Similarities between Roman Catholicism and The Hebrew Roots Movement

John 14: 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME 7 If YOU REALLY KNOW ME, YOU WILL KNOW MY FATHER AS WELL. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’

From our studying of  the Hebrew Roots Movement and  the Roman Catholic Church, I was surprised to find how similar  they are, especially since the Hebrew Roots Movement loathes the Roman Catholic Church. The similarities link back to two common sources, Gnosticism and legalistic Judaisim.  Note that we are not claiming that those in the Hebrew Roots Movement or the Roman Catholic Church are not believers in Christ. Nor or we claiming that the Roman Catholic Church speicifically is not Christian. Having said that, the similarities are as follows:

– The Hebrew Roots Movement and the Roman Catholic Church depend too heavily on rituals to earn favor with God and to know Him. However these rituals really create a barrier to true heart religion and thus to truly knowing God and His will.

– Both groups practices atonement outside of Christ. In the Roman Catholic Church confessing to a Priest provides atonement and partaking of the Eucharist as a sacrifice along with indulgences.  Sunday mass oblgation can been seen as a form of the Day of Atonement, only it is kept every Sunday and not once a year. While in the Hebrew Roots Movement the Day of Atonement and Teshuvah is observed.

– The Roman Catholic Church holds the Pope in the highest esteem while the Hebrew Roots Movement does the same with Moses, even though both are/were humans.

– Both believe in some form of enlightenment though various rituals. And this is where the Hebrew Roots Movement and the Roman Catholic Church are the most similar. In the Hebrew Roots Movement, learning and speaking Hebrew words, using Hebrew names, reading Hebrew only Bibles, refraining from specific foods and keeping the Old Testament feast days and the Sabbath also atones as well as enlightens one giving you a  “Hebrew Mindest”. In the Hebrew Roots Movement, one can not understand the Bible unless one acquires this mystical mindset. Only Jews or one who becames a Jew can truly understand the bible.

In the Roman Catholic Church, repetitive prayers, such as the rosary, will earn one special favor from God through Mary. One can not understand the bible without the magestarium. For some Roman Catholics who oppose Vatican 2 reforms, the old litrugy can also produce some form of enlightenment as well as various other rituals. In some cases even the Latin language has special significance.

Some would be surprised to learn that this idea of special enlightenment is related to ancient Gnosticism and a branch of Judaism known as kabbalah, both of which teach that special knowledge could be gained by specific rituals and observances. This special knowledge brought one closer to God.

Yet the Bible never instructs us in the need for such means of mediation or special knowledge. Throwback to the Bible, we see the one and only way to have access to and enlightenment that brings us closer to God:

Epshesians 2:18: For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

1 Timothy 2:5: For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,

Through Jesus alone can we have access to and grow in grace (the Holy Spirit).  The Bible tells us that there is no other way to gain access to God:

John 4:16: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Christ is the only way we can be saved, not through a movement or even a church building, rituals, and old observances. Nor through learning Hebrew, reading Hebrew Only Bibles, idolizing the Law, etc:

John 10:9: I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

In fact we read in the Bible that God is not limited to a language or race or what church we attend:

Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Granted many Churches are closer to early Christianity and what the Bible teaches, however the Hebrew Roots Movement and the Roman Catholic Church are not the primitive Church. In the end, the Hebrew Roots Movement and the Roman Catholic Church are closer in relation as opposed to polar opposites. As much as the Hebrew Roots Movement loathes Roman Catholicism and falsely accuses all Christian practices as stemming from the  “paganizing” Christianity by the Roman Catholic Church, it can not be denied that the Hebrew Roots Movement is a hybrid of Gnosticism.