Lesson Six: Catholicism

*** Special Note - CCC stands for Catechism of the Catholic Church ***

Use this website if you would like to read the CCC references. Just type the number into the search engine.

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm


Similarities Between Catholics and Evangelicals

The Trinity

• God is one.
• God has revealed himself as three persons. (CCC 253)
• Catholics do not consider Mary part of the Trinity.

Jesus

• Jesus is the second person of the trinity.
• He is fully divine and fully human. (CCC 464)
• Born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, buried, resurrected from the dead.

Miscellaneous

• Sinfulness of humanity.
• Necessity of Salvation
• Numerous Social Issues (i.e. abortion)

Differences

Authority

Catholics

• Have 3 sources of authority.
• The Bible (CCC 133)
• Tradition (CCC 82)
• Magisterium - teaching ministry of the church (CCC 85, 87, 95)

Evangelicals

• Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone).

Mary

Catholics

• Mary is the "Holy Mother of God" (CCC 975)
• She was preserved from original sin and pure from all sin in her life (CCC 508)
• Devotion to Mary and the saints intrinsic to worship (CCC 971; 2683-2684)

Evangelicals

• Mary is honored as a godly woman.

Sin

Catholics

• Two types of sin.
• Mortal - destroys the saving grace of God (CCC 1856-1859)
• Venial - does not destroy the saving grace og God. (CCC 1863)

Evangelicals

• No dual concept of sin.

Sacraments

Catholics

• The sacraments are a means of grace.
• The grace of God is infused in s person through the sacraments.
• Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Confession, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, Matrimony)

Evangelicals

• They are symbols of grace.

Baptism

Catholics

• Infant Baptism (CCC 1250)
• All sins forgiven, original sin and personal sins, as well as punishment for sin. (CCC 1263)
• Completed at Confirmation.

Evangelicals

• Testimony of regeneration not sacrament of regeneration.

Eucharist (Lord's Supper)

Catholics

• Transubstantiation - The bread and the wine actually transform into the body and blood of Christ. (CCC 1376)
• By receiving eucharist, one is receiving Christ.

Evangelicals

• It is a memorial meal, not eucharist sacrifice.

Confession

Catholics

• Sinner confesses mortal sins to priest; priest imposes acts of penance and offers forgiveness of sins. (CCC 1461)
• Reconciles one with God. (CCC 1468)

Evangelicals

• The Doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer.

How Can One Be Saved?

How can I, a sinner, be made right with God, who is perfect and holy? By Justification

Catholics and Evangelicals agree that "We are justified by grace through faith because of Jesus Christ."

Catholics and Evangelicals disagree that "We are justified by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. Evangelicals agree with this statement.

Sola Fide (Faith Alone)

• Martin Luther: "the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls."
• John Calvin: "the hinge upon which everything turns."
• This is the heart of the Gospel.

The Council of Trent

• "If anyone says that by faith alone the sinner is justified, so as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification...let him be anathema (condemned; excommunicated)" Session 6, Canon 9

Paul

• "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel...If anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned." Galatians 1:6-9

Discussion

1. What are your thoughts on this culture that you live in?

2. We can not judge if whether a person is going to heaven or hell but looking at the beliefs of the Catholic church how well do they match up with Christianity?

Lesson Five: Jehovah's Witness

History

The Jehovah's Witness movement was founded in by Charles T. Russell in Pittsburgh, PA, in the late 1800's. Russell was influenced by members of the Seventh-day Adventists and their belief in an imminent return of Christ to establish the millennial era. At this time it was 1872 and he was 20 years old. Russell grew up believing in the ideas of traditional Christianity. He established the International Bible Student's Association and predicted the millennial age would start by 1914. His organization became known as the Zion's Watchtower Tract Society where he printed the first magazine known today as The Watchtower. Russel's skills as a communicator really helped stimulate the interest in this new religion. He published his sermons, published a seven volume series entitled Studies in Scripture. This would become the doctrinal foundation. He even said it would be better to read his writings than the Bible.

