Response:

I can not allow Mr. K________'s letter go unchallenged. He is wrong on numerous counts.

Mr. K_______ contends that the Catholic church has been "faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles". It would take too much space to point out all the contradictions, but to name a few: Christ never taught infant baptism; He never taught the perpetual virginity of His mother; He never taught that prayers were to be offered to Mary or anyone else besides God; He never taught that there were seven sacraments that were to be kept in order to gain salvation; He never taught that the priest was to receive the confessions of men; He never taught that indulgences were to be sold; He never taught of the existence of Purgatory; He never taught about a church hierarchy headed by an infallible pope; He never taught that the priest could turn the elements of communion into literal flesh and blood; and He never taught that if man was good enough, and if enough prayers were said for him after death, that he could hopefully finally get to Heaven. All of these are a violation of Biblical truth.

Mr. K________ also states that "the line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself". This is found to be untrue by both history and the Bible. History tells us that Cyprian proposed the superiority of the Bishop of Rome in the middle of the third century, but this position was not universally accepted by the "Catholic" church for some time afterward. Thus, if the position of "pope" does not exist in the middle of the third century, it would be hard to trace an unbroken line back to Peter! According to church historian Phillip Schaff, Gregory the Great (A.D. 590-604) was the "first of the proper popes", and with him begins "the development of the absolute papacy". So far as the Scriptures are concerned, we know that Peter was married (Mark 1:30); that, although he was present, he did not lead the only event resembling a "church council" in the New Testament (Acts 15:13); and that he was not infallible because Paul rightly "withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed" (Galatians 2:11). Therefore, Peter does not meet the qualifications that the Catholic church has required of popes. There is also no Biblical evidence that Peter was ever the bishop of Rome. Paul writes to the church of Rome around 58 A.D., and although he greets 26 people in the church by name, he never mentions Peter. Paul writes four letters from a Roman prison around 61 A.D., and never mentions Peter. In fact, Paul writes to Timothy in 66 A.D. from a Roman prison and states "no men stood with me" (II Timothy 4:16). Since Peter died in 67 A.D., that doesn't give him much time to have established his authority as the bishop of Rome.

Finally, Mr. K_________ states that the perpetuity of the Catholic church is "unequalled by any institution in history". Again, the statements of church historians prove him to be incorrect. Men such as Alexander Campbell (Christian Church), Robert Barclay (Quaker), John Clark Redpath (Methodist), Ypeij and Dermout (Dutch Reformed), John Mosheim (Lutheran), Ulrich Zwingli (Presbyterian), and Cardinal Hosius (Catholic) all give witness to the fact that those who have practiced Baptist doctrine have been around since the time of the Apostles. The book "Crossing the Centuries", edited by William C. King, having associate counselors, editors, and contributors such as: Cardinal Gibbons (Catholic), Bishop John Vincent (Methodist), President Theodore Roosevelt, President Woodrow Wilson, W.H.P. Founce (President of Brown University), Albert Hart (head of the History Department of Yale), and George Adams of Yale, among others, states: "The Baptists...are entirely distinct and independent from the Roman and Greek churches, and have an unbroken continuity of existence from Apostolic days down through the centuries. Throughout this long period they were bitterly persecuted...and yet they swerved not from their New Testament faith, doctrine, and adherence."

By Dr Mark Montgomery Ambassador Baptist Church 1926 Babcock Blvd Pittsburgh, PA 15209 (412)477-3210