WEBVTT 00:02.900 --> 00:03.620 ♪♪ 00:33.420 --> 00:45.320 ♪♪ The historic Ecumenical Council, Vatican II, comes to a close amid colorful 00:45.320 --> 00:46.320 pomp and pageantry. 00:46.940 --> 00:49.980 Considered one of the most important councils in Catholic Church history, 00:50.500 --> 00:55.600 Vatican II produced 16 documents designed to modernize the role of the Church in 00:55.600 --> 00:56.300 world affairs. 00:56.720 --> 00:59.980 The final blessing is for the assembled throng and for the world. 01:00.260 --> 01:02.460 Ite and Pace, go in peace. 01:03.400 --> 01:07.920 With those words, Pope Paul VI closed the Second Vatican Council. 01:10.660 --> 01:13.340 Little did anyone realize what lay ahead. 01:18.680 --> 01:21.660 The decades since Vatican II have been turbulent. 01:27.450 --> 01:31.830 Its history spans centuries, but its future is uncertain. 01:32.910 --> 01:36.090 The Roman Catholic Church is a church in crisis. 01:48.340 --> 01:51.240 Evidence of the present crisis is widespread. 01:53.640 --> 01:55.160 Catholics are dissatisfied. 01:56.700 --> 01:58.780 Attendance at Mass has plummeted. 01:58.780 --> 02:02.200 The confessional has suffered an even greater decline. 02:03.660 --> 02:04.820 Finances are critical. 02:05.800 --> 02:07.940 Deficit spending has become a way of life. 02:08.900 --> 02:11.000 Church closures are commonplace. 02:12.420 --> 02:14.220 Priests are in short supply. 02:15.780 --> 02:16.960 1,000 U.S. 02:17.200 --> 02:18.920 parishes are without a priest. 02:19.780 --> 02:22.780 A 40% decline is projected by the turn of the century. 02:22.780 --> 02:27.320 And the Mass, which cannot be performed without a priest, is threatened. 02:28.580 --> 02:30.680 Internal disputes are shaking the Church. 02:31.360 --> 02:35.600 Theologians, priests, and even bishops are becoming increasingly outspoken. 02:36.360 --> 02:41.680 A full-page ad recently ran in the New York Times calling for reform in the 02:41.680 --> 02:42.400 Catholic Church. 02:43.040 --> 02:48.780 It was signed and paid for by 4,500 Catholic clergy and laity. 02:49.520 --> 02:52.560 The Pope has risen to the challenge, serving notice. 02:53.120 --> 02:56.640 Either stop public dissension or face disciplinary measures. 02:57.740 --> 03:01.500 One in seven Americans born Catholic has left the Church. 03:02.480 --> 03:05.740 100,000 Hispanics alone are leaving the Church every year. 03:06.260 --> 03:08.620 Many to join more personal churches. 03:09.480 --> 03:11.100 What is the cause of the present crisis? 03:12.420 --> 03:17.860 Some feel that the Second Vatican Council went too far and destabilized the Church. 03:17.860 --> 03:23.680 Others blame Rome for resisting modernization and trying to live in the 03:23.680 --> 03:24.200 past. 03:24.800 --> 03:30.060 Yet another cause often cited is Humanae Vitae, the most controversial papal 03:30.060 --> 03:35.560 document of modern times, which forbids the use of any artificial means of birth 03:35.560 --> 03:35.980 control. 03:36.940 --> 03:42.740 Widely ignored, Humanae Vitae weakened the Church's credibility and has led Catholics 03:42.740 --> 03:44.620 to begin questioning other teachings. 03:49.010 --> 03:51.090 Certainly these concerns are valid. 03:51.530 --> 03:56.750 But is it possible that the real problem lies deeply embedded in the doctrines of 03:56.750 --> 03:58.510 the Roman Catholic faith itself? 04:01.270 --> 04:03.270 This is St. Ignatius Church. 04:04.190 --> 04:07.490 It is adjacent to the University of San Francisco. 04:08.430 --> 04:11.170 I studied here during my years of seminary training. 04:12.430 --> 04:14.130 My name is Bob Bush. 04:14.130 --> 04:17.290 I was ordained here in 1966. 04:19.690 --> 04:23.670 21 years later, I submitted my letter of resignation. 04:24.990 --> 04:26.230 I'm Mary Krause. 04:26.790 --> 04:33.210 After 22 years as a Franciscan sister, I had, to some extent, the same experience 04:33.210 --> 04:35.310 as our founder, Francis of Assisi. 04:35.590 --> 04:39.550 I found myself out of step with my own order. 04:40.310 --> 04:46.070 But God showed me that my path should be only the gospel of Jesus Christ. 04:46.630 --> 04:48.430 My name is Sister Wilma Marie. 04:48.690 --> 04:50.630 At least, that's what I was called as the Sister of Mercy. 04:51.830 --> 04:53.630 My faith crisis began at Communion. 04:54.770 --> 04:58.450 The priest held the host in front of me and said, The Body of Christ. 04:59.270 --> 05:03.790 Before I could say the expected response of Amen, a thought went through my mind 05:03.790 --> 05:04.630 for the first time. 05:05.410 --> 05:06.150 Is it really? 05:07.210 --> 05:11.950 This began a series of events which led to my personal relationship with the Lord 05:11.950 --> 05:12.730 Jesus Christ. 05:13.950 --> 05:15.450 My name is Frank Eberhard. 05:15.770 --> 05:19.230 And I studied here at the St. Joseph's Seminary in Kingston, New Jersey, 05:19.390 --> 05:20.550 preparing for the priesthood. 05:21.210 --> 05:24.850 While I was here and making preparation, a parishioner came and asked me a 05:24.850 --> 05:25.170 question. 05:25.830 --> 05:29.330 How many masses needed to be set for her husband that he could enter into heaven? 05:30.070 --> 05:33.370 Well, this began for me an investigation into the doctrine of purgatory. 05:33.370 --> 05:38.730 Upon that investigation, I found it didn't match the Scripture, and so I had to delve 05:38.730 --> 05:42.510 more deeply into Scripture, and I found the doctrine of eternal security. 05:43.310 --> 05:46.710 How did a person supposed to know they have eternal life when they die? 05:47.350 --> 05:51.750 Well, I completed four years of study here, and upon that graduation, 05:52.050 --> 05:55.410 I decided not to pursue ordination into the Order of St. Vincent de Paul. 05:56.250 --> 06:01.010 These and thousands more like them are re-examining their Roman Catholic faith. 06:01.010 --> 06:07.550 The Mass, the commandments, the role of Mary, even the way to heaven. 06:08.710 --> 06:12.730 How do the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church compare with the teachings of 06:12.730 --> 06:13.430 sacred Scriptures? 06:25.790 --> 06:31.070 The Mass is the center of Catholic experience, and all Catholics are required 06:31.070 --> 06:32.170 to attend each week. 06:34.710 --> 06:39.910 Jesus Christ instructed His followers to take bread and wine as a remembrance of 06:39.910 --> 06:40.150 Him. 06:41.210 --> 06:46.030 But unlike most Christian denominations, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the 06:46.030 --> 06:48.390 bread and wine are more than symbolic. 06:49.170 --> 06:53.290 The priest actually transforms the bread into the body of Christ. 06:54.190 --> 06:56.490 A miraculous change is about to take place. 07:02.170 --> 07:06.250 He gave it to the disciples and said, take this, all of you Catholics. 07:07.090 --> 07:10.330 This is my body, which will be given up for you. 07:13.510 --> 07:18.550 Catholic doctrine teaches that the wafer is no longer bread, but is now the actual 07:18.550 --> 07:23.310 body of Jesus Christ and is to be worshipped and adored as divine. 07:24.810 --> 07:28.650 I always kind of wondered about that, because as a priest, you lean over the 07:28.650 --> 07:30.830 bread and you say, this is my body. 07:30.830 --> 07:37.090 And you're trained to believe that that became the body of Jesus. 07:37.190 --> 07:43.790 And you lift it up for people to adore, and you do that with the chalice, 07:43.910 --> 07:44.090 too. 07:44.830 --> 07:50.630 But in my mind, I always thought, I can't see any change, and do I really 07:50.630 --> 07:51.830 have the power to do this? 07:52.290 --> 07:56.530 It smells like bread, it looks like bread, it tastes like bread, but the substance is 07:56.530 --> 07:57.570 really the body of Jesus. 