Russell died in 1916 and Joseph Rutherford took his place in leadership. He published many writings and they became the standard for doctrinal and scriptural interpretation. He made significant changes which include:

• The Golden Age Magazine (now known as Awake)
• Reinforced door-to-door witnessing.
• By 1933, 403 radio stations were broadcasting Bible lectures.
• In 1931, to distinguish themselves from Christian denominations, the name of the group became Jehovah's Witness.

After Rutherford died in 1942, Nathan Knorr became president of the Witnesses. During this time the Witnesses were involved with many court cases stating their objections to certain political requirements. Between 1930-40, they won 43 cases before the Supreme Court. They did a lot for minority civil rights. Under his leadership, they grew from a membership of 115,000 to more than 2 million by 1977.

Knock, Knock !

Chances are you have had a Jehovah's Witness come by your house. On average, each Witness spends about 10 hours a month in door-to-door visits. They are concerned about your spiritual condition but this visiting is a requirement for their salvation. Jehovah's Witness has a works based salvation. The door-to-door evangelism has proven effective for them. They average about 5,500 converts per week. On top of those 10 hours the Witness must attend 5 hours of meetings each week. Interestingly enough these meetings do not include audience participation. No questions are allowed. Each member is instructed to accept the teachings of the Watchtower Society as authoritative, definitive and final. Jehovah's Witness is a tightly organized religion. Witnesses meet in their local Kingdom Hall. Strict guidelines on structure and doctrine are dictated from their headquarters in Brooklyn, NY. Today there are currently over 6,000,000 Witnesses in 230 countries in the world.

Beliefs

Bible

They believe that the Bible is the only authority. However, they believe that they alone interpret the Bible correctly. The have their own version of the Bible and it is the only authoritative one. This version is the New World Translation. Their Bible is similar to any Christian Bible but there are some major differences.

There is God, But No Trinity

The Witnesses believe that there is one God and the correct name is Jehovah. They believe that the exclusive use of this name is a mark of a religion being true. They do not consider Jesus to be the Son of God. Instead Jesus is actually Michael the Archangel who was the first of God's creations. When he came to earth he was called Jesus and after going back to heaven he was back to being Michael. Jesus isn't God and Witnesses can not pray to Him because it is heresy. Anyone guilty of this is disgraced from the organization. They have a concept of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a God but is an active force (like electricity).

There is life after death (for the Witnesses) but No Hell (for everyone else).

The Witnesses deny the existence of hell. There is no eternal punishment. All non-Witnesses are annihilated immediately upon death. For witnesses, there is an elite class of 144,000 who will actually get into heaven. The rest of the Witnesses will live on the earth during Jehovah's millennial reign. Until then, the spirits of past witnesses lie in a unconscious state.

There is Salvation, but You Have to Work for It

Because Jesus (really Michael) is not considered to be God then he doesn't play a significant part in the salvation process. His death on the cross only cancels out Adam's sin. Humans now have the opportunity to attain righteousness on our own. This happens by being a Witness and testifying for Jehovah.

Oppositions

Jehovah's Witnesses are famous for being oppossed to certain activities. They consider these to be immoral. They believe these claims are mandated in the Bible. They are as follows:

• Blood Transfusions
• Birthday Celebrations
• Christmas Celebrations
• Other parties and Festivities (i.e. - Thanksgiving)
• Patriotic Customs (Voting, Saluting the Flag, or Pledging Alligiance)
• Serving in the Military

Discussion

1. Please look back through the beliefs section of this blog. What are some of the major differences in Jehovah's Witness and Christianity?

2. As we saw in our study of Mormonism, Jehavah's Witness is even more famous for their door-to-door evangelism. What is the most effective way that we can get the Christian message out to non-believers?

Lesson Four: Mormonism

Overview

Mormonism is also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Mormon church membership is over 11 million with an average of over 300,000 converts per year. Mormons embark on a 2 year mission after graduating high school. There are approximately 50,000 missionaries in 200 countries. Mormons consider themselves to be Orthodox Christians and on the outside they may appear this way. Unfortunately, the Mormon church is a cult and they are eventually unorthodox in every belief.


