[.ca] Understanding Roman Catholicism: 37 Roman Catholic ... (ISBN 0937958484)

The Truth Presented Effectively Without Bashing:
The presentation of each doctrine is documented and then the bible truth on that issue is presented and a conclusion rendered. Very effective without being mean spirited.

Rick Jones should have done his homework.:
This book doesn't even deserve ONE star, but I couldn't post this without choosing at least one. Rick Jones should have done his homework. This book is neither factual nor historical, but full of fabrications. He presents what he THINKS the Catholic Church is, rather than what it truly is, making him look like a most unscholarly, biased anti-Catholic. The book convinced me of nothing--and instead it made me want to look deeper into Catholicism. At least the Catholics I know have a better (and solid) defense of their faith. From indulgences to the "worship" of Mary and papal infallibility, Rick can't accurately talk against the Church because he doesn't even understand what it teaches. He proved that in his book.

Most inane book ever written:
Seriously, I have no formal education in theology, yet I could go down his entire list and refute him on every point. Jones quotes the Catechism out of context, pretends it says things which it clearly does not say, and then tears down his straw man by quoting the Bible out of context. The most disgustng example of this is the chapter entitled "Are Catholics Christ?" When the Catechism quotes Augustine as saying "Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ," Augustine is referring to the fact that the church (the body of all believers) is Christ's body. The Bible explicitly says that this is so (Ephesians 1:22-23). Since every believer is a member of Christ's body, a part of His body, in that metaphorical sense we can truly be called Christ. Mr. Jones should remember that when Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus, He didn't just say "why are you persecuting my followers," He said "why are you persecuting ME." (Acts 9:4) Jones ignores the context of Augustine's quote and pretends the Catechism says "we are Jesus. We are perfect and divine." Again, Jones takes Aquinas out of context. When Aquinas says that "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods," he is merely reiterating the words of Peter. "Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." (2 Peter 1:4) Aquinas is not saying that we can become equal to God. He is merely stating the biblical truth that through faith in Christ we can be made to share in God's holiness and in His divine nature. "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came--and the Scripture cannot be broken--" how is it that Jones accuses Catholics of blasphemy when we describe salvation using the very same words? He does the same thing in the chapter entitled "Mary Saves." When read in context, all the Catechism says is that Mary, by consnting to bear Jesus, helped to bring about our redemption. She is not the redeemer, only Christ is. But Mary, through her obedience to God, helped bring the redeemer into the world. Also, when the Catechism speaks of Mary interceeding on our behalf, it is not saying that Mary has a role equal to that of Jesus; it is merely stating that Mary, since she is in heaven, can talk to Jesus, can pray for us, and can present our prayers to Him. It is interesting to note that many of the quotes Mr. Jones objects to are from the early church fathers. Apparently he has some sort of visceral hatred of first and second century Christianity. Oh wait, I thought Catholicism wasn't invented until Constantine merged Christianity with paganism? Hmmm, thats a bit of a problem for Jones's thesis. But perhaps even more repugnant than Jones' lies is the disgusting, patronizing tone that he uses throughout the entire book. He is incredibly condescending. He is always talking down to "precious Roman Catholics" and his "Roman Catholic friends," and telling us how we need to repent from biblical truth and embrace his 16th century traditions of men. It sickens me. Even the title of this book is misleading. By calling it "UNDERSTANDING Roman Catholicism: 37 Doctrines EXPLAINED" he gives the false impression that his book is a beginner's course in Catholic theology. He most likely did this so he could sneak this book into the hands of unsuspecting Catholic adolescents a la "Catholicism: Crisis of Faith." The man is truly a wolf in sheeps clothing. Jones is guilty of bearing false witness, and is storing up wrath for himself at the day of judgement. He must repent and turn to Christ before it is too late.

Monstrous!:
I've known for quite a while now that Protestants will stop at almost nothing to discredit the Church, but this, this is as low as you can get! This is scraping the barrel and flinging the worst filth immaginable! I'm a cradle Catholic and PROUD OF IT, and I'm disgusted at all the lies and misconceptions that this Fundamentalist heretic has come up with. Anybody who can actually believe this fiendish parcel of lies, must be mentally stunted! He quotes part of the Cathechism and leaves out very pertinent information in order to strengthen his claims. Where does he get the idea that the Holy Sacrements that our Lord Jesus entrusted to his Church are "good works"? And to call the Holy Eucharist "cannibalism" is sacrilege! I could go and on, They claim to interpret the Bible literally and yet they don't see the truth of what Jesus said: "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life within you"(John6:53) He actually meant that literally but a heretic cannot see that. There's another passage that reads: "anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself" (1 Cor. 11:27-29). Another claim of theirs is that priests cannot forgive sins in the sacrament of Penance. He quotes all sorts of things but leaves out this very important one: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained" (John 20:22-23). I could go on and on! I've seen the reviews by former "devout" Catholics who joined this sect and can only say that they couldn't have been very devout to begin with if they could leave the safe harbor of the truth for this monstrosity! Our Lord warned us many times about false teachers and prophets, but how many people still refuse to listen! We have a saying in Spanish which states: God blinds those He wants to lose! The notion that "The Bible is all I need" is not taught in the Bible itself. (2 Pet. 1:20-21, and 3:15-16) which warns that private interpretation of the Bible could "lead to one's own destruction". No one in the early Church believed in the Bible only theory, that only started with the Protestant reformation. The Catholic Church has never forbidden us to read the Bible as so many Protestants claim but they surely knew what could happen if everybody started interpreting Holy Scripture any way they like. That's why there are so many Protestant denominations and no two can agree on what the Bible means! Even Martin Luther who was a great proponent of making the Bible available to everyone, was exasperated and said something like "Now even a dairymaid thinks she's a Bible scholar! Simply put, "the Bible only theory is false". I have one more thing to say about this disgusting book. If the Devil were to write a book against the Church, this would be it! Get the picture?

ANTI CATHOLIC TRASH BY FUNDAMENTALIST HERETIC!:
I've asked myself many times whether Protestants have anything better to do than bash the Catholic Church; apparently not. These so-called "Christians" spend half their time spreading malicious lies, inspiring hatred and poisoning other people's minds against the church. They know absolutely nothing about the Church. They'll print anything to discredit it. It seems that there's no end to the lengths these heretics will go in their fanatical and paranoid hatred to spread their vile lies and distortions of true Catholic teaching. EVERYTHING THIS MAN SAYS IS A MONSTROUS LIE! I cannot believe that anyone could actually believe any of this! They take quotations from the Catechism and leave pertinent information out in order to strenghen their heretical view and to mislead people away FROM THE TRUTH! They claim to love Jesus Christ and yet they persecute him by bashing the very church our Lord Jesus established for all mankind. As another reader has already pointed out, Jesus asked Paul: Why are you persecuting ME? Everything this man states can be easily refuted by any Catholic apologist. They don't even know anything about Jesus if they believe that God would allow his Son to be born of a sinner! What kind of Christianity is this? And to claim that the sacraments that our Lord left to us are simply "good works" is satanic. Well it seems the Devil is alive and well and still spreading his errors in this book from Chick Publications! It belongs as all other Chick filth does, in the garbage with the rest of the trash! Do yourselves a favor, if you really want to learn about the Catholic Church go to Catholic.com, read "Catholicism and Fundamentalism" by Karl Keating. There's a very informative booklet from them called "Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth" which explains why we believe that the Catholic Church was established by our Lord Jesus Christ and teaches the fullness of Christian truth. Don't be swayed by these fanatical Fundamentalists who are just wolves in sheep's clothing!