L.R. Wilson
Although Roman Catholics claim to have given us the Bible they completely ignore what the Bible says in some instances. In others they even reverse it.
1. Catholics have omitted one of the original Ten Commandments. They claim to believe in these as the fundamental basis of all moral theology, yet they have deleted the second completely. All Catholic catechisms—beginning with the first grade and going on to adulthood—are based upon the Catechism of the Council of Trent, which makes no mention whatever of the second commandment in the Decalogue. In the Confraternity Douay Version, this commandment reads:
You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below of in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for then: father’s wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation.1
Millions of the Catholic laity are unaware that this commandment has been omitted, because they have never examined a copy of the Bible—not even one of their own translations. Very few of those who do have a copy of their approved version ever read it, because they are not encouraged by their priests to do so.
One would think that the Romanists would at least be consistent. If they are going to take the Ten Commandments as a basis of their moral theology, they should not leave their people in the dark about the changes they have made. But they have good reason for deleting the second commandment, which forbids the making of an image of “anything in the sky [heaven] above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath,” or “to bow down before them or worship them.”
According to the Roman Catholic catechism the second commandment reads, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” In both the Catholic and Protestant versions this is the third commandment in the Decalogue. The ninth in the Catholic catechism reads, “Thou shalt not covet they neighbors wife.” The tenth says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods.” Thus, in order to complete the Ten, Catholics have divided the tenth so as to make two of it.
The eighth commandment in the Decalogue, according to the Catholic version, says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” The Catholic catechism says this commandment forbids “the telling of secrets we are bound to keep.” Actually, it suggests no such idea whatever. But it is so misconstrued to allow Catholics to take an oath “with mental reservation”—if the occasion warrants it. They can solemnly swear in court “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” and still withhold whatever facts they deem necessary. To use the eighth commandment in the Decalogue to justify such practice is dishonest.
2. In the New Testament the Lord plainly says, “…call no man your father on the earth.”2 It is evident that Jesus here used the term father in a spiritual sense, because elsewhere the New Testament recognizes fleshly fathers.2 But, since some of the aged apostles referred to some of their converts as children (meaning no more, perhaps, than little or young ones in Christ), Catholics attempt to explain away the language of our Lord so as to justify their anti-scriptural practice of addressing all priests, regardless of their age or spiritual relationship, as Father. In so doing they not only set their priests apart and above all the people, but they make the language of Christ meaningless.
3. The apostle Paul said, “The bishop therefore must be…the husband of one wife.”4 In an effort to weaken the force of this scripture the Confraternity-Douay Version renders it “married but once.” This is a watered down translation intended to make it more palatable. The word for marry in the original is gameo. But Paul here used the term gunaikos, meaning woman or wife. The clause reads, “mias gunaikos andra,” literally translated, “man of one woman,” meaning (as it evidently does here) “husband of one wife.” The papacy has gone completely contrary to this scripture, decreeing that a bishop must not be married at all. Although many bishops (and popes) have become fathers of illegitimate children, they must not marry. Thus concubinage for bishops is preferable to marriage.
4. Roman Catholics forbid marriage and “enjoin the abstinence of foods.” Paul says,
But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men, that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth.5
The efforts of the Romanists to explain their practice in the light of such clear statements are both unscriptural and unreasonable. There is absolutely no way to reconcile their teaching with the Bible, which they claim to have given to us.
Is it any wonder then that Catholics have burned the Bible in nearly every country in the world? Or, is it any wonder that millions of their people live and die without ever seeing a copy of the Bible? And, is it any wonder that they put their traditions above the Bible?
Footnotes
1. Ex. 20:4, 5
2. Matt. 23:9
3. Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21; Heb. 12:9
4. 1 Tim. 3:2
5. 1 Tim. 4:1-3