History

The founder of the Mormon church was Joseph Smith. He was born in 1805. One day in the spring of 1820, Smith was praying in the woods near his home when he received his vision in which two "personages"- The Father and the Son - appeared to him. The personages told him that all of the churches and their beliefs were wrong. A new church was started and Joseph Smith was the one start and lead it. ( Note that Smith was only 15 years old). Smith got really involved in treasure hunting, "seer" stones (peep stones) which was considered occultic and it was illegal. "Peep Stone Gazing" is a practice in which a person would place a stone into a hat and then put his face completely in the hat, shutting out the light. The magic rock(s) would then shine to reveal the location of buried treasure. On September 21, 1823, Smith claimed to have another vision this time from the angel Moroni. Note Smith was now 18. This angel told Smith where a book was inscribed in gold plates containing the information about the former inhabitants of America along with the true gospel which had been given to these ancient inhabitants by the "Savior". It was not until three years after this that Moroni told Smith where the gold plates were buried. By 1830, Smith had published these golden plates and called them the Book of Mormon and founded the Mormon Church. Interestingly enough, The angel Moroni took the golden plates back to heaven with him after the translation. They can not be viewed for inspection. As the church grew so did opposition. The opposition came from Smith's "inspired scriptures" and the practice of polygamy. Smith died in 1844 when a mob stormed a jail where Smith was being held. Brigham Young then took over as leader and lead the group to what is now known as Salt Lake City, Utah. This city was established a "The New Zion (Jerusalem)". Polygamy flourished but ended in 1890 when the 4th president of the Mormon Church, Wilford Woodruff, had a new revelation from God that they should give up the practice. Not coincidentally, the U.S. government had threatened to confiscate the churches property, temples and deny Utah the opportunity for Statehood.


Mormon Scriptures

Mormons believe in four "standard works" of scripture. They do believe that the original manuscripts of the Bible are accurate but they believe that it has been corrupted along the way. They also believe God continues to give revelations.

• The Book of Mormon - Smith once called this "the most correct book on earth." Smith claimed to have translated this from the writings of ancient civilizations (golden plates). The evidence shows that Smith copied thousands of words and even some whole chapters directly from the King James Bible.
• Doctrines and Covenants - He not only called the Book of Mormon the most correct book but he also called it the most "complete." However, The Book of Mormon was followed up three years later with the Book of Commandments and two years after that revised it and called it Doctrines and Covenants.
• Pearl of Great Price - This sacred Mormon book also "translated" by Joseph Smith. This contains Smith's own "correct" translation of the Book of Moses, the Gospel of Matthew and the Articles of Faith. Non-Mormon scholars have determined that the artifacts Smith used for his translation were remnants of a common Egyptian funeral text.
• The "Inspired" Version of the Bible - Smith did his own translation because he believed and taught that every other translation was corrupt. However, Smith could not read Greek or Hebrew. Basically, he made thousands of changes to the King James Bible. The Mormon Bible even has a passage in Genesis 50 predicting the coming of Joseph Smith.

Basic Beliefs

The Nature of God (Two Important Beliefs)

• Eternal Progression - God is not eternal, self-existent, all-powerful God of the universe. God is nothing more than a man who became a god. Each "god" was created by another "god". The current "Father God" was once a mortal man but he progressed to become "god". This belief that god was once a man leads to the belief system that God still has a physical body.
• Polytheism - This is probably the most basic difference between Mormonism and Orthodox Christianity. Mormons not only believe that the present Father God is descended from an eternal progression of other gods, but they believe that any Mormon can become a god too.

The Person of Jesus

According to Mormon Theology, after the current Father God was created, he grew up as a man on another planet and then became God. He then had sex with Mother God and had "millions" of spirit children. The first-born of these children was Jesus, and the second-born was Lucifer. The Father God then came up with a plan for the rest of his spirit children to populate and live on earth, be tested, only to return to him after death. Mormons sometimes refer to Jesus as elder brother. Jesus was chosen as Savior and it made Lucifer mad so he rebelled. The Father God had physical relations with Mary and this is how Jesus was born. They believe Jesus got married and had several children. He died on a cross, was resurrected with a new body, returned to heaven, where he is waiting to take the place of the current Father God, who will progress to even greater realms.