07:58.370 --> 08:03.050 How can the Church maintain a change takes place despite all external evidence to the 08:03.050 --> 08:03.430 contrary? 08:04.010 --> 08:07.090 It uses a theory called transubstantiation. 08:07.790 --> 08:12.110 Catholic theologian, Father John Boyle of the Jesuit School of Theology. 08:12.850 --> 08:21.930 Transubstantiation simply means that what before was bread and wine, down deep now 08:21.930 --> 08:23.150 is the body and blood of Christ. 08:23.150 --> 08:28.250 And we take that physically because we're physical, and it's the physicality of 08:28.250 --> 08:28.530 life. 08:29.190 --> 08:33.230 The Church bases transubstantiation upon the teachings of Aristotle. 08:34.150 --> 08:39.250 His 3rd century BC concept of matter viewed everything as consisting of two 08:39.250 --> 08:41.750 parts, accidents and substance. 08:42.670 --> 08:45.950 Accidents are described as the outward appearance of matter. 08:46.730 --> 08:48.530 Substance is the inner essence. 08:49.250 --> 08:55.030 Even though this idea has long since been discarded by modern science, the Catholic 08:55.030 --> 08:59.790 Church not only clings to it, but takes it one step further, claiming the inner 08:59.790 --> 09:03.810 essence can change while the outward appearance remains the same. 09:05.170 --> 09:08.550 Transubstantiation is the foundation upon which the mass rests. 09:09.330 --> 09:14.550 Catholics are taught that the priest must change the bread so that Christ can be 09:14.550 --> 09:19.950 offered as a real sacrifice, an offering for the sins of the living and the dead. 09:20.790 --> 09:26.190 It is the actual sacrifice of the mass, that the body and blood of Christ is 09:26.190 --> 09:31.590 actually being sacrificed right there on the altar rather than just a reenactment 09:31.590 --> 09:34.990 of something that happened many thousands of years ago. 09:35.350 --> 09:39.710 It says the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, after those who are 09:39.710 --> 09:40.650 called to this table. 09:40.650 --> 09:42.690 Glory to God in the highest. 09:43.250 --> 09:47.590 Is the Eucharist a real sacrifice? 09:48.170 --> 09:53.270 A Catholic would say that the Eucharist is a real sacrifice in that the Eucharist is 09:53.270 --> 09:55.490 the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary. 09:55.650 --> 09:59.390 That this is not a different sacrifice from the one Jesus made on Calvary. 09:59.490 --> 10:00.790 It is the same sacrifice. 10:00.790 --> 10:06.770 Now that goes directly against Scripture because in Hebrews 10.18 it says that with 10:06.770 --> 10:11.290 the forgiveness of these there is no longer any offering for sin. 10:11.990 --> 10:13.130 There is no more offering. 10:13.730 --> 10:18.090 Catholic priest Father Richard Chilson is the author of eight books on the Catholic 10:18.090 --> 10:23.910 faith, including Catholic Christianity and an introduction to the faith of Catholics. 10:24.690 --> 10:29.230 We asked him why the Catholic Church seeks to continue the sacrifice of Jesus at the 10:29.230 --> 10:29.570 mass. 10:29.570 --> 10:33.370 The Eucharist for a Catholic is ultimately a mystical understanding. 10:34.110 --> 10:39.390 That there is what we call real time and then there is what John calls the hour. 10:39.830 --> 10:47.570 And the hour is present in every moment if we can open our eyes to that reality. 10:47.570 --> 10:55.590 And so the Eucharist, by making present that sacrifice throughout history, 10:56.250 --> 11:02.310 helps us to open our eyes to what is really going on continually. 11:03.010 --> 11:07.910 That God is continually, through Jesus Christ, reconciling the universe to 11:07.910 --> 11:08.430 himself. 11:08.910 --> 11:15.650 It allows us to personally come into that moment and be reconciled with God again 11:15.650 --> 11:16.830 and again and again. 11:16.830 --> 11:20.470 For a Catholic, it continues before the sacrifice of Calvary. 11:21.430 --> 11:24.650 The sacrifice of Calvary does not begin at that point. 11:24.850 --> 11:27.210 It begins really at the foundation of the world. 11:27.330 --> 11:30.790 It goes forward in history and it goes backward in history as well. 11:31.190 --> 11:35.230 Other Christian denominations celebrate that the sacrifice is finished. 11:35.970 --> 11:41.170 We asked Father Chilson why the Catholic Church chooses to focus on its continuing. 11:41.810 --> 11:43.090 Why not leave it finished? 11:49.230 --> 11:50.910 I don't know if I can answer that. 11:52.250 --> 11:53.190 I'm sorry. 11:55.070 --> 12:00.930 I know that's a real issue between Protestants and Catholics, but I don't 12:00.930 --> 12:04.970 know if I can answer it in any better way than I've already kind of stumbled on. 12:05.590 --> 12:11.250 The Catholic priest cannot really explain how that the finished work of Christ on 12:11.250 --> 12:13.910 the cross is continued today in the Mass. 12:13.910 --> 12:20.090 The phrasing is that it is a mystical act of transubstantiation that takes place in 12:20.090 --> 12:24.150 which Christ voluntarily comes from heaven at the beck and call of the priest. 12:24.550 --> 12:30.370 When he raises the wafer above his head, then he voluntarily again becomes a 12:30.370 --> 12:30.810 sacrifice. 12:31.650 --> 12:36.430 There's nothing in Scripture that says Christ would ever dream of doing this. 12:36.430 --> 12:41.550 Scripture says that Christ has perfected by one offering them that are sanctified, 12:41.790 --> 12:44.090 and it only took one offering to save us from sin. 12:45.110 --> 12:48.870 The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Mass is a propitiatory sacrifice, 12:49.210 --> 12:56.690 which means that it appeases the wrath of God, that indeed it does take away sin. 12:57.470 --> 13:02.350 However, the Scripture is very clear about the fact that there's only one 13:02.350 --> 13:06.890 propitiatory sacrifice, namely what our Savior did on the cross. 13:06.950 --> 13:11.190 That's why in John 19.30 Christ said, it is finished. 13:11.550 --> 13:13.570 And when something is finished, it's finished. 13:13.690 --> 13:16.070 When something is done, it is done. 13:39.070 --> 13:44.610 A unique aspect of Catholic devotion is the veneration of saints and the use of 13:44.610 --> 13:46.670 sacred objects, such as statues. 13:47.350 --> 13:50.690 Former sister of Christian charity, Doreen D'Antonio. 13:51.070 --> 13:54.890 In the convent, we had a whole list of saints that we used for various 13:54.890 --> 13:55.630 situations. 13:56.510 --> 13:58.610 If we lost something, we would pray to St. Anthony. 13:59.110 --> 14:05.110 If we had a hopeless case in our family, maybe a relative that was drunk or 14:05.110 --> 14:07.990 something, we would pray to St. Jude, that being a hopeless case. 14:08.310 --> 14:12.130 We would pray to St. Gerald if there was a pregnant woman in our family that needed 14:12.130 --> 14:12.670 assistance. 14:13.210 --> 14:16.250 St. Blaise, if we had a sore throat, we would pray to. 14:16.370 --> 14:19.950 St. Christopher, that they don't use anymore for traveling, of course, 14:20.030 --> 14:21.050 we remember that one. 14:21.250 --> 14:22.110 And elevators. 14:22.290 --> 14:24.970 In the convent, we had an elevator for the older nuns. 14:24.970 --> 14:29.830 And in that elevator was this humongous medal of St. Christopher. 14:30.270 --> 14:31.130 It was amazing. 14:31.230 --> 14:33.730 We would have little statues of Mary and Joseph. 14:33.890 --> 14:35.670 St. Joseph for foster fathers. 