Roman Catholic Religion - Term Paper Example

? Roman Catholic Religion Roman Catholic Religion Roman Catholic Church extends its origin from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s a Christian denomination which is heavily influenced by the roman traditions .Roman Catholic Church defends that it’s the church that Jesus Christ died for and the church that the apostles established. On the contrary, a cursory reading of the gospel affirms that Catholic Church does not have origin in the teachings of Jesus Christ or that of the apostles. Papacy ,adoration of Mary ,constant virginity of Mary, Mary’s assumption, petition from saints in heaven through their prayers, succession of the apostles, the church sacraments, baptism of infants, priests aiding in the confession of sins, purgatory, scripture church equal authority among others are some of the prominent features of roman catholic church which are contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles. (Jungman, 2012) During the first 280 years in Christian history, Christianity was ruled out in the Roman Empire and Christians were heavily persecuted. This arbitrary changed after the “conversion” of the Roman Emperor Constantine. He allowed Christians to worship and made Christianity legal with the Milan’s Edicit in A.D 313. In A.D 325, Constantine summoned the council of Nicaea in an attempt popularize Christianity. Constantine postulated that Christianity would unite the Roman Empire which at that time was fragmenting gradually. This generated positive results towards the development of Christianity at the time. (Jungman, 2012) However Constantine did not fully accept Christianity, instead he mixed some Roman pagan beliefs which are still intact up to date. The impetuous behind Constantine’s action of blending Christianity and Roman paganism was that Christian was a foreign religion and Romans could not have just left their religion and embrace a foreign one fully. Some of the Christianized beliefs include: (i) Cult of Isis was a mother –goddess from Egyptian religion. It was absorbed and harmonized with Christianity and it was replaced by the Virgin Mary. Many titles that were meant for Isis were attached to Mary, i.e., “Queen of Heaven”, “Mother of God”, theotokas (“God –bearer”) among other adoration names. Mary was given supreme positions as the roles far much ahead than the bible ascribes to her. This was done in order to attract the Isis worshippers to Christianity. Failure to do this, any efforts would lead to frustration. (George, 2009) (ii) Mithraism was a renowned religion in the Roman Empire which was practiced in the 5th century A.D .It was popular among the Roman soldiers sand also the Roman Emperors. Mithraism lacked the “official “status in the Roman Empire, it was accepted as the de facto official religion not until the Roman Emperors replaced Mithraism with Christianity. The key aspects of Mithraism was sacrificial meal (theophagy, eating ones god), sacraments among other conspicuous features. Constantine and the successors found it easy to substitute Mithraism with the Lords supper /Holy Communion which unfortunately prompted some early Christians to attach mysticism to the lords supper, rejecting the biblical idea of remembrance worship and meditation of Christ’s sacrificial death and the blood He shed. (Charles, 1982) (iii) Henoticism is a distinguishing feature of roman pagan religion. It involves believing in the existence of many gods but focuses primarily on one particular god which is considered to be the most superior god. For instance, Jupiter was the supreme Roman god. The Roman sailors normally worshipped Neptune, which was the god of the oceans. Christianization of Roman paganism involved the replacing of Roman gods with saints just as the Roman chain of gods had a god of love, god of peace, god of war, god of strength among other gods which were claimed to exist(Charles, 1982.) The “Papacy” that exists in the hierarchy of Catholic Church is a continuation of what was created by the Roman Emperors, with the aim of uniting the Roman Empire. Rome was the centre of Roman Empire and the emperors lived there .This contributed to the development of life on all facets. Constantine and his allies gave the bishop in Rome the support he needed in line with uniting the Roman Empire. Supremacy of the bishop was not accepted by the majority but the perpetual support by the emperors made it possible for Roman bishop to be supreme. This is the same title that was taken by the pope after the Roman Empire collapsed-Pontificus Maximus. (Jungman, 1961) The above exemplifications have explicitly expatiated the origin and development of the Roman Catholic beliefs and practices that we have today in the catholic churches. Having understood the origin, it’s quite easy to identify the misconceptions about the Roman Catholic Church that people still in position until today. Misconception in religion is a misunderstanding about religion in general i.e. practices and beliefs of that particular religion. (Kaczor, 2012) with this regard, let’s evaluate the Roman Catholic Church misconceptions based on their beliefs and practices in the world today. The Roman Catholic Church has been erroneously accused of discouraging Christians to read the bible .Development of Christianity relied heavily on the bible as a reference point and also a source of law that governed behavior of human kind. The first bible was compiled by the catholic of scholars in the 2nd and 3rd century. It was later approved for general use by the Hippo (393) and Carthage (397).First printed was produced by auspices while the chapters were later developed Stephen Langton, Cardinal Archbishop from Canterbury. Every mass in the Roman Catholic Church the bible is read aloud every day by the priest. Traditionally there was only one reading from the Bible (excluding gospels) and two from the gospels. Modern Catholic church mass has two readings from the general body of the bible and one comes from the gospel. Most of catholic homes have a bible and it is also taught in schools as it was the tradition. The misconception comes in since originally the bibles were locked in churches to prevent them from