Humankind

Mormonism believes that every person born once existed as a spirit in heaven. A person can also progress to be a god. Once you have become a god, you can have spirit children of your own and they will eventually come to earth and repeat the cycle.

• Sin and Salvation - People are born in an innocent state. Sin is not a condition of rebellion against God but more like having poor judgement or making a mistake. Mormons believe that salvation is how we get right with God. That means you will be resurrected and have a body. Mormons believe that because Jesus was resurrected then everyone will be. They do not believe that you are saved by believing in and accepting Jesus. All people are eventually saved, and you are saved by doing good works and by obeying "the laws of the Gospel" (Meaning people who follow the beliefs of the LDS church).
• The afterlife - Mormons believe that all people will enter one of three heavens when they die: the celestial, the terrestrial or the telestial. Only faithful Mormons would enter the celestial heaven. The not so good Mormons and the really good non-Mormons enter the terrestrial heaven. The third heaven includes most people because they have been mostly bad.

Mormonism and Christianity

Scripture

The Book of Mormon

• Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon from the writings of ancient prophets engraved on gold plates he found buried near his home.
• The translation involved a "seer" stone, which Smith claimed to gave him the power of God.
• The Book of Mormon contains thousands of words, even entire chapters, copied from the King James Bible.
• There is no decisive archaeological evidence for any of the ancient civilizations described by the Book of Mormon.
• Despite Mormon claims, the Book of Mormon is not prophesied in the Bible.

The Bible

• God used the Holy Spirit to inspire 40 different human writers over a period of 1600 years. (2 Peter 1:20-21)
• Several different individual church councils discovered which writings were Scripture by recognizing the writings that spoke with the authority of God.
• The Bible has been carefully transmitted and translated from the original manuscripts and languages to the current day.
• Archaeologists have uncovered more copies of the ancient Bible manuscripts than any other document in antiquity.
• There is abundant corroborating evidence to confirm the claims of the Bible. Not every person, place, date, or fact about the Bible has been verified through outside sources but many have and not one has been shown to be false.

The Nature of God

Mormons

• God the father is an exalted man from another planet.
• He came from another species of gods, who existed before him in an infinite series of gods, who were also men.
• God is ever evolving.
• God has a physical body.
• God the father had physical relations with the Mother God resulting in millions of spirit babies.
• Although matter is eternal, God is not.

Christians

• God is God, not an exalted man (Hosea 11:9)
• There is only one God (Isaiah 45:5)
• God is a spirit (John 4:24) and does not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).
• God is eternal (Isaiah 40:28)
• God does not change (Malachi 3:6)
• There has never been a time when God was not completely God (Psalm 90:2)

Jesus

Mormons

• He was a created being and the brother of Lucifer.
• He was born of Mary having sex with God.
• Jesus had to earn his own salvation, just like the rest of the created beings.
• Jesus is a greater being than other spirit children on the earth, but he has the same nature.
• Jesus was a polygamist.
• The atonement of Jesus took place in the garden of Gethsemane and was for Adam's sin only.
• Our salvation begins with atonement but is made complete by our good works.

Christians

• Jesus is fully God and one with God the Father (John 10:30).
• Jesus was born of a virgin through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-20)
• Because He is God, Jesus didn't need to be saved (1 John 5:20)
• There is no evidence that Jesus ever married once, let alone several times.
• The atonement of Jesus took place on the cross, and it was effective for all humanity (Romans 5:18)
• There is no other way to be saved except by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Ephesians 2:8-9)

Bickel, Bruce and Stan Jantz. World Religions and Cults 101. (Harvest House Publishers: Eugene, 2002), 91-108.

Discussion

1. You have all seen the commercials put out by the Mormon church. You have probably seen the missionaries on bikes in your neighborhood. The Mormon Church is very marketable and aggressive. What can we as Christians learn from them in this area???
2. Except for me, everyone in this class are females. The Mormon woman celestial heaven is to be Mother God over a planet with Father God. Mother God is to have millions of spirit babies. Does this sound like heaven to you???
3. It is my opinion that the Mormon Church is the #1 threat in America to Christianity. An average of 300,000 converts a year and the majority of those were evangelical Christians. However; no one within the church is really "beating the drum" about Mormonism. Maybe its because they are good people...wealthy... or they really don't understand Mormonism. What can we do to get the true word out about Mormonism?

