Christian/Catholic

[paradise88]

Can someone tell me the differences between Catholic and Christian? Also how many types are there cos most religions have different groups within itself

[catalzzy]

hm, let me try my best. christian is probably a protestant?

the difference between them is the ranks and the bible interception.

the catholic makes the people listen whilst a monk, priest, whatever preach the bible to them.

the Christians, do not have the ranks so, the people itself has to read their own bible to work it out.

i dunno.

[Trumble]

All Catholics are Christians but not all Christians are Catholics. :)

Roman Catholicism is one of three major branches or denominations of Christianity, the others being Protestants and Orthodox both of which come in several flavours themselves. There are other varieties of Christian as well, although I'll leave it to a Christian to explain the doctrinal differences as I know little about them.

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.

[paradise88]

I am dumb i still dont know lol

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[Gubbleknucker]

The way I see it, if you believe Christ was the savior, you are a Christian.

However, many Christian sects don't think that any of the others are truly Christian.

[Follower]

There are many denominations in Christianity that are simply different expressions of faith, but all believe that Jesus is GOD's Word made flesh. Jesus gave His life to erase our debt of sin.

Jehovah Witnesses say they are Christian- but they believe that Jesus is a lesser god.

Mormons say they are Christian- but believe that each man becomes a lesser god.

[math]

Can someone tell me the differences between Catholic and Christian? Also how many types are there cos most religions have different groups within itself

Christianity is the believe in Jesus as son of God.

There are three main denominations:
- Roman Catholicism
- Protestantism
- Eastern Orthodoxy

Roman Catholicism is centrally leaded by the Pope in Rome. Because there is one central leader, it does not really have subdivisions.

Protestantism however has a lot of subdivisions, because there is (on earth) no central leader. Arguments about interpretation of the Bible therefore easily leads to groups or followers to leave their denomination and start ones own. In The Netherlands there are some small villages with over eight different protestant denominations, each with their own church building. To complicate matters, protestant people are more inclined to refer to themselves with 'Christian' than Catholics are (at least in The Netherlands). In that case, you can often assume that 'Christian' actually refers to protestantism. Catholics would use the term 'catholic', although they also are Christian.

Wikipedia has some insightful information on it.

[Follower]

The nice thing is that today it is just verbal arguments about the differences- we no longer feel the need to wipe each other off the map, which would be against Jesus' teaching anyway.

[Jon Paul]

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.

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.

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 :p!

Regards,
JP.

[AntiKarateKid]

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?

[Jon Paul]

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 there, AntiKarate. I shall provide you with an answer as best I can :).

Before I can answer your question, I must explain the Holy Trinity. To make this nice and simple—the Trinity is complex, ever for us Catholics :P!—I shall use a 12th century visual symbol called the Scutum Fidei or the Shield of the Holy Trinity.

The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Ghost is God.
God is the Father.
God is the Son.
God is the Holy Ghost.
The Father is not the Son.
The Son is not the Father.
The Father is not the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost is not the Father.
The Son is not the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost is not the Son.

Now, this is not meant to be a schematic diagram of the structure of God but is merely a compact visual divice for which the above statments of the Athanasian Creed can be read off.

You must also bare in mind that the Holy Trinity is a mystery. We cannot fully understand it until perhaps we share in the Beatific Vision.

Now, with this basis in mind, I can expan. I have recently posted a new thread asking for the Islamic view on Adam, Eve and Original Sin. It is still waiting for moderation as I type this up. So I may speak of over-lapping themes.

After the fall from Original Justice. Man needed a savior and redeemer to restablish his relationship with God the Father. He has insulted the dignity of God, yet the dignity of God is infinite because He is perfect. This is where Jesus Christ, the Son of God comes in. He acts as the mediator between man and the Father. We believe Christ is God, the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Being God, Christ could assume our fallen human nature, and suffer the temporal punishments—those common to all humanity—that man incurred for disobeying God.

Doing so, when he suffered and died for us, he satisifed for Divine Justice and Atoned the sins of man. He re-established our connection with God the Father. This is how Jesus Christ is our mediator. He is our mediator precisely because He is God.

In Catholicism there is also a branch of theology called Mariology. This is the theological study of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven. The Church maintains it is an acceptable belief that Mary acts as the mediatrix between ourselves and Christ. It was through Mary that Christ came to us, and it is through Mary that we can come to be with Christ, and in so come to be with the Father.

This is a belief held through the fact of the personal connection Christ has with His mother. Also, the Blessed Virgin is of us, she is a woman, she is human. St Louis de Montfort speaks of the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary as so; the heart of a True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is Jesus Christ, to Christ through Mary.

I hope this helps. I realise Mary may have confused this issue. But I believe it is only a matter of time before her own role is brought up. So I prefer to get it in their right now. However you don't need the Marist part of my reply to understand the rest.

Regards,
JP.

[AntiKarateKid]

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?

[Zafran]

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 :p!

Regards,
JP.

Thanks preety informative - although there a lot of catholics we hear very little from them. Even less about the eastern Orthodox church.

peace

[Jon Paul]

Thanks for response.

No problem.

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.

It is indeed said that Christians worship Mary. It is the bane of a Catholic life, I tell ya! Ave Maria is simply the greeting the Angel used when he addressed Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. - Luke 1: 28. Here, is demonstrates all Mary is comes from God as only grace can be given by God.

Queen of Heaven is simply the posistion Mary has within the heart of Jesus Christ, the Father and being espoused to the Holy Ghost. She is the greatest saint in the Communion of Saints.

I would like to know which prayer asking Mary for mercy you speak of? When Catholics pray to Mary and the Saints, they ask only for the saints to pray for them and take their petitions to the Throne of God. The saints are in heaven, but they are still connected with us, they still love us. We believe it pleases God when we work together.

We do not believe that anyone is greater than God. We believe God is the root and First Cause of everything. Grace is a gift from God, and given at his discretion.

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?

I personally do not want to get to far into the issue of Mary as a mediatrix. It is a matter of theology I am still studying and do not want to risk misrepresenting the belief etc. I know, I brought it up, but it was intended simply as a passing comment.

Regards,
JP.

[Jon Paul]

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.

[Zafran]

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.

Yeah the modern world has a problem with traditional religions in general. Its effecting the whole world.