Asking Questions, Finding Answers
Where can we find reliable answers?
Although I was raised in a Catholic family, went to eight years of Catholic grade school, was an altar boy until I was a sophomore in high school, and regularly attended Mass until I was twenty-eight, and have wonderful memories of it all, I no longer go to a Catholic church and do not consider myself to be Catholic. Leaving the Catholic Church was not something I just suddenly decided to do one day, nor was it something anyone talked me into doing. It was a decision I made based upon much prayer and reading of God’s Word, the Bible, as well as additional evidence before me.
There are very important and serious reasons why I am no longer Catholic. Please understand, I am not condemning anyone who is Catholic. I want only to share with you the reasons I am no longer Catholic and to encourage you to seek Jesus with all your heart regardless of what church you do or do not attend. I hope this book will encourage everyone who reads it to think about what they believe, know why they believe it, and understand the eternal consequences of their beliefs.
If you are involved or interested in the Catholic Church, you probably already have some kind of belief in Jesus. Now the question is, where can we go to find out what the Catholic Church teaches, and where can we go to learn more about Jesus? To learn what the Catholic Church teaches, we can go to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Its introduction states that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is given to the Christian faithful so
“...that it may be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching catholic doctrine...” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, [Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1994], p. 5).
The introduction is signed by Pope John Paul II. With the Pope’s endorsement, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a reliable source for learning about what the Catholic Church teaches.
And where can we go to learn about Jesus? The Catechism of the Catholic Church states,
“ ‘And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true’; this is why God’s promises always come true. God is Truth itself, whose words cannot deceive. This is why one can abandon oneself in full trust to the truth and faithfulness of his word in all things” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 215).
Since the Bible is God’s Word, and since we can abandon ourselves in full trust of His Word in all things, the Bible is then a trustworthy source for information about Jesus and Christian doctrine. The Catholic Catechism also tells us that
“The Church ‘forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn “the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,” by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” ’ ” (para. 133).
“Forcefully and specifically exhorts” are some pretty strong words related to the importance of learning about Jesus through reading the Bible. The quote above clearly states that if we do not know what the Scriptures say, we do not know Jesus: “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” Thus the Bible is a good and trustworthy source, highly recommended by the Catholic Catechism and Pope John Paul II, for learning about Jesus.
How important is it to know God? The Bible tells us that the greatest and first commandment is to
“...love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all our mind” (Matthew 22:37).
To love God, we must know Him. Many people today say they know God or that they know all about God or even that they love Him. But do they really? It can be unsettling and even frightening to learn that Jesus says,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day [the day of judgment], ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’ ” (Matthew 7:21–23)
This passage tells us that in the day of judgment, there will be many the Lord Jesus will not know—even some who did mighty deeds and knew His name. In the day of judgment, some people who think they know Jesus are going to painfully and regretfully find out that Jesus does not know them because they never really knew Him. Those whom Jesus tells to depart from Him will not enter Heaven.
As stated earlier, the Catholic Catechism tells us that if we are ignorant of the Scriptures, we are ignorant of Jesus; that if we do not know what the Bible teaches, we do not know Jesus. The Bible tells us how we can know if we know Jesus:
“The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him,’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to live [just] as he lived” (1 John 2:3–6).
We can be sure we know Jesus if we keep His commandments and keep His Word. And the greatest and first commandment in His Word, the Bible, is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind—in other words, with our entire being (Matthew 22:34–38).
How can we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind? To start, we must get to know Him. It is not possible to truly love someone whom we do not truly know. And to get to know God, we must read His Word.
My Journey
So, how does all this relate to my leaving the Catholic Church? Well, since I wanted to know God, I began reading the Bible. And the more I read, the more I learned about God. As I read, I also began to see that some things taught by the Catholic Church did not agree with what I was reading in the Bible. This fact bothered me. How could I know what was right? At first I just thought, “Just because I don’t believe everything the Catholic Church teaches, that doesn’t mean that I’m not Catholic. I’ll just believe those things I think or feel are right and ignore those that I don’t believe or with which I disagree. Besides that, I know a lot of other Catholics who don’t believe everything the Catholic Church teaches.”
I also thought about questions like Why do I go to church? What is the purpose of church? Who is Jesus? Why did He have to die for our sins? Do I really know Jesus? Does Jesus know me as a believer in Him? What is my destiny after this life? I encourage you to also think about these questions and why you believe what you believe.
