Why I Chose the Catholic Church, and Why You Should Too by Jeff Callaway

Why I Chose the Catholic Church, and Why You Should Too

By Jeff Callaway
Texas Outlaw Poet

Brothers and sisters, I am about to lay down some hard truth that will shake the theological foundations of every Protestant reading this. What I am going to show you is not opinion. It is not an interpretation. It is a documented, verifiable, historical fact that destroys Protestantism at its core.

I chose the Catholic Church because Protestantism is built on a lie. Not a well-intentioned mistake. Not a sincere disagreement. A lie. And I can prove it with facts that no honest person can deny.

The Luther Problem: Your Founder Was a Biblical Vandal

Let us talk about Martin Luther, the man Protestants celebrate as the great reformer. Here is what your history books conveniently leave out: Luther did not just translate the Bible. He butchered it.

Luther removed seven complete books from the Old Testament because they contradicted his newly invented theology. Second Maccabees teaches prayer for the dead, which demolishes his rejection of Purgatory. So he cut it out. The Book of Wisdom supports righteous works. Gone. Sirach, Tobit, Judith, Baruch, First and Second Maccabees, all removed because they taught Catholic doctrine.

But it gets worse.

Luther also wanted to remove books from the New Testament. He called the Epistle of James an epistle of straw because James explicitly states that we are justified by works and not by faith alone. That single verse, James chapter two verse twenty-four, destroys Luther's central doctrine. So what did Luther do? He tried to remove it from Scripture entirely.

He also relegated Hebrews, Jude, and Revelation to an appendix, calling them disputed books that lacked apostolic authority. The only reason these books remain in Protestant Bibles today is because other Protestants later put them back. Luther's followers had to save Scripture from Luther himself.

And here is the kicker: Luther added the word alone to Romans chapter three verse twenty-eight in his German translation. The verse says we are justified by faith. Luther made it say justified by faith alone, a word Paul never wrote. When challenged on this corruption of Scripture, Luther arrogantly replied that German idiom required it. He later defended this brazen addition by declaring, "Dr. Martin Luther will have it so, and says that a papist and an ass are the same thing."

So the man who claimed Scripture alone is authority felt free to delete books he did not like and add words that were not there.

This is your reformer. This is the man who supposedly restored pure Christianity after fifteen hundred years of corruption. He is a theological vandal who edited God's Word to match his personal opinions.

The Fatal Logical Trap: Where Did Your Bible Come From?

Here is the question that obliterates Protestant theology: How do you know which books belong in the Bible?

The Catholic Church decided the biblical canon at the Council of Rome in 382 under Pope Damasus I, reaffirmed at the Council of Hippo in 393 and the Council of Carthage in 397, and again at the Council of Florence in 1442. Catholic bishops, exercising the authority given to them through apostolic succession, determined that the Bible contains seventy-three books, forty-six in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New.

These were not random Catholics. These were bishops who could trace their ordination directly back to the apostles. They gathered under the authority Christ gave His Church and, guided by the Holy Spirit, declared which books were inspired by Scripture and which were not.

For over a thousand years, every Christian on earth accepted this canon. Then Luther shows up in 1517 and decides seven books do not fit his theology, so out they go.

Now here is the trap: Either the Catholic Church had divine authority when it compiled the Bible, or it did not.

If it did have authority, then it still has that authority today. You cannot logically trust the Catholic Church enough to give you an accurate Bible while simultaneously claiming the Church is too corrupt to teach you what that Bible means. That is like trusting a man to write your will but not to execute it.

If the Catholic Church did not have authority to compile the Bible, then you have no guarantee your Bible is even correct. Maybe they got it wrong. Maybe they included books that do not belong. Maybe they excluded books that do. If they had no divine guidance, then your Bible is just the opinion of some fourth-century bishops.

You cannot escape this. The very book Protestants claim as their sole authority comes from the Catholic Church's authoritative decision. Sola scriptura depends entirely on the authority it claims to reject.

The historical record is undeniable. When the Council of Carthage in 397 approved the biblical canon, they explicitly stated that their decision required confirmation from Rome. They wrote: "Let the overseas church be consulted concerning confirming this canon." They recognized that final authority rested with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.

By the year 405, Pope Innocent I sent the official list of biblical books to Bishop Exuperius of Toulouse. This list was identical to what the Council of Trent would later define, identical to the Catholic Bible we have today. The Church's position on Scripture was settled, unified, and universal.

Then in 1534, over eleven centuries later, Luther decided he knew better than the entire Church that gave him that Bible.

Sola Scriptura Does Not Exist in Scripture

The central pillar of Protestant theology is sola scriptura, the Bible alone is the final authority. Every Protestant denomination, despite disagreeing on virtually everything else, claims to follow Scripture alone.