being stolen, contrary to the interpretation that it was meant to deny people access. This is because Bibles were incredibly valuable due to the scarcity. Furthermore people think that the church forbade Christians from reading the bible as it was kept on the list of Forbidden Books. The Bibles kept on the Forbidden Index were the Protestant versions that lacked the seven apocalyptic books or those which were badly translated such as the King James Version which was forbidden to Christians. (Kaczor, 2012) Roman Catholics are misconceived as idol worshippers and therefore committing a mortal sin. According to catholic theology the types of worship which are categorized into; (i) Latria- Adoration which is given to God alone .When one gives the worship any other being apart from God he considered to be committing a mortal sin which is abomination to God. (ii) Hyperdulia- special kind of worship given to Mary the Mother of Jesus. It’s given to her and it is not considered as idolatry since it is not adoration but mare reverence. (iii) Dulia-Special worship given to the saints and angels. It is not considered as idolatry as it is a form of reverence. The above distinction was made by the 2nd council of Nicaea 787 AD. The council condemned the people who claimed that having statues of saints and angels was an act of idolatry. Latria claims its origin from Latin meaning adoration, or the highest form of reverence which is restricted to the Holy Trinity only. Catholics may kneel in front of a statue while praying but this does not mean they are worshipping an idol. It’s more likened to a protestant who kneels with a bible in his hands when praying. In addition, the images of saints act as a reminder of purity and righteousness of the depicted people. (Keating, 1995) Roman Catholics are at times considered as non Christians but various practices dispute the misconception. Catholics are the first Christians and this is evidenced through reading early Christian writings whose teachings and practices are similar to those of Catholic Church today. For instance, the presence of bishops, nuns, baptism, confession, baptism of infants, headship based on Rome and the reverence of saints are some of modern practices that were practiced by the early Roman Catholic. More also, some early church fathers gave comments which are likened to the Biblical apostles’ utterances. Below are some of the utterances by bishops and fathers; “Holy communion is the food we call Holy Eucharist and no one is allowed take except he who believes our teachings are true and has received the remission of sins through Jesus Christ.”-St. Justin Martyr, “First Apology”, A.D 148-155. “Baptize children if only they can speak freely for themselves. Otherwise let their parents speak for them”(St Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition 21:16[A.D.215]).In reference to the above quotes ,its evident that the practices of the modern catholic church are closely related to the practices of the early apostles and Christians hence disputing the misconception of non Christianity.(Keating,1995) Most people think that the Roman Catholic Church is anti science and rejects the theories of evolution. On the contrary, the Roman Catholics are known to support scholars in the field of science. The recent interesting case involved a Belgian priest-Monsignor Georges who proposed the big bang theory. It was rejected by Einstein, the fact that made Monsignor to write, “Your math is correct but your physics is abominable.” Finally Einstein accepted the theory. More also, unlike the American evangelical religions, Catholic Church does not reject the theory of evolution. Pope Pius XVII said “The church does not forbid research and discussions of men experienced in fields that accept evolution as the origin of human body.” (Keating, 1995) Understanding misconception helps one appreciate other religions just as does after a through research like this. Initially, I presumed that Roman Catholics were idol worshippers due to the various statues that exist in the church. However, research has proved beyond doubts that they are not Idol worshippers and the statues are only serving as a reminder of holiness and righteousness of such people. The statues of Virgin Mary and various saints are remarkable features in the Catholic Church but they are only meant for reverence. The research has enabled me understand that if one is against a religion, he can create all sorts of bias which eventually culminates to misconceptions on that particular religion. Misconception about other people’s religion is common and it leads to bias and looking down upon that particular religion and even at some occasions people hate those who follow that particular religion. Misconception is attributed to misunderstanding, hate, and deliberate manipulation in case of a competition. Misconception of religion has been a major source of religious conflict and it should be addressed appropriately to deter the cases of rivalry among religious groups. In order to achieve this, relevant bodies should take the challenge of airing all religious activities and sermons that occur in a particular society. This will ultimately aid in countering misconceptions which is the fundamental root cause of religious rivalry. References Jungman, J. A. (2012). The mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origin and Development. (2-Vol Set).New York: Christian Classics Press. Charles, R. C. (1982). Social Teachings of Vatican II: Its Origin and Development—Catholic Social Ethics, a Historical and Comparative Study. New York: Four Court Press. Jungman, J. A. (1961). The Mass of the Roman rite: Its origins and development (Missarum Sollemnia). Geneva: Benzinger Bros Publishers. Kaczor, K.C. (2012). The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church: Distinguishing Fact from Fiction about Catholicism. New York: Ignatius Press. Keating, K. K. (1995). What Catholics Really Believe—Setting the Record Straight: 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions about the Catholic Faith. New York: Ignatius Press. George, W. W. (2009). Essays on the Church’s Doctrinal Authority. Charleston: BiblioBazaar publishers. . Read More