Protestants vs Catholics (#13)

6. Holy orders – This sacrament allows the Roman Catholic church to consecrate (ordain) bishops, priests and deacons to perform church rituals of the faith. The Catholic church recognizes these church officials as a continuation of Jesus’ priesthood which He supposedly bestowed on His disciples (the Apostles). For Protestants, all, believers are disciples of Jesus equally and there is no priesthood level of believers above us that we must go through to reach God. Jesus is our high priest who sits at the right hand of God as our Mediator and Advocate and we can go to Him directly without any need for an earthy intermediary.

The Catholic church believes they are the only true church of God appointed to the Apostle Peter (the first Pope) by Jesus based on one verse of Scripture in Matthew that they misinterpreted. Since the Catholic church thinks they are the official church of God we can understand their thinking when they declare their church officials to be supernaturally endowed members of the priesthood. Their original premise is wrong and therefore so is their belief in their clergy as surrogates of Jesus.

According to the catechism of the Catholic church priests can forgive the sins of church members and during the Eucharist they can supernaturally change bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Christ. Every function performed by the clergy is as if it was Jesus himself doing it. We know from the Bible only God can forgive sins and He hasn’t delegated that right to the Pope, priests or anyone else. This is false doctrine and blasphemy before God! Seeking forgiveness of sins by confessing to another sinful human being sitting in a box means God will not hear your prayers and He will not forgive your sins because you haven’t followed the prescribed procedure to receive forgiveness. That means your sins remain on you and you’ll be held accountable on the last day.

7. Matrimony – This is the last sacrament of the Roman Catholic church and I don’t have any real issues with it other than there are some restrictions the church imposes that the Bible doesn’t confirm. The Catholic church requires all Catholics to be married by a priest. To be married in a Catholic church at least one person must be Catholic and a divorced person can’t be married in a Catholic ceremony until their previous marriage is annulled. The Catholic church urges all married couples to be fruitful and to raise their children in the church.