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Customer Reviews for Harvest House Publishers The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
Harvest House Publishers The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
When the recently released Catechism of the Catholic Church broke onto the NY times bestseller list, its success confirmed the overwhelming interest of Catholics and Protestants in understanding modern Catholicism. Has the recent openness among denominations affected Catholic teaching? In the new spirit of cooperation, is there any reason why the two traditions should remain divided? This examination seeks to answer this. Please note: This book is written as a critique from a Protestant perspective.
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(10 Reviews) 10
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Customer Reviews for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
Review 1 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
Overall Rating:
Date:June 23, 2012
mary
Age:55-65
Gender:female
this book tells the truth. before i really started questioning the church i honestly thought that everything the RCC believed and taught was ok by God's standards. but at work one day some of my associates and i got into a conversation about the bible and church doctrines. i have always had a great love for Jesus and while we were talking about the RCC and man's docrines i realized then that i dont need to go to Mary or to a priest in order for them to intercede for me as far as Mary taking my prayers to Jesus or for a priest to offer a sacrifice to the Father for my sins. then i really started studying and researching what the church was teaching, and i said to myself that this is enough, no more RCC. there is no need to pray to Mary nor to any other human, let alone to think that a mere man a priest can offer a sacrifice for my sins. alot of catholics really dont see this going on in the church bcuz they are thinking the way i once thought - which is - it's ok by God's standards. the only way they will really see the lies is for them to read the bible and compare that to the cathecism, or just ask a priest or a nun why they believe in their doctrines when their doctrines are not in the bible. or is it just human pride that got the RCC where it is today?
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+13points
18of 23voted this as helpful.
Review 2 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
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Date:February 7, 2010
Jim
I'm a life long (58 years) Catholic believer in Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This book is not factual about Catholic Church beliefs. We are taught that we do not save ourselves by works. We are taught that we are saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have to be washed in the blood of Christ. The only way to heaven is having faith in The Lord. After receiving the Grace of Our Lord we are then to have good works, which sripture says we are made for. See Ephesians Chapter 2 Verses 8 thru 10. What this author does is set up a straw man and blows it down with scripture. First he should get the facts right on each item. Its all through this book and Dave Hunts book; they don't present to the readers the actual teaching of the Catholic Church. Such as; Mary worship. Shes not God, so we are not allowed to worship her. She would be the first to tell us to worship only God. I could go on with all the subjects brought up, but you get the point. The Catholic Church has Jesus at the center of its life. Remember people make up the Church; so its always about faith in him. See you in heaven.
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-21points
26of 73voted this as helpful.
Review 3 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
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Date:July 13, 2009
Giorgio
I have read a few books about the CatholicChurch and this book gives you a well insight of what the official teaching of the Catholic Church. It compares what stands in the Catholic books and what stands in the Bible.
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+16points
27of 38voted this as helpful.
Review 4 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
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Date:May 24, 2009
Phyllis T
Aye! It is a good work of fiction, but it claims to be a work of fact!A better book would be "Upon this Rock" by Stephen Ray. As an Evangelical Protestant, he realized that the real issue dividing Catholics and Protestants was authority. Everything else was secondary to the issue of authority. Protestants accept the authority of the Bible alone, whereas Catholics understand the authority to be residing in the Magisterium, the Scriptures, and the Sacred Tradition. Ray goes through the Scriptures and writings from the first five centuries of the early Church to demonstrate the true nature of the Church Christ founded!
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-17points
18of 53voted this as helpful.
Review 5 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
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Date:October 17, 2007
RebeccaBrightman
The Gospel According to Rome is a great book to help a non-Roman Catholic understand what family and friends have embraced. It is especially good to show the pitfalls and then show what the Bible really says (or does not say)about a subject . It is easy to read.
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+17points
23of 29voted this as helpful.
Review 6 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
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Date:September 5, 2007
Jonathan Weingarten
Being a converted agnostic to biblical Christianity, I have read many works comparing Roman Catholicism and Protestant teachings and interpretations of the Bible. Some written with bitterness towards the RC church (I guess if I were in their shoes I'd be upset too) but this work by Mr. McCarthy is written IMO with love and careful scrutiny to the facts as published in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. None of the quotations that I have seen from this book were taken out of context. I know because I own a copy of the Catechism itself wherein I compared what McCarthy was saying vs the timeless truths of God's holy word. Lovingly and carefully written and well researched I recommend this book to all who are serious about learning the truths underlying the differences between RC and biblical Christianity.
