Catholic Rehab #5 – Sacraments are Unbiblical

By John Ceccon

If you have never been exposed to Catholicism, then you probably are not familiar with the 7 Catholic sacraments. In fact, you can go up to most church-going Catholics and ask them to name all 7 and they won’t be able to. One of the biggest problems Martin Luther had with the Catholic Church was that it placed more value on works (your actions) than faith in Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”. Through faith, not works.

For this rant, I’ll be talking about something you will only find in Catholicism – the sacraments. They are obligatory and are necessary for salvation and entrance into heaven.

What are the sacraments? The word sacrament comes from the Latin word sacrare, meaning “hallow” or “consecrate.” According to Catholic Church theology, the sacraments were instituted by Jesus and handed over to the church. There is one big problem with this. The sacraments were not implemented by the Catholic Church until 1545-63. Why would you make Jesus wait 1500 years to implement something He personally instituted? How rude! Somebody’s got some explaining to do over there at the CC.

Debunking the sacraments in 20 minutes is easy because the evidence is IN THE BIBLE – HELLO, but since Catholics generally don’t read the Bible, most of them wouldn’t know. The pope says you have to engage in and complete the sacraments, and if the pope says you have to do these things, you damn well better do them or YOU are GOING TO HELL. In effect, a sacrament is an act or ritual that is believed to bestow God’s grace on the person engaging in a sacrament because apparently, Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t enough.

In the real world, the sacraments are yet another area of Catholicism where they just make things up with no Biblical foundation and make people do it, or else! The pope puts it out there and BOOM, Catholics comply without questioning it. What I find interesting about these 7 rituals is that they have cleverly weaved truths and untruths together and presented them as complete truth. Cults tend to do this. If the shoe fits…….

1. Baptism. This is something that Catholics and Protestants do, they get baptized. Baptism is how we proclaim that we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That’s it. Nothing magical happens, it’s just a proclamation. In catholicism, they baptize babies in order to wash away the original sin of Adam & Eve, which is impossible through baptism. Only the blood of Christ can do that. This fact is repeated over and over in scripture and you will not find a single verse in the Bible about baptizing babies for the purpose of removing sin. Doesn’t work that way. We willingly and joyfully partake in baptism and communion because we are saved and not in order to be saved. This sacrament is one of the two sacraments that is biblically rooted, the other being Communion.
2.  Eucharist, or Communion. Catholics and Protestants engage in this practice. At the last supper, Jesus offered up bread and wine to represent His body and blood. As He did, Jesus told the apostles, “Do this in remembrance of me”. Protestants receive communion for that exact reason, a way to remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. That’s it. Again, nothing magical happens. Jesus didn’t say “Do this and cool stuff is going to happen to you”. Catholics, on the other hand, go totally spooky voodoo with this and believe that the taking of communion actually turns into the physical body and blood of Christ, it’s called transubstantiation. This is the other sacrament that is biblically rooted.
3. Confirmation. This sacrament makes no sense at all. Confirmation serves to “confirm” a baptized person in their faith. Catholics baptize newborn babies who know nothing about Jesus or faith, they’re babies. They don’t know anything yet. They want food and a dry diaper. Martin Luther contended that unless a baby can actually proclaim faith in Christ, then we should NEVER baptize babies – and yes, he actually said never. Babies can’t proclaim anything – they can only cry.
4. Confession/penance. This is another example of the Catholic church making up and implementing practices that are not rooted in scripture. Confessing to a Catholic priest, and only a Catholic priest is one of them. In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council established the rule that every Christian should confess to a priest. Again, you will not find a single verse in scripture that backs this up. Oh, you won’t find anything about priests absolving sin either. They made that one up too.
5. Anointing of the Sick. Oh boy, more Catholic spooky stuff. This is the Catholic version of faith healing. Anointing of the Sick, formerly known as Extreme Unction, is a sacrament that is administered to give strength and comfort to the ill and to mystically unite their suffering with that of Christ during his Passion and death.
6. Marriage.  Yup, that’s right, you have to be married in order to get into heaven. Catholic sacramental marriage reflects the union of Christ with the church as his mystical body and is understood to be an indissoluble union. In the United States, between 35%-50% of first-time marriages end in divorce, increasing to approximately 60% for second marriages and 70+% for marriages after the second. I don’t know – I don’t think that sacrament stuff is working. You can be a full-blown protestant or even an atheist and get those results.
7. Ordination. This one speaks to a major problem Martin Luther had with the Catholic church. There was a distinct division between the church and the laity. He felt the church should be one unified body and not set up as an us and them paradigm. Ordination, or Holy Orders, is a sacrament that is available only to men who are being ordained as deacons, priests, or bishops. Seriously, you have to be a priest to get into heaven? No wonder Martin Luther was pissed. Since completion of the sacraments is necessary for salvation, I guess you’re out of luck unless you become a priest. It’s like Catholic bait and switch.

Sacramentalism is unbiblical due to the mere suggestion that the performance of rites and rituals is necessary for salvation. If this is the case, then the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross as well as the message of the gospel is pointless.