Lesson Three: Islam

Beginnings

Muhammad ibn Abdullah was born in 570 A.D. in Mecca. As a child, he lost his mother, father and grandfather to death. He had to live with his uncle. His uncle was head of the Quraish clan. This clan had the responsibility for the Ka'aba, a Meccan shrine and place of pilgrimage in Arabia. Most of the people in Mecca were polytheistic; worshipped many "gods" and natural phenomena. Two of the main religous practices in this polytheistic culture were offering sacrifices and going on pilgrimages. In 610 A.D., Muhammad was sitting in a cave when he received the first of a series of mystical visions. He eventually believed that the archangel Gabriel was deliving God's message to him. The message was that there was one true God and that idolotry was an abomination. It wasn't until 612 A.D. that he began to preach and he began to get converts. Muhammad recited these revelations to his disciples since he could not read or write. They wrote his revelations down and this collection became the Qur'an (Koran). In 612A.D., Muhammad and his followers moved from Mecca to Medina.This date starts a new time period for the Muslims. Hegira is the depature of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina and the beginning of the Muslim era. Thus, starting with 622A.D., Muslims now have their own calendar with A.H. 1 (and so forth).


Get This to Understand Where We Are Today!

Muhammad organized a small army to establish peace among the various tribal fighting groups in Medina. Through combat and diplomacy he acheived stability in the region. A mosque was built and a government was formed to set rules for the people in all walks of life: religous, economic, political and social. In 630 A.D., after 6 years of fighting, Muhammad conquered the city of Mecca. He destroyed every shrine and idol there except the Kaaba. Mecca is the most sacred place on earth to the Muslims. He was a combined religous leader and government ruler enforcing the worship of Allah. Muhammad died in 632 A.D.
Just this snapshot alone should help one better understand why the Middle East is why it is!


The Five Doctrines

Doctrine #1 : God

God's name is Allah. Muslims believe in his existence and preeminence. They believe in his omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence (Christians believe these things except for the name Allah). Muslims memorize the "99 beautiful names" for Allah and they describe a characteristic of Allah. Missing from this list of characteristics is ...Love. The Qur'an does not describe Allah as loving. His character is described in terms of judgement and power. Allah does love those who are good (do good deeds and practice 5 pillars) but Allah does not love the person whose bad deeds outweigh the good things he/she has done. Allah only loves the good. Muslims also take offense to the notion that a person can know God. They do not believe in a personal relationship with God. They believe he is mysterious and distant. Muslims also believe that Christianity is polytheistic because of the Trinity. They believe Christians worship three gods. Because of the Trinity, Muslims view Christians as unbelievers. These are major differences between Christianity and Islam.

Doctrine #2: Angels

Muslims believe that each human has two recording angels that keep track of their good deeds and their bad deeds. This is done throughout an entire lifetime. On Judgement Day, the deeds are weighed to see which one, good deeds or bad deeds, outweighs the other.

Doctrine #3: Sacred Scriptures

According to Islam, Allah has revealed himself through four sacred writings:

1. The Torah (Books of Moses in the Bible)
2. The Zabur (Psalms of David)
3. The Injil (The Gospel of Jesus Christ)
4. The Qur'an (The revelation of Muhammad recited to his transcribers)

The Qur'an prevails over all these because it was Allah's last revelation. Much of the teaching about God in the Qur'an is consistent with the teachings in the Bible. Muslims accept the Torah and the Gospels but believe that Jews and Christians have misinterpreted them. They believe them to be corrupt and the Qur'an to be in the original perfect state. They believe it to be Muhammad's exact revelation on paper and nothing errant about it. Most of the work to collect all the revelations into the Qur'an are based on the work of Zaid ibn Thabit.

