Difference between Christian and Catholic

[WayneB]

Hi Everyone....

I am wondering what is really the difference between Christian and Catholic religion? I know Chiristianity is what many other religions stem from, but what are the little differences?

Do Chirstians take the Bible literally and Catholics don't? I just really don't get it. I want to go to my town's Catholic church for mass and I want to be informed.

Thanks!!!

Mamato, you asked for a simple explanation. There isn't one.

Any person who has confessed Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised Him from the dead is saved and therefore a follower of Christ...a Christian. It is through FAITH by God's GRACE that we are justified and saved. Our salvation has nothing to do with the way we choose to express our worship regardless of "denomination" but is strictly a result of our FAITH in Jesus Christ, the true Word of God, alone.

Now do not get me wrong. It is important that once we come to Christ and accept Him as our Lord & Savior that we begin seeking out a church home where we can express our worship and faith as God wills...one that is in line with the Word of God as the Holy Spirit gives understanding.

Speaking as someone who was raised in the Roman Catholic church, I can honestly attest that I did not come to confess Jesus as my Lord & Savior until many years after leaving the church.

Before you make a decision to go or not go, I simply suggest that you read and become familiar with God's Word and then research the teachings of the Catholic Church using actual Catholic websites. Do not take our word here...you need to seek out the TRUTH for yourself. There is but one TRUTH...God didn't confuse. It is man who tends to confuse. God gave us His Word but unfortunately many of us do not read or study it. We simply make decisions based on what we were told or what we read somewhere or what our best friend thinks... all bad reasons. We must be like the men of Berea and measure everything against the Word of God.

When I held the Catholic teachings up to the LIGHT of God's Word , I found many many flaws...too many to simply ignore. That has been my experience. Regardless, our purpose is to keep our FOCUS on Jesus Christ and His abounding love and to point all who will listen in the right direction. If you want to know more about us, read our Statement of Beliefs and I challenge you to hold those beliefs up the LIGHT of God's Word.

Be Blessed,

wayne

[Scarletprayers]

Hi Everyone....

I am wondering what is really the difference between Christian and Catholic religion? I know Chiristianity is what many other religions stem from, but what are the little differences?

Do Chirstians take the Bible literally and Catholics don't? I just really don't get it. I want to go to my town's Catholic church for mass and I want to be informed.

Thanks!!!

Mamato, you asked for a simple explanation. There isn't one.

Any person who has confessed Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised Him from the dead is saved and therefore a follower of Christ...a Christian. It is through FAITH by God's GRACE that we are justified and saved. Our salvation has nothing to do with the way we choose to express our worship regardless of "denomination" but is strictly a result of our FAITH in Jesus Christ, the true Word of God, alone.

Now do not get me wrong. It is important that once we come to Christ and accept Him as our Lord & Savior that we begin seeking out a church home where we can express our worship and faith as God wills...one that is in line with the Word of God as the Holy Spirit gives understanding.

Speaking as someone who was raised in the Roman Catholic church, I can honestly attest that I did not come to confess Jesus as my Lord & Savior until many years after leaving the church.

Before you make a decision to go or not go, I simply suggest that you read and become familiar with God's Word and then research the teachings of the Catholic Church using actual Catholic websites. Do not take our word here...you need to seek out the TRUTH for yourself. There is but one TRUTH...God didn't confuse. It is man who tends to confuse. God gave us His Word but unfortunately many of us do not read or study it. We simply make decisions based on what we were told or what we read somewhere or what our best friend thinks... all bad reasons. We must be like the men of Berea and measure everything against the Word of God.

When I held up the LIGHT of God's Word to the Catholic teachings, I found many many flaws...to many to simply ignore. That has been my experience. Regardless, our purpose to keep our FOCUS on Jesus Christ and His abounding love and to point all who will listen in the right direction. If you want to know more about us, read our Statement of Beliefs and I challenge you to hold those beliefs up the LIGHT of God's Word.

