Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 12/17/2008

Question
I am involved in a long line of Catholics and my boyfriend is Baptist I want to become apart of his Baptist faith but I am worried about my family's beliefs what should I do?

Answer
Hi Jessica,

Thank you for this great question.  I am very sorry about my late response.  You ask a loaded question.  Obviously I am a Baptist because I believe that the Baptist doctrine is correct.  I to pursuade as amny as I can to believe like I do.  Having said that, I must caution you.  You should not convert because your boyfriend is Baptist.  If you become a Baptist, or anything else for that matter, it should be because you believe that this is what the BIBLE teaches.  If it is BIBLE truth, then this is more important than what your boyfriend thinks, what your family thinks or anything else.

So my question to you is why do you want to be a Baptist?  There are some things in the Bible that would contradict what the Catholics teach... you must make sure that it is the Bible that is directing you, not your boyfriend.  Here are some teachings that may be of some concern:

1.  Catholics pray to dead saints in order to get them to mediate for them to the Father.  God tells us that the only one that can do that is Jesus.

1 Timothy 2:5
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Praying to these dead saints then, is not praying, but communicating with the dead. It is a Pagan sin of necromancy.

Deuteronomy 18:9-11
9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2.  The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was born without sin.  The Bible tells us that Jesus is the only one without sin, and furthermore, Mary herself says that she needed a Savior!  If she was not a sinner, from what was she being saved?

Luke 1:46-47
46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Romans 3:23
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Hebrews 4:15
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

The biggest area of error on the part of the Roman Catholic CHurch is the false teaching that one attains salvation by works plus faith not by faith alone.  Many times when I say that, many Catholics write me and tell me that they do recieve salvation by grace through faith alone.  Below the line is a copy of official Catholic teaching works salvation.

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The Roman Catholic Church focuses a person’s faith for salvation to the Roman Catholic Church herself. Thus she states in her Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994),

Para. 824 "It is in the [Roman Catholic] Church that ‘the fullness of the means of salvation’ has been deposited. It is in her that ‘by the grace of God we acquire holiness.’"
Para. 982 "There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. ‘There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest."
Para. 983
Priests have received from God a power that he has given neither to angels nor to archangels.... God above confirms what priests do here below.
Were there no forgiveness of sins in the Church, there would be no hope of life to come or eternal liberation. let us thank God who has given his Church such a gift."
The Roman "process" of justification
The "process" begins for most Catholics at baptism when the Church administers baptism to them. The Roman Catholic Church teaches as dogma that justification is conferred through her sacraments and that it consists of inner righteousness whereby a man, it is stated, becomes just within himself. The Church of Rome condemns the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. This was done at the Council of Trent. Present day dogma of the RCC not only upholds the teaching of the Council of Trent but also declares that such Councils are infallible. The Council of Trent proclaims the following curses:

If anyone shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that it is this confidence alone by which we are justified: let him be anathema [cursed].
If anyone shall say that by the said sacraments of the New Law, grace is not conferred from the work which has been worked [ex opere operato] but that faith alone in the divine promise suffices to obtain grace: let him be anathema.
Rome’s reason for such a curse on those who hold to "justification by faith alone" is logical because of what she refuses to concede. For her, justification is not an immediate declaration of God and received by faith alone; rather, she teaches that grace is conferred through her sacraments. Thus she is able to make a place for herself as a necessary means through which inner righteousness is given.




Present day teaching of internal righteousness




Rome's claim is that justification is internal and, with a few exceptions, is exclusively granted through her sacramental system. Thus she states,

"The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized [person] sanctifying grace, the grace of justification . . . ."
And

"Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy."
Both of these claims are frontal attacks on the truth of God's written Word. In the Lord's declaration, the believer is justified in Christ alone. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world...." To be chosen in Christ shows that justification is not of any person’s doing nor is it anything that resides within any person. Justification is not recognition of anything that a person deserves, but rather the heavenly Father has chosen that person in Christ before he or she has done anything good or bad. Rome's affirmation of infused righteousness as a basis of justification is a negation of consistent Biblical teaching that justification is positional legal righteousness in Christ, who is the only foundation for it.

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So here is the problem, if we could do anything other than believe what Jesus did and recieve His free gift, then Jesus died for nothing.

Galatians 2:21
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

The only way we can recieve salvation is to admit that we are sinners and that there is nothing we can do to get to heaven, and ask Jesus to save us.

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Romans 3:19-25
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;   
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

If you believe these things, then it is time that you made a stand and embrace the demomination that best fits those Biblical beliefs.  If you just like the way Baptists do church services, and want to be in church with your boyfriend, it is not yet time to convert.  Make sure that you are convinced from the Bible what is right.

I hope that this helps you.

In Christ
Pastor Don