14:36.110 --> 14:40.850 We'd have the little statue sitting right on the windowsill, hoping and praying that 14:40.850 --> 14:44.070 that statue would prevent it from raining on a particular day. 14:44.070 --> 14:51.410 You shall not make for yourself an idol or a statue or a picture in the form of 14:51.410 --> 14:56.970 anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 14:57.510 --> 15:01.070 Victor Afonso served as a Jesuit priest for 21 years. 15:01.590 --> 15:04.770 You shall not bow down to them or worship them. 15:04.830 --> 15:05.450 It's the same word. 15:05.950 --> 15:09.370 Though part of the Ten Commandments in the Catholic Bible, the Catholic Church 15:09.370 --> 15:11.910 regularly omits this command from catechisms. 15:11.910 --> 15:13.670 Yet it still comes up with ten. 15:14.030 --> 15:15.430 And how come they still got ten? 15:16.210 --> 15:20.110 They took the last one, which is, thou shalt not covet your neighbor's wife. 15:20.210 --> 15:24.790 You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant 15:24.790 --> 15:27.510 or maidservant, his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. 15:27.870 --> 15:28.910 They divided this into two. 15:29.390 --> 15:31.210 Nine, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. 15:31.770 --> 15:33.330 And ten, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. 15:33.670 --> 15:34.790 So they had the Ten Commandments. 15:35.030 --> 15:36.030 Now this is crookery. 15:36.870 --> 15:37.690 This is trickery. 15:38.130 --> 15:39.090 You've changed the commandment. 15:39.130 --> 15:41.030 But why did you drop the second commandment? 15:41.030 --> 15:44.350 Because there's a lot of business in making statues. 15:46.030 --> 15:49.190 Though the Scriptures were clear, the traditions of the Church were 15:49.190 --> 15:49.610 followed. 15:50.390 --> 15:52.730 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. 15:52.830 --> 15:56.590 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. 15:57.190 --> 16:01.810 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. 16:02.030 --> 16:02.190 Amen. 16:03.010 --> 16:05.430 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. 16:05.590 --> 16:07.690 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed... 16:07.690 --> 16:11.730 The hundred years preceding the Second Vatican Council have been called the 16:11.730 --> 16:12.570 Marian Century. 16:13.570 --> 16:17.430 During this period, the Catholic Church developed many new doctrines concerning 16:17.430 --> 16:17.810 Mary. 16:18.610 --> 16:22.050 Never in Catholic history has anything been seen like it. 16:22.550 --> 16:27.810 Most significant was Pope Pius IX's proclamation of the Immaculate Conception 16:27.810 --> 16:29.870 issued in 1854. 16:30.410 --> 16:34.690 Many Catholics do not understand the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. 16:34.690 --> 16:39.010 Even fewer realize that it contradicts Scripture. 16:39.810 --> 16:43.890 Well, that's the doctrine that says basically that the Blessed Virgin Mary 16:43.890 --> 16:48.610 became with child, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Ghost. 16:48.970 --> 16:54.990 The fact that God impregnated Mary to have Jesus, that's the doctrine, without having 16:54.990 --> 16:56.790 carnal sex, carnal intercourse. 16:57.350 --> 16:59.850 Most people, even Catholics, do not understand this doctrine. 17:00.450 --> 17:02.750 It has nothing to do with the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. 17:03.190 --> 17:07.510 Catholics believe, all Christians believe that it was a virgin birth, Jesus' father 17:07.510 --> 17:08.130 was not a man. 17:08.650 --> 17:13.550 But the Immaculate Conception is that Mary, when she was young, when she was 17:13.550 --> 17:16.510 conceived in her mother's womb, did not have the stain of original sin. 17:16.570 --> 17:22.150 That means she was saved already before she was at the point of her conception. 17:22.210 --> 17:23.030 So she never had sin. 17:23.070 --> 17:23.550 She was sinless. 17:23.930 --> 17:24.950 That's not what Scripture says. 17:25.070 --> 17:26.910 Only Jesus was without sin. 17:27.470 --> 17:29.530 And everyone has sinned and come short of the glory of God. 17:29.610 --> 17:30.710 Mary was a sinner. 17:31.070 --> 17:32.370 Mary herself said she was a sinner. 17:32.370 --> 17:36.790 In Luke, the first chapter, in her Magnificat, where she stated, My soul 17:36.790 --> 17:39.970 magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. 17:40.130 --> 17:41.910 Mary herself said she needed a Savior. 17:42.390 --> 17:45.750 All have sinned and all have fallen short of the glory of God. 17:46.310 --> 17:47.110 All have fallen. 17:48.170 --> 17:51.350 Yet the Catholic Church defined that Mary was conceived without sin. 17:52.050 --> 17:56.710 The Pope's proclamation that Mary never sinned raised other questions. 17:56.710 --> 18:03.710 If, as the Bible says, the wages of sin is death, and Mary never sinned, did she ever 18:03.710 --> 18:04.070 die? 18:04.530 --> 18:07.810 If she died, did her body decay in the grave? 18:08.570 --> 18:12.270 Everyone wanted to know, but both the Scriptures and Catholic tradition were 18:12.270 --> 18:12.630 silent. 18:13.230 --> 18:19.150 400 bishops and 80,000 priests and members of religious orders sent Rome requests for 18:19.150 --> 18:19.570 an answer. 18:20.090 --> 18:22.730 Eight million lay Catholics also signed petitions. 18:22.730 --> 18:29.630 Finally, in 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed that God took Mary bodily into heaven. 18:30.310 --> 18:32.930 This doctrine is known as the Assumption of Mary. 18:33.710 --> 18:38.770 Bart Brewer was a Carmelite priest, an order devoted to Mary. 18:39.450 --> 18:44.070 The perpetual virginity of Mary, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, 18:44.230 --> 18:50.330 the Assumption of Mary, and so on and so forth, these are mandatory teachings. 18:50.610 --> 18:52.730 These are said to be of divine law. 18:53.330 --> 18:57.110 And Catholic people may not reject those teachings. 18:57.250 --> 19:00.310 If they do, there's what they call an anathema. 19:00.550 --> 19:07.190 There's a curse for any Roman Catholic who would reject an official dogma regarding 19:07.190 --> 19:10.670 Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. 19:10.670 --> 19:17.850 Catholic priests will be honest in telling us that, indeed, this teaching has no 19:17.850 --> 19:18.910 foundation in Scripture. 19:19.330 --> 19:22.890 And what is the source of the Doctrine of Mary's Assumption? 19:23.110 --> 19:26.350 You don't find anything definitive in Scripture on that. 19:26.450 --> 19:27.630 You find a kind of basis. 19:27.850 --> 19:34.530 But I would say that the Doctrine of the Assumption has its origin in the piety of 19:34.530 --> 19:36.590 the people down through the centuries. 19:37.490 --> 19:41.410 When the religious practices of the people become the source of doctrine, 19:41.930 --> 19:45.270 popular sentiment is elevated to divine revelation. 19:46.150 --> 19:48.830 Distortion of truth now becomes inevitable. 19:49.550 --> 19:55.330 The biblical accounts of Mary present her as a humble, faithful servant of God. 19:55.810 --> 20:00.410 But Catholic tradition has confused her position with that of Christ himself. 20:01.210 --> 20:06.950 Mary has allegedly appeared to many in the uncharacteristic role of promoting 20:06.950 --> 20:07.610 herself. 20:08.070 --> 20:10.870 In 1917, she appeared at Fatima. 20:11.470 --> 20:16.010 There she announced, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my 20:16.010 --> 20:16.830 Immaculate Heart. 