The Catholic Church indeed creates doctrines of men. It has been doing this throughout history. Purgatory is just one example.Originally posted by GraceSaves:
I have a general question to throw out:
If the Catholic Church willingly and knowingly added the doctrine of purgatory, knowing that it contradicts the Word of God, and the Catholic Church has "added" books to the Bible, why didn't they simply delete those troublesome verses that seem to run contrary to purgatory?
Simply put, the Church creates doctrines of men and changes the Bible to fit its needs...but has not subtracted a single verse that appears to run contrary to Church teachings.
The doctrine of Purgatory was first established by Gregory the Great about the year....593
The doctrine of Purgatory was proclaimed as a dogma of faith by Council of Florence in....1439
There is not one word in the Bible that would teach the purgatory of priests. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sins. (Read I John 1:7-9; 2:1-2; John 5:24; Rom. 8: 1).
From this information you can see that it is an invented doctrine, not believed in by the early believers, but first established in 593 by Gregory the Great.
I like to give other examples other than purgatory. Kissing the pope's feet is a good example because it also is not taught in the Bible, goes against the teaching of the Bible, and yet has become a teaching of the Catholic Church.
The kissing of the Pope's feet
It had been a pagan custom to kiss the feet of emperors. The Word of God forbids such practices. (Read Acts 10:25-26; Rev. 19:10; 22:9).This had become common in the Catholic Church as early as 709 A.D.
The veneration shown in the kissing of a person's hand or the hem of his garment is accentuated in the kissing of the feet. This is probably implied by the phrase of Isaias (xlix, 23): "Kings...shall lick up the dust of Thy feet." Under the influence, no doubt, of the ceremonial of king-worship, as manifested in the cultus of the Roman emperors, this particular mark of veneration came to prevail at an early date among the usages of the papal court (see Lattey, "Ancient King-Worship", Lond., 1909 C. T. S. pamhlet). We read of it in the first "Ordo Romanus" belonging to the seventh century, but even earlier than this the "Liber Pontificalis" attests that the Emperor Justin paid this mark of respect to Pope John I (523-26), as later on Justinian II also did to Pope Constantine. At the election of Leo IV (847) the custom of so kissing the pope's foot was spoken of as an ancient one. It is not, therefore, wonderful that a practice supported by so early a tradition should still be observed. It is observed liturgically in a solemn papal Mass by the Latin and Greek subdeacons, and quasi-liturgically in the "adoration" of the pope by the cardinals after his election. It is also the normal salutation which papal etiquette prescribes for those of the faithful who are presented to the pope in a private audience. In his "De altaris mysterio" (VI, 6) Innocent III explains that this ceremony indicates "the very great reverence due to the Supreme Pontiff as the Vicar of Him whose feet" were kissed by the woman who was a sinner.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08663a.htm
That is the Catholic explanation for it. Is it Biblical? No! Is Purgatory Biblical? No!
We challenge you to defend your faith with the Word of God.
Isa.8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
DHK