The Catholics claim to be the first century church. Why have they deviated so far from the Bible?

Catholics can't possibly be the first century church. After Jesus ascended into heaven, Peter preached the first sermon and it was God who put the words in Peter in Acts 2:38. God told us what we must do in order to be saved. We must also pray to God through Jesus. The Catholics do not do anything God has commanded us to do. They even have a second Bible when God tells us that the one Bible is enough and we should not add to it or take away from it .

They are trying to bring more people back after all the scandals by being more tolerant and flexible.

"The Bible" didn't exist in the first century. There were just a bunch of letters and books circulating, a few of which we still have, none of which were collected into one standard collection of teachings.

"The Bible" didn't exist until the third or fourth century. And contrary to what people like to assert here in R&S, no one knows exactly what Christianity was like in the first century.

Try asking these questions one at a time to get a through answer. I will answer one:

First of all it is disingenuous to state that the practice of praying for each other has no biblical foundation, we are instructed in Scripture to have a prayer life for others as it is part of God’s commandment to love one another.

(2Co 5:8 DRB) But we are confident and have a good will to be absent rather from the body and to be present with the Lord.

The Catholic Church does not teach that it is absolutely necessary for one to ask for the intercession of saints for salvation. The Church does teach that prayer to God is necessary for salvation for all believers. For a Catholic it would be wrong to ignore the liturgical worship offered to God at feast days for the saints and the prayers asking for their intercession.

The Communion of Saints is a dogma of the ancient Church and is recorded in the apostles Creed. It simply states that the faithful because of their relationship with Christ are alive even after the death of their flesh and worship with us. To us the Church is made up of the Church militant who represents all those believers living out their hope in the flesh.

(Phi 2:12 DRB) Wherefore, my dearly beloved, (as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but much more now in my absence) with fear and trembling work out your salvation.

(Phi 2:13 DRB) For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will.

It consists of the Church Suffering who are those who are temporarily in need of further purgation from sin so that they may enjoy the presence of God.

(2Ma 12:46 DRB) It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.

Lastly, the Communion of the Saints consists of those who have won the race:

(Phi 3:14 DRB) I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus.

Their immortal souls are in heaven in God’s presence:

(Rev 5:8 DRB) And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

The universal stream connecting all of God’s creation is His love, which we take on in our baptism into our journey towards sanctification. This is not an emotional but a desire placed in us by the Spirit of God that endures as a desire for those other than ourselves and this love extends even to our enemies. This is truly a love that comes only from God and is a foreign concept and nonsense to those who have not received God’s salvific grace. This desire within our souls does not end with the death of our flesh but continues into eternity where the saints through their intercession in prayer encourage us in our race and assist us to endure unto our union with God.

I think that some people of faith, who do not understand the Communion of Saints, somehow believe that asking saints to pray for us is detracting from our love or our trust in God. In truth it is impossible, if we truly love as God commands and has given us the grace to understand, not to pray to those whom we love and in turn we expect them to return that same love to us by praying for us and presenting our prayers to God.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

They haven't. They have some added rituals but the largest and oldest Christian church is based squarely on the Bible. All Christian churches have deviated from the Bible. A religion using Biblical laws and rules would be impossible in the 21st century.

Because they are NOT the 1st centuryt church.Roman catholicism did not come until 325 A.D. when Constantine decided to merge all religions into 1.He took different factions of christianity that had some elements of paganism in them and merged them with other pagan religions.He was a sun god worshiper tilt he day he died. He made roman catholicism the "STATE RELIGION"and it was forced on the populace of rome. The true church is found in the book of acts.

It is true, they claim to be the original Church organized by Christ, however, I agree with others here, they were not Catholic until years after the Apostles were all gone from the Church. In fact the Catholic Church, in my opinion is an apostate Church. I do not say this lightly, the fact is Christ chose 12 living Apostles and gave them the Keys of the Priesthood, which allowed them (Apostles) to seal on earth, ordinances, such as Baptism and receiving the Gift Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by those who held the Priesthood and also have them sealed in heaven. However, when the Apostles were killed, the Keys of the Priesthood were taken from the earth. And the Catholic Church never replaced the Apostles, therefore they became an apostate Church. That doesn't mean they are not sincere, but sincerity isn't always truth! As I see it.

it all started when they started to shave

Have the protestant cultists eliminated the Gospel of Matthew and he Book of Acts from the Bible now, too?

1) The Catholic Church existed before the Bible did. We wrote the Bible, and it was never intended to be the sole teaching.

2) Jesus gave authority to the Church, with Peter as its leader. Included was the authority to make doctrine. The authority is established here:

Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The 15th chapter of Acts gives an example of how that authority was used.

3) The expiration date on the Church's authority is when the Lord returns, and not before.

4) Whoever rejects Christ's Church rejects Him and the One who sent Him. Do not presume you will get many more warnings.

