Apostasy
Definition: "Apostasy
from the Faith is the act by which a baptized person, after
possessing the true Christian faith, totally rejects it. The
complete abandonment of the practice of the Faith is NOT
apostasy, or even presumption of Apostasy. A person is an apostate
whether he joins a non-Christian religion, as Judaism, Buddhism,
Islam, or falls into unbelief, atheism, materialism, agnosticism,
rationalism, indifferentism, or "free-thought". Apostates from the
Faith incur excommunication ipso facto, and other penalties" (Definition from
A Catholic Dictionary, 1951)
References
to Apostasy in Scripture:
- But he
that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before
my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:33
- Thy own
wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke
thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil and a bitter
thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God, and that my
fear is not with thee, saith the Lord the God of hosts.
Jeremias 2:19
- A man
that is an apostate, an unprofitable man, walketh with a
perverse mouth, He winketh with the eyes, presseth with the
foot, speaketh with the finger. With a wicked heart he
deviseth evil, and at all times he soweth discord. To such a
one his destruction shall presently come, and he shall
suddenly be destroyed, and shall no longer have any remedy.
Proverbs 6:12-15
- Woe to
you, apostate children, saith the Lord, that you would take
counsel, and not of me: and would begin a web, and not by my
spirit, that you might add sin upon sill. Isaias 30:1
- "But yet
the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you,
faith on earth?" Luke 18:8
Catholic Church Teaching on
Apostasy in the Church:
- a)
Excommunications Specially Reserved to the Pope: These are
twelve in number and are imposed upon the following persons:
(1) "All apostates from the Christian Faith, heretics of
every name and sect, and those who give them credence, who
receive or countenance them, and generally all those who
take up their defence." Catholic Encyclopedia (1917)
Summary
It is clear from
Scripture that apostates will not enter Heaven, and Church teaching
openly states apostasy incurs excommunication. Apostate and Catholic are
opposites and never can a Catholic even be in a position of defending an
apostates beliefs.
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