Here is the problem: The Bible never teaches sola scriptura.

Show me the verse. Show me where Jesus said, "Write everything down and ignore Church tradition." Show me where Paul said, "Scripture is your only authority." Show me where any apostle taught that Christians should rely on the Bible alone.

It does not exist.

In fact, Scripture teaches the opposite. Second Thessalonians chapter two verse fifteen: "Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." Paul explicitly tells Christians to follow both written and oral tradition.

First Timothy chapter three verse fifteen calls the Church, not Scripture, the pillar and foundation of truth.

Second Peter chapter one verse twenty: "No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation." Yet sola scriptura makes every person their own interpreter.

The Reformers invented a doctrine that contradicts Scripture, then claimed Scripture as their only authority. The entire system refutes itself.

And here is the evidence: Look at the results. If Scripture alone is clear enough for anyone to understand, why are there tens of thousands of Protestant denominations all claiming to follow the same Bible but arriving at contradictory conclusions?

Current estimates place the number of Protestant denominations at approximately 47,000 worldwide, with projections showing this number will reach 49,000 by 2025 and 64,000 by 2050. This is not unity. This is theological anarchy.

Baptists and Presbyterians cannot agree on how to baptize. Calvinists and Arminians cannot agree on whether salvation can be lost. Lutherans and Baptists cannot agree on whether Christ is present in Communion. Pentecostals speak in tongues while Baptists call it heresy. Methodists ordain women while many Baptist denominations condemn it as unbiblical.

They all claim sola scriptura. They all claim to follow Scripture alone. Yet they contradict each other on fundamental doctrines of salvation, baptism, and worship.

This is not unity. This is chaos. And it is the inevitable result of a principle that Scripture itself never teaches.

The Early Church Was Catholic, All of It

Now we come to the evidence that absolutely demolishes Protestant claims: the testimony of the Church Fathers.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch was ordained by the apostle Peter himself. He knew the apostle John personally. He learned Christianity from men who walked with Jesus Christ. In the year 110, while some who had seen Jesus with their own eyes were still alive, Ignatius wrote these words in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans:

"They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again."

Read that again. The Eucharist is the flesh of Jesus Christ. Not a symbol. Not a memorial. The actual flesh.

This was written within living memory of the apostles. This is what Christianity taught before any of your Protestant denominations existed.

In his Letter to the Romans, written as he traveled to his martyrdom, Ignatius declared: "I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible."

Saint Justin Martyr, writing around 155, taught: "We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it except one who believes our teaching to be true. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these, but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."

Not common bread. The flesh and blood of Jesus.

Saint Irenaeus, who learned from Saint Polycarp, who learned from the apostle John, taught around 189: "When the mixed cup and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported."

Do you see the pattern? Every single early Christian writer, the men who learned directly from the apostles or from those who learned from the apostles, believed in the Real Presence.

Not one early Church Father taught that Communion is merely symbolic. Not one. That view did not exist until Ulrich Zwingli invented it in the sixteenth century, fifteen hundred years after Christ.

The same pattern holds for every Catholic doctrine Protestants reject. Confession to priests? Saint Cyprian of Carthage taught it in 250. Baptismal regeneration? Every Church Father affirmed it. The authority of bishops? Ignatius wrote in 107 that "wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be, just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."

That is the first recorded use of the term Catholic Church in history, and it meant exactly what it means today: the visible, hierarchical Church with bishops in succession from the apostles.

Early Christianity was Catholic Christianity. The faith practiced in the second century is the faith practiced in Catholic churches today. The continuity is undeniable.

Protestant historians admit this. The renowned Protestant scholar J.N.D. Kelly wrote in his work "Early Christian Doctrines": "Eucharistic teaching, it should be understood at the outset, was in general unquestioningly realistic, that is to say, the consecrated bread and wine were taken to be, and were treated and designated as, the Savior's body and blood."

Even Protestant scholarship confirms what Catholics have always known: the early Church believed Catholic doctrine.

Protestant Founders Had No Authority

Here is another devastating problem: Where did Protestant founders get their authority to start new churches?

Jesus gave authority to the apostles. The apostles ordained bishops and presbyters, creating an unbroken chain of succession. Every Catholic bishop today can trace his ordination back through the centuries to the apostles themselves.

Martin Luther was a Catholic priest, but he had no authority from the apostles to start a new church. John Calvin was a lawyer, not a bishop. Ulrich Zwingli was a Swiss priest who rebelled against his bishop. King Henry VIII created the Anglican Church because the Pope would not let him divorce his wife.

These are your reformers. Not apostles. Not bishops with apostolic authority. Rebels and breakaways who decided to create their own versions of Christianity.