Luke 10:16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

The Catholic hierarchy is much like the Bible's Pharisees and Scribes in that they place more importance on "traditions" than they do the Word of God. They have their Catechism of the Catholic Church that they place on an equal or higher plain than the Bible.

I can agree with much of what Clive says in his answer but not totally. No, Jesus' church that He started did not have a Bible for its followers to learn from ... they had God in the flesh, but we do because God would not have us to be ignorant.

God no longer speaks to us today as He did through His prophets and ministers in the Bible.

A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability given by God at the moment of salvation for the edification of the saints. The special "sign gifts" given during the building of the church was gone by 70 A.D.

The Bible teaches very clearly refuting so much of what the Catholic church teaches such as:

Was Peter the first pope? The answer, according to Scripture, is a clear and emphatic “NO.” Peter nowhere claims supremacy over the other apostles. Nowhere in his writings (1 and 2 Peter) did the Apostle Peter claim any special role, authority, or power over the church. Nowhere in Scripture does Peter, or any other apostle, state that their apostolic authority would be passed on to successors. Yes, the Apostle Peter had a leadership role among the disciples. Yes, Peter played a crucial role in the early spread of the gospel (Acts chapters 1-10). Yes, Peter was the “rock” that Christ predicted he would be (Matthew 16:18). However, these truths about Peter in no way give support to the concept that Peter was the first pope, or that he was the “supreme leader” over the apostles, or that his authority would be passed on to the bishops of Rome. Peter himself points us all to the true Shepherd and Overseer of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:25).

Calling priests “father.” Matt. 23:9 “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

Statues. This is pure unadulterated idolatry. The first and second of the Ten Commandments states clearly … 1. You shall have no other gods before Me. 2. You shall not BOW DOWN to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.

Praying to Mary. Praying to the dead is strictly forbidden in the Bible. Deuteronomy 18:11 tells us that anyone who “consults with the dead” is “detestable to the Lord.” The story of Saul consulting a medium to bring up the spirit of the dead Samuel resulted in his death “because he was unfaithful to the LORD; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance” (1 Samuel 28:1-25; 1 Chronicles 10:13-14). Clearly, God has declared that such things are not to be done.

A saint. A saint is one who has placed their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as being sufficient for their salvation. No works involved … Eph. 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Hope this is sufficient for you.

Edit: cristoiglesia
Catholics wrote the NT of the Bible and canonized the entirety of the Christian Bible. You are obviously ignorant of the teaching of the Bible. You have been the victim of false teachers.

I thought you and I had agreed to disagree a few years back. You, my friend, are the ignorant one ... please seek the real truth not just what the Catholic church teaches. James 1:5 "If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

There's just one stipulation here ... you must first belong to Him. Humble yourself and admit to Him you are a sinner in need of His salvation and trust ONLY in Him ... His death, burial, and resurrection as being sufficient for your entrance into heaven. No works involved ... Eph. 2:8-10 8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Edit: carl
You seem to have missed Mt 16:18-19 where Jesus makes Peter the rock that he is building his church on, and gives him the keys to the kingdom and the power to bind and loose. God still does miracles today.

Carl, I have not missed Matt. 16:18-19 but you have certainly misinterpreted it. I do agree that God still does miracles today.

But let's address your misinterpretation of Matt. 16:18-19.

v. 18 The word for "Peter," petrol, means a small stone (John 1:42). Jesus used a play on words here with petra which means a foundation boulder (cf. 7:24-25). Since the NT makes it abundantly clear that Christ is both the foundation (Acts 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 3:11) and the head (Eph. 5:23) of the church, it is a mistake to think that here He is giving either of those roles to Peter. There is a sense in which the apostles played a foundational role in the building of the church (Eph. 2:20), but the role of primacy is reserved for Christ alone.

v. 19 Binding and Loosing. This was a very familiar phrase to the Jews, for their rabbis often spoke of "binding and loosing," that is, forbidding or permitting. Our Lord's statement in Matt. 16:19 referred to Peter. But His statement here in Matt. 18:18 included all the Apostles. As the representatives of their Lord, they would exercise authority according to His Word.

The Greek verbs in Matt. 16:19 are most important. The Expanded Translation by Dr. Kenneth S. Wuest reads: "And whatever you bind on earth [forbid to be done], shall have been already bound ... in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth [permit to be done], shall have already been loosed in heaven."

Carl, study it out for yourself and see if I have not told you the truth. I would NEVER mislead anyone intentionally like the Catholic church does. I was brought up in the Catholic church and asked too many questions that they could not answer for me. When I turned 20, I was, not so politely, asked to leave the church and not come back that I was a disruption to their teachings. Best day of my life because God led me to the truth. I will defend the truth with my last breath whether anyone else believes it or not. I only answer to my Lord not man.

