Reasoning from the Scriptures with Catholics

by Ron Rhodes

Anyone interested in sharing the gospel with Catholic friends or understanding where members of that denomination stand on important points of theology will appreciate this thorough yet easy-to-use reference. Using the simple, step-by-step format applauded by readers in Rhodes’ previous books, Reasoning from the Scriptures with Catholics covers many theological issues that divide Protestants and Catholics, including purgatory and indulgences; the reverence of Mary, mother of Jesus; papal infallibility; Catholic traditions; and much more. Each chapter examines a single Catholic belief or practice as taught in the Catholic Catechism and other major Catholic sources, provides biblical responses, and offers questions to help Catholics examine their church’s readings. Pastors, teachers, and lay leaders will find this insightful guide a must-have tool for sharing the good news of salvation by faith alone with Catholic friends and family members.

Genres: Christianity, Reference, Catholic

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Rod Horncastle · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a LOT to read. I also read James White's book "The Roman Catholic Controversy" around the same time. Let's get this Roman Catholic insanity figured out.

I'm not Catholic, I've never been Catholic. I've barely even known any Catholics who actually went to Church more than twice a year. Yet this keeps getting thrust forth as the majority of world Christianity. So is it? In numbers - possibly. In widespread old church buildings - most likely. But in people's theological dedication - I seriously doubt it. Most Catholics I seem to come across are endlessly superstitious and prefer somewhat Pagan Voodoo (beads) and Goddess worship (Holy Mary) to the Biblical Jesus and all He did. Sure, sure, everyone loves Jesus - But some just prefer to emphasize Mother Mary, the Pope, a few old dead Saints, and a dry cookie wafer that allows them to chomp on their saviour. We won't even get into crying statues and stigmata nonsense.

The ultimate question:
Are Roman Catholics saved? Are they even Christians? Well, there's a chance. From my experience very few Christians have deep Biblical theology or a serious study of God's Game Plan, Church and Salvation. So none of us can get too proud. But there's a point (Like Islam) where your Jesus simply is not the Holy Son of the Trinity that died to save the world from their sins and rose to an eternal Kingship as ruler of all existence. Which always reminds me of all the Mafia guys that movies would show murdering people on Saturday Night and being with their religious Grandma at Saint Luke's Cathedral the next day. Yes, you must live out your salvation. (which should never be confused with living FOR your salvation. That's a big issue covered nicely in this book).

I recall thinking - If an uneducated Jesus follower goes into a Mormon church, is there a point where they've gone too far from Apostolic teachings and are no longer saved? Does the same apply to Roman Catholics? Yes actually. It would most likely mean they were never saved. They couldn't tell one Jesus from another. Hint: once you seriously find the REAL Biblical Jesus - you can easily spot an imposter.

So what does this book teach us:
Well, we jump into the Apocrypha and faulty Bible books.
Then we deal with the HUGE Sola Scriptura verses tradition issue.
But then we laughingly bounce through the Papal Infallibility comedy (this should stop anyone from seriously getting too deep into this sludge). But it doesn't.
Over to Sacramentalism.
Everyone's favorite Purgatory and indulgences debacle.
Many many chapters on the Exaltation of mary. Part 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.

You get the idea. This is basically bordering on being a Cult where the leaders determine your every action and thought.

Here's why i'm not a Catholic. Because I start reading the Bible at Genesis 1:1
No reason to be a Catholic Pope-honoring, Mary Worshiping, crumb-licking, Babbler to Saints in that verse. So on to verse 2 of Genesis 1. Nope. Nothing in that verse about Popes. Onto verse 3 ---- still nothing. Next thing you know I'm at Revelation 22:21. Zero mentions of Popes, or Purgatory, or Indulgences, or even anything seriously about Mary after the Gospels... No reason to be a Roman Catholic at all.

Sure, sure, there's lots of things about the Church and the Bible and Christian Faith. But nothing that demands I have anything to do with the Vatican or its historical insanity. And if you think that you MUST have these things before or during or after Christ -- then you most likely have the wrong Jesus.

Just to be sure, read this book. It goes through these issues verse by verse and drudges up some Catholic apologists to spank about.

Here's my fun thought on the Pope in the Bible: Matthew 16

15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Are these verses about the Pope? No they are all about Jesus. How the Holy Spirit revealed this information to Normal Clueless Peter (who goes on after this to continually prove he is still often Normal Clueless Peter). The Rock they are talking about is JESUS. Read the entire Bible. Jesus is the cornerstone (*which is a ROCK/STONE). Who has the keys to heaven: JESUS! He's most likely speaking about Himself ---- YES, the entire freakin' Bible is about Jesus.

and after that there's really no mention of Popes or Rome or a Vatican or One Man ruling them all...

God gave us the Holy Spirit and a Bible: we don't need a Pope and stupidity.

If you want: Listen to my podcast: The Bible Outlaw (here's my Christmas edition)
https://www.buzzsprout.com/987925/epi...

[Judith Seale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative book

This was very hard for me to read. I was a Catholic for 47 years. It is very heartbreaking to hear about a religion I dedicated my life to. I know have a saving grace with my Lord and Savior. I still have a lot of family members still in the Catholic faith. I plan on approving them very carefully.

[Carol Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very clear book giving scriptural reasons for refuting Catholic doctrines such as the Apocrypha, church tradition, papal infallibility, the sacraments, purgatory and indulgences and the exaltation of Mary. But for me it was much more than this. It gave me a better scriptural understanding of the doctrines that I believe and why I believe them. Highly recommended!