20:17.450 --> 20:21.650 My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way to lead you to God. 20:22.410 --> 20:27.490 This shrine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary recently was erected in Santa Clara, 20:27.670 --> 20:31.310 California to promote devotion to Mary's Immaculate Heart. 20:32.610 --> 20:36.770 I feel whenever I have a problem and I'm praying, I feel that if I talk to Mary, 20:37.090 --> 20:38.830 she would have more sympathy with me. 20:39.130 --> 20:43.890 And she can understand my motives if I feel I've done something wrong better than 20:43.890 --> 20:44.870 Jesus could or God. 20:45.290 --> 20:48.030 You know, she's kind of like the mediator for me. 20:48.030 --> 20:51.430 This ad is from the Catholic Standard and Times. 20:51.930 --> 20:55.430 Quote, he hasn't said no to her in 2,000 years. 20:55.930 --> 20:57.670 What would you have her ask him? 20:58.230 --> 21:02.590 Now if you will allow me to get a little personal here, I believe one of the 21:02.590 --> 21:06.630 problems, as I've spoken, one of the problems of the Western, of world culture 21:06.630 --> 21:08.210 is the problem of patriarchy. 21:09.210 --> 21:14.030 Christianity and Judaism are heavily patriarchal religions. 21:14.890 --> 21:19.350 One of the beauties of Catholicism is in her wisdom. 21:20.030 --> 21:27.070 She has allowed the figure of Mary to balance the male hierarchy of God the 21:27.070 --> 21:32.790 Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit, which has also been made male in the 21:32.790 --> 21:33.590 Christian tradition. 21:33.590 --> 21:39.670 And I believe that in some mysterious way, the figure of Mary, who comes out of the 21:39.670 --> 21:43.790 New Testament, who comes out of the Old Testament wisdom literature, which is part 21:43.790 --> 21:47.610 of the Catholic Scriptures but not necessarily part of the Protestant Bible, 21:48.230 --> 21:54.370 balances and gives a feminine dimension to God that is missing in a purely biblical 21:54.370 --> 21:55.670 Christianity. 21:56.470 --> 22:01.090 The Catholic Church declares that Mary is the mediator of all grace. 22:01.090 --> 22:06.290 This is the Baltimore Catechism, a basic teaching unit in the Catholic 22:06.290 --> 22:09.630 Church, one that I learned from and we taught from in seminary. 22:10.050 --> 22:15.110 The picture shows Christ still on the cross as head of the church, and from his 22:15.110 --> 22:16.150 side is flowing blood. 22:16.590 --> 22:21.390 This blood is flowing to the primary sacrament called the Eucharist. 22:22.070 --> 22:26.930 And from the Eucharist is dispensed forgiveness of sin, the reception of Jesus 22:26.930 --> 22:30.230 Christ personally into the lives of Roman Catholic people and such. 22:30.230 --> 22:35.970 And then from that sacrament, the blood is continuing to the flow through the hands 22:35.970 --> 22:36.630 of Mary. 22:37.650 --> 22:42.130 Mary is a dispenser, the final dispenser of all grace in Roman Catholicism. 22:42.570 --> 22:45.470 And we have seven sacraments depicted. 22:46.030 --> 22:49.850 These each themselves are said to dispense grace to the people. 22:49.850 --> 22:52.310 This picture really grieves me. 22:52.930 --> 22:59.010 That people would have to go through the church and through Mary to receive the 22:59.010 --> 23:04.350 grace that Christ earned on Calvary is so contrary to biblical doctrine. 23:04.590 --> 23:05.970 And it's just wrong. 23:06.930 --> 23:12.070 The church here is making the grace of Christ less accessible, not more 23:12.070 --> 23:13.110 accessible to people. 23:13.710 --> 23:16.570 Christ is the one mediator between God and man. 23:16.570 --> 23:23.290 So here we have an example of someone in Scripture, Mary, who is a very beautiful 23:23.290 --> 23:29.270 person and a model of Christian life as you know in her faith walk with the Lord. 23:29.570 --> 23:35.590 And it gets distorted off into a tradition, a definition, a dogmatic 23:35.590 --> 23:37.890 definition that contradicts Scripture. 23:41.450 --> 23:45.490 According to the Catholic Church, God created Adam and Eve with a divine 23:45.490 --> 23:48.030 life in their souls called grace. 23:48.030 --> 23:53.290 This grace was lost when they disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden and the gates of 23:53.290 --> 23:54.470 heaven slammed shut. 23:55.390 --> 23:57.850 Christ restored this grace by dying on the cross. 23:58.390 --> 24:00.230 Once again the gates of heaven swung open. 24:01.310 --> 24:02.390 Christ had done his part. 24:03.190 --> 24:05.490 Now man must cooperate by doing his. 24:06.190 --> 24:07.270 What is man's part? 24:08.490 --> 24:12.750 Central to his many responsibilities in achieving salvation are the seven 24:12.750 --> 24:13.370 sacraments. 24:13.890 --> 24:16.090 Each sacrament provides a different blessing. 24:17.590 --> 24:19.950 Baptism is the first sacrament received. 24:20.550 --> 24:26.270 It cleanses all sin, brings rebirth into the life of grace, and makes the infant a 24:26.270 --> 24:27.970 member of the Roman Catholic Church. 24:29.190 --> 24:33.810 Parents are responsible to see that their newborn infant is baptized as soon as 24:33.810 --> 24:34.190 possible. 24:35.890 --> 24:42.490 Peter, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 24:42.490 --> 24:43.050 Spirit. 24:43.990 --> 24:44.370 Amen. 24:45.710 --> 24:51.590 Confirmation grants special strength from the Holy Spirit to avoid temptation and to 24:51.590 --> 24:52.930 defend the Catholic faith. 24:53.850 --> 24:57.970 The Sacrament of Matrimony provides help for the couple for married life. 24:59.610 --> 25:04.210 The Catholic remains in the life of grace unless he commits a mortal sin, 25:04.910 --> 25:09.690 such as immorality, drunkenness, or failing to attend Mass each Sunday. 25:10.590 --> 25:15.090 These mortal sins are punishable by eternal separation from God. 25:15.850 --> 25:18.290 Mortal sins must be confessed to a priest. 25:19.910 --> 25:25.170 In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest grants absolution as he recites 25:25.170 --> 25:25.690 the formula... 25:26.630 --> 25:30.150 Through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace. 25:31.170 --> 25:35.670 And I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 25:35.970 --> 25:37.070 and of the Holy Spirit. 25:37.370 --> 25:37.710 Amen. 25:37.710 --> 25:43.670 The priest receives the power to absolve sins and celebrate the Mass through the 25:43.670 --> 25:44.990 Sacrament of Holy Orders. 25:46.350 --> 25:50.250 The last sacraments prepare the soul for passage through death. 25:51.150 --> 25:55.590 The family calls the priest to administer confession, anointing of the sick, 25:56.230 --> 25:57.190 and Holy Communion. 25:58.710 --> 26:00.650 Through this holy anointing... 26:00.650 --> 26:04.550 The condition of the soul at the moment of death will determine the eternal destiny 26:04.550 --> 26:05.170 of the Catholic. 26:05.950 --> 26:06.590 Amen. 26:09.270 --> 26:13.690 Those who die out of grace will spend eternity in hell. 26:14.990 --> 26:19.850 While those who die in a state of grace will go to heaven, most must first suffer 26:19.850 --> 26:20.570 in purgatory. 26:21.690 --> 26:27.310 There the person pays for past confessed sins, as well as unrepented venial sins, 26:27.810 --> 26:31.570 like minor lying or anger, which the Church considers less serious. 26:32.710 --> 26:37.250 This burden is carried by the entire family, as they realize they can shorten 26:37.250 --> 26:41.650 the time of their deceased loved one in purgatory by offering up their own good 26:41.650 --> 26:42.710 works and sufferings. 26:43.990 --> 26:46.370 The Mass is a particularly effective offering. 26:47.150 --> 26:50.590 And that's why Catholics, that's why they have Masses set for people. 