Did the Roman Catholic Church use the Bible to Oppress the Common People?

 Here's the third argument posed against me from my friend on facebook. "Quoting one Bible passage to prove the veracity of another is roundabout logic in my view. It seems you are saying that one has to accept the entire canon as 'gospel' truth and all the other rejected works as false doctrine. This is convenient, as it makes it easy to disregard anything that might question church authority and inform the 'blind masses' that they need not blindly follow the directions of the Roman Church. And make no mistake, this was the real purpose of the Bible, to oppress the masses not liberate them. Using your logic, that I must accept the entire book or none of it, I must choose the latter for anything else flies in the face of logic and common sense."

 My dear friend, with that kind of logic, why not add ancient cook books to the canon of Scripture, and call it scripture as well. Hey, for that matter. Just imagine for a moment. We are 2, 000 years in the future. Archaeologists are excavating the ruins of let’s say “Chapters Bookstore.” There they find a number of books for some strange reason, well preserved, except for the fact that a lot of books had pages missing and littered across the floor. So with this find a number of language experts and theologians translate and study the ancient texts. They find a number of ancient Bible translations mixed in with a number of Betty Crocker Cook books, Fantasy novels, children’s books, and carpentry and plumbing books. But that was it, the rest of the books were destroyed. Now we can see that these futuristic theologians who are experts in the languages have their work cut out for them to do in deciphering and figuring out which loose pages belong to what books they found. The same careful process as mentioned in my recent post would apply here in which pages would be included and which would be excluded from the books with the missing pages, or even enter chapters and books which belong to the books with the missing pages, chapters, and even mini books. Logic and reason would tell us that these theologians and language experts in the old English language would have little trouble figuring out what missing pages and chapters belong to each book; whether it be a Bible or a Betty Crocker Cook Book. So today experts in the original languages of the Bible would have little problem figuring out which books would be included or excluded in the canon of Scripture. (This issue is more fully addressed in my previous post).

 You referred to the “Roman Church” meaning the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Church as you call it, is a perversion of the true Church. For example:

1. The Catholic Church teaches Purgatory, whereas the Bible does not: (Matt. 23:14; Psalm 49:6-7; Acts 8:20);

2. The Catholic Mass, which heretically teaches that the wine and wafer chip is the actual body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ: (Matt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 11:23-27; Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:11-12; Acts 15:29; Heb. 10:10-12);

3. The Catholic Church promotes Image worship of past saints, including Mary, which the Scripture strictly forbids: (Exodus 20:4-5; Rev. 14:11);

4.  The Catholic Church teaches its adherents to offer Prayers to dead saints, which the Bible condemns: (Deut. 18:10-12);

5. The Catholic Church teaches Salvation by works in opposition to the Bible’s Salvation by Grace alone: (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 4:5; John 14:6; Rev. 1:5; Col. 1:14; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rom. 5:8-9; 10:13; 10:9);

6. The Catholic Church teaches that Peter never had a wife, whereas the Bible specifically states he had a wife: (Matt. 8:14; 1 Cor. 9:5);

7. Christ is the Head of the Church, not the Pope: (Eph. 5:23; 1:22; Col. 1:18);

8. Jesus is the High Priest who alone forgives sin, not Catholic priests: (Heb. 3:1; 4:14-15; 5:5; 8:1; 9:11);

9. All Christians are priests, not just a select few: (1 Pet. 2:5, 9);

10. Often Catholic priests will go by the title of “Father” which is forbidden in Scripture: (Matt. 23:9);

11. One Mediator between God and man: (Not a Pope, not a priest, and not Mary) 1 Tim. 2:5;

12. Lords over God’s heritage: (1 Pet. 5:3);

13. Peter an Apostle, not a Pope: (1 Peter 1:1). .

As you can tell from my thirteen points above, the Roman Catholic Church is most definitely not a Bible believing church as they would like us to believe. Often the Catholic Church likes to take the credit for giving us the Bible we have today. This of course is not true. They may have translated and published a version or two of the Bible, but they did not originally give us the Bible we have today.

Your comment, “And make no mistake, this was the real purpose of the Bible, to oppress the masses not liberate them.” Come on, the Bible used for the purpose of oppressing the masses. Such godly men as John Wycliffe and William Tyndale suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church for translating and giving the Bible in the common language of the people, which liberated them from the tyranny of the Catholic Church of the dark ages, not enslave them as you suggest. The Bible speaks of forgiveness and freedom from the bondage of sin through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. This certainly doesn’t sound at all like an oppressive book used to enslave the masses; unless of course, you want to remain enslaved to your sins.