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confused
OK me and my friends were having a discussion and one of my friends stated that the faith of catholic is just another branch of christianity, but catholics have very very different beliefs then christians do. Can someone help me make up my mind?
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Maybe give some free advice about: Spirituality?
The first Christians made up the Catholic church, and everyone else split off later. So, although Catholics are very different from other Christians, Catholics are Christians themselves.
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To agree with basically everyone in this room, Catholics are Christians--no further questions. The difference between catholics and "christians" (ie: protestants) is the way they EXPRESS their beliefs. For example, every christian believes that you must be saved to go to heaven. Catholics attest that salvation comes through the sacraments (baptism, communion or eucharist, confirmation, etc.), whereas some Protestants look more towards "being saved" as an event opposed to a constant process. There is no clear-cut answer to how catholic faith expressions differ from most american protestants, other than to say that about 1500 years of history has shaped Catholicism differently than only 500 years protestants have been in existance.
Instead of focusing on what's different, people of all faiths should seek to find common ground and celebrate their sense of spirituality together.
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Catholics and Protestants all believe in Christ, whose name makes up the most part of CHRISTianity. They all have different beliefs because it's not possible for all people to feel the same way about everything.
Then there are those who say Catholics believe in the teachings of Cathol.
I suppose technically speaking, Catholics were there first, and Martin Luther got concerned, got activist, and got booted. Behold Protestantism.
Of course it may be prudent to point out that the Pagans were there before ANY of them, so longest-religion points don't go to any branch of Christianity.
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This all goes back to the reformation, when Protestants broke away from the main Catholic church because they did not think some of their practices were acceptable. Essentially, they are definetely both Christian, just different denominations, like baptists and methodists. They believe that Jesus was the son of God.
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Catholics are definitely Christians. I don't know why the rumor started that they weren't.
The <i>main</i> difference between Protestants and Catholics is the authority of the priests. Catholics believe a priest is necessary to hear confession, give last rights, etc. Protestants believe every person has a direct contact with God though prayer and does not need a human to approach God for them.
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Catholicism is just another branch of Christianity. They don't have very many different beliefs. Their church has some structural differences from others... their head is a pope in rome who takes leadership for life, where most other churches elect leaders every few years. They don't believe in birth control. They believe you should confess your sins to priests and that church leaders should not be married.
But those are really just little details, what matters is that, Catholics believe that Jesus is the son of God and he rose from the dead to make a place for us in heaven. That's all you have to believe to be a Christian.
The Catholic church was the first church, so in the 1500s when some people decided to form new churches, these were sort of grouped together as "protestant" and the Catholic church remained "Catholic"... it was the "not new" one. People like to act like Catholics are really different, but they're not. All Christian churches are a little bit different, but we all believe in the same basic idea, so we're all Christians.
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The short answer: Yes, Catholicism is a branch of Christianity. So is the Eastern Orthodox Church, and so are the many Protestant denominations (which, I think, are what you're referring to as Christians). The central thing that they all have in common is believing in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
I'd suggest going to the encyclopedia in your school library and looking up Christianity. You should get a pretty full explanation there.
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It really doesn't matter which one you choose. The thing that matters is that you are happy and believe in the rules and principles that that certain religion focuses on. If you really want to decide, choose which ever one touches you on the inside. That is all that matters. Your friends can never make up the happiness that you feel when you are in the right place at the right time. Go with what your heart tells you!
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