Be Blessed,

wayne

Wayne, you are a treasure!

[irishcowboy]

There are BORN AGAIN CATHOLICS.

as with any of the major denominations, there is some false teaching in them leading towards UNIVERSALISM in religion.

a very dear friend and business associate (who is Catholic), and me were discussing with some others the tsunami, it was said that the number of souls lost is what is most sad, and it came out that just because the believe different then we do does not mean they will not get to Heaven.... that there are good people there.....

it is also based on penance, not repentance..... penance is payment for sin to have it cleared from your slate, freeing you up to do it again and again and again as I have heard some of the younger one say, it don't matter what I do, i will go to confession in the morning and all will be good again.... week after week after week..... this does not work, are we to crucify Christ again? this might be a misunderstanding on that persons part, but it is with many i have seen with this attitude, I use to be a member of the Catholic church. I found Repentance to be much more rewarding and a lot less costly (such as tithes and then putting into the poor box and saying canned prayers so many times... i felt the offering (money to the poor box) was like paying for my sins to be taken away, and that is not what the Bible, THE WORD OF GOD, says... I could give my houses, vehicles, cloths, money, household items, and every penny i make in this life, and that would not pay for my sins, not enough......

The Catholic church does have statues around the building, as was said in earlier post, they "do not worship" them, the appearance of this might not be so clear though.... (we are to refrain from the appearance of doing any thing that is not right)

there are many things that turned me away from it, the ceremony of the service is beautiful, there is a lot of meaning behind the things going on in the service, so with out having been through the cathicism clsases, it would be difficult to know the meaning behind it all, as well as some further teaching.....

a good portion of my family is still and will alwys be Catholic, I am not bashing, just letting you know what a few of the things are that I saw

Religion, in itself is dead, Christ is alive.

A relationship with God through Christ is the only way to become a member of the Royal Family..... some think that if you belong to the SBC (as I also belong ) that it is all you need to do.... some believe that you are not saved unless you have spoken in tongues, some think if you have not been baptized you are lost. This is not what the Bible tells us....

there are those that say you can not go to the movie house down the street and watch THE HIDING PLACE (that is a sin), but they will show it in their basement, with the lights turned low, and no assigned seating and even serve snacks, and that is ok... some believe that if a woman does not wear a skirt or dress, she is damned to hell ( or close to it ) The Word of God does not say that, so some women will wear a dress to the store, to church and everywhere out side the house, even in the yard, just in case some one should see them, but in the house, they have on their sweats or jeans......

there are some that think that dancing is wrong, even dancing before the Lord, BE MORE DIGNIFIED (we were told to be more dignified during song service, and all we did was had our hands raised....... IN AN AOG CHURCH........

some churches (many) have stained glass windows of the Apostles and Mary and Jesus, what is the difference between that and having statues of them????????

almost every church building has a cross in it some where...... we say we come to the cross, are we worshiping the Cross? placing it above Christ? some times it appears that we are more focused on a piece of wood, then who was on that piece of wood...

there was a discussion a couple weeks ago, about hair...... a woman was stating a man with long hair was shameful, yet she neglected to make not that the women in the room with short hair (above the ears short, not just styled, but cut above the ears)..... it was then said by one that length, long hair, and short hair is a relevant term.... there are women with hair shorter then mine (the speaker said) and plenty of men with hair longer. to some, (the speaker continued) my hair is too long, to others it is short. some women have hair so long they have to becareful when sitting down or they will sit on it, others are short enough to towel dry )as short as a burr or butch, and go on for the day......

I am not picking on any one denominational fellowship, but all, we all have things that are not right, that need attention.

