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Who gave the Catholic Church the authority
to change any of the Ten Commandments written by God?
The Fourth Commandment is a very important
Commandment, since it signifies one's allegiance
to God.
There is nowhere in the Bible where the
Sabbath was changed from the seventh day to
the first day; even Jesus kept the Sabbath
Holy.
Jermaine
{ Who gave the Catholic Church the authority
to change the Ten Commandments, like the fourth — on keeping the Sabbath holy? }
Mike
replied:
Dear Jermaine —
Thanks for the question.
You said:
Who gave the Catholic Church the authority
to change any of the Ten Commandments written by God?
Well, God gave the Ten Commandments
to Moses in the Old Testament. That same God
revealed Himself to mankind as Jesus
Christ. Our Lord made it very clear
that He came, not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. Before Our
Blessed Lord Jesus ascended into
Heaven He founded the Catholic Church
on St. Peter and gave St. Peter the
divine authority to safeguard, protect,
and teach in His Name, for past,
present and future generations to
come. Read Matthew 16:13-19.
No one has changed the Ten Commandments.
The Holy Father safeguards the Ten
Commandments and ensures all mankind
that they will not change.
Similar questions and answers you
may have, can be found in this web
posting:
You said: There is nowhere in the Bible where the
Sabbath was changed from the seventh day to
the first day; even Jesus kept the Sabbath
Holy.
Good point! The Catholic Church with
the divine authority Jesus gave to
Her, changed that day from the Old
Passover, to the New Passover on
Easter Sunday, when Jesus, Our Blessed
Lord rose from the dead and conquered
Death itself.
Strange, isn't it that to this day,
I know of no Evangelical
Protestant groups who go to Church
on Saturday. Whether they know it
or not, they are trusting in the
Catholic Church's decision to change
the Sabbath from a Saturday to Sunday, just
as they are trusting
the Catholic Church's decision on
which books belong in the New Testament.
There is no place in the Bible where it states that the books, epistles and letters which make up the Bible are the divinely inspired books which should be in the Bible. Catholic bishops, guided by the Holy
Spirit, decided which books of the
Bible were inspired in 382 A.D. at the Council of Rome!
Thanks for e-mailing and come again.
Mike
Jermaine
replied:
Hi, Mike —
Well, I kind of knew you were planning
to use that Scripture because the
whole Catholic Church rests on those
verses: (Matthew 16:13-20, Matthew 18:18 and John 20:23).
What the Church fails to realize,
due to lack of study, faith, and
knowledge of the character of God,
is that God would never give mere
man the power to forgive or remit
sins. The only man He gave power
to remit sins was Jesus Christ, Who
is, Himself, God. God does not want
you to put your trust in Peter, Paul
or the Pope; He wants you to put
your trust in Him. He used the Apostles,
not the Pope, to spread the Good
News about Him. Christ gave no ecclesiastical
right to forgive sin, nor to sell
indulgences.
What is the meaning of the name,
Peter?
Don't know, huh?
Well, Peter means loose
stone. Due to misguided men,
the Catholic Church has been led
astray. When Christ died, He made
us all priests by using Him as
a sacrifice to God for our sins.
The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church
which is the church that I am a part
of, keeps the Bible Sabbath. I would
suggest you read the Kings James
version of the Bible. It's unbiased.
Even Jesus who is God, used the Scriptures
to back up His teachings. He actually
quoted over 200 texts from the Old
Testament. The Apostles also used
the Scriptures to teach and to learn.
Catholics live off Papal doctrines
more than the Word of God. Catholics
alone do not get the Holy Spirit.
It is given freely to anyone who
asks. A claim like that is blasphemy.
The Catholic Church is leading people,
who are genuine in heart, love and
faith in Jesus, astray, but lack proper knowledge of the Bible.
The Bible
is the only Authority on God. Any
teaching that is not supported by
the Bible is not of God.
Tell me why are you in allegiance
with the Pope?