26:50.690 --> 26:54.110 They would come into a parish and they'll give some money and they'll have a Mass 26:54.110 --> 26:55.710 set for their deceased relatives. 26:57.010 --> 26:59.750 But when you search through the Scriptures, you go all the way through, 26:59.810 --> 27:03.490 you know, through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, all the way down to the book of 27:03.490 --> 27:07.490 Revelation, going all the way through, and you will find there's no purgatory in 27:07.490 --> 27:07.650 there. 27:08.610 --> 27:13.110 Though a mandatory belief, many Catholics are confused about the doctrine of 27:13.110 --> 27:13.590 purgatory. 27:14.410 --> 27:15.930 I never think of purgatory. 27:16.070 --> 27:18.470 I think of it as an outdated idea. 27:20.310 --> 27:21.750 I don't know what it means. 27:21.750 --> 27:24.130 I have very mixed feelings on it. 27:24.210 --> 27:25.490 I'm not awfully sure. 27:25.730 --> 27:27.510 I have deceased members of my family. 27:27.830 --> 27:31.530 I just hope that they have actually gone on to heaven immediately rather than 27:31.530 --> 27:36.810 waiting for the time that they earn their way into heaven or someone prays them into 27:36.810 --> 27:38.850 heaven like we've been taught when we were little kids. 27:39.150 --> 27:41.150 Can someone else really pray them in? 27:41.770 --> 27:43.950 Or a person earn his way into heaven? 27:44.390 --> 27:48.250 The problem with that, of course, is that the Scripture nowhere says that we 27:48.250 --> 27:49.630 can pay for our own sins. 27:50.150 --> 27:51.310 We cannot work for them. 27:51.430 --> 27:55.970 In fact, in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, we're told, For by grace 27:55.970 --> 27:58.550 are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. 27:59.010 --> 28:02.450 It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. 28:02.930 --> 28:05.310 So we could never pay for our own sins. 28:05.470 --> 28:08.950 We're given that gift of full payment by Jesus Christ. 28:08.950 --> 28:16.050 Another problem with purgatory is that it implies Christ was not able to pay the 28:16.050 --> 28:17.550 full penalty for our sins. 28:18.090 --> 28:23.850 And yet the Scripture says that in the one time death of Christ, he not only made us 28:23.850 --> 28:27.250 Christians, but he paid the full ransom for our sin. 28:27.830 --> 28:29.950 But have Catholics been taught this simple truth? 28:34.590 --> 28:35.550 New York City. 28:36.350 --> 28:38.550 Gathering point for people from around the world. 28:43.940 --> 28:47.160 We asked Catholics what they thought they must do to get to heaven. 28:47.880 --> 28:49.680 How is it that you hope to get into heaven? 28:50.860 --> 28:53.940 By trying to live a clean and decent life, I guess. 28:55.860 --> 29:01.520 Well, just by being a good Catholic and being nice to one another and doing my 29:01.520 --> 29:01.900 best. 29:03.080 --> 29:04.520 Hopefully that will get me there. 29:04.980 --> 29:08.860 You obey the Ten Commandments, I think, and you've got a pretty good 29:08.860 --> 29:09.340 chance. 29:09.900 --> 29:11.600 You can't go wrong with the Ten Commandments. 29:11.920 --> 29:15.840 By following my conscience and believing in God and doing well and good. 29:16.120 --> 29:19.520 By treating people properly and being fair to everyone. 29:19.520 --> 29:22.180 Going through Christ is going through Mary. 29:22.480 --> 29:26.280 So, as a woman, you have to follow Mary's ways to go through Christ. 29:27.020 --> 29:29.620 I don't know, just behave myself. 29:31.260 --> 29:38.400 Go to confession, go to church, and treat your neighbors as good as you 29:38.400 --> 29:38.700 can. 29:38.860 --> 29:42.140 I go to the sacraments every Sunday. 29:43.060 --> 29:44.520 Catholic priest William J. 29:44.640 --> 29:48.780 Cogan provides a good summary of the Catholic way to heaven in his book A 29:48.780 --> 29:50.080 Catechism for Adults. 29:51.100 --> 29:51.980 Question. 29:52.940 --> 29:54.900 What is necessary to be saved? 29:56.580 --> 30:00.040 The answer provided in the Catechism lists eight requirements. 30:01.240 --> 30:06.980 Faith, baptism, church membership, obedience to the commandments, 30:07.980 --> 30:14.320 the sacraments, prayer, good works, and remaining in grace until death. 30:14.320 --> 30:17.200 The scripture never speaks of anything like this. 30:17.620 --> 30:22.700 In fact, the Philippian jailer, who, in fear for his life, asking Paul, 30:22.800 --> 30:24.180 what must I do to be saved? 30:24.840 --> 30:26.060 Paul's reply was very simple. 30:26.220 --> 30:29.340 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. 30:29.740 --> 30:36.720 The Catholic gospel, the Roman Catholic gospel, absolutely is a gospel of works. 30:37.340 --> 30:40.740 If salvation is by works, how much work do you have to do? 30:41.300 --> 30:43.960 Does the average Catholic think he will make it to heaven? 30:44.820 --> 30:50.020 Well, let's hope that God will take into consideration that you've done more good 30:50.020 --> 30:53.540 than bad, and therefore you are worthy of getting into heaven. 30:53.720 --> 30:55.420 Well, I got a lot of work to do. 30:57.160 --> 30:57.640 Myself. 30:58.220 --> 30:59.280 I don't think so. 30:59.660 --> 31:00.560 Not right now. 31:01.380 --> 31:07.140 I'm not sure that whatever I've done in the past could ever be reconciled. 31:07.140 --> 31:08.920 But I mean, it's nothing horrible either. 31:09.060 --> 31:10.740 I'm not a murderer or something like that. 31:10.880 --> 31:18.120 But I think that hopefully with more good that I've done than the few bad can weigh 31:18.120 --> 31:18.600 it out. 31:19.740 --> 31:20.380 I don't know. 31:21.060 --> 31:22.500 But I hope. 31:23.140 --> 31:24.500 I will try. 31:24.600 --> 31:28.120 I'm trying all the life to go there when I die. 31:29.100 --> 31:34.920 But I'm not sure if my life has been. 31:35.760 --> 31:40.800 Art Brewer recalls his attempts as a Carmelite monk to try to merit salvation. 31:41.180 --> 31:46.400 We would whip ourselves or flagellate ourselves to mortify the body. 31:46.640 --> 31:54.040 And then we had to get special permission to wear this belt. 31:54.040 --> 31:56.660 Now this is St. Elmo's belt. 31:58.140 --> 32:06.700 And this would go around my waist or my thigh or my leg. 32:07.260 --> 32:14.600 And the purpose of these mortifications, whether it was to sleep on a bed of 32:14.600 --> 32:21.820 plywood or take the vows or whatever, the purpose was basically to expiate sin, 32:21.960 --> 32:23.380 to atone for sin. 32:23.380 --> 32:27.800 I entered the convent with a sincere desire to serve God and man. 32:28.980 --> 32:36.060 I came to realize that it's not sincerity that's going to get us to heaven. 32:36.640 --> 32:37.800 It's not our good works. 32:37.860 --> 32:40.200 It's not by righteousness which we can do. 32:40.600 --> 32:42.160 What saves you is your faith in Christ Jesus. 32:42.560 --> 32:43.600 And it's the gift of God. 32:44.340 --> 32:51.620 Someone has once mentioned that God has done 99% and we have 1% left to finish. 32:52.920 --> 32:55.480 That is so totally false. 32:55.780 --> 32:57.120 The Lord did it all. 32:57.720 --> 33:00.780 Whatever we do doesn't amount to anything. 33:00.980 --> 33:04.800 I must first acknowledge that I really cannot save myself. 33:05.160 --> 33:11.420 That no matter what I do, I'm going to fall far short of the perfection that God 33:11.420 --> 33:12.120 would expect. 33:12.800 --> 33:18.100 But Christ was perfect and so I need to trust in Him and lean entirely on Him. 33:18.100 --> 33:24.200 And Him alone, He earned my salvation on the cross. 33:24.860 --> 33:29.380 I was taught to go to Jesus through the sacraments, to go to Jesus through the 33:29.380 --> 33:31.720 saints, to go to Jesus through the priests. 