[Kristina Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is really bad. I could only make it 17 pages because it is so full of misconceptions about what the Catholic Church actually teaches, and even the way Catholic teaching works, and distorts basic history. I was taking notes in the book to correct errors and clarify misleading statements, and the book was so marked up it was ridiculous. And that's just the stuff that I, admittedly a non-expert, *knew* was wrong.

It looks like the author has a whole series of these books with other religions as well, so I guess ik not surprised. Very few people, if anyone, can be a legitimate expert on every single religion on the face of the planet. It's just sad because Catholicism is not a different religion from Christianity (like Islam, Mormonism, etc are); it's the fullness of Christianity.

I wish the non-Catholics who love this book would give an honest look to Catholic apologists (like Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, G.K. Chesterton, Charles Borromeo, Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, the early Church fathers, etc), at least to first understand what Catholicism *really* is, instead of reading this kind of inaccurate garbage.

I would also recommend reading "Where We Got the Bible," "Why Catholic Bibles are Bigger," and/or "The Bible is a Catholic Book" and to really consider the very premise of this topic, the idea that Catholicism even could be disproved by the Bible that comes from the Church's Tradition. It's a bold claim, and convincing if true, but it turns out that any valid complaints or criticisms against a Catholic teaching based on Scripture have been explained, if not by the early church fathers, then by Thomas Aquinas or Charles Borromeo (and re-presented in explanations from many more recent and current authors).

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A WELL-KNOWN EVANGELICAL RESEARCHER LOOKS AT CATHOLIC DOCTRINES,

Ron Rhodes is currently President of "Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries," and sometimes teaches cult apologetics at various seminaries. He was formerly Editor/Associate Editor of the Christian Research Institute's Journal and Newsletter, and a frequent guest on the "Bible Answer Man" radio program. He has written many books, such as 'The New Age Movement,' 'The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Jehovah's Witness,' 'Challenge of the Cults and New Religions,' 'Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons,' 'Reasoning from the Scriptures with Muslims,' 'Answering the Objections of Atheists, Agnostics, and Skeptics,' etc.

He wrote in the Preface to this 2000 book, "The subject of witnessing to Catholics is one that is close to my own heart since I have friends and family who are members of the Roman Catholic Church... I don't attack Roman Catholics in this book. Rather, it is my compassionate and heartfelt desire to help Catholics truly understand the wonderful gospel of God's grace. To be sure, this book contains strong biblical arguments against a variety of Roman Catholic doctrines. But the motivation behind these arguments is one of love... [The book] was written to provide helpful information that will enable you to witness effectively to Roman Catholics." (Pg. 9)

He notes, "It is highly revealing that the apostles quoted from the first-century Septuagint, yet there is not a single quote from the Apocrypha in their writings. This could mean... it was ignored by the apostles because they knew it did not truly belong in the canon of Scripture." (Pg. 39) He adds, "even if [Heb 11:35] alludes to an apocryphal book, it is definitely not a quotation from it. In fact, there is not a single clear quotation in the New Testament of any apocryphal book. This is completely unlike the Old Testament books, for these books are quoted consistently throughout the Old Testament." (Pg. 44-45)

In a section titled, "An Explicit Statement of Sola Scriptura in the Bible Is Not Necessary," he explains, "A doctrine does not have to be taught EXPLICITLY in Scripture in order for that doctrine to be recognized as true. The doctrine of the Trinity is an example... Likewise, while the doctrine of sola scriptura may not be explicitly taught in Scripture, it most certainly is implicitly taught." (Pg. 59)

About Jesus' words and the doctrine of Transubstantiation, he observes, "Jesus never said that the elements of bread and wine are actually transformed into His body and blood. He did not say, 'This BECOMES My body and blood.' He said, 'This IS my body and blood.' ... Jesus often spoke figuratively of Himself in Scripture [e.g., Jn 8:12, 10:9, 15:1]... These statements... are figures of speech. They are not to be taken literally, but rather in each case they indicate something about Jesus... The bread and wine likewise are not to be taken literally, but rather are symbolic of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross." (Pg. 200-201)

He argues, "I realize that many Catholics will respond that they agree that Jesus is the primary Mediator, and that Mary's role is secondary. My point is that Mary has no role whatsoever, other than being the divinely chosen human instrument through whom the divine Messiah and Redeemer would be born into the world. Once that was accomplished, the biblical record assigns no further role to Mary, and she is hence not even mentioned in the Epistles." (Pg. 286)

This is one of the most detailed, and largely non-polemical, evangelical critiques of Catholicism, and will be us considerable interest to those looking for such.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too me an unusual 9 months of reading of and on to get through. However Rhodes does an excellent job of detailing Catholic doctrines and delivering clear counters based on Christian (Protestant) theology. I used Roman Catholics and Evangelicals by Norman L. Geisler as an additional reference while trying to understand unclear nuances in Catholic doctrine that this Reasoning book didn’t quite fully and fairly flesh out at times.

Overall reading this and several other books showed what weak scriptural backing the Catholic Church tries to stand upon. More often the church doesn’t even try to stand on scripture and instead has created additional sources of truth. Examples are papal decrees and church councils. Many decrees and doctrines which contradict or go against the spirit of scripture (i.e. doctrines about Mary which are misleading and confusing). I’m working on how to retain and apply what I’ve learned in conversations on Catholicism. Thankful to have come across this resource.

[Lisa in AZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough, well researched and thoughtfully written book. A wonderful review of the scriptural basis for what reformed and evangelical Christians believe, and why they believe. An eye opener to Catholic traditions and interpretations of scriptures, which are paired with historical context and compared to translations from the original Greek. Scholarly, but easy to read.

[Justin Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book if you have Catholics that you are interacting with about spiritual matters.