Jermaine
Mike
replied:
Dear Jermaine,
You said: Well, I kind
of knew you were planning to use
that Scripture because the whole
Catholic Church rests on those verses:
(Matthew 16:13-20, Matthew 18:18 and John 20:23).
No,
it rests on Jesus and the Spoken Words of
Jesus, who is God. Both Jesus and St. Paul encouraged their disciples to hold fast to both the Written Word as well as the Spoken Word of God which has been passed down to us from generation to generation to generation, (2 Thessalonians 2:15, 1 Corinthians 11:2, 2 Timothy 1:13-14, and Luke 10:16) with St. Peter as the Prime Minister of the one Church God/Jesus founded.
In the same way David Cameron and Theresa May were the Prime Ministers of England at different times, they were still not the head of England — Queen Elizabeth was. (List of Prime Ministers)
16 13 Now when Jesus came into the district
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked
his disciples, "Who do men
say that the Son of man is?"14 And
they said, "Some say John
the Baptist, others say Elijah,
and others Jeremiah or one of
the prophets."15 He
said to them, "But who do
you say that I am?" 16 Simon
Peter replied, "You are the
Christ, the Son of the living
God." 17 And
Jesus answered him,
"Blessed
are you, Simon Barjona! For flesh
and blood has not revealed this
to you, but my Father who is in
heaven. 18 And I tell you, you
are Peter, and on this rock " I
will build MY CHURCH", and the powers of death shall
not prevail against it. 19 I 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."
20 Then
he strictly charged the disciples
to tell no one that he was the
Christ.
Why don't you follow the Words
of Jesus in your own Bible, like
us?
You said: What the Church
fails to realize, due to lack of
study, faith, and knowledge of the
character of God, is that God would
never give mere man the power to
forgive or remit sins.
But he did. It's right in Scripture;
how do you expect any Christian
to ignore this?
19 On
the evening of that day, the first
day of the week, the doors being
shut where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews, Jesus came
and stood among them and said
to them, "Peace be with you." 20 When
he had said this, he showed them
his hands and his side. Then the
disciples were glad when they
saw the Lord. 21 Jesus
said to them again,
Peace
be with you. As the Father has
sent me, even so I send you." 22 And
when he had said this, he breathed
on them, and said to them,
Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If
you forgive the sins of any, they
are forgiven; if you retain the
sins of any, they are retained."
You said: The only man
He gave power to remit sins was Jesus
Christ, Who is Himself God.
Jesus forgives the sin through the
special priesthood of Holy Orders
that priests have. It was His
Choice to use men and
to call them from generation to generation until His Second Coming, to
be His priests and act "in
His place" or "in persona Christi",
to distribute His Divine forgiveness.
If
you don't like His Choice for administering forgiveness,
you have to take it up with Him at
your Particular Judgment.
You said: God does not
want you to put your trust in Peter,
Paul or the Pope; He wants you to
put your trust in Him.
We don't put our faith in the Pope;
we put our faith in Jesus working through the Pope.
You said: He used the Apostles,
not the Pope, to spread the Good
News about Him. Christ gave no ecclesiastical
right to forgive sin, nor to sell
indulgences.
Incorrect, He gave His Church the
ecclesiastical ability, to give a
remission before God, of the temporal
punishment due to sins, whose guilt
has already been forgiven. This is
the easiest way to explain what indulgences
are.
Are you saying that Jesus can't
choose to give His Divine Authority
to men and work through men, as
He wishes in accordance with their free will?
If so, you are limiting God! For
clarification purposes, this
is what the Church teaches
on indulgences:
1471 The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance.
What is an indulgence?
"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints." (Pope St. Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution, Indulgentiarum Doctrina, Norm 1)
"An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin." (Indulgentiarum Doctrina, Norm 2; cf. Norm 3) The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead. (Code of Canon Law, canon 994. 84Cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1712-1713; (1563): 1820)
See also:
2 Corinthians 2:6-11 St. Paul himself issued an indulgence by
lessening the temporal penance for sin of a straying brother.