33:33.000 --> 33:39.380 What I'm saying that is different now is that as a Christian I can personally go to 33:39.380 --> 33:39.800 Christ. 33:40.040 --> 33:45.840 I have asked Him to be my Savior and forgive my sins, to pay the penalty that I 33:45.840 --> 33:46.680 could never pay. 33:46.680 --> 33:55.920 Our dear Catholic people don't understand the true person and work of Jesus Christ. 33:56.360 --> 33:59.080 He is not a personal Lord and Savior. 34:00.260 --> 34:06.440 So, as a result, there is a vacuum and I think that the Catholic Church tries to 34:06.440 --> 34:14.520 tell its people that this vacuum can be satisfied by participating in the seven 34:14.520 --> 34:14.920 sacraments. 34:14.920 --> 34:21.280 So, instead of a dynamic personal walk and talk with the Lord Jesus Christ, 34:21.480 --> 34:27.660 it's ritual and ceremony which create the impression that indeed Catholic people 34:27.660 --> 34:29.200 know Christ as Savior. 34:30.200 --> 34:34.160 However, they don't, by the very nature of Roman Catholicism. 34:34.820 --> 34:39.140 Despite the teachings of the Church, some Catholics have learned that salvation 34:39.140 --> 34:40.680 is by faith alone. 34:40.680 --> 34:44.920 I feel like as long as you believe in Jesus and that's all He asks you to do, 34:45.000 --> 34:46.300 then you'll be going to heaven. 34:46.940 --> 34:49.040 What do you have to believe in about Him? 34:49.620 --> 34:54.640 That He died for you, that He forgives your sins if you believe in Him, 34:54.940 --> 34:56.000 and that's all He asks. 34:56.760 --> 35:01.120 This woman was the only one of two dozen Catholics we interviewed at St. Patrick's 35:01.120 --> 35:05.180 Cathedral who seemed to understand God's simple plan of salvation. 35:06.040 --> 35:08.040 Is it only the laity who have been misled? 35:08.560 --> 35:13.560 While still a Jesuit priest, Victor Afonso was troubled that the Catholic Church was 35:13.560 --> 35:14.800 not teaching the true Gospel. 35:15.880 --> 35:20.480 He discussed the matter with a prominent Catholic scholar, only to realize the 35:20.480 --> 35:22.020 priest himself did not understand. 35:23.220 --> 35:26.720 Finally, Victor asked the priest what he thought the Gospel was. 35:27.300 --> 35:28.260 The priest's reply? 35:28.980 --> 35:29.820 To love one another. 35:32.040 --> 35:34.600 I said, that's the fruit, that we love one another. 35:34.760 --> 35:35.640 What is the good news, Father? 35:35.640 --> 35:37.200 He never knew the good news. 35:37.960 --> 35:41.980 He wouldn't say, the good news is that we're all heading for hell, and that when 35:41.980 --> 35:45.240 Jesus came and died on the cross by the precious blood, when we believe in Him, 35:45.440 --> 35:46.920 we are saved, we have eternal life. 35:47.120 --> 35:47.800 They won't say it. 35:48.660 --> 35:49.020 Why? 35:49.180 --> 35:50.300 Not because it's against Jesus. 35:50.420 --> 35:51.140 He does not know it. 35:51.720 --> 35:52.760 And he's a scripture scholar. 35:53.620 --> 35:55.960 The scriptures are clear, but the errors persist. 35:56.920 --> 36:01.240 The sacrifice of the Mass continues despite Christ's last words on the cross. 36:01.700 --> 36:02.600 It is finished. 36:04.400 --> 36:08.700 Statues are treated as sacred, though the Ten Commandments forbid both 36:08.700 --> 36:10.940 making and bowing down to them. 36:12.800 --> 36:17.760 Mary is proclaimed mediator of all grace, despite the New Testament's teaching that 36:17.760 --> 36:21.460 there is one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus. 36:24.120 --> 36:28.340 And the people are taught that they must work for salvation, though the scriptures 36:28.340 --> 36:33.640 clearly state that salvation is by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves, 36:34.000 --> 36:35.620 it is the gift of God. 36:38.840 --> 36:42.980 Many modern Catholics have chosen to ignore certain doctrines of the Church, 36:43.360 --> 36:44.920 which they consider to be out of date. 36:45.520 --> 36:49.860 A common misconception is that the Second Vatican Council changed many of these 36:49.860 --> 36:50.320 dogmas. 36:51.500 --> 36:55.240 Vatican II made no doctrinal changes. 36:55.240 --> 37:01.120 In other words, there was a change of image, but no change of substance. 37:01.360 --> 37:07.360 There's a principle Rome promotes, semper aedem, means always the same. 37:07.480 --> 37:13.220 In other words, her basic dogmatic teachings can never change. 37:13.740 --> 37:20.140 There has been a change, there's been redefinition and restructuring of Catholic 37:20.140 --> 37:26.180 theology, but there has been no substantive, no radical change of Catholic 37:26.180 --> 37:29.380 dogma, because that would destroy Roman Catholicism. 37:29.660 --> 37:34.340 While no doctrinal changes were made, the Second Vatican Council did change the 37:34.340 --> 37:38.060 position of the Church in relationship to non-Christian religions. 37:39.140 --> 37:43.620 It affirmed that people of all religions form one community, and that the Church 37:43.620 --> 37:47.780 respects the spiritual, moral, and cultural values of Hinduism, 37:47.920 --> 37:49.100 Buddhism, and Islam. 37:50.040 --> 37:53.060 Dialogue and collaboration were encouraged. 37:53.640 --> 37:56.060 I myself am engaged in a Ph.D. 37:56.260 --> 37:57.460 in Mahayana Buddhism. 37:58.600 --> 38:01.540 My specialty in that is Tibetan Buddhism. 38:02.360 --> 38:07.140 I chose Buddhism because it seemed to be as contrary to Christianity as it was 38:07.140 --> 38:07.980 possible to be. 38:08.100 --> 38:11.080 Buddhists do not believe in God, Buddhists do not believe in a soul. 38:12.080 --> 38:15.840 What I have discovered, instead, through my studies of Buddhism, 38:16.460 --> 38:23.620 is that in spite of the doctrines, the myths, that seem to contradict one 38:23.620 --> 38:29.160 another, the reality behind those doctrines and myths seems to be the same. 38:30.080 --> 38:34.200 Catholic publishers seem to agree, and have produced numerous books designed 38:34.200 --> 38:37.440 to enrich Catholic spirituality with Eastern religion. 38:37.440 --> 38:44.100 A Taste of Water, Christianity Through Taoist-Buddhist Eyes, was co-authored by a 38:44.100 --> 38:45.200 priest and a nun. 38:46.920 --> 38:52.260 Love Meets Wisdom, a Christian Experience of Buddhism, written by a Jesuit priest. 38:54.100 --> 38:58.100 And Buddhist Emptiness and Christian Trinity, which shows how 38:58.100 --> 39:03.080 Buddhist-Christian dialogue has gone beyond mutual understanding to mutual 39:03.080 --> 39:03.800 transformation. 39:04.920 --> 39:09.860 Pope John Paul II personally took the initiative to unite the leaders of the 39:09.860 --> 39:14.280 world's religions for a prayer summit at Assisi, Italy, in 1986. 39:15.180 --> 39:19.040 They came from around the world, Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, 39:19.420 --> 39:20.060 and Jews. 39:21.160 --> 39:24.240 Muslims from nine nations sang from the Koran. 39:25.200 --> 39:27.440 American medicine men called in the Great Spirit. 39:28.440 --> 39:32.760 Buddhism's Dalai Lama, traditionally regarded as a living deity, chanted 39:32.760 --> 39:33.420 rhythmically. 39:34.540 --> 39:38.040 Animists from Africa, Hindus, Zoroastrians. 39:39.120 --> 39:42.980 We will stand side by side asking God to give us peace. 39:43.900 --> 39:49.220 With that papal invitation, 160 leaders from the religions of the world gathered 39:49.220 --> 39:50.400 to petition God. 39:51.500 --> 39:56.500 While toleration for the cultures of others is commendable, this summit treated 39:56.500 --> 39:58.460 all religions as equally valid. 