Dear Catholic Exchange:
I have a Catholic girlfriend. She is upset that I am not Catholic. I just want to know why the Catholic religion does so many things against the Bible? We are not supposed to call anyone Father except GOD. You call your priest father. This is wrong. You bow down to statues. The Bible tells us not to worship any carven images of anything on earth or in Heaven. You worship Mary. This is wrong. Mary was a tool that GOD used just like MOSES. She was not a virgin when she died and cannot be called the Virgin Mary. She is not a Holy figure. It seems to me that a church as big as the Catholic church would want to be in good standings with GOD. If you could, please explain why the Church does all these things in a way that I can accept.
SFC Donald A. Bedford
Center Retention NCO
Dear SFC Bedford:
First of all, thank you very much for your service to all of us. We appreciate and honor you for it!
As to your questions and objections, they are best taken one at a time.
1. “We are not supposed to call anyone Father except GOD. You call your priest father”.
The source of this objection is Matthew 23:1-12. Here's the NIV:
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries [a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.' 8 But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. [b] 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
What's the context? Is Jesus really issuing a taboo against ever using the word “Father” to refer to a human being? If so, what do you call your own father? Jesus also warns against calling anybody “Teacher.” So are you really doing something against the Bible when you call your 11th grade math teacher “Teacher”? Is that why Jesus came, to set up weird little laws?
No. The point of these prohibitions is to warn the disciples against seeking worldly fame and prominence, as the Pharisees were doing. But at the same time, the disciples understood that such titles were, at times, appropriate. How do we know? Because they tell us so.
Paul, for instance, says he was “appointed a preacher and apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” (1 Timothy 2:7) Why does Paul use the forbidden word “Teacher?” Because, it's not a forbidden word. It's the truth about who he is. For the same reason, Paul tells the Corinthians, “I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 4:14-15) Catholics are simply imitating St. Paul in referring to their spiritual fathers as “Father.”
2. You bow down to statues. The Bible tells us not to worship any carven images of anything on earth or in Heaven.
There are two questions tangled up together here. The first is: “Are images always wrong?” The answer to that is, “No.” How do we know? Because God became an image in Christ Jesus: “He is the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:15) The reason Israel was forbidden to have images was because it was the destiny of that nation to be turned from likenesses to the Reality. But, when the Reality takes on physical form in Jesus, then images become hallowed, so long as they refer us to Jesus and his Body, the Church.
The second question that is tangled up with the first is, “Are all images worshipped?” And the answer to that is “No.” Ever have a bowling trophy or a statuette for being best hitter in Little League? These are graven images, but they are not idols because nobody worships them. Scripture itself understands this, because God himself sometimes commanded Israel to make graven images. The cherubim atop the Ark of the Covenant were graven images. So were the great bronze bulls that supported the Bronze Sea outside the Temple at Jerusalem. God never condemned these images. In fact, they were made under his guidance and inspiration. Why didn't he condemn them?
Because nobody worshipped them. Instead the images pointed us to God, and so they were not idols.
It's the same with statues and icons in the Church. Nobody worships them. Nobody thinks they are gods. So there is no idolatry happening.
3. “You worship Mary”.
No. We don't. It's as simple as that. Catholics do not worship Mary. Catholics honor Mary as God's most glorious creature, but they also know that she is merely a creature, not God.
We honor creatures all the time. I started this letter by paying honor to a creature: you. In honoring you and thanking you for your service, was I thereby saying, “I worship you?” Was I somehow depriving God of glory, by honoring you for your service? Nope.
In the same way, the honor Catholics (and Orthodox and Copts, and even some Lutherans and Anglicans) give to Mary is not honor that is taken away from God. We are simply obeying the Scripture which says, “From this day, all generations will call me blessed.” (Luke 1:48)
4. “She was not a virgin when she died.” Actually, she was. And Scripture bears witness to it. So do the people who are closest in time to the apostles. For more information on this, go here:
and here:
I hope this helps. If you have other questions about the Catholic Faith, please feel to browse Catholic Exchange. Also, feel free to check out my personal site www.mark-shea.com. It has oodles of articles I've written to explain aspects of the Catholic faith to folks from a Protestant background since I am a convert from Evangelicalism. So, I'm familiar with many of the issues that trouble folks from our background when they are trying to figure out what Catholics are up to. There are numerous other sources as well. It turned out (when I started daring to find out what Catholics actually believe, rather than what people told me Catholics believe) that Catholic teaching is quite Biblical. I would challenge you to find this out for yourself as well. Please feel free to write me back if you have other questions. The Church is an anvil that has worn out thousands of hammers. Don't be afraid to ask questions; just don't be afraid of the answers when they come, either!
Blessings,
Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange
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