1. The Roman Catholic Church claims to be “the” Church:
A. In order to back up this claim she must trace her roots back to the apostles, which she can, and have kept the faith, which she hasn’t.
2. The Infallibility and jurisdictional authority of the Pope, which is claimed by the Roman Catholic Church, is nowhere to be found in the fathers:
A. They base this claim on Matt. 16:16-19 in which Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom, and at least according to some, calls Peter the rock upon which he will build his Church.
B. If this is true, since Peter first founded the church in Antioch, why doesn’t it have the authority?
C. Honorius was anathematized from the Church in the Third Council of Constantinople (681) for the monothelite heresy. How can this be if he is infallible?
D. The Councils (First Council of Constantinople and Council of Chalcedon) claimed that Rome got her place in the Church from being the capitol of the empire not from Peter’s confession in Matt. 16.
3. The filioque (and the Son) is not only an addition to the Creed, as it claims that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, but it is also heretical:
A. To maintain the idea that the Trinity is three persons and yet one God all characteristics given to it must either be shared by the three or specific to the one.
B. A characteristic that is shared by the three indicates one God while a characteristic that is specific to one reveals a distinct person.
C. The filioque gives the characteristic of generating the Spirit to both the Father and the Son.
D. In giving a characteristic to two persons of the Trinity it reveals neither one God nor a distinct person, and so it makes no sense considering our understanding of the Trinity.
E. It is therefore heretical.
4. In order to maintain the Roman Catholic understanding of the filioque they must change that which unifies the Trinity from the traditional understanding of the Father to the common essence.
A. By saying “I believe in one God the Father…” the Nicene Creed places the unity of the Trinity in the Father.
5. Original Sin:
A. This is the Roman Catholic claim that man is born guilty of Adam’s sin.
B. One result of this was the claim in the Council of Constance that unbaptized babies went to Hell.
C. This also shows their juridical view of salvation upon which the Protestants picked up.
6. The Immaculate Conception of Mary:
A. This is the claim that Mary had special grace to be born without sin.
B. This was necessary because of their view of original sin.
7. Transubstantiation:
A. This is the belief that the material elements of bread and wine are not present in the Eucharist after the consecration.
B. Since the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ it must accurately represent the nature of Christ.
C. To say that the material elements of the bread and wine are not present is to say that Christ was not a material being.
D. This is a Christological heresy akin to Gnosticism, which claimed that Christ did not have a material body.
E. Thomas Aquinas who was the first one to postulate this took a belief from Aristotle that two substances could not inhabit the same space.
F. Therefore one could not have both divinity and materiality within the bread and wine.
8. The Roman Catholic Church has done away with most of her asceticism:
A. The fathers said that asceticism was a major catalyst for becoming Christ like.
B. Their Lenten fast is no meat on Friday.
C. There is no Christmas, Apostles’, or Dormition fasts.
D. There is only a one-hour fast before taking communion.
E. The weekly fast is no meat on Friday, but this is not emphasized and few observe it.
F. Most of the service is spent sitting down.
G. One can fulfill their Sunday “obligation” on Saturday night so they don’t even have to get up early Sunday morning.
