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I would encourage you to read into the history of why Catholicism is vastly rejected.
The Catholic Church was one of the first to profess that salvation was not by faith in Christ alone. It also instilled a doctrine of “indulgences” whereby payment to the church could reduce the penalty towards sin.
It is in Martin Luther’s refusals to go against the idea that salvation was by faith alone that the Catholic Church sought to assassinate him, ironically causing the first translation of the Bible from Latin.
Their creed clearly went against the primary tenants of Christian teaching. The same applies to praying to the saints, like the Virgin Mary, instead of directly to God.
So, Paul tells us that “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. “
(Galatians 1:8)
The Greek anathema, in this case, best translates to “give up to destruction.”
So, if Paul makes it clear that requiring circumcision for salvation is grounds for both defining a new gospel and reason for being accursed, the doctrines of the Catholic Church are no different. The same applies to Mormonism.
It’s not just about declaring Jesus as Lord, it’s about following the direct gospel message that he taught. If you don’t follow his teaching, he’s not your lord in the first place.
Many Catholic beliefs directly contradict biblical principles. Examples include prayer to saints, confession of sins to priests, infant baptism, etc. Sorry, but saying that Catholics are the “OG Christians” shows a serious lack of knowledge of the history of the faith.
Hey OP - pretty weighty issue to wrestle with here. Laying out some points that may help you dig deeper on the claims and differences. They’re alliterated because I wanted to… haha. Hope it’s helpful!
The (Main) Charge
I believe the chief charge against Catholicism is an abandonment of a biblical gospel. Paul charges the Galatian church of this in Galatians 1:6–9 stating they should be “anathema” if they have the gospel wrong. (There are some other major disagreements, but I think this is the chief difference)
The Concern
Paul continues in Galatians to say that “man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Christ” (Gal 2:21) and “we may be justified by faith” (Gal 2:24).
What does the word “justify” (in Greek δικαιοω) mean? It has basically two meanings:
1 - To make righteous
2 - To show as righteous
It’s evident that Galatians deals primarily with the first definition because “faith in Jesus Christ” is the means through which we are sons of God (Gal 3:26). This is all that Paul sees as necessary to be righteous (justified) before God. Yet his opponents in Galatians argue that Christians must also be circumcised.
Catholicism similarly lays out additional requirements for salvation (Catholic Catechism = CCC):
- Water baptism for anyone who has heard the gospel, CCC 2020, 1257
- Human will, Council of Trent, Justification, Canon 9
The Conclusion
Paul’s gospel is that men are made righteous by faith and not works and he opposes those who hold up works necessary to be made right before God. Catholicism teaches that at least water baptism and some aspect of human will (or work) is necessary for salvation. According to this, people in the Catholic Church can be saved, but it would be despite the teaching of the Catholic Church. Anyone that consciously acknowledges a different gospel then what Paul delivered (including justification, being made righteous, by faith alone) is to be under the judgement of God (“anathema”).
I hope this logic is sound and faithfully represents Catholic teaching and Paul’s theology in Galatians. Please point out to me if there are any gaps!
Praying this helps you in drilling down to the root of the difference and why such a difficult claim would be made.
Sorry this is such a superficial “charge” and belies an actual understanding of Christian theology. But this is the standard propaganda that gets spread in Protestant “Bible study.”
This is why i am very hesitant to cast judgement on Mormons. I have no clue what Mormons believe, but if they believe in Christ then that should be enough.
Mormons are not Christians. It’s not that hard to look up their basic doctrines.
I’m not saying you/we should cast judgment, but that also doesn’t mean you should just assume that because Jesus is a character in their religion that they’re a Christian denomination. Jesus is also a character in Islam and Jehovahs Witnesses, but no one with a basic understanding of the Bible and Christian theology would call those Christian religions.
Pro
Unless there was no such thing as Christianity until the Protestant reformation, then Catholics must be Christian. Catholics were the only statistically significant Christian population until 1500 (except the orthodox crowd)
If anything, Jews are the OG Christian’s
There’s a lot of books/resources/materials out there (check out The Gospel Coalition for ex) that discuss it. Can a person go to a Catholic Church and still be Christian? Of course, if they follow practices that are biblical and less “church” tradition. Is the Catholic Church Christian? Not exactly, and again I’d point you to read different resources that discuss this.
https://www.gotquestions.org/Catholic-Christian.html good starter article