Answering Common Protestant Objections
"Call no man father?"
Hello all! It’s a shorter piece this week, because I just got finished moving to our new house. That and it’s Labor Day weekend, not that that deterred us from laboring.
It’s usually a bad idea to have theological arguments in YouTube comments. That did not stop me this week. After one of my comments on Allie Beth Stuckey’s recent interview with a former Catholic, now-Protestant preacher garnered a lot of attention, a few Protestants were in my comments disputing my claim that the Catholic Church was the True Church.
These (hopefully) well-meaning Protestants listed a host of objections to the Catholic Church’s veracity. All of them were familiar to me, as Protestants everywhere absorb anti-Catholic polemics and the corresponding Scriptural “proof texts” for breakfast. Instead of (prudently) letting things go, I drafted a long list of answers to their questions. Unfortunately, my respondeo failed to post, despite my best efforts. I blame Allie Beth.
Here it is for all of you:
Question #1: Where does it say in the Bible to pray to Mary, angels, and saints rather than the Father in the name of Jesus? Jesus said pray to the Father.
To pray means to ask. Like you ask for your friends to pray for you, we ask the saints who we believe are alive in Christ to pray for us. Hebrews 12:1 tells us we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses and Revelation 8:3-4 describes an angel offering incense on behalf of the prayers of God's people to God. So why can’t we ask the righteous whose prayers are powerful (James 5:16) to pray for us to God? We first and foremost go directly to God, but we can also ask our friends, the saints, to pray for us.
Question #2: The Bible says call no man Father. So why do Catholics call priests, father? Why can't priests marry? That's not in the Bible.
Jesus did not literally mean that we cannot call anyone father or teacher. If so, Paul (Romans 9:10) and Stephen the Martyr (Acts 7:2) would be breaking His commandment. Plus, I’m sure you call people “doctor” all the time. Doctor means teacher. Are you breaking Jesus’ commandment? Are you breaking His command when you call your dad “dad?”
Secondly, priests can marry under specific circumstances, but the celibate priesthood is a tradition established by the Church. As Jesus said, whoever can accept being a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom should accept it (Matthew 19:12).
Question #3: Do they read where it says you must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven, John 3:3. That the Holy Spirit must indwell you and that you are sanctified by the word and the Holy Spirit. Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.
We read John 3:3 and believe it wholeheartedly. That is why we take baptism so seriously.
Question #4: Where does it say that Mary is the queen of heaven or the mediatrix, the mediator between man and God?
Mary appears as the queen of heaven in Revelation 12 when a woman with a crown of seven stars gives birth to Jesus in heaven. Mary has not been formally declared mediatrix by the Church, nor do we pray through her to God. That is a common misunderstanding.
Question #5: Why have they changed the second commandment, that thou shalt have no idol and not bow down to them?
In Exodus 20, the Second Commandment states that there shall be no graven image made of God. If God meant that commandment to exclude statues, art, and paintings, He would not have commanded the Israelites to make the ark of the covenant with Cherubim figures attached just five chapters later in Exodus 25.
In addition, the Ten Commandments are not numbered in Scripture, so the divisions are up to interpretation. Catholics and Lutherans number them in the same manner, while Protestants and Orthodox Christians number them differently.
Question #6: The Rosary is not in the Bible. It doesn't have this idea of praying fixed prayers to atone for sins. You simply pray to Jesus or the Father and repent and genuinely strive not to sin. God knows your heart.
You’re right, the Rosary is not in the Bible and it does not wash away our sins. It is merely a pious practice that helps us meditate on the life of Christ. Even you do things or believe in things that are not explicitly laid out in the Bible, such as the doctrine of sola scriptura.
Praying to Jesus, repenting, and striving not to sin again are necessary to atone for our sins. However, Jesus gave his apostles to forgive and retain sins (John 20:22-23) and James encourages us to confess our sins one to another (James 5:16). If I want entrance back into the Body of Christ so I can receive Jesus in the Eucharist, I need to have my sins washed away so I can be in a state of grace lest I eat unworthily (1 Corinthians 11:27). This authority to forgive sins is mediated by God’s apostles today, the bishops of the Church.
In Case You Missed It:
Protestant theologian Robert Gagnon spent a whole week on Facebook "proving" that any Scriptures Catholics use as references for our beliefs are mistaken, that the ancient Greek and Hebrew texts absolutely do not mean what Catholics say they mean. These arguments have been going on for 500 years and it usually devolve into "is so," "is not" sparring. 20 years ago,as a convert, I was relieved to learn that our beliefs were Scriptural as well as historical and traditional, yet also sad that we could be seen as just another group with a different interpretation of the Bible.
To me, the main issue was the authority that Jesus gave his disciples to teach and bind and loose. The writings of the early Christians bear out a continuity of interpretation and moral teaching, which gave me the confidence to believe in the "whole package."