Are the teachings in the Catholic religion right?

Question

I really truly ask this question not to debate, but to truly learn something I may not know and to educate others:
I used to be a Catholic for 18 years. For 5 years now I have been Christian and below is why. These verses are also in the Catholic bible because I still have my Catholic bible. What do Catholics say about this? Have you heard these verses before? If you want Jesus in your heart, please contact me.
I Timothy 2:5-For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Questions: So wouldn't praying the rosasry be going against this? Wouldn't praying to Mary be going against this?
John 16:7-9-Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me.

Answer 1

I respect your honest questions.

In calling Jesus the "one mediator," Paul uses the word in its primary sense, meaning a principal who intervenes between opposed parties in order to reconcile them. The only person who fits this definition is Jesus Christ. Only Jesus was capable of achieving a reconciliation with God.

There is, however, a less strict sense in which Christians speak of mediators. "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way" (1 Tim. 2:1–2). Intercession--praying on behalf of others--is how all Christians "mediate" on behalf of friends.

Catholics take Jesus seriously when he says "all are alive with God," including those in heaven. We ask Mary and the saints to pray for us, believing Jesus' promise that "he is the God of the living, not the dead." Protestants who don't ask for the prayers of the saints don't seem to take Jesus at his word.

Catholics do not pray to Mary or the other saints in the sense of worship and adoration. We simply ask her to pray for us, just as I ask you to pray for me.

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 2

By your limited interpretation of I Timothy 2:5, no one should pray for another person.

The Rosary is based on meditations on key events in the Life of Christ, and so it is impossible that such meditations are contrary to Scripture. Technically, no one prays to Mary, but we do ask for Mary's intercession just as we would a close family relative or friend.

If you doubt the validity of intercessory prayer by Mary and the Saints, then you are saying that Jesus never kept His promise to send the Holy Spirit (the comforter), as expressed in John 16:7-9.

I already have Jesus in my heart, but I appreciate the invitation to contact you.

Peace and blessings upon you.

Answer 3

One would think that if one was truly a former Catholic that they would know that what you allege is not what the Catholic Church teaches. The Church does teach that there is one mediator between God and men. After all the Bible is the book of the Church and the Church has never contradicted its teaching.

The Bible teaches prayer so prayer to God is never forbidden and the Rosary prayer is a devotion to God reflecting on His sacrifice for us.

All Christians are instructed in the Scriptures to pray for each other out of love and the blessed mother prays for us out of her love for humanity and her Son.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 4

Non-Catholics like to use the verse you mentioned as "proof" that Catholics are anti-biblical because we practice intercessory prayer (asking someone to pray for you). The goofy thing is non-Catholics also practice intercessory prayer even if they won't admit it, "My friend is sick and needs prayers"; "Could you pray for my dad, he lost his job and things are really hard right now"; "15 people were gunned down by a madman. Please pray for their souls and the grieving families."

I made those examples to show that when you ask someone to pray for you, that's requesting intercessory prayer. When we pray to the saints and Mary, its no different. I'm simply asknig my family in heaven to pray for me. In no way do their prayers take the place of Christ as the one true mediator. They never can. It is only THROUGH Christ that the prayers of the saints have any power anyway, so in effect, its the power of Jesus that is working for us by the saints.

Hope this helps. God bless.

Answer 5

WRONG!
If you were a Catholic, you were a Christian. Catholics are and were always Christian.
There is one mediator between men and God. This is true. Does this mean that you never ask friends to pray for you? If they are praying for you on your behalf, they are mediating. The point is that that prayer goes through Jesus, who is the one mediator. The primary mediator.

People are so blind to the meaning of words. Prayer does NOT mean worship. Prayer is supplication. It is ASKING, which is different than worship.

The rosary is not worship of Mary. It is a meditation on the life of Christ. It is scriptural recitation. It is memorization. It IS NOT worship.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say we are not to ask others to pray for us. Nowhere in Catholic teaching does it say that Catholics are to worship anyone other than God.

Protestants are doing a great deal of work trying to convince people things about the Catholic Church that are simply not true. You seem to have bought fully into their lies.

Remember that to lie is to deceive. You have been taught lies about Catholic teaching. You are following those who have taught you these lies. You are following a deceiver.

Learn the truth about the church you are now spreading lies about as well.

I'm not a Christian, but I absolutely hate the lies that Christians tell about each other.

Answer 6

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matt 5:5 (KJV) 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be executed in earth, through the indisputable fact that's in heaven. Matt 6:10 (KJV) And hast made us unto our God kings and clergymen: and we will reign on the earth. Rev 5:10 (KJV) those verses all are talking of the fifth seal also customary because the fifth age inwhich all flesh from that age has long in the past died. to disclaim the classes of Jesus is to disclaim Jesus. someone denies Jesus at the same time as they tutor the words of everyone as well Jesus, even they war to declare the words they tutor were given by technique of Jesus, if the words do no longer say "Jesus reported", they don't seem the words of Jesus.

Answer 7

Prayer is a form of communication. When Catholics are praying to Mary or the Saints we are asking them to pray for us. It's the same as asking your friend to pray for you. Praise and worship is where the difference comes in. When you pray to God you are talking as well but most of the time when taliking to God you are praising or worshiping him.

Answer 8

Jesus promised, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). This means that his Church will never be destroyed and will never fall away from him. His Church will survive until his return.

Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.) Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing.

Jesus’ Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations" (Matt. 28:19–20). For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28). Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19). The Church Jesus established was known by its most common title, "the Catholic Church," at least as early as the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded. The title apparently was old in Ignatius’s time, which means it went all the way back to the time of the apostles.

http://www.catholic.com/library/Pillar.asp

Answer 9

+ Saints +

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.

Asking others to pray for you whether your loved ones on Earth or your loved ones in heaven is always optional.

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

+ The Blessed Virgin Mary +

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28)

"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb" (Luke 1:42).

In Luke 1:48, Mary prophesied: "From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."

The Hail Mary prayer simply recites Bible passages (the Word of God) and asks Mary to pray for us:

Hail Mary Full of grace, the Lord is with you. (These are the words the angel Gabriel said to Mary, a Bible quote.)

Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. (This is Mary's cousin Elizabeth's greeting, another bible quote.)

Holy Mary, (The angel Gabriel said she was full of grace and Elizabeth said she was blessed.)

Mother of God, (the Bible says Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, God the Son)

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. (A simple request to pray for us.)

Amen.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 2673 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt4sect1chpt2art2.htm

A question: If you take the Bible literally, then do you call Mary "blessed"? If not, why?

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 10

Like virtually every denomination the Catholics have some un-Biblical traditions that could lead some people astray, but I have no doubt of the devotion, sincerity and generosity of many Catholics. I used to be anti-Popish but I now have a lot of respect for the Catholics. I consider them my brethren.