The Catholic Church does not now
nor has it ever approved the sale
of indulgences.
This is to be
distinguished from the undeniable
fact that individual Catholics
(perhaps the best known of them
being the German Dominican Johann
Tetzel [1465-1519]) did
sell indulgences — but in
doing so they acted contrary to
explicit Church regulations. This
practice is utterly opposed to
the Catholic Church's teaching
on indulgences, and it cannot
be regarded as a teaching or practice
of the Church.
In the sixteenth century, when
the abuse of indulgences was at
its height, Cardinal Cajetan (Tommaso de Vio, 1469-1534) wrote about the problem:
"Preachers act in the name
of the Church so long as they
teach the doctrines of Christ
and the Church; but if they teach,
guided by their own minds and
arbitrariness of will, things
of which they are ignorant, they
cannot pass as representatives
of the Church; it need not be
wondered at that they go astray."
The Council Of Trent (1545-1564)
issued a decree that gave Church
teaching on indulgences and that
provided stringent guidelines to
eliminate abuses:
"Since the power of granting
indulgences was conferred by Christ
on the Church (cf. Matthew 16:19, 18:18, John 20:23), and she has
even in the earliest times made
use of that power divinely given
to her, the holy council teaches
and commands that the use of indulgences,
most salutary to the Christian
people and approved by the authority
of the holy councils, is to be
retained in the Church, and it
condemns with anathema those who
assert that they are useless or
deny that there is in the Church
the power of granting them.
In granting them, however,
it desires that in accordance
with the ancient and approved
custom in the Church moderation
be observed, lest by too great
facility ecclesiastical discipline
be weakened. But desiring that
the abuses which have become
connected with them, and by
any reason of which this excellent
name of indulgences is blasphemed
by the heretics, be amended
and corrected, it ordains in
a general way by the present
decree that all evil traffic in them, which has been a most
prolific source of abuses among
the Christian people, be
absolutely abolished.
Other abuses, however, of this
kind which have sprung from
superstition, ignorance, irreverence,
or from whatever other sources,
since by reason of the manifold
corruptions in places and provinces where
they are committed, they cannot
conveniently be prohibited
individually, it commands all
bishops diligently to make
note of, each in his own church,
and report them to the next
provincial synod."
Justified problems in the Church do
not give anyone divine
authority to interpret the Scriptures
the way they wish. During the
period of the Reformation, the
Church did need reform, but instead it
got a revolution!
People like you, Jermaine, believe
in the Papacy — Your own Papacy,
which has no authority whatsoever
at all. You interpret what the Scriptures
say in whatever way you wish.
My Baptist friend, Fred, tells me.
he doesn't interpret the Scriptures.
He just reads the
Holy Scriptures and they speak for
themselves and guide him to salvation.
My reply was that a reader cannot
read any book
without interpreting what they have
read. How they interpret what they
have read is based on their upbringing
and prejudices. The same is true
with the
Holy Scriptures. The way we interpret
what we read will depend on a number
of issues:
Previous reading of other portions
of Holy Scriptures
Our educational background,
both secular and religious
Our knowledge of Biblical and non-Biblical
history, and
Our prejudices
e.g. if we have
fallen into the immoral behavior
of homosexuality, we probably will not want to interpret
any verses in Scriptures that
condemn the practice
of homosexuality. The same is
true with other sins and sinful
habits we have,
like contraception.
You said:
What is the meaning
of the name, Peter?
Don't know huh?
Well
Peter meansloose stone.
I'll let our colleagues at Catholic
Answers address this error of yours:
You said: Due to misguided
men, the Catholic Church has been
led astray.
Granted we have our share of sinners.
Come and join us :
), but the sins of the
faithful don't affect the Teachings
of the Church. Jesus/The Holy Spirit guarantees
this.
You said: When Christ died,
He made us all priests by using Him
as a sacrifice to God for our sins.
Correct! But there are two priesthoods'
recognized by the Church.
