Fact a Day: March 1st

The Facts on Roman Catholicism (Harvest House, 1993), pp. 4-5

A Biblical Evaluation of the Roman Catholic Church

No one can deny that substantial changes have occurred in the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican II, the major Roman Catholic council intended to usher in “the beginning of a new era in Roman Catholic history.”* Since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has increasingly encouraged its members to read the Bible and apply it to their lives. Also, it is no longer a serious sin to attend non-Catholic churches. Perhaps the most important change in Catholicism is its allowance of a new freedom for the biblical gospel itself.

Modern Roman Catholicism is commendable in other ways as well. For example, socially, the Church has consistently maintained a high view of the sanctity of life and of marriage. Biblically, it has continued to defend the inerrancy of Scripture, at least as an official doctrine of the Church. Theologically, it accepts the orthodox view of the Trinity, Christ’s deity, and His atonement. Spiritually, it has a good understanding of the seriousness of sin and its consequences in eternal judgment.

Nevertheless, all this does not mean that the Church is without problems. Perhaps the most serious issue in Roman Catholicism is its unwillingness to accept biblical authority alone as the final determiner of Christian doctrine and practice. For example, by accepting Catholic Tradition as a means of divine revelation, even biblically correct teachings in the Church become hedged about with unbiblical trimmings, which in turn tend to either revise, neutralize, or nullify these truths.

*For full documentation, please see The Facts on Roman Catholicism.