ARE CATHOLICS CHRISTIANS?

I remember as a child in elementary school going to one of my Catholic catechism classes.  We were reading from one of the books that we were using with the Catechism at the time, and this word kept popping up… the word “Christian.”  I was young and naïve and I asked the teacher what that word meant.  And she responded by saying, “It means Catholic.”  I didn’t know any better, but I kept that in mind over the years.  But later on, I realized that the two terms (“Catholic” and “Christian”) are certainly not the same thing.  A person can be a Catholic and not be a Christian, or he can be a Christian and not be a Catholic.  It seems that she was either ignorant of the difference, or she was just brushing me off.  Either way, as a catechism teacher, she should have been clearer.  At the very best, she failed to explain the correlation between the two terms.

Of course, the word “Christian” means a follower of Christ, a person who is saved – one who is serving God and headed for Heaven.  On the other hand, a “Catholic” is one who is a member of the Catholic Church, which is considered by most people a branch, denomination, or subset of Christianity. 

So, the question arises, “Are Catholics saved, are they Christians?”  I hear it often, but this question requires more than just a simple “yes” or “no.”  The answer to the question certainly has to be nuanced. 

The Heart Matters

Of course, the question can also be asked of Protestants – are they saved?  And of course, the answer is that some are and some aren’t.  The bottom line is that God looks at the heart.   It is not just being part of a certain group – just being a Lutheran, or Assembly of God, or Baptist, or Presbyterian, etc., doesn’t make one a true follower of Christ.  What does is a changed life/heart, one that is surrendered to God, believing and trusting in the work and suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross for salvation and trusting nothing else (John 3:16; Galatians 3:1-3). 

But What About Catholics?

The biblical requirement for salvation (articulated just above) is the same for everyone.  But Catholics believe that the requirement(s) for making it to Heaven are different than what some (or maybe most) Protestants believe. 

First and most important, Catholics believe in a “faith plus works” system to be saved (CCC #2068; #1129), just like the Judaizers did in the book of Galatians, but the apostle Paul harshly rebuked the Galatian church for starting to accept this false teaching (Galatians 1:8-9; 3:1-3).  Adding the merits of any kind of work/sacrament/suffering to the cross is a direct violation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, an attack on the very core of the Christian faith.  Faith, apart from the merit of works (Romans 3:28; 4:6; 4:4-5), is a non-negotiable condition of salvation. 

See this link on the concept of merit in Catholicism:

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-concept-of-merit-in-catholicism.html

But this system of salvation through works is not the only problem with the teachings of Catholicism.  There are also many other false teachings in the Catholic Church, as well, as is demonstrated throughout this blog.

If a Catholic person truly trusts in Jesus and gets saved, it is vitally important for him to then embrace correct doctrine to maintain his faith, because doctrine can (and will) affect your relationship with God.  If one believes in any kind of false doctrine, this will skew his understanding of the nature, purpose and instructions of the God of the Bible.  And this can certainly put him in grave spiritual danger.  I personally believe that the less you trust in the tenets of Catholicism, the better off you are.  The longer you stay in this church, the more likely you will betray the Scriptures.  For a “more sure word” (2 Peter 1:19), you must stick to the principles of the Bible.

I often say that a Catholic can indeed be saved, but his salvation would be IN SPITE OF being in the Catholic Church, not BECAUSE OF IT!

God’s Grace and Man’s Accountability

God is so gracious and patient with us, even when we are being foolish and participating in an unbiblical church (whether Catholic, Protestant, or otherwise), but this kindness must not be abused or taken for granted (Romans 2:4).  There are probably many people in these churches today, honestly seeking for truth, and who are still innocent, not yet irrevocably tainted by one of these churches or its doctrines.  Perhaps they are there through no fault of their own, but how long can one be in one of these unbiblical churches before he is corrupted by the false doctrine taught within?

Only God knows that answer, but we should never put ourselves in that position to start with!  Each one of us is ultimately responsible for our own spiritual well-being.  The Bible tells us to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).  If we are already very familiar with the Scriptures, we are far more likely to find a good, Bible-based church.

Again, each believer is ultimately responsible for his own soul and no one will be able to say on Judgment Day, “Hey, I was just obeying the Church, like they told me I must do!  It is all THEIR fault if I believed the wrong things” (Romans 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:10)!  I actually had a co-worker that told me this and she was very serious about it.  I tried to convince her otherwise, but she would not listen.

“But We have So Much in Common…”

In fairness, I want to say that the Catholic Church does have many teachings that are orthodox (i.e., generally accepted as right or true), for example, the resurrection, the doctrine of the Trinity, Heaven and Hell, and the Bible’s inspiration are things that Protestants and Catholics can agree on.