The priesthood
of believers, of which everyone belongs, and
the
ministerial priesthood, where men
are called by Christ to be priests
to administer His sacraments for the Church through Holy Orders:
Two different priesthoods, with
two different natures.
We practice our priesthood as lay
parishioners when we participate
at Holy Mass every Sunday, and during
daily Mass. The more we participate
in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,
by saying our parts, (by speaking,
praying, singing, etc.), the more
we exercise our priesthood as Jesus
expects us to. During Mass, the universal
priesthood of the faithful dialogue
with the ministerial priesthood of
the priest. This dialogue represents
the whole body
of Christ worshipping God,
in union with the saints in Heaven
as He wishes!!!
You said: The Seventh Day
Adventist Church which is the church
that I am a part of, keeps the Bible
Sabbath.
The church you are a part of was
founded, not by the God-Man, Christ,
but by a woman:
Ellen Gould White in 1860. You are
following
"the traditions of men" by
following a faith that a mere "man"
founded or, if you want to be politically correct, you are
following
"the traditions of women" by
following a faith that a mere "woman"
founded.
You said: I would suggest
you read the Kings James version
of the Bible. It's unbiased.
I would suggest you read up on who
King James was. I believe you will
be disappointed.
You said: Even Jesus, who
is the God-Man, used the Scriptures to back
up His teachings. He actually quoted
over 200 texts from the Old Testament.
Satan also quoted Scripture in the
Garden of Olives to Our Blessed Lord.
What's the point?
A Scripture verse taken out of context
is a proof text for one's personal
interpretation. (2 Peter 1:19-21, 2 Peter 3:14-16) The Bible is
not a recipe book: Pick
your own verses and start your own
church.
You said: The Apostles
also used the Scriptures to teach
and to learn.
Yes, the Old Testament Scriptures.
The New Testament Scriptures were
not decided until 382 A.D. at the Council of Rome. They were later
ratified at the Councils of Hippo in 393 A.D. and Councils of Carthage in 393 A.D. and 400 A.D. Before that
time, no one knew what made up the
New Testament.
Only when Catholic bishops made that
decision, guided by the Holy Spirit,
did we know what books belonged in
the Bible.
Every time you open a Bible, you
are implicitly saying,
"I believe in the Catholic
Church's decision about what books
should be in the New Testament I will be reading today."
You said: Catholics live
off Papal doctrines more than
the Word of God.
No, Papal teachings are explanations
of what Jesus taught, so Catholics
and other non-Catholic Christians can better understand
the teachings of Jesus. Some of them
encourage and explain how we should
interpret the Scriptures.
Very few people during Jesus' time
knew how to read; they were illiterate.
Learning came through listening and
hearing what was passed down by the
Apostles.
You said: Catholics alone
do not get the Holy Spirit. It is
given freely to anyone who asks.
I agree.
You said: A claim like
that is blasphemy. The Catholic Church
is leading people, who are genuine
in heart, love and faith in Jesus,
astray, but lack proper knowledge
of the Bible.
No, you are leading people astray
who are genuine in heart and are
searching for the fullness of Faith
that can only be found in the One
Church Jesus founded on
St. Peter and his successors:
the Roman Catholic Church. You are
replacing Jesus with Ellen Gould
White. That is blasphemy!!
You said: The Bible is
the only Authority on God.Any teaching
that is not supported by the Bible
is not of God.
Where does it say that in the
Bible?
Where in the Bible does
it say, "the Bible is the only Authority
on God."?
If there is no place in the Bible that says the Bible is the only authority on God,
and yet you and the SDA believe this, are you and the Seventh Day
Adventist "not of God"?
Historically, the Bible was written
by Catholics, for Catholics, for
use in the Catholic worship service!
You may be interested in this related
posting:
Because Jesus divinely delegated
the Pope as the Prime Minister of
His Church (preaching by the Written Word and the Oral Word) until His Second Coming at the end of time.
Read Matthew 16:13-19 and Luke 10:16.