39:59.320 --> 40:02.540 An endorsement without precedent in the history of Christianity. 40:03.800 --> 40:05.460 But what do the scriptures say? 40:06.100 --> 40:12.060 There's only one person who took our sins away, my sins and your sins. 40:12.400 --> 40:15.420 There's only one person who did that, and that's Jesus. 40:16.340 --> 40:17.660 Buddha didn't do it. 40:18.320 --> 40:20.240 The Hindu religion didn't do it, it was Shiva. 40:20.840 --> 40:21.880 Confucius didn't do it. 40:22.000 --> 40:22.740 No one did it. 40:22.820 --> 40:24.280 The Muslim religion doesn't do it. 40:24.640 --> 40:28.220 They don't have a savior who takes away the sins of the world. 40:28.280 --> 40:29.120 They don't have that. 40:29.720 --> 40:31.940 That's why scripture says there's only one way. 40:32.560 --> 40:35.340 Why has Catholicism departed from biblical Christianity? 40:36.060 --> 40:39.500 Because it has elevated tradition, the teaching of the church, to the 40:39.500 --> 40:41.440 position of scripture and even above it. 40:42.280 --> 40:46.600 The New Testament describes Christianity as the faith which was delivered once and 40:46.600 --> 40:48.480 for all through Christ and the apostles. 40:49.360 --> 40:53.980 But Catholicism has continued to add new doctrines to the Catholic faith from the 40:53.980 --> 40:54.940 traditions of men. 40:56.120 --> 41:00.580 The belief that the nature of the bread changed at the Mass was not added to 41:00.580 --> 41:04.480 official doctrine until the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. 41:05.300 --> 41:09.380 This was the first time the church sanctioned the theory of 41:09.380 --> 41:10.440 transubstantiation. 41:10.440 --> 41:14.440 Purgatory was declared doctrine in 1274. 41:16.240 --> 41:19.030 The Immaculate Conception in 1854. 41:20.460 --> 41:23.760 Papal Infallibility, 1870. 41:24.840 --> 41:28.340 The Assumption of Mary, 1950. 41:29.480 --> 41:35.560 And the Declaration on Non-Christian Religions, October 28th, 1965. 41:36.780 --> 41:41.160 The Second Vatican Council made it clear that the Catholic Church will continue to 41:41.160 --> 41:42.160 rely on tradition. 41:43.300 --> 41:47.540 It is not from sacred scripture alone that the church draws her certainty about 41:47.540 --> 41:49.100 everything which has been revealed. 41:50.140 --> 41:55.620 Both sacred tradition and sacred scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the 41:55.620 --> 41:57.500 same sense of loyalty and reverence. 41:58.700 --> 42:03.080 I had a problem with this, especially when I began to read the scripture for myself. 42:03.700 --> 42:07.520 I could see the scripture saying one thing and tradition saying another. 42:08.120 --> 42:11.540 And this again caused for me problems, a crisis you might call it. 42:11.560 --> 42:15.220 To where I had a hard time accepting what the church would say when I could clearly 42:15.220 --> 42:17.980 see Christ and scripture saying something different. 42:18.860 --> 42:22.680 The Catholic Church claims that there is no conflict, there is no problem. 42:23.020 --> 42:25.920 But there are lots of conflicts and there are lots of problems. 42:25.920 --> 42:32.660 There are many, many examples of this, of infallibly defined doctrines and dogmas 42:32.660 --> 42:35.140 that actually contradict what is already in scripture. 42:36.840 --> 42:40.420 This conflict between scripture and tradition was at the heart of the 42:40.420 --> 42:41.940 Reformation during the Middle Ages. 42:49.660 --> 42:50.800 Dr. Luther. 42:50.800 --> 42:50.900 Yes, sir. 42:56.760 --> 42:59.400 Yesterday you admitted these writings were yours. 43:00.840 --> 43:05.240 Will you tell us now, do you persist in what you have written here? 43:06.100 --> 43:10.860 Or are you prepared to retract these writings and the beliefs they contain? 43:12.320 --> 43:15.620 I ask pardon if I lack the manners that befit this court. 43:16.320 --> 43:20.640 I was not brought up in king's palaces, but in the seclusion of a cloister. 43:22.300 --> 43:24.400 I am asked to retract these writings. 43:25.520 --> 43:26.320 Protestant critics? 43:26.820 --> 43:27.700 Not exactly. 43:28.340 --> 43:31.940 The leaders of the Reformation were all Catholic priests and theologians. 43:34.240 --> 43:37.480 Catholic theologian John Wycliffe was one of the first. 43:38.020 --> 43:42.360 His troubles started when he began to teach that the Bible is the only source of 43:42.360 --> 43:42.780 truth. 43:42.780 --> 43:44.640 Rome silenced him. 43:45.240 --> 43:50.600 44 years after his death, they exhumed his bones and burned them because of his 43:50.600 --> 43:52.820 departure from Roman authority. 43:53.920 --> 43:59.880 In 1415, Catholic priest and theologian of the University of Prague, John Hus, 44:00.240 --> 44:01.360 was burned at the stake. 44:01.980 --> 44:02.580 His crime? 44:03.320 --> 44:08.060 He also had made the Holy Scriptures his only rule in matters of religion and 44:08.060 --> 44:08.460 faith. 44:09.460 --> 44:15.880 After 16 years as a priest, Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli broke with the Catholic 44:15.880 --> 44:20.860 Church when he could no longer put tradition on the same level as the Holy 44:20.860 --> 44:21.340 Scriptures. 44:22.660 --> 44:26.960 John Calvin was studying for the priesthood when he experienced a spiritual 44:26.960 --> 44:27.580 conversion. 44:28.300 --> 44:30.380 He left the church shortly thereafter. 44:31.160 --> 44:37.080 Martin Luther was an Augustinian priest and professor of theology at the Catholic 44:37.080 --> 44:38.620 University of Wittenberg. 44:39.080 --> 44:44.880 He objected to representatives of the Pope selling pardons from purgatory in order to 44:44.880 --> 44:47.620 finance the building of St. Peter's Basilica. 44:48.960 --> 44:54.660 Luther made a list of 95 reasons why this was wrong and nailed it to the church door 44:54.660 --> 44:55.400 at Wittenberg. 44:57.620 --> 45:03.200 Luther's writings helped form the three guiding principles of the 16th century 45:03.200 --> 45:04.340 call for reform. 45:04.960 --> 45:09.740 Number one, the Bible is the only source of authoritative truth for salvation. 45:11.080 --> 45:15.260 Number two, man is saved by God through faith alone. 45:16.500 --> 45:22.760 And number three, every believer has direct access to God through Jesus Christ 45:22.760 --> 45:23.220 alone. 45:24.020 --> 45:30.180 When ordered to recant, Luther responded, My conscience is captive to the word of 45:30.180 --> 45:30.520 God. 45:31.580 --> 45:33.660 He narrowly escaped with his life. 45:34.880 --> 45:40.220 These men were all loyal Catholics whose attempts to reform their church and return 45:40.220 --> 45:45.300 it to biblical Christianity were met with vigorous opposition from their superiors. 45:46.040 --> 45:47.480 The problem is an old one. 45:51.060 --> 45:55.980 While walking through a grain field on the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus also clashed with 45:55.980 --> 45:59.040 the religious leaders of his day over tradition. 46:00.060 --> 46:03.400 The apostles were picking heads of grain and eating them. 46:05.540 --> 46:10.280 Additionally, when they ate their bread, they did not ceremonially wash their hands 46:10.280 --> 46:11.800 as prescribed by the rabbis. 46:12.380 --> 46:16.580 In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Mark, we read that the Pharisees and the 46:16.580 --> 46:20.600 scribes questioned Jesus, Why do your disciples not walk according to the 46:20.600 --> 46:21.600 tradition of the elders? 46:22.360 --> 46:23.940 Jesus was not intimidated. 46:24.600 --> 46:28.880 He rebuked the religious leaders for elevating the teaching of the rabbis to 46:28.880 --> 46:31.740 the same level of authority as God's holy scriptures. 