of Baptism, which the Church contains exclusively (well, along with our Eastern Orthodox bretheren) states that one must be baptized with water and spirit (remember this from the Bible) for one to enter the Kingdom of God. So why not allow the children to enter into the covenant, the Old Covenant Judaism did exactly that - with circumcision recognizing the entrance into the covenant. With that being said, the New Testament is the entire fulfillment of the Old, so that makes total sense, now doesn't it.

Understand that God gave ONE Church authority, and not 36,000 different ones who all differ on simple matters of doctrine. This is not logical. There is but ONE true catholic (which means 'universal') and apostolic Church, and that is the Holy Catholic Church. By using her authority given to her by Christ Himself, she can make declarations concerning faith and morals and we know that these will be truth, because the Church is protected against such falsities. As the Bible states - "the gates of hell will not prevail against the church" (Matthew 16:18) I suggest that you study Scripture more (without "Protestant glasses" on) and study the writings of the early Christian Fathers and the medeivals before you make such a bogus and utterly untrue statement.

P.S. Stay away from the Satan inspired filth called "Chick tracts." This man has absolutely NO clue what he is talking about, and has already been proven a fraud. For anyone with this mindset, you are being decieved by the devil himself through this wickedness and being kept away from the one true Church of the Living God.


EDIT: So, Big Sam - are the pictures in your wallet and the Lincoln Memorial idolotry too? We HONOR the Saints as examples of our Christian "heroes." They are kind of like our "all-stars" and deserve our respect. I can walk into basically any home in America and there will be pictures all over the wall of family and friends -- idolotry??? Seems you, like so many folks who don't have a clue, will allow certain "idolotries" but condemn others. You need to use that brain God gave you and just think for a change, I promise you with an open mind and careful study He will lead you to the ultimate truth.

Answer 9

I do not care what religion you may or may not belong to. What catholics or any other religion do to practice their belief is frankly none of your business. It would be nice if you could go do something productive instead of asking inappropriate questions. I find your question to be offensive. Yes I am a catholic and I pray to Jesus Christ every night and I don't follow "pagan rituals". Have a good day.

Answer 10

The papacy is the government of the Catholic church. We do not worship the Pope, he is simply a spiritual leader (such as a President or Prime minister)

The hierarchal church order; again, think government-like.

Contrary to popular belief, we do not worship Mary, we adore her in the sense of showing extreme respect; after all, she carried the Son of God through Immaculate Conception... rather respect-deserving in itself.

Ok, I am not going to go through everything, that would take a while...

But just fyi, confessions aren't like "Oh, you can't be forgiven unless you talk to a priest." Cause priests aren't divine. They are just very holy people, and they can help us to see why exactly what we did was wrong... like talking to a consuler. They pray with.

Which reminds me, in case anyone was wondering... Catholics don't pray TO saints, Mary, priests, etc... we ONLY pray to God (the trinity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit), not to other holy people; the others, we are just asking them to pray with us to God.

Hope that cleared things up.

(And whoever answered the point about Christmas, totally right.)