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+10points
16of 22voted this as helpful.
Review 7 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
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Date:August 21, 2007
Rev. Denis c. Gray
The Gospel According to Rome is a disappointing book in my view, mainly because its proffered image of Roman Catholicism is largely a caricature. I had hoped for more than yet another rehash of the age old and distorted perceptions of what the Roman church actually teaches. Quotes from the Catechism of The Catholic Church taken out of context do a disservice to the cause of truth.We all bring our biases to our writings,conversations and even to our readings.And for that one can hardly presume to judge the conscious intentions of James G. McCarthy. However, I must complain that his approach suffers most from a flawed methodology which attempts but fails of course to fit square pegs into round holes, theologically speaking.It is a rare experience indeed to read books about Catholicism which seem to grasp its assertions correctly but nevertheless reject them in the light of both scripture and the very tradition upon which the Roman Church makes its claims.I should like to recommend one rare published example .That book was written w back in the nineteen sixties: One in Christ, Muelenburg Press. The author's name was K. Skydsgaard a Danish Lutheran theologian.The book was written accurately yet irenically , simply and oh so convincingly, about the teachings that divide as well as those which unite us in Christ Jesus.One in Christ did much to win me over to the evangelical beliefs teachings and confession of faith rooted in the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Sadly, theologically literate Roman Catholics as well as Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Christians will likely dismiss or at least quarrel with McCarthy's conclusions. They will do so likely because they will recognize false premises and the assertions and conclusions re Catholic teachings which follow as false or at least misleading.
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-2points
6of 14voted this as helpful.
Review 8 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
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Date:August 6, 2007
Inga Kastrone
The book is well written and well-organized, it also appears to be a product of extensive research. However, my impression was that this research has only been made to support what the author already believed in prior to writing this book. Many of the quotes from the Catechism were taken out of context and only with a purpose to support the author's preexisting assumptions about what the truth is. That's not a valid method of research. Not being a Catholic, I was not convinced by this book. The Catechism, on the other side, I found to be a real treasure - please read it as it is, without fishing for arguments to support your theories
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+3points
9of 15voted this as helpful.
Review 9 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
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Date:January 29, 2007
Nathan French
With respect to fans of Dave Hunt and his work, I must say that James McCarthys The Gospel According to Rome is one of the most important theological works of this day. I say theological because McCarthy, a former catholic himself, devotes the majority of his book not to indictments of Rome for 15 centuries of real and perceived sins, but to a deliberate, point-by-point contrast between the doctrines of Rome and what the Scriptures actually teach on the subjects of Salvation, the Mass, the virgin Mary, and papal authority. McCarthys verdict on the Roman Catholic gospel comes in the form of a clear thumbs-down on the subject of salvation. Using the letter to the Galatian church, McCarthy shows how any gospel that adds any requirement to salvation other than faith in the Lord Jesus is a false gospel, and those that teach it are not from God. He continues this train of thought through a careful examination of the Mass and its symbolic (?) re-crucifixion of Christ, as well as the extra-Biblical traditions which ultimately led to the veneration (which he bluntly labels idolatry) of the virgin Mary. After the section on papal authority, McCarthy concludes with a section aimed toward those who believe his message and want to know what to do next.I am sure that many people reading this review would assume that McCarthy writes from a decidedly anti-catholic sentiment, which is the whole reason I wished to contrast this book with that of Mr. Hunt. In this postmodern, politically-correct world, even the church is not immune from the damning lie that we all believe the same thing, and seems content to let such people go on their contented way. McCarthy, in a passionate appeal to the minds of Roman catholics, chooses instead to warn the people he loves of the danger to their souls. The Christian life has everything to do with what we believe, and if we believe the wrong thing, how can we honestly claim to be saved? Love sometimes means saying what's hard.
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+13points
18of 23voted this as helpful.
Review 10 for The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God
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Date:October 11, 2002
Joshua Cordell
This, along with Dave Hunt's A Woman Rides The Beast, is essential for anyone who wants to compare Chatolicism with Biblical Christianity. It is easy reading, and will most likly shock you. McCarthy clearly, honestly and lovingly points out that the gospel of Rome is another gospel. You should read this book.
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+3points
9of 15voted this as helpful.