The Gospel According

to Rome

Session 10 Church Authority

Tradition

A Survey of How and Why the

Roman Catholic Church Has
Departed From Biblical Truth
and Authority

2013, Ed Sherwood, Berachah Bible Institute

To better understand:
Objectives for this Course
what the differences are between Roman
Catholicism and biblical Christianity
how Roman Catholicism departed from biblical truth
how to evangelize Roman Catholics by helping them
to know the truths of Scripture
why ecumenical efforts by Catholics and biblical
Christianity based on biblical error must be avoided

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Psalms 119:105
2013, Ed Sherwood, Berachah Bible Institute 2
 2013, Ed Sherwood, Berachah Bible Institute

Course Schedule
Session Date Topic Material Covered
1 5/19/2013 Introduction Course and text overview
2 5/26/2013 Salvation - Justification TGATR, pgs 21-87
3 6/2/2013 Salvation Final Destiny TGATR, pgs 89-121
4 6/9/2013 The Mass and Sacraments TGATR, pgs 123-177
5 6/16/2013 The Role of Mary Part 1 TGATR, pgs 180-228
6 6/23/2013 The Role of Mary Part 2 TGATR, pgs 180-228

7 6/30/2013 Church Authority - The TGATR, pages 231-261

Pope and Bishops
We are 8 7/7/2013 Church Authority - The TGATR, pgs 263-280
here Magisterium
9 7/14/2013 Secret Access: The Vatican DVD
10 7/21/2013 Church Authority - TGATR, pgs 281-310; 341-
Tradition 344
11 7/28/2013 The Roman Catholic Bible TGATR, pages 337-340
and the Apocrypha
12 8/4/2013 Sola Scriptura TGATR, pages 344-355
13 8/11/2013 Ecumenical Outreach TBA
14 8/18/2013 The Roman Catholic Church TBA
in the US 3
 Overview of Session Scripture and Tradition

Catholicism in the News

Pope Francis issues indulgence via Twitter
World Youth Day 23-28 July in Rio

Chapter 12 Scripture and Tradition (p. 281)

Pope Pius XII Use of Tradition to Establish Church Doctrine
(p. 281-284)
Divine Revelation (p. 284)
Origin in Christ (p. 284)
Transmission through Scripture and Tradition (p. 284-286)
The Word of God (p. 286-287)
A Biblical Response (p. 287-307)
Scripture is Inspired Tradition is Not (p. 290-292)
Tradition as a Source of Dogma: The Assumption of Mary (p. 293-300)
Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium (p. 301-304)
A Biblical Verdict (p. 304-307)

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 July 19, 2012 http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/1
7/twitter-plenary-indulgences-pope/2524213/

How you can save your soul: In 140 characters or less

Following Pope Franciss Twitter feed may be good for your soul
both in this life and the next. The spiritual leader of the Roman
Catholic Church plans to grant plenary indulgences by Twitter during
the World Youth Day 2013 event, which will be held July 23-28 in
Brazil.
The indulgences, which Catholics believe can reduce the time a soul
spends in purgatory, will be available to Francis nearly 7.5 million
Twitter followers in all languages if they tune in to World Youth
Day broadcasts or take other spiritual actions. To get an indulgence,
Catholics must have already had their sins absolved by a priest.
Pope Francis issued a decree about indulgences and social media on
July 9, according to the Rome-based Zenit news organization, which
covers the Vatican.
The faithful who on account of a legitimate impediment cannot attend the aforementioned
celebrations may obtain Plenary Indulgence under the usual spiritual, sacramental and prayer
conditions, in a spirit of filial submission to the Roman Pontiff, by participation in the sacred
functions on the days indicated, following the same rites and spiritual exercises as they occur via
television or radio or, with due devotion, via the new means of social communication, the
decree states.
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WYD: A dream from the Heart of God
http://www.rio2013.com/en/world-youth-day/wyd-a-dream-from-the-heart-of-god
It all started with a meeting hosted by Pope John Paul II in 1984. It was
an encounter of love, dreamed of by God and embraced by the youth.
Voices that needed to be heard and a heart ready to receive them.
The World Youth Day (WYD) as it was named in 1985 continues to show
the world the witness of a living and renewing faith, transforming the
face of Christ in every young person. They are the young, the
protagonists of this great gathering of faith, hope and unity. WYD's main
objective is to make known to all youth in the world the message of
Christ, but it is also true that, through them, the 'face' Young Christ is
also shown to the world.
The World Youth Day, held annually in the dioceses of the world, provides
every 2 or 3 years an international meeting of young people with the
Pope, which lasts about a week. The latest edition of the International
Youth Day was held in August 2011, in Madrid, Spain, and brought
together more than 190 countries. The XXVIII World Youth Day will be
held from 23 to 28 July 2013 in the city of Rio de Janeiro and has as its
motto "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28, 19).
The WYDs has its origin in large meetings with the youth celebrated by
Pope John Paul II in Rome. The international youth meeting on the
occasion of the Holy Year of Redemption came in 1984, in St. Peter's
Square at the Vatican. It was there that the Pope gave to the WYD Cross
which became one of the main symbols of WYD, known as the Cross Day.
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 Pope Pius Promotion of Mary Illustrates How the Church Uses
Tradition to Develop Dogma (p. 281-284)
Elected in 1939, one of first goals was to promote devotion to Mary.
1946 encyclical, Deiparae Virginis Mariae, to bishops worldwide reviewing
100 years of Church practice and teaching concerning Mary.
A subsequent encyclical< August 12, 1950 expounded the Churchs
Teaching Authority:
God has given to His Church a living Teaching Authority to elucidate and explain
what is contained in the deposit of faith only obscurely and implicitly. This deposit
of faith our Divine Redeemer has given for authentic interpretation, not to each of
the faithful, not even to theologians, but only to the Teaching Authority of the
Church.
Three months later, on November 1, 1950, he published the encyclical
Munificentissimus Deus (Most Bountiful God) declaring the Assumption of
Mary based on Tradition:
By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul,
and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely
revealed doctrine that the Immaculate Mother of God , the ever Virgin Mary,
having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into
heaven glory.
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 Divine Revelation According to the Church (p. 284-287)

