Welcome back to James Popery. I'm Joe Heschmire. And many Protestants believe that the Catholic

priesthood is unbiblical. That it's not something that is authentic to Christianity. And this was

recently raised by Ryan of Needgod.net as one of his 10 reasons not to convert to the Catholic

Church. Now, I might at another point in time address the other nine reasons, but I wanted to focus

particularly on this one.

It's his reason number six.

So I'm going to give you Ryan's argument in its entirety and then break down the particular

points that I think he's making, show where we agree, where we disagree, and why he's

clearly wrong from a biblical perspective.

So let's start with Ryan's argument so you can hear it in his words rather than in mind.

The Old Testament had priests who acted on behalf of the people before God,

offering sacrifices to make atonement.

But with the atoning work of Jesus, he became our great high priest.

And then when the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom,

God was showing that through Christ we now have direct access to him.

Because of Jesus, no human priest is needed to mediate between us and God.

Yet the Catholic Church reintroduces a mediating priesthood.

When somebody commits what Rome calls a mortal sin,

forgiveness is not by faith in Christ,

the sinner must go to a priest, confess their sins to him, and perform an act of penance to get absolution. You see, what Christ finished on the cross, the Roman system resets up.

The veil was torn in two by Christ, but the Catholic priesthood quietly

stitches it back together. Okay, so you've heard his argument. Let's unpack it piece by piece.

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