As time went on and I continued to read and learn more about the Bible, I came across more contradictions between the Bible and the teachings of the Catholic Church. When this would happen, I would pick and choose what I wanted to believe or what I was comfortable believing. I was basically making God who I wanted Him to be. I was making my own god (small “g” intended) with whom I was comfortable—keeping and believing the things I liked and discarding the things that made me feel uncomfortable, that I disagreed with, or that I did not want to affect my life.
Then, as I saw friends of mine starting families and having children, I thought, “If I ever get married and have children, how will I teach them how to know what is right and what is wrong? What will keep them from choosing the wrong things?” I then realized I didn’t really know how to choose the things that are truly right from those that are truly wrong. Many times wrong things “felt” good and “felt” right, but weren’t. And sometimes the things that were truly right made me feel uncomfortable or were difficult. Feelings are often misleading.
It was then that I began to realize I couldn’t just pick and choose the stuff I liked and discard the rest, because that just isn’t the correct way to determine what is right, what is wrong, and what is the truth. I thought, “What is the truth anyway? What can I believe completely that tells me about God?” Well, I believed that the Bible is God’s Word and that God’s Word is the basis for Christianity. I knew I could trust in God’s Word because I knew God Himself would not lead me astray. I knew I had to learn what God’s Word says if I was to get to know God and the truth. I also realized that once I learned the truth, I had to accept it, even if it was difficult or made me feel uncomfortable.
As time went on, I continued to read the Bible to learn more about God. I now know, as shown earlier, that the Catholic Church encourages believers to read the Bible to get to know Jesus. So I was following the teaching of the Catholic Church by reading the Bible to learn about Him. And again, the more I read the Bible, the more I found that in many cases Catholic doctrine says something different from the Word of God.
Although I found many differences, I found many things in the Catholic Catechism that agree with the Bible. One such example is:
“Our love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 166).
It is because of my love for Jesus and my love for others that I would like to share with you some of the things that I have learned about the Bible and the teachings of the Catholic Church. And even though there are many things in the Catholic Catechism that are in agreement disagreement because of their seriousness, their importance, and the eternal consequences of believing them. Please understand, I am not trying to cause discord or problems. I would love to see unity among everyone, but we must not compromise or sacrifice the truth of God’s Word in our desire for unity.
Why and how the book was written.
As you read the information on this website, please keep the following facts in mind. First, I did not write the book or build this website to judge or condemn anyone. I have written it:
(1) to let others know why I left the Catholic Church;
(2) to encourage others to think about what they believe, to know why they believe it, and to understand the eternal consequences of their beliefs;
(3) to encourage others to seek Jesus with all of their heart.
Second, in writing this I refer to only sources approved by the Catholic Church: the Catechism of the Catholic Church, The New American Bible for Catholics, and writings of the Church Fathers.
(1) All quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church note the paragraph number where they may be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
(2) All quotations from the Bible refer to the book of the Bible, chapter, and verse from the New American Bible for Catholics.
(3) All quotations from the Church Fathers note the name of the Church Father, the title of his writing, and the chapter or paragraph where the quotation may be found.
(4) I have made some words bold in some referenced quotations to emphasize points and have used brackets to insert my comments (italicized) within quotations.
(5) I have made every effort to ensure that all references are used in context and that no references were taken out of context to mean anything other than what was originally intended.
(6) For the sake of clear communication and to avoid an extremely lengthy book, many of the quotations will include only a portion of the entire verse, passage, or writing. If you read the sources in their original contexts, though—which I encourage you to do—you will see that I have not altered the original meaning.
And finally, in the book and on this website I present only some of the differences between the teachings of the Catholic Church and the Bible and only some of the support available for each of the teachings herein. My hope is that you will be encouraged to search the Scriptures for yourself and find out if these things are so.
With these things in mind, I present the following teachings of the Catholic Church as documented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and teachings of the Bible as referenced in The New American Bible for Catholics. Please read them carefully and compare their meanings to determine for yourself whether or not they teach the same or different things.
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If you would like a free copy of the book
for yourself or to share with family or
friends, simply e-mail me at:
Joe@TeachingsOfTheCatholicChurch.com
and I will be happy to send one to you.
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