What Do You Think of Catholics?

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4 responses to “What Do You Think of Catholics?”

1. Maggie says:

   November 3, 2025 at 12:30 pm

   Hi i would like to know more on your take on catholic doctrine and what you have discovered.

   I have come across your website, Jesus led me here and im enjoying what you have published for those seeking truth and only truth from jesus, thank you.

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   • Tony says:

     November 3, 2025 at 9:28 pm

     Maggie:

     Thanks for asking! I’m not even close to being an expert on Catholicism, but I can certainly list a few of the major theological differences between Catholics and non-Catholics as I understand them.

     • Scripture and Tradition: Catholics claim that their spiritual authorities are the Bible and the traditions of the church. As we see in both the Old Testament and New Testament, it’s easy for us to add our own traditions to God’s Word. Because traditions change, and they come and go, Protestants consider the unchanging nature of Scripture to be above tradition. It’s not that tradition is bad, but that we judge tradition using Scripture. Generally speaking, they judge Scripture using tradition.
     • The Pope’s authority: one of the primary titles given to the Pope is ‘the vicar of Christ.’ That is, he is claimed to be God’s primary representative on earth. This is problematic for a number of reasons. First and foremost, there’s nothing in the New Testament to suggest that there should be one leader of the worldwide church. Peter never wrote anything like that. Next, church history tells us that nobody was considered that kind of leader for at least a hundred years after Jesus died… so this is something added later, not an essential part of the worldwide church.
     • Salvation: one of the major points of contention in the Protestant Reformation is that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone. This is in contrast to Catholic teaching, which says that salvation is a matter of faith PLUS our involvement with sacraments.
     • Purgatory: this is, in my opinion, a serious issue. It seems underrated in theological discussions. The Bible tells us that Jesus bore the penalty for our sins on the cross. Catholic doctrine says that any unconfessed venial sin (lesser sins) requires you and I to suffer in Purgatory, to be purified before entering Heaven. That means that Jesus suffered for our sins, and we suffer as well… a serious contradiction.
     • Indulgences: the idea that our good works, or our financial donations, can shorten one’s suffering in Purgatory was a huge issue in the Reformation. This is buying your way out of suffering, which is intrinsically contrary to how suffering is explained in the New Testament. It’s also a bit of a contradiction to the doctrine of Purgatory… if our suffering is what purifies us from unconfessed sin, and if money shortens our suffering, then all we really need to stay out of Purgatory is a bunch of money. The idea that money can speed up our spiritual purification seems ridiculous to me.
     • The Priesthood of All Believers: this too was a major issue in the Reformation. While the New Testament draws some distinctions between pastors (elders, shepherds) and the rest of the church, they are not seen as intermediaries between God and man. Instead, as Peter wrote, all believers are a royal priesthood. This language mirrors what God said to the children of Israel when He gave them the Mosaic Law… that every last one of them was to be a priest, teaching the nations about God. In no way does the history of Catholicism support this idea. Instead, priests are seen as a special class of believer, having distinct roles reserved to them that regular believers do not share. This is a gigantic problem in my book.

     I could go on, but that should be enough. I’m convinced that lots of Catholics have been born again… but it’s not especially because of what the Catholic church teaches, but largely in spite of it. I harbor no ill will toward Catholics, but I do take exception to the things they teach that simply aren’t found in – or are contradicted by – what we see in God’s Word.

     Does that answer your question? Let me know if there’s more I can do for you.

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2. Maggie says:

   November 4, 2025 at 12:37 am

   Tony

   Thank you for your insight.

   I do have one more question about mother Mary and the how they acknowledge her so highly? My mother in law loves her Mary statues in her lounge like its a place that is holy, I always felt it was more idols to me.
   Could you tell me your take on that?

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   • Tony says:

     November 5, 2025 at 8:31 am

     Maggie:

     Thanks for asking! I don’t believe that there are many Catholics – if any – who would say that it’s okay to engage in idolatry. For that reason, I would personally avoid saying that most Catholics actually worship Mary in the same way that they worship God. That’s what most of them say, so I will take them at face value and not assume that they’ve elevated Mary to the same level as God.

     Unfortunately, that’s not true of everyone.

     There’s a lot of confusion about Mary, for both Protestants and Catholics alike. I’ll point to one inconsistency as an example. The Catholic church teaches Mary’s perpetual virginity because the Bible doesn’t directly tell us that she ever stopped being a virgin. (Of course, the Bible does talk about Jesus’ brothers and sisters… but Catholics claim they were cousins.) Anyway, the Bible doesn’t tell us that Mary stopped being a virgin, so they teach that both Mary and Joseph remained virgins. What else doesn’t the Bible say? Well, it doesn’t say that Mary was sinless… but that doesn’t stop the Catholic church from teaching that she was.

     There have only been TWO ex cathedra statements by Catholic Popes – that is, infallible teaching straight from God – and both have to do with Mary: that she was free from both original sin and personal sin, and that she never died but was taken directly to Heaven instead.

     Pius IX declared:
     “If anyone shall dare—which God forbid—to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered shipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church.”

     What will happen to those who, in Pius’ words, think otherwise? They are separated from the church, and are no longer going to Heaven. Here are the punishments:

     • Excommunication (latae sententiae – automatic)
     • Cannot receive sacraments
     • Cannot hold teaching positions in Catholic institutions
     • Bars one from Catholic burial

     This is a spiritual death sentence. The punishment for not believing something that was only declared true in 1854 is Hell, for all eternity. It’s no wonder that Catholics, who presumably don’t want to worship idols, elevate Mary from a wonderful woman to ‘the mother of God’ and ‘the mother of the church’ and, for some, ‘co-redemptrix’ and ‘co-mediatrix.’

     Protestants revere Mary – that is, we acknowledge her role and admire her faith – but we do not venerate her or worship her. That some Catholics do worship her is indisputable, and that should never be.

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