There are many things which are good about Roman Catholicism. It holds basically to a Trinitarian view of God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. On many issues like abortion and homosexual practice, Catholics are clear (indeed far clearer than many evangelicals) in upholding biblical standards. In third world countries often their missionaries, monks and nuns do wonderful work helping the poor and needy.
Furthermore, no doubt many individual Catholics are lovely people, who have genuine faith in Christ and I am sure are true Christians. However, as a church and system of teaching, Catholicism is in deep and dangerous error. With the visit of Pope Benedict to Britain due in September it is right to remind ourselves of how Catholicism differs from the biblical gospel. Here are ten short points.
The Bible
There are two things here. First, Catholicism has a different Bible. It believes in the Old Testament and New Testament, but adds to that the 15 books of the Apocrypha. But there is no record of Jesus ever quoting from or referring to the Apocrypha. The apostles, on rare occasions do quote from the Apocrypha, but it seems only to oppose false teachers who are using it.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …