paradise88
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Can someone tell me the differences between Catholic and Christian? Also how many types are there cos most religions have different groups within itself
Can someone tell me the differences between Catholic and Christian? Also how many types are there cos most religions have different groups within itself
The major divisions happened many centuries ago. As I recall (but I may be wrong) the Orthodox / Western (Catholic) split was originally principally geographic, between what was then the Western and Eastern halves of the Roman Empire, or what was left of it. The Western church divided in the sixteenth century, for an assortment of reasons many of which were political rather than religious.
Jon, one of my Christian friends said this:
"There are Christians and then there are Catholics" in response to me asking if they believed Jesus was a mediator between man and God. She asserted that Jesus was not a mediator but God himself and Catholics were the only ones to hold this view.
Your thoughts?
Hello, everyone!
As a Roman Catholic my self, that you ask this question saddens me. This is through no fault of your own of course. It's simply to me a reflection of the world today.
As Trumble said, Catholics are Christian, but not all Christians are Catholic. I have found that this belief that Catholics and Christians are two completely different religions stems from America as it is not commonly found amongst us Europeans. This stems from an erroneous belief that Catholics worship the Pope, the Saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary and statues etc.
Christianity is baisically split into three denominations or branches: Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism.
Catholicism is the largest denomination of Christianity in the world. The Catholic Church its self is is composed of 23 sui iuris particular Churches. The largest of which is the Latin-Rite or Church. This particular Church grew up and out of the ashes of the Roman/Latin West. The other 22 particular Churches are what we would consider the Churches of Eastern Catholicism. These are Catholics who stay in tune with their Easter non-Latin heritage. Quite close to Eastern Orthodoxy. However, one thing we all have in common is that we share and profess a united Catholic Faith. This is what makes the Church universal.
Orthodoxy is the second largest denomination of Christianity in the world. I confess to having a more limited knowledge of the Orthodox world. It has two denominations: Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy. There are two distinct branches of Theology within Catholicism which are characterised as Western Theology and Eastern Theology. Western Theology was heavily influenced by late Latin thinkers such as Aquinas—who him self was influenced by early Greek thinkers—and especially influenced by the Early Church Father Augustine of Hippo. Eastern Theology stays closer to simply the Early Church Fathers—so they say—and normally hold disdain for Latin thinkers. Eastern Theology is also characterised by a strong Esoteric undertone. I believe this stems from influence from early Gnosticism or perhaps their peculiar Eastern mentality/character.
Their reasons from breaking with the Catholic Church are mostly political and ethnic however. They simply do not like the Latin West. They abandoned the Church of Christ over material matters. Though I hold my hands up in saying that the Church was not always immaculate in temporal issues and must share some portion of the blame.
Protestantism... Protestantism... I cannot say anything nice about Protestantism. Their origins lie in politics. Simply put. There are around 70,000 different branches of Protestantism world-wide. Every man is his own Truth.
Yes, this is so. But as was the case even when the Eastern and Western Roman Empires lived, their was political tension in the air. The Great Schism was not so different from the Protestant Reformation in that it was driven by material and temporal matters.
I hold my hands up and say I am biased, however!
Regards,
JP.
Thanks for response.
One thing to note though, it is said that Christians worship Mary, it is important to understand the wider meaning of worship as defined by Allah. Off the top of my head, phrases like "ave Maria", Queen of Heaven, and prayers to her asking for mercy or anything like that are classified as worship. Simply put, asking someone for something that only God can give.
What you wrote about Mary as a mediator between you and Christ is interesting. Is this possible? If Christ is God yet a mediator between man and God, and we are men. Why would you need a mediator between man and the mediator between man and God?
Thanks preety informative - although there a lot of catholics we hear very little from them. Even less about the eastern Orthodox church.
peace
Indeed. I find Catholics are not getting out there enough these days. I put this down to the fact that many Catholics are anything but! I believe many Muslims are now realising this problem when they come to the West. It's the result of secularisation, materialism, globalisation, modernism, Americanisation etc.
As for the Orthodox... theyre like frightened does! They're impossible to find, and impossible to catch! But they're out there in the woods!
Regards,
JP.
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