But I want to emphatically state that it is not how many teachings Protestants and Catholics have in common that matter most, but there are certain critical differences which corrupt the essential teaching of salvation that remove Catholics from biblical orthodoxy!

For example, I once heard a great analogy by Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason where he draws two small circles on a blackboard.  By one, he writes the word “aspirin.”  By the other, he writes the word “arsenic.”  He then asks the audience, “What do these two have in common?”  Greg points out that they are both small and they are both round, and they both start with the letter “a”.  Therefore, should we treat them the same, since they have more in common than they do differences?  Absolutely not!  The problem is obviously that one will cure your headache, but the other would kill you!  The point being that their one difference is far more important than any similarities they may have. 

And that’s how it is with the Catholic Church.  Even though Protestants may agree with them about some (or maybe even many) things, there are some teachings in the Catholic Church that are far too spiritually dangerous to embrace.  This fact greatly affects the answer to the question of “Are Catholics Christians?” 

Truth vs. False Doctrine

For those who would say that Catholics really are Christians, what exactly is it that convinces them of this?  Is it because that they are the largest single group in the world claiming to be Christian?  But we know that “majority rule” has not always been a good test for veracity.

Is it because Catholicism claims that they have a lawful and unbroken line of successors tracing all the way back to the apostles?  Most Catholics would say yes, but this has been shown to be false:

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2017/08/those-nagging-gaps.html

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2009/12/apostolic-succession.html

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-mythical-chain.html

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-papacy-foundation-of-sand.html

Is it because the Catholic Church claims to have as its foundation/authority, a “three-legged stool” [i.e., 1) Scripture, 2) the Magisterium, and 3) Sacred Tradition]?

Many Catholics will say yes, but I find it interesting that 1) many of their teachings contradict the Scriptures, 2) there is no papal Magisterium in the New Testament, and 3) they vehemently claim to be true to the Sacred Traditions of the Church, yet they find it so hard to be able to tell us exactly what all this Sacred Tradition is.  See these links on Sacred Tradition:

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-lonely-pilgrim-and-sacred-tradition.html

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2010/05/what-about-tradition.html

We could go on and on like this, but the main issue is that there are so many unbiblical teachings within the Catholic Church.

Also, I think that another problematic issue with the Church is the fact that Catholics love to invite outsiders to “Come home to the Catholic Church,” as though joining the Church is the ultimate goal of Catholic evangelism.  We Protestants don’t ask people to specifically pursue “Protestantism” or Lutheranism, or the Baptist Church, etc., but we usually invite them to have a relationship with Jesus.  No church institution is the final destination, but Jesus Christ is!

Conclusion

So, to ask the question again, “Can a Catholic be saved?”  Yes, he can be.  But let’s ask it in a different way: “Can a devout Catholic be saved?”  That’s a different question.  If the person is a devout Catholic and is unapologetically entrenched in the Catholic Church and refuses to let go of Catholic teaching (especially if he is presented with what the Bible teaches) – then the possibility of him being saved is greatly reduced.

I am not making an ultimate spiritual judgment here.  No one can absolutely conclude that a person (Catholic, Protestant, or otherwise) is eternally lost – only God knows their heart perfectly. 

Yet, God has given us (Christians) the ability to imperfectly see the state of a person’s heart through his actions and his fruit (Matthew 7:15-17).  For those who claim to be Christians, but do not have the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), or they are steeped in false doctrine, we must warn.  That is, we are obligated to prayerfully and lovingly point to the spiritual danger in which one may be living.  It is not an act of love to allow someone to continue down a road that will obviously lead to disaster!

We are obligated to let Catholics know that theirs is a false gospel.  And a false gospel certainly excludes one from true Christianity.

May the words of John, the prophet and apostle, be heeded:

“And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

THE POINT OF NO RETURN

 

Imagine yourself in a canoe, peacefully floating around on a large lake.  It’s a beautiful day and you haven’t a care in the world.  After a while, you begin to hear a sound, a continuous sound that is slowly getting louder and louder.  In horror, you finally realize the sound is a very large waterfall – and you’re headed straight toward it!  You franticly paddle, trying to move back to safety, but no, you realize that you are at the point of no return and you are sucked into the giant waterfall and perish on the rocks below.  If only someone had warned you.

Life is full of dangerous circumstances, some more serious than others.  You get it.  Those situations where you are in deep trouble (physically, financially, with relationships, etc.) and you are just unable to get out.  There is no turning back.  This point of no return is cold and ruthless.  It doesn’t care about your feelings.  It doesn’t care about your excuses or your careless attitude toward common sense rules, nor does it care about your poor decisions.  You messed up and you’re now paying the price. 