Divine Revelation is said to be complete in Christ. There will

be no further revelation. CCC 66.

Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been

made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually
to grasp its full significance over the course of centuries.

Divine revelation is passed on within the Church in two ways:

o Unwritten form the spoken word of their preaching and the example of
their actions. This is called Tradition.

o Written form the written word of the apostles and other men inspired by
the Holy Spirit The Scriptures.

Both Tradition and Scripture form one stream, both flowing out from the
same divine well-spring of Revelation. Second Vatican Council
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 The Church Calls this One Stream The Word of God
(text, p. 286)

Sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture make up a single sacred

deposit of the Word of God, which is entrusted to the Church.
Second Vatican Council

The Bible, according to the Catholic Church, is not the complete

Word of God!

There is essential revelation preserved in Tradition that is not

clearly taught in Scripture:

As a result, the Church to whom the transmission of and

interpretation is entrusted, does not derive her certainty about
all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both
Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with
equal sentiments of devotion and reverence. CCC 82
9
It is thus, the
Magisterium which
sits in judgment of
both Scripture and
Tradition.

The Magisterium,
not Scripture is the
rule of faith for
Catholics.

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 A Parallel from Scripture (text p. 304-307)

The author notes significant parallels can be drawn between the authority
structure of the Roman Catholicism today and the that of first century
Judaism.

The central authority of Jewish authority was the Council of the Sanhedrin
presided over by the Chief Priest.

The Jewish rulers taught that the written law and their tradition made up
the complete Torah the Word of God.

Jesus condemned them and said their authority was not from God, but
rom men. See Mark 7:1-13.

What Jesus rejected, Roman Catholicism has restored.

This was a major reason for the Protestant Reformation and remains a
chief reason, we must not align our own church with Roman Catholicism.
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 The Greatest Error Concerning the Magisterium
Roman Catholicism holds that the Magisterium and not the Bible is the
Spirits primary teaching instrument (text, p. 276).

the teaching office of the Church is more important than the Bible: only
an infallible Church can tell us what books belong to Scripture; and only an
infallible Church can interpret the true meaning of Sacred Scripture; no one
can do this for himself. Thus, the Catholic can read only one Bible, the Bible
which is published by the Church. In other words: The immediate and
highest rule of the faith is the living office of the Church. DOGMATIC
THEOLOGY OF THE LAITY, FATHER MATTHIAS PREMM

that meaning of holy scriptures must be held to be the true one , which
holy mother church held and holds since it is her right to judge of the true
meaning and interpretation of holy scripture. FIRST VATICAN COUNCIL

The purpose of Catholic Bible study is not to understand the meaning

of Scripture in its original intent , but to understand what the Church
understands to be the meaning.
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 2013, Ed Sherwood, Berachah Bible Institute

Sharing Your Faith With Catholics

To the Catholic Reader p. 311
To the Non-Catholic Reader- p. 313 Each week we
Pray for Catholics p. 315
will briefly
Develop Friendships p. 315
Stimulate Thought p. 316
review one of
Promote Bible Study p. 316 the guidelines
Address the Real Problem p. 317 for sharing our
Encourage a Clean Break p. 317 faith with
Anticipate Trials p. 318 Catholics
Continue to Learn p. 318
Oppose Ecumenism p. 319

Faith comes from hearing and hearing

through the Word of Christ. Romans 10:17
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 End of Session 10
Thank you for your participation!

The grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.
Isaiah 40:8

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 Organization of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Fidei Depositum The Prologue -
paragraphs 1-25
Part I The Profession of Faith (organized by
the Structure of the Apostles Creed) -
paragraphs 26-1065
Part II The Celebration of the Christian
Mystery (organized by the Liturgy and the
Sacraments) - paragraphs 1066-1690
Part III Life in Christ (organized under a
2d Edition 1997, number of special topics and the Ten
Commandments) paragraphs 1691-2557
2865 paragraphs, Part IV Christian Prayer (organized under a
822 pages number of prayer topics and The Lords
Prayer) paragraphs 2558-2865
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The Stadykirche of
Friedberg Germany
Completed 1410
Protestant since 1528
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