46:32.360 --> 46:36.360 He accused them of teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. 46:37.200 --> 46:41.480 He could not obey the traditions of the elders without disobeying the written word 46:41.480 --> 46:41.920 of God. 46:42.740 --> 46:45.500 He chose to obey God rather than men. 46:46.120 --> 46:49.500 Many Catholics today are making that same choice. 46:50.500 --> 46:53.820 I had the decision to make who I was going to follow. 46:54.040 --> 46:58.260 Was it going to be a man who could make mistakes, or was it going to be God who 46:58.260 --> 46:59.140 could not lie to me? 46:59.540 --> 47:04.120 But I had to leave for one purpose, and that is, I found that the Catholic 47:04.120 --> 47:07.240 Church and its doctrines, and infallible doctrines, what they call the dogmas, 47:07.740 --> 47:09.560 had perverted and changed the world. 47:09.560 --> 47:14.660 I left the Roman Catholic Church and forsaked the Roman Catholic priesthood by 47:14.660 --> 47:20.420 God's grace strictly for theological reasons, for doctrinal reasons. 47:20.940 --> 47:25.280 I came to realize that the Catholic Church did not have the correct doctrine. 47:26.000 --> 47:28.380 They did not have what I needed in my life. 47:28.800 --> 47:36.240 Many, many thousands, maybe millions of Catholic people leave because of theology. 47:36.240 --> 47:44.140 They started to re-examine Roman Catholic premises or teachings in light of God's 47:44.140 --> 47:45.060 holy word. 47:45.500 --> 47:46.360 I love them. 47:47.320 --> 47:48.840 I love the people. 47:49.720 --> 47:56.340 But I'm sorry that the doctrines that they so cling to are not according to what God 47:56.340 --> 47:57.880 has said is necessary to get to heaven. 47:58.420 --> 48:03.220 Because of the teaching of tradition, Christ has become de-emphasized. 48:03.220 --> 48:05.640 You have Mary in a prominent place. 48:05.740 --> 48:09.540 She's held up as ever-virgin and sinless, even as Jesus Christ himself is. 48:09.960 --> 48:13.920 You have saints who are much holier than we are, who are in heaven and can pray for 48:13.920 --> 48:14.220 us. 48:14.720 --> 48:19.800 You have other symbols in Catholicism that take the place of Jesus Christ, 48:19.900 --> 48:24.260 or at least de-emphasize the work of Jesus Christ for Catholic people. 48:25.060 --> 48:29.260 I think a reason why Catholicism isn't working today, and it is in crisis, 48:29.460 --> 48:33.640 is because there is a lack of belief in the gospel itself. 48:34.240 --> 48:38.480 Many of you will say, well, we have been a long time in the Catholic Church and we 48:38.480 --> 48:39.460 have had enough of Jesus. 48:40.160 --> 48:43.720 And all the kneeling down and going for Sunday Mass and receiving Jesus in 48:43.720 --> 48:44.400 communion and all. 48:45.380 --> 48:47.640 Brothers and sisters, that is not Jesus. 48:48.240 --> 48:53.580 It is not Jesus, and it is not the message inspired by the Holy Spirit as recorded in 48:53.580 --> 48:53.960 the Scriptures. 48:54.760 --> 48:59.960 The Catholic way of salvation is a false hope, for it is not the gospel of Jesus 48:59.960 --> 49:01.780 Christ found in the New Testament. 49:02.920 --> 49:07.760 God warns us of those who would come and preach another Jesus, a different spirit, 49:08.560 --> 49:09.600 and a different gospel. 49:11.120 --> 49:15.120 Disenchanted with Catholic teaching, many have finally turned to the Bible for 49:15.120 --> 49:15.460 help. 49:16.120 --> 49:18.740 These Catholics were surprised by what they discovered. 49:19.080 --> 49:22.540 Grace was something that you could not earn, and that surprised me because I 49:22.540 --> 49:26.620 always thought in the Catholic Church you would earn grace by going to church and 49:26.620 --> 49:27.420 going to confession. 49:27.920 --> 49:35.380 All the time I thought I was in church or going to Mass or doing penance or just 49:35.380 --> 49:36.320 being good. 49:37.260 --> 49:43.160 But I didn't realize that it is accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior and through 49:43.160 --> 49:44.260 His blood that you are saved. 49:44.260 --> 49:52.380 That He was the one that came to take all the sins, even mine, which I thought I 49:52.380 --> 49:55.280 never was good for anything. 49:55.580 --> 49:56.520 He died for me. 49:57.060 --> 50:01.220 He came because I needed a Savior and that there was no other way I could get to 50:01.220 --> 50:01.480 heaven. 50:02.160 --> 50:05.100 And that when He was on the cross, He had me personally in mind. 50:05.660 --> 50:09.140 And I'll always remember being completely overwhelmed with that thought, 50:09.320 --> 50:12.000 that He had my name in His mind. 50:12.000 --> 50:17.680 John and Jane Delisi received eternal life while studying the first epistle of John. 50:19.000 --> 50:22.180 Jane was a teacher in the Catholic parochial school system. 50:22.960 --> 50:27.120 There was a verse there that says that you can know that you can have eternal life. 50:27.920 --> 50:33.260 And I was very, very confused and puzzled because I couldn't understand how I could 50:33.260 --> 50:35.980 really know that I could have eternal life. 50:35.980 --> 50:42.820 We found out that the work of Jesus Christ alone was sufficient for me to get to 50:42.820 --> 50:43.060 heaven. 50:43.200 --> 50:46.640 And it was nothing that I did, but it was all that He did and it was 50:46.640 --> 50:49.800 trusting in Him and His finished work on the cross. 50:50.640 --> 50:53.900 Each of these individuals has since left the Catholic Church. 50:54.700 --> 50:57.360 It's not what we're leaving, it's what we're getting into. 50:58.160 --> 50:59.680 It's not what's behind us. 50:59.780 --> 51:03.280 I mean, it's like when the pioneers came to the West, it's not what they're leaving 51:03.280 --> 51:04.760 behind, it's what they're coming to. 51:04.760 --> 51:07.360 And we're coming to a new life in Jesus. 51:07.540 --> 51:09.320 We're coming into everlasting life. 51:09.980 --> 51:15.260 When Jesus died and He saved me, and I receive that, that gives everlasting 51:15.260 --> 51:17.400 glory to God forever and all eternity. 51:17.920 --> 51:20.760 I will praise God for all eternity for having saved me. 51:20.940 --> 51:23.420 The Lord Jesus Christ is my all. 51:23.500 --> 51:23.960 That's it. 51:25.680 --> 51:28.200 How can I... He's everything. 51:28.200 --> 51:29.580 My salvation. 51:30.300 --> 51:34.800 And when I think of Him, I can just visually see myself dropping at His feet, 51:35.040 --> 51:38.600 but also being torn and wanting to run to Him. 51:39.560 --> 51:47.680 As if you've been separated from a long time friend and you want to be with Him, 51:47.820 --> 51:49.920 but that awe is so awe-inspiring. 51:50.540 --> 51:53.700 And just the sense of never wanting to leave His presence. 51:54.500 --> 51:56.320 Wherever He goes, I want to be there. 51:56.660 --> 51:57.200 I can't. 51:58.520 --> 51:59.940 I can't live without Him. 52:28.200 --> 52:35.740 Beautiful flower that fades, so the traditions of men. 52:37.240 --> 52:42.880 But the word of the Lord, it stands for always. 52:43.280 --> 52:46.940 For He is the guardian. 52:47.940 --> 52:59.760 Trust only in the sacrifice of God's perfect Lamb. 53:00.280 --> 53:05.780 Believe and receive in this true hour. 53:06.540 --> 53:10.820 Come into Emmanuel's land. 53:11.820 --> 53:17.480 Come out of her, my beloved. 53:18.600 --> 53:23.480 Come and follow me. 53:24.120 --> 53:29.760 Outside the camp, up to the hill. 53:30.380 --> 53:33.860 The place of my victory. 53:41.340 --> 53:42.000 The place of my victory. 53:42.140 --> 53:42.400 The place of my victory.