The “point of no return” concept is bad enough in the physical realm.  But it is even more terrifying in the spiritual realm.  There, it is eternal.  Death may bring relief for some who have suffered greatly, but for all those who have not surrendered to the Savior (Jesus Christ), for those who have rejected Him and His doctrine, there is no relief and there is no turning back.  They will fall paralyzed and speechless (Revelation 1:17) before Him on that day in utter horror (Revelation 6:16).  Once again, it will be too late.  But in this case, it will be the ULTIMATE point of no return!  You won’t have the time nor the chance to change your mind.  You will have made your choice.

Do We Really Love the Truth?

But what brings people to this point in their lives?  Here is a passage telling us exactly how we end up in this situation…

2 Thessalonians 2:8-12:

8 - And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

9 - Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 

10 - And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 

11 - And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 

12 - That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The context here is the last days when the antichrist comes on the scene.  At this time (and even now), the world will be so conditioned to believe false teachings that they will easily believe the antichrist’s lies.  They will be fully convinced through his lying signs and wonders.  These people will have had opportunity after opportunity to cling to the truth of the gospel, but they willfully continue to reject it.  They have loved and embraced false teachings so long that God is basically saying, “Ok, I won’t force you to come to Me, but if the life you’re living is what you really want, then stay there and live with your decision!”  Notice that in the passage above, they simply didn’t have a love for the truth, but favored a life of selfish pleasure and perverted doctrine, rather than godliness.

Especially for Catholics

Alright, many readers of this blog know that this blog is dedicated to articles about Catholicism.  One might ask what all this has to do with the Catholic Church.  Well, a lot, actually.  I strongly believe, and have firmly held to, the idea that the Catholic Church has always had a false gospel, one that has deceived millions and millions of its followers.  Furthermore, the Catholic Church not only has a false gospel, but it has multiple false doctrines. 

If all that I am saying is true, what will be the fate of these Catholics?  I believe that after being presented the truth of Scripture, if they continue to embrace unbiblical Catholic doctrines, their “canoe” will perish in the “waterfall,” metaphorically speaking.  To put it bluntly, they will perish in the Lake of Fire… eternally.  And they, too, will be saying, “If only someone had warned me!”  Well, I am just one of the many voices warning you now.

Common Ground

But one might ask, “But what if what the Catholic Church teaches is true?”  Well, if they really are teaching truth, then they don’t have anything to worry about.  But a little study will show that it is very obvious that they contradict many of the Scriptures, and they even contradict some of their own traditions!  See here:

 https://www.equip.org/articles/what-are-some-arguments-against-apostolic-tradition/

The question is, for Protestants and Catholics, who (if either of them) is right?  Catholics and Protestants have been debating for centuries, and of course both sides believe they are right.  Obviously, they can’t both be right, since both sides contradict each other in many areas.  The one thing both sides have in common is the fact that the Bible is God’s Word.  So I think we can use this common ground to get to the truth.  Jesus tells us that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).

Conclusion

But the key issue is the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16).  And I believe that the Catholic Church has rejected that gospel. 

But how many times can you reject the gospel before God says “That’s enough!”?  Where is the point of no return, spiritually speaking?  I know that saying that the Catholic Church does not have the gospel of Jesus Christ may sound cruel and intolerant, but I’ve pointed out time after time on this blog that the Catholic Church has a different gospel (2 Corinthians 11:4) which has a works-based salvation, and that is an anti-biblical teaching (Romans 3:27-28; 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5). 

This blog is full of warnings about many of the teachings of the Catholic Church.  There is something here on almost every major/significant Catholic doctrine.  And there are tons more in many other places on the internet by authors who are very knowledgeable in Catholic teachings and/or who were once Catholic themselves.

A Catholic may say, “But there are also many former Protestants who became Catholic, so this doesn’t prove anything!”  True, but those Protestants who have heard the gospel, but who now embrace the Catholic Church will have no excuse.  Again, we must look at the source of truth, i.e., Scripture, and we must take an honest look at the whole of Scripture, in its context!  I believe that if someone does this and is truly seeking after God, he will be saved.  For that person, the point of no return (i.e., eternity) is something to look forward to, and not a terror.

 

THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHER TERESA

Few people would recognize the name of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu.  But Agnes came to be known as “Mother Teresa of Calcutta” and this title was a name recognized worldwide by the time of her death in 1997.  Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun who also actually won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.  She spent a great part of her life caring for the sick and dying, the “poorest of the poor,” in the slums of India. 

