Rejecting the Truth with Clement XI

TurretinFan posted the following the Alpha and Omega Ministries blog. It's really important and shows why the founders of the Reformation opposed the Roman Catholic Church with such ferocity. It's shocking to me that such ideas so fundamental to Biblical Christianity were ever denied by a Pope. I think the truth is that many Roman Catholics today are not aware of this list. I know I didn't know about it. I don't think that even most Catholics would agree that these things are wrong. I don't think I can paint all Roman Catholics with such a broad brush. I do think that there are some Roman Catholics who do think Clement XI was right but he wasn' and some of today's Roman Catholics realize. This certainly kills the rhetoric that the Roman Catholic church has always been consistent in teachang, doctrine, and practice.

Some of Rome's rejections of Scriptural truth are more clear than others. One particularly clear set of examples comes from the dogmatic Constitution, "Unigenitus,"dated Sept. 8, 1713, and authorized by Clement XI. I've previously posted a full list of the 101 "errors" condemned (link to full list).

There many alleged errors identified. I've taken the liberty to highlight a few of them. Remember, these are what the Roman church has officially proclaimed to be errors.

Scripture

• 79. It is useful and necessary at all times, in all places, and for every kind of person, to study and to know the spirit, the piety, and the mysteries of Sacred Scripture.
• 80. The reading of Sacred Scripture is for all.
• 81. The sacred obscurity of the Word of God is no reason for the laity to dispense themselves from reading it.
• 82. The Lord's Day ought to be sanctified by Christians with readings of pious works and above all of the Holy Scriptures. It is harmful for a Christian to wish to withdraw from this reading.
• 83. It is an illusion to persuade oneself that knowledge of the mysteries of religion should not be communicated to women by the reading of Sacred Scriptures. Not from the simplicity of women, but from the proud knowledge of men has arisen the abuse of the Scriptures, and have heresies been born.
• 84. To snatch away from the hands of Christians the New Testament, or to hold it closed against them by taking away from them the means of understanding it, is to close for them the mouth of Christ.
• 85. To forbid Christians to read Sacred Scripture, especially the Gospels, is to forbid the use of light to the sons of light, and to cause them to suffer a kind of excommunication.

The Power of God in Salvation

• 30. All whom God wishes to save through Christ, are infallibly saved.
• 31. The desires of Christ always have their effect; He brings peace to the depth of hearts when He desires it for them.

Particular Redemption

• 32. Jesus Christ surrendered Himself to death to free forever from the hand of the exterminating angel, by His blood, the first born, that is, the elect.

Justification by Faith that Works through Love

• 51. Faith justifies when it operates, but it does not operate except through charity.

Faith as the Gift of God

• 69. Faith, practice of it, increase, and reward of faith, all are a gift of the pure liberality of God.

The Church

• 72. A mark of the Christian Church is that it is catholic, embracing all the angels of heaven, all the elect and the just on earth, and of all times.
• 73. What is the Church except an assembly of the sons of God abiding in His bosom, adopted in Christ, subsisting in His person, redeemed by His blood, living in His spirit, acting through His grace, and awaiting the grace of the future life?
• 74. The Church or the whole Christ has the Incarnate Word as head, but all the saints as members.
• 75. The Church is one single man composed of many members, of which Christ is the head, the life, the subsistence and the person; it is one single Christ composed of many saints, of whom He is the sanctifier.

Total Depravity

• 38. Without the grace of the Liberator, the sinner is not free except to do evil.
• 39. The will, which grace does not anticipate, has no light except for straying, no eagerness except to put itself in danger, no strength except to wound itself, and is capable of all evil and incapable of all good.
• 40. Without grace we can love nothing except to our own condemnation.
• 41. All knowledge of God, even natural knowledge, even in the pagan philosophers, cannot come except from God; and without grace knowledge produces nothing but presumption, vanity, and opposition to God Himself, instead of the affections of adoration, gratitude, and love.
• 42. The grace of Christ alone renders a man fit for the sacrifice of faith; without this there is nothing but impurity, nothing but unworthiness.
• 48. What else can we be except darkness, except aberration, and except sin, without the light of faith, without Christ, and without charity?

The Absolute Necessity of Grace

• 1. What else remains for the soul that has lost God and His grace except sin and the consequences of sin, a proud poverty and a slothful indigence, that is, a general impotence for labor, for prayer, and for every good work?
• 2. The grace of Jesus Christ, which is the efficacious principle of every kind of good, is necessary for every good work; without it, not only is nothing done, but nothing can be done.
• 5. When God does not soften a heart by the interior unction of His grace, exterior exhortations and graces are of no service except to harden it the more.
• 9. The grace of Christ is a supreme grace, without which we can never confess Christ, and with which we never deny Him.

The Irresistibility of Grace

• 10. Grace is the working of the omnipotent hand of God, which nothing can hinder or retard.
• 11. Grace is nothing else than the omnipotent Will of God, ordering and doing what He orders.
• 12. When God wishes to save a soul, at whatever time and at whatever place, the undoubted effect follows the Will of God.
• 13. When God wishes to save a soul and touches it with the interior hand of His grace, no human will resists Him.
• 14. Howsoever remote from salvation an obstinate sinner is, when Jesus presents Himself to be seen by him in the salutary light of His grace, the sinner is forced to surrender himself, to have recourse to Him, and to humble himself, and to adore his Savior.
• 15. When God accompanies His commandment and His eternal exhortation by the unction of His Spirit and by the interior force of His grace, He works that obedience in the heart that He is seeking.
• 16. There are no attractions which do not yield to the attractions of grace, because nothing resists the Almighty.
• 17. Grace is that voice of the Father which teaches men interiorly and makes them come to Jesus Christ; whoever does not come to Him, after he has heard the exterior voice of the Son, is in no wise taught by the Father.

Unjust Excommunication

• 91. The fear of an unjust excommunication should never hinder us from fulfilling our duty; never are we separated from the Church, even when by the wickedness of men we seem to be expelled from it, as long as we are attached to God, to Jesus Christ, and to the Church herself by charity.
• 92. To suffer in peace an excommunication and an unjust anathema rather than betray truth, is to imitate St. Paul; far be it from rebelling against authority or of destroying unity.

Yes, folks, those are things that Rome has officially taught are errors - yet many of these teachings are the truth, as I think will be obvious to most of those reading.

Rejecting the Truth with Clement XI