Is Catholicism dangerous?
In their latest Demon Slayer podcast, Alexander Pagani, Isaiah Saldivar, Mike Signorelli and Vlad Savchuk unveiled seven different areas where Catholicism can actually be dangerous and contrary to biblical living.
- Venerating saints
Saldivar first points out how asking saints for intercession or venerating them is actually quite contrary to a biblically-based lifestyle.
“If you look into the word ‘worship,’ the awe, the reverence, it’s the same as the word veneration,” Saldivar says.
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“As Christians, we believe that prayer is an act that should only be directed toward God and this is instructed in Matthew 6,” he continues. “Biblically, if you’re praying to saints or even Mary or somebody that is deceased…you’re dealing in what the Bible would call necromancy, which is talking to the deceased and it’s actually prohibited in Scripture. There’s no verse anywhere in the Bible that tells us or encourages us to pray to saints, the deceased or Mary.”
- Eucharist instead of communion
In the beliefs of Catholicism, taking communion is not seen as a symbol of Christ’s body and blood, but instead it is viewed as the literal change of bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Jesus when it is taken.
One of points that Mike Signorelli makes about this belief known as “transubstantiation,” is that it diminishes the point of Jesus saying that His work on the cross is finished.
“…when Christ said ‘it is finished,’ He meant it is literally finished. So, I think from a logical argumentation standpoint, if the Eucharist is a re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice, we cannot crucify Christ again…if it actually becomes His body and actually becomes His blood, then you’re saying that a priest who is a fallible human being has the ability because of apostolic succession to re-crucify Christ, to re-represent His sacrifice,” Signorelli says.
Signorelli also points out how this undermines the person of the Holy Spirit as being God here with us today.
“We don’t need the objects, we don’t need the physical re-presentation because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and so we have Christ dwelling inside of us through the Holy Spirit,” he continues.
- Confessing your sins to priests
Instead of going directly to God in prayer, it is encouraged for Catholics to go to their priests for confession of sins. However, It is God alone who can wash us clean and make us whole.
“We believe that confessing our sins goes directly to God because He’s the only one that can forgive,” Savchuk says. “If you are bringing your sins to a priest he cannot forgive you because he doesn’t have that power.”
- Holy relics
Catholicism is known for using relics like statues, the rosary and other symbols for spiritual purposes. However, items cannot save us and can become like idols in our lives, just as what happened with the Israelites and the golden calf and the bronze serpent.
Reading Exodus 20, which commands God’s people not to make carved images and worship them, Saldivar points out how the Catholic church has moved into the realm of idolatry of holy relics.
“You’re putting your faith in holy water, you’re putting your faith in a rosary, you’re putting your faith in a crucifix, you’re putting your faith in objects,” Saldivar says.
- Purgatory
The next point made is about purgatory, which Catholics believe is a place of purification determined by prayers and financial giving from loved ones and those still alive. However, Saldivar notes that this is not biblical.
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“The Bible only, always teaches the moment you die you either go to heaven or you go to hell. You are judged, there’s no middle ground. There’s no waiting room,” Saldivar says.
- Salvation
Part of the understanding of salvation in Catholicism is related to baptism, good works and staying in good graces with the Catholic church. However, Scripture makes it clear that by repentance and faith in Christ alone we are saved.
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Explaining the message of the gospel, Alexander Pagani reminds us that we were born completely and fully in sin, but it is by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross alone that we have been made right with God.
“Number one, you were born in sin. Totally depraved by God, desperately wicked, depraved on your way to hell, but in the midst of that, God sent His only begotten Son to die in His substitutionary sacrifice for your sin,” Pagani says.
“He was buried, three days later resurrected from the dead, and if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and repent of your sin and believe in the sufficiency and the efficacy of Christ’s work on the cross as exclusively the only means for your salvation, then you will be saved,” he continues.
- Understanding of baptism
In Catholicism, baptism is an act of salvation which cleans us from the sin. However, sin itself can only truly be forgiven and washed away by Christ’s shed blood on the cross. Baptism cannot save us, including infants. Baptism is an outward expression of the inward faith we already have.
“It’s not a saving act; it’s an act you do after you get saved,” Saldivar says. “Once you receive Christ, baptism is a symbolic act that I’ve been born again.”
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Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