 

Mother Teresa is an icon in the Catholic Church and has influenced multitudes, causing many to want to be like her.  It has been said of her that:

•    She “spent her life with the Lord”

•  [Upon her death] “The world has lost a saint on earth, but gained an extraordinary powerful intercessor in heaven”

• “I am convinced that she is already in glory”

•  “Mother Teresa imitated Christ and her life was a lesson in love”

•  She was “an extraordinary missionary”

•  “She was in every sense a woman of the Gospel”

• “She is the United Nations.  She is peace in the world”

• She has “opened for mankind the portals of heaven and shown us the Heart of God”

These are just a few of the things said about her by archbishops, cardinals, fellow nuns, and a former U.N. secretary-general.  See the quotes on the Catholic EWTN link here:

https://www.ewtn.com/motherteresa/reflection.htm

But Mother Teresa has made some comments that should be disturbing to any true Christian.  According to an EWTN article, Mother Teresa is quoted as saying:

“There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God.  I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.”  See here:

https://www.ewtn.com/motherteresa/words.htm

On another website devoted specifically to Mother Teresa, a priest who knew her states:

“Here is a short testimony of someone who was closely associated with Mother Teresa for 23 years:  ‘I am a Hindu and I never saw the slightest evidence in all my 23 years of knowing Mother Teresa in the Missionaries of Charity, of converting [other people to Christianity]…’”

And also:

“When I asked her whether she converted, she answered, ‘Yes, I convert.  I convert you to be a better Hindu, or a better Muslim, or a better Protestant, or a better Catholic, or a better Parsee, or a better Sikh, or a better Buddhist.  And after you have found God, it is for you to do what God wants you to do.’  She wanted people to come closer to God (however they understood Him)…”  See here:

http://www.motherteresa.org/08_info/2015-Coversion.html

So Mother Teresa was concerned about making you a better “whatever you are.”  Really?  And if you were a Satanist, would she have helped you to become a better Satanist, as well?  Is it an act of Christian love to cause someone to be more deeply entrenched in false doctrine than he is already?  It seems so, according to Mother Teresa.  But this is not love at all and this is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The truth of the gospel will help a person to remove himself from that false doctrine, not embrace it (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

      

In encouraging them to be a better Hindu / Muslim / Sikh, etc., she absolutely ignored the fact that Jesus said that He is the only way to God (John 14:6).

To make matters worse, many of those whom she steered more deeply into their false religions were on their deathbeds, desperate for one last chance at the hope of eternal life.  Herein was a small window of opportunity for real hope and real help for those dying souls, and she held back the truth of the gospel from them! 

 

She could have attempted to turn them away from their error.  But what began as an incredible opportunity for salvation in a place of deep spiritual darkness, ended up being a wasted opportunity.  Those poor heathen souls in India had great physical needs, but their greatest need, salvation, was not met by Mother Teresa’s message.  What they needed was the simple, biblical gospel of Jesus Christ, which is “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16).

We have seen attempts by Catholics to justify Mother Teresa’s method, but no argument and no amount of damage control can justify this clearly unbiblical behavior.  This is not how a Christian should share the gospel or convert the lost.  Instead of having “profound respect for all religions,” she should have presented Jesus Christ alone as the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

Not only was Mother Teresa a voluntary victim of the Catholic Church’s unbiblical works-based system of salvation, she was also a voluntary victim of her own unbiblical universalist idea (the idea that everyone is a child of God).

Sadly, in spite of her undeniable faithfulness to the Catholic Church and her unmatched labor and continual sacrificial giving, she experienced what she called “the dark night of the soul” for many years during her ministry.  In her very personal writings to her superiors, she wrote:

“How cold – how empty – how painful is my heart – Holy Communion – Holy Mass – all the holy things of spiritual life – of the life of Christ in me – are all so empty – so cold – so unwanted.  The physical situation of my poor, left in the streets unwanted, unloved, unclaimed – are the true picture of my own spiritual life, of my love for Jesus…” [Emphasis added]  See the link below.

What an incredible statement to make by someone who claims to belong to Christ!  She wholeheartedly held to the Catholic Church’s teachings, and a more faithful follower could hardly be found.  Yet, the pitiful Mother Teresa felt miserable, alone, and desperate.  By her own admission, she never knew God’s peace during these many years, if she ever knew it at all.  Maybe – just maybe -- God intended through this to show the utter futility of salvation by works, by using someone of her caliber to reveal that truth.  If Mother Teresa (who was so totally devoted to her works) could not have peace about her salvation through good works, then how could anyone?!! (Philippians 3:2-9)

We fear that the canonization (sainthood) of Mother Teresa is inevitable.  She was so loved by so many that she will be eagerly rushed by the Catholic Church to the status of “saint.”  This makes her increased influence all the more disturbing.  Multitudes will end up in a Christless eternity (Matthew 7:13-14) because of her words.  She should have heeded and shared the simple biblical gospel (Acts 16:31), rather than her false universalist / Catholic “gospel” (Galatians 1:8-9).

Please prayerfully read the link below.  It is an article from a former priest who makes a hard-hitting, yet compassionate, case concerning Mother Teresa’s work and her pitiful plight:

http://www.bereanbeacon.org/new-blog/2015/6/19/mother-teresaa-lost-soul