The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world with a population of over 1 billion members worldwide Wikepedia.
The bishop of Rome (the Pope) is the head of the Church. According to pew research, the Roman Catholic Church is the most criticized Christian denomination in the world since the 16th Century.
Non Catholics ( Protestants), often accused the Roman Church of teaching what they called heresy. This include Purgatory, the doctrine of the assumption of Mary, the immaculate conception and salvation through faith and works.
The Catholic church shouldn't be criticized for the following reasons:
1. Oldest Church
The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest Christian denomination in the world. It’s the only Church that traces its origin all the way back to the apostles.
The Church believes in tradition left by the apostles. It is for this reason that most protestants get confused with some of the practices of the Church. Unlike Protestants, Catholics believe the Bible alone is not sufficient for the Christian, but also the tradition of the Church.
Therefore, non Catholics who know nothing about the Church history should put a stop to all the criticism.
2. The founder of the Church is Jesus Christ
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that its founder is Jesus Christ himself. This indicates that the Church is about 2000 years old.
Many protestants claim emperor Constantine was the founder of the Church without concrete evidence to substantiate their claims. Constantine didn’t start the Catholic Church rather he passed a edict which legalized Catholicism.
Catholic.com puts it this way: ‘’The Catholic Church traces its origin back to our Lord Jesus Christ through apostolic succession’’
So, before you criticize Catholics, ask your Pastor how old is your Church or who is the founder of the Church.
3. No Church is perfect
The Christian church has a divine origin, and therefore is likely to be attacked by spiritual forces. Despite the fact that the Church was founded by Jesus Christ, it is likely to have flaws.
Waylon Bailey, a Baptist Christian himself put it this way : ‘’No church is perfect. We all know that every church has flaws, and that each church is in need of growth, repentance, and healing. At the same time that we know no church is perfect, we also know that every church can change. ’’
“My church is okay okay and everyone’s else is the problem”. As long as we are criticizing others, we can never see the log in our own eye. We must be much more concerned with the log in our eye than the speck in some other person’s eye (Matthew 7:1-5)’’ he added
So you see, Criticizing the Catholic church due to its flaws is not Christ-like. Study your church doctrine yourself to see whether your Church is actually not teaching heresy.
4. The Church does not criticize other Christian denominations
The Roman Catholic Church is the only Christian denomination that does not criticize other Christians.
The Catholic Church teaches that all other denominations have elements of goodness, truth and beauty, and also affirm the goodness in those denominations. But they also affirm that Christianity is best and they do so for one simple reason.
Fr. Longernecker puts it this way: ‘’some religions are superior to others, and Christianity is the best. And of the Christians, Catholicism is the best. In asserting this I’m not saying all other religions are rubbish. It is superior because of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ’’
He further added that Christians are not the best people. They have got some pretty great accomplishments in their history, but they’ve also got their share of stinkers too. Christians are hypocrites and sinners just like everybody else.
The Christian Church is being led by humans who are fallible, and therefore prone to have fallible doctrines.
In conclusion, the Roman Catholic Church is not perfect just like any other Christian denomination. Therefore we should stop criticizing the Catholic Church.
Many protestants have argued that the Roman Church needs spiritual cleansing, and therefore the only way to do that is through critics.
Let me conclude by quoting an ex atheist now a Catholic, ‘’Why be Catholic? Because to be Catholic is to be in full union with the one thing that can make you most sane and most happy. A tall claim, to be sure; but it’s not an arrogant claim. It’s a truth claim.
I am Catholic because I am convinced the Church is the only place I will find the fullness of truth and joy. That’s why I’m Catholic: because I believe Catholicism is true.’’
READ ALSO : What Does The Bible Say About Women Preachers?
What are your thoughts on this? Should we continue criticizing the Church due to its fallible nature or we should resort to what Jesus said in Mathew 7:1?
By James (Researcher in theology)