Doctrine #4

Muslims believe that over 100,00 prophets have been sent to human beings throughout history. The Qur'an list less than 30. Here are some:

• Adam
• Noah
• Abraham
• Moses
• David
• Solomon
• Jonah
• John the Baptist
• Jesus

Muslims recognize Jesus as an important prophet but not the Son of God. To them this is blasphemy and the Qur'an denies that Jesus is the Son of God. Interesting enough that Muslims believe that He was sinless and Muhammad was not. The Qur'an teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. Muslims respect and honor Jesus but they consider him less significant than Muhammad. Muhammad was the greatest of the prophets and the message he brought applies to everyone for all time.

Doctrine #5: Future Judgement

Remember the doctrine of angels? There are two angels, good and bad, that record all your actions. Allah weighs these actions against each other to see which way the scale tips. This determines a person's eternal destiny!

LOOPHOLE!!!

There is a loophole that would allow a Muslim-and only a Muslim-to avoid judgement. Those who die as martyrs in defense of the Islamic faith or in a "holy war" (a jihad) go directly to heaven and avoid the uncertain outcomeof waiting to see which way the scales tip.

The Five Pillars

If the scale is going to tip in favor of a Muslim then they perform certain good deeds that are compatible with the teachings of the Qur'an and the Hadith. Chief among these are the Five Pillars of Faith. A muslim must perform these if the scales are to tip in their favor.

Pillar #1: Recite the Creed

It is called the Shahadah. The english translation is "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messanger."Muslims are expected to recite this publicly and doing so throughout their lifetime confirms a persons membership in the Islamic faith.

Pillar #2: Pray the Prayers

Prayer is the discipline most consistent Muslims practice because it shows obedience to Allah. Prayer is a ritual that occurs five times a day: dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, after sunset and at night. Prayers must be said facing the city of Mecca. Prayers can be said anywhere except on Fridays at noon when Muslims must come to the mosque.

Pillar #3: Give the Alms

Alms equal 2.5 percent of a person's income. The money is given to the Muslim community to benefit widows, orphans, the sick and travelers. ALms are also used for the institutional and administrative purposes of Islam (i.e. - building mosques, salaries of Muslim missionaries).

Pillar #4: Fasting

Muslims observe an entire month of fasting during Ramadan. Muslims abstain from food, drink and pleasures during the month. Any eating must be accomplished after sunset and before dawn.

Pillar #5: The Pilgrimage

The Qur'an requires that a Muslim make a pilgrimage(hajj) to Mecca once in a lifetime. There are exceptions for the sick and poor. To Muslims, the hajj is a symbol of the global unity of Islam and everyone's quality before Allah.

Sects

The two major sects are the Sunnis and the Shi'ites. There was a split of these two groups that happend not long after Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. The Shi'ites broke away because they believed that Muhammad's successor should be in Muhammad's bloodline. They also believe religous leaders should be political leaders. The Sunnis believe that the leaders should be elected and their should be a separation of religion and government.

Recap

• Allah - The most powerful ruler in the universe. The oneness of his character contradicts the Christian Trinity.
• Humanity - They are in charge of creation and under Allah's authority. They are to instill moral order through the teachings of Islam. Conscience is a higher value than love.
• Sin - The human tendency to sin comes from a weakness rather than from a sin nature.
• Salvation and Afterlife - The two recording angels record your good and bad deeds and weigh them on the final judgement. This determines eternal life for the muslim. Remember the Loophole!!!
• Morals - Otlined in the Qur'an.
• Worship - It is best revealed by strict adherence to the five pillars.
• Jesus - A great prophet but certainly not God. Muhammad was a mere mortal (Like Jesus) but was the greatest prophet.

Islam and Christianity

The Muslims believe that Allah does not love and that he is not a personal god. They believe justice is his strongest characteristic. Christians believe God's biggest characteristic is love (John 3:16) and that He desires a personal relationship with His creation. Muslims do not accept Jesus as the Messiah, nor are they looking for one. Islam is a religion where works equals salvation whereas Christians believe works are a byproduct of salvation. Christians only believe the Bible.

Discussion

After studying Islam, what is your thoughts on the present situation in the middle east and the world? Does this help you understand where they are coming from and why they do what they do???

Bickel, Bruce and Stan Jantz. World Religions and Cults 101. (Harvest House Publishers: Eugene, 2002), 61-79.