The Catholic Church, meanwhile, has maintained unbroken apostolic succession for two thousand years. Every priest is ordained by a bishop, who was ordained by a bishop, stretching back in an unbroken line to the Twelve Apostles.

You can verify this. Look up any Catholic bishop and trace his consecration back through history. The line is documented and unbroken.

Protestant churches cannot do this. They have founders, not apostles. They have starting dates in history when someone decided to break away and start something new.

Luther started the Lutheran Church in 1517. Calvin started the Reformed tradition in 1536. The Anglican Church began in 1534. The Baptist movement emerged around 1609. The Methodist Church was founded by John Wesley in 1738. The Assemblies of God began in 1914.

Every Protestant denomination can tell you exactly when it started and who started it. The Catholic Church cannot, because it was founded by Jesus Christ Himself, and it has existed continuously from the first century to today.

The Scandal of Protestant Division

Jesus prayed in John chapter seventeen that His followers would be one as He and the Father are one. He prayed for unity.

The Catholic Church has unity. From Rome to Africa to Asia to the Americas, Catholics believe the same doctrines, receive the same sacraments, and submit to the same teaching authority. We have one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one body.

Protestantism has given us theological anarchy. There are currently 47,000 Protestant denominations worldwide, all claiming to follow the Bible but contradicting each other on fundamental doctrines.

This number is not Catholic propaganda. It comes from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, an evangelical Protestant institution. Their own researchers admit the scandal of Protestant division.

Baptists practice believer baptism by immersion. Presbyterians baptize infants by sprinkling. Lutherans believe in baptismal regeneration. Most Baptists do not. Who is right? They all claim the Bible teaches their position.

Calvinists believe God predestines some to damnation. Arminians believe humans have free will to accept or reject salvation. Both cite Scripture for their views. They cannot both be right.

Some denominations ordain women. Others call it heresy. Some accept homosexuality. Others condemn it. Some speak in tongues. Others say tongues have ceased. Some believe you can lose your salvation. Others insist once saved, always saved.

Every single one claims sola scriptura. Every single one claims the Bible clearly supports their position. Yet they arrive at contradictory conclusions.

This is not the unity Christ prayed for. This is the fruit of sola scriptura, thousands of competing interpretations with no authoritative way to resolve disputes.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church maintains the same doctrine it has taught for two thousand years. The Catechism published in the year 2000 teaches the same faith as the Church councils of the fourth century. The continuity is unbroken.

They Stole Catholic Scripture While Rejecting Catholic Authority

Let me make this crystal clear: Protestantism is intellectually bankrupt because it depends entirely on Catholic foundations while denying Catholic authority.

You use the Bible the Catholic Church compiled. You trust that the Catholic bishops who decided the canon were guided by the Holy Spirit. But then you reject every other teaching of those same bishops.

You say the fourth-century Church had authority to determine which books are Scripture but had no authority to teach what those books mean. You say the Church was guided by the Holy Spirit when compiling the Bible but immediately fell into error about the Eucharist, the papacy, confession, purgatory, and every other Catholic doctrine.

That is not logic. That is cherry-picking. You borrow Catholic Scripture while rejecting the Catholic Church that gave it to you.

If the early Church was corrupt and teaching false doctrine, then you have no reason to trust the Bible it compiled. If the early Church was trustworthy enough to give you Scripture, then it was trustworthy in its other teachings too.

You cannot have it both ways.

Think about the absurdity of this position. Protestants say the Catholic Church fell into complete apostasy shortly after the apostles died. They claim the Church taught false doctrine for fifteen centuries. But somehow, miraculously, during those fifteen centuries of supposedly corrupted theology, the Church correctly preserved and transmitted the exact right books of Scripture without error.

The Church got everything wrong except the one thing Protestants need them to have gotten right? How convenient.

The Historical Record Cannot Be Explained Away

For fifteen hundred years, Christianity looked exactly like Catholicism. Christians believed in the Real Presence, in apostolic succession, in the seven sacraments, in sacred tradition alongside Scripture. They honored Mary. They prayed for the dead. They had bishops and priests and deacons in hierarchical order.

This was not Roman innovation. This was Christianity from the beginning. The liturgy Saint Justin Martyr describes in 155 is recognizably the Catholic Mass. The church structure Saint Ignatius describes in 107 is recognizably Catholic hierarchy.

Then in 1517, Luther shows up claiming everyone before him got it wrong. Fifteen hundred years of Christians, including the Church Fathers who learned from the apostles, were apostates. They all misunderstood Scripture until a German monk figured it out.

That is not reformation. That is the height of arrogance. It is claiming that the Holy Spirit failed to guide the Church for fifteen centuries. It is calling Jesus a liar when He promised the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church.