I NEED ATTENTION ON ME, MY LIFE.... I know that,

as was mentioned in an earlier thread let this not be a Catholic Bashing contest..... especially since there is no one here to defend it, and it may be a good thing that there isn't......

a few years ago, there were several Catholics that did frequent this board, they no longer come here, why? ummm dont know, maybe they got tired of being attacked? yes, while they were here, there were several very heated threads, some of them were very informative, yet they were totally rejected......

we could do this with everyone here, reject them that is....... men, if your hair comes over your ears your sinning, women if your hair is shorter then the bottoms of your shoulder blades, your sinning......

if you have pictures of your family members in your house, your sinning, if you have a TV (graven images) in your house, your sinning (yes, a computer monitor is the same thing)....

you see, we can find fault with any and every thing we do...... women wearing pants/slacks, men wearing kilts or robes, even what kind of car we drive could end up being an issue (if you drive an import you are not supporting your government, thus you are not being submissive to authority)...... submission to the authorities? this brings on a different light, how many speed? how many roll through a stop? how many tailgate?

you see, this is where I believe Christ told us not to judge, NONE OF US ARE SQUEAKY CLEAN...... there is however, righteous judgment..... and the Bible tells us how to go about it....

anyways, i need to stop, using up a lot of space here....

as was said earlier, be careful about how we speak about our brothers and sisters in Christ, there are BORN AGAIN CATHOLICS.....

mike

[EricH]

There is a difference between what an organization teaches, and what individuals believe. The gospel as presented by the RCC as an organization is false. However there are people who are RCC who find the true gospel of salvation by faith alone. Some remain in the RCC and some leave

[Scarletprayers]

There is a difference between what an organization teaches, and what individuals believe. The gospel as presented by the RCC as an organization is false. However there are people who are RCC who find the true gospel of salvation by faith alone. Some remain in the RCC and some leave

thank you EricH, but I would add............thats in any organization and what I was talking about when I said people sit there and have someone else spoon feed them their religion instead of studying themselves to know what they believe!

[Mamato3]

So much to think about....

I have come to think, in my short time as a Christian, that believing Jesus died for my sins - for all of our sins, was resurrected by God and doing everything in my power to be morally appropriate as well as reading the Bible and praying daily makes me a good Christian.

Am I right?

[Scarletprayers]

So much to think about....

I have come to think, in my short time as a Christian, that believing Jesus died for my sins - for all of our sins, was resurrected by God and doing everything in my power to be morally appropriate as well as reading the Bible and praying daily makes me a good Christian.

Am I right?

Sounds like your doing alright to me! But what makes all of us good is Jesus!

[Mamato3]

So much to think about....

I have come to think, in my short time as a Christian, that believing Jesus died for my sins - for all of our sins, was resurrected by God and doing everything in my power to be morally appropriate as well as reading the Bible and praying daily makes me a good Christian.

Am I right?

Sounds like your doing alright to me! But what makes all of us good is Jesus!

Thanks Scarlet...

I think I needed someone to tell me I am doing all right. Sometimes I feel like I'm not because it is SO hard to do everything in the Bible. I mean, it seems almost impossible to me.

[Guest man]

I think I needed someone to tell me I am doing all right. Sometimes I feel like I'm not because it is SO hard to do everything in the Bible. I mean, it seems almost impossible to me.

Mark 12

30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.

31 And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

[OneLight]

So much to think about....

I have come to think, in my short time as a Christian, that believing Jesus died for my sins - for all of our sins, was resurrected by God and doing everything in my power to be morally appropriate as well as reading the Bible and praying daily makes me a good Christian.

Am I right?

Sounds like your doing alright to me! But what makes all of us good is Jesus!

Thanks Scarlet...

I think I needed someone to tell me I am doing all right. Sometimes I feel like I'm not because it is SO hard to do everything in the Bible. I mean, it seems almost impossible to me.

To me, I give my life to Christ just the way it is. Through His Spirit, He changes the desires of my heart, which, in turn, moves me to not sin, making the list shorter. The key is allowing Him to change you, not you change for Him. If we try to do it ourselves, on our own, we will fail and become discouraged. We have to let go and let God do His work. A vessel worthy of the Master did not create itself, the Master created it.

Be Blessed,

Alan