You have it exactly backwards. Don't get me wrong, but what I'm saying is what came first, the Church or the Bible? Your question contains the assumption, on the face of it, that the Bible came first. But it didn't. In Islam, this would make sense because it is entirely based on the Qur'an, which was entirely written by the founder of the religion. So the book came first. But the Christian Church didn't start that way.

The rest of this is going to look like I'm Catholic, but I'm not and never have been. I just know church history, that's all. And history is the key to understanding how things are as they are.

The Catholic Church is a direct successor to the original Church, which of course didn't even start with a Bible, just teachings and traditions. It only put the Bible together 400 years later as a set of useful writings.

What Protestants have done is to ditch the traditions and keep only the Bible, even removing seven books they disagree with. But the Bible was never intended to teach everything, only to be a supplement to tradition. From a historical perspective, that's how to look at it. The Catholics had and still have tradition plus Bible. Cut out the tradition and you're like a ship that has cut its anchor. It's now free to float in any old way.

The Reformation had a good point to it, in that the Catholic Church had become corrupt and money-grabbing, particularly by sale of indulgences - pay for one and you would get less time in purgatory on your way to heaven. As the saying goes, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was too closely identified with government. It was time for a reaction against it and a return to the faith as it should be. The Church should be a CHURCH! When it gets secular power too it all goes wrong, because people aren't perfect. This is exactly the point about banning "establishment of religion" in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Where you have "established" religion in a society like ours, religion dies off because it starts to look more like the top people's club than a faith. This is certainly true of England, and the Founding Fathers were well aware of that. At one point in England it was impossible to get a university education unless you were a member of the Established Church, and that's why the University of London started - so nonconformists could study for degrees too.

The reaction came with Martin Luther nailing up his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg. The Catholic Church, to its eternal discredit, responded by kicking him out. OK then, thought Luther, I'll form my own Church. What the Pope SHOULD have done is take the criticisms on board and enter into a debate. But in medieval Europe, forget that.

But in junking tradition, Luther threw the baby out with the bathwater. No wonder there are thousands of different kinds of Protestants, all different in some little way and yet all consistent with the Bible. This is fairly typical of political revolutions too - most go too far the other way. If you know anything about the French Revolution, you will certainly appreciate that.

Another little point... if you believe in the Bible, the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible, does that not cut out the possibility that God can still speak to us today? He spoke to prophets, and why can't he still do it now? In Catholic tradition, that is still possible, because the Bible is not everything. Of course you have to be careful that a new revelation from God really IS one. No wonder that even though Vatican I stated that the Pope is infallible, every Pope since except one has taken care not to make any "infallible" pronouncement. The only so-called infallible pronouncement that has ever been made is on the Assumption of Mary, which hardly matters very much on the practicalities of being a Christian.

Satan.

1Tim 4:1 But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, 4:2 through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; 4:3 forbidding marriage [priests] and commanding to abstain from foods [meat during Lent] which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

They claim to be the first church, but words a are cheap. the word CHURCH never did mean a building but was the congregation of believers !

The fact that the Catholic church as deviated so far from the bible is because as 1 John 5:19 says, "the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one"

So it is not suprprising that he controls the counterfeit religions of this world !

THOSE WHO WORSHIP THE TRUE GOD
People of many races, ages, and circumstances following the way of true worship
base their teachings on the Bible
worship only Jehovah and make his name known
show genuine love for one another
accept Jesus as God’s means of salvation
are no part of the world
preach God’s Kingdom as man’s only hope

See

Are all religions pleasing to God?
http://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/bible-teach/worship-that-god-approves/

I think it is the other way around. Why have so many Protestants deviated from the Bible and Christian Tradition? The Eucharist for instance is detailed in the Bible. Jesus himself says "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you". All Christians understood this to mean the Eucharist and took it literally. Yet, many Protestants say it is only symbolic. But, you can't find anyone who taught that it was only symbolic until the Protestants came on the scene. Oh, there was one guy in the 11th century but everyone called him a heretic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPlxU7h1_w8

When you say that Catholics added something, how do you know that it wasn't you that subtracted something or missed something from the Christian faith? After all the Catholic Church has been around a lot longer than your church. In fact if you can find any church that has been around longer than the Catholic Church please let me know as I may want to join it.

"So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us."
- 2 Th 2:15

And this is about the silliest objection one can make since it contradicts Jesus express teaching that the Faith would develop.

A once bitter anti-Catholic (he became a Catholic later) solved that

"Development of doctrine is a term used by John Henry Newman and other theologians influenced by him to describe the way Catholic teaching has become more detailed and explicit over the centuries, while later statements of doctrine remain consistent with earlier statements."

Yes those TVvangelist are closer to the Bible, obviously, I wonder what you think about Orthodox...do they they deviated so far from the Bible?...let me guess the religion you follow is the only one that follow the Bible...is not that interesting...i dont need to wonder why the man you maybe call Christ live and die following Judaism.

Maybe they have the actual bible stored away somewhere, and the one you have it the one they approved for release. Do you have the original?