The Protestant claim requires you to believe that Christianity completely fell into error shortly after the apostles died and stayed in error until the sixteenth century. It requires you to believe that the Holy Spirit abandoned the Church and billions of Christians were damned through no fault of their own because they did not have the true gospel.

That is not just historically false. It is blasphemous. It makes Jesus' promise meaningless.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter sixteen verse eighteen: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Either He told the truth and His Church has continued in unbroken succession, or He lied and the gates of hell did prevail for fifteen centuries.

Which is it?

The Only Biblical Argument Against Catholics Proves Catholic Doctrine

Let us address the one verse Protestants love to quote: James chapter two verse twenty-four. "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."

Notice something extraordinary: This is the only time in the entire Bible that the words "faith alone" appear together. And what does it say? That we are NOT justified by faith alone.

Luther hated this verse so much he tried to remove James from the Bible. He called it an epistle of straw and said it contradicted Paul. In 1532, Luther declared: "To him who can make these two agree I will give my doctor's cap, and I am willing to be called a fool."

But James does not contradict Paul. James contradicts Luther's misinterpretation of Paul.

When Paul says we are justified by faith apart from works of the law, he is talking about the Mosaic Law, the ceremonial requirements of Judaism, circumcision, dietary restrictions, Sabbath observance. Paul is saying that Gentiles do not need to become Jews to become Christians. We are not saved by keeping the Law of Moses.

Catholics agree with this completely. We have never taught that anyone is saved by circumcision or kosher laws.

When James says we are justified by works, he is talking about works that flow from faith, works of love and charity. He uses Abraham as his example, Abraham who offered Isaac on the altar out of faith in God.

James explicitly says in verse twenty-two: "You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works." Works do not replace faith. They complete faith. They are the necessary expression of genuine faith.

This is Catholic doctrine. We teach that we are saved by grace through faith, but that true faith is never alone. Faith working through love, as Paul says in Galatians chapter five verse six.

The only verse in Scripture that uses the phrase "faith alone" denies justification by faith alone. Let that sink in.

I Am Calling You Home

I chose the Catholic Church because I followed the evidence wherever it led, and it led straight to Rome.

The Catholic Church compiled your Bible. The Catholic Church preserved Christianity through persecution. The Catholic Church maintained unbroken apostolic succession. The Catholic Church offers the sacraments Christ instituted. The Catholic Church teaches what the apostles taught.

Protestantism offers competing interpretations, self-appointed authorities, and theological chaos. It offers Luther's personal opinions elevated to dogma. It offers traditions that began in 1517 pretending to be apostolic faith.

I chose truth over convenience. I chose history over innovation. I chose the Church Christ founded over the churches men invented.

And here is what I say to every Protestant reading this: You have been lied to. Your pastors told you the Catholic Church corrupted Christianity, but the historical record proves the opposite. Your traditions claim to be biblical, but they contradict what early Christians actually believed. Your doctrine of sola scriptura does not exist in Scripture itself.

The evidence is overwhelming. The logic is inescapable. The Catholic Church is the Church Christ founded, or Christianity itself is false. There is no middle ground.

I am calling you home. Not to some man-made denomination that started five hundred years ago. Home to the Church that existed before your denomination was even imagined. Home to the faith the martyrs died for. Home to the apostolic teaching preserved unbroken for two thousand years.

You can keep pretending that fifteen hundred years of Christians were wrong and Luther was right. You can keep ignoring the testimony of the Church Fathers. You can keep cherry-picking which Catholic teachings to accept and which to reject.

Or you can face the truth: The Catholic Church alone has maintained the faith once delivered to the saints. The Catholic Church alone can trace its authority back to the apostles. The Catholic Church alone teaches what Christians have always believed.

Everything else is innovation, rebellion, and theological chaos dressed up as restoration.

The door is open. The Church is still here, still teaching what the apostles taught, still offering the sacraments Christ instituted. You do not have to wander among thousands of contradictory denominations, each claiming to have the truth.

Come home to the Catholic Church. Come home to the faith of the apostles. Come home to the Church Christ promised would stand until the end of time.

Because when you stand before Jesus Christ on judgment day, He is not going to ask what denomination you belonged to. He is going to ask if you belonged to the Church He founded.

And brothers and sisters, there is only one Church that can claim that pedigree. Only one Church with an unbroken line back to that Upper Room. Only one Church that has preserved the apostolic faith unchanged for two millennia.

The Catholic Church is the Church of Christ, or the gates of hell have prevailed. And I refuse to believe Jesus lied.

That is why I chose the Catholic Church. That is why you should too.

~by Jeff Callaway

Texas Outlaw Poet

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