Why do people continually believe that Christians are Catholics?

Question

Catholics can be Christians but Christians can not be Catholic. Christians do not pray to saints, or mother mary or seek confession through the booth. Nor do we see communion the same way.

Alot of you are wrong? Christians have been around since the time of Christ and His death. The scoured the catacombs in fear of persecution. The Catholic faith came out of Constantines efforts to governmentalize Christianity as the religion.

Do you need intercession? Wasnt Jesus' sacrafice and atonement enough?
Why perform the works if the priest is just a witness? I am not asking this out of frustration or anger or even remotely upset. I just dont understand why people dont do the research. I still stand by the first deduction I made also.

SD-Jesus fullfilled the law with his crucifixion and ressurrection. There would be no need to follow the law as Judaism still does. God did not change his mind, He had a plan for all his children from the beginning. He knew if you focused on the Jews that it would close the seperation that lie between them and the Gentiles. Save Jews first and then spread out to the nations. These nations saved first would never persuade a Jew if they had not experienced a personal experience with God. This was more of an approach involving tactfulness rather than discrimination.

Answer 1

They mix it up because they are related. Catholic is just a branch off Christian beacuse a certian Roman Emperor did not like the current religious system so he made up his own type of religion under Christianity to still remain "loyal to the Gods".

Answer 2

Its "ignorance" all right. Ignorance that so many still believe we pray to Mary or the saints. Just as you would ask your mother, dad, friend, sister, etc to pray FOR you, that's what we're doing. We pray TO the Father through His Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. And there is a lot more ignorance. And Catholics are definitely Christians though not all Christians are Catholics.

Answer 3

Half of all Christians are Catholic -- so that could be part of it. But I doubt your statement. Catholics usually identify themselves as Catholics -- not as Christians. Most Catholics would not want to be mistaken for a Christian who was not a Catholic. I doubt that MOST people think "Catholic" when someone says they are Christian (at least in the US).

Now that I've said that -- let me comment on your statements.

You say "Catholics can be Christians," This is not accurate. All Catholics are Christians.

You say "Christians can not be Catholic." This is not accurate -- half of the Christians in the world are Catholic. You probably meant to say "Not all Christians are Catholic."

You say "Christians do not pray to saints, or mother mary." By this, I assume that you meant to say NonCatholic Christians. You are mistaken to think that Catholics pray to the saints. They do not. They ask the saints (and Mary) to pray for them. This is an important distinction.

I've heard nonCatholics say "Why ask Mary to pray for you -- we pray to Jesus directly." I then ask if they have ever asked someone to pray for them -- perhaps a friend or grandmother. They always say "Yes" -- so their argument flies away. It is no different -- to a Catholic -- to ask your mother to pray for you than it is to ask Mary to pray for you.

"or seek confession through the booth."

NonCatholics mistakenly think that Catholics ask the priest to forgive their sins. They do not -- the priest is just a witness. They ask forgiveness from God -- same as nonCatholic Christians. This formality of the act is really the only difference between Catholics and nonCatholics in terms of the act of penance.

"Nor do we see communion the same way."

This is mostly true. I say mostly, because Caholicism is not the only religion that believes in transubstantiation. Several protestant religions believe in it as well. What I find most amazing is that it is the Christian sects who take the Creation Story literally are the ones who think that Jesus only spoke in symbols when he said "this is my body" -- while most of the Christian religions what take transubstantiation literally think that Genesis is allegory.

And now here is a question for you -- why is it that so many "Christians" complain about Catholics, when they know so little about the religion?

Answer 4

You are partially right. Catholics are indeed Christians. But Christians can be Catholic. You answered your question yourself. Catholicism is just another denomination of Christianity such as Baptist or Episcopalian. All are followers of the resurrected Jesus. Hence, they are Christians. The misconception comes when people say that Catholics are not Christians. They are Christians. They just worship various saints, amongst other practices that most other denominations don't observe. Just because they differentiate in their practice doesn't make them any less Christian. After all, wasn't it Peter himself who was said to be the first Pope (which is a misconception, but that's for another question.)? So, if the only denomination that recognizes a Pope is Catholicism, it can be said that Catholicism is the oldest form of Christianity.

Answer 5

Actually, I think you raise a good point. However, in additional thought here... Jesus was not a Christian, he was a Jew. Christians do not hold the Sabbath in the Jewish manner, nor do they follow Jewish customs, which are, interestingly enough, the customs Jesus would have followed.

Jesus himself said that he did not come to heal Gentiles, but to save Jews. It was only later that he changed his mind and decided that non-Jews who believed in him could go to Heaven too. He says this almost as a side-note, as if saying "Yeah right! Like any of you guys are going to get in..."

As the (alleged) son of God, his "mission" was to benefit the Israelites for the express purpose of fulfilling the will of Jehovah, God of the Jews. When he stated that he was here to fulfill the law, he was referring to the law of the Torah, which ( and, this is important...) only applies to the Jews.

Now, if Jesus were alive today, what makes you think that he would be in a Christian church of any denomination, rather than in a Jewish synagogue?

-SD-

Answer 6

good question...

i think its coz "Christianity" is a label for all who beleive in Jesus and the Father....

and originally, the apostles in the book of acts, were actually first called "Christians" meaning "followers of Christ" and "Anointed ones"....

therefore anyone who follows Christ is actually a Christian, no matter what they wanna call emselves. (notice the word FOLLOW... not just believe, its a daily walk, a relationship.)

Catholics are poularly known, so people assume when u say "Im a Christian" that u operate like a catholic, coz thats what they see on tv, weird costumes and traditions of man that like the bible says, make God's gospel to no effect.

thats why people are wide eyed and extremely surprised when they walk into a Christian church and see NORMAL people, not crucifixes and people repeating the same prayers over and over while clutching onto some fancy beads that some guy decided would be good...

oh, and KOOKOO BANANAS:
so St Peter was the first "pope" then was he? well he was married... remember? Jesus healed his MOTHER IN LAW... so how come popes these days arent allowed to marry? its obviously not biblical... oh i guess its just another tradition of man... hmmm.

Answer 7

If one believes as part of their religious tenants that Jesus Christ specifically was sent by God and as such is different from other humans in that he is "divine", then that person is considered to be a "Christian".

Since Catholics, like Baptists and Episcopalians and Evangelicals believe Jesus Christ was sent by God, they are considered Christians.

The elements you've pointed out that differ from one church to another are "ceremonies". It is rare that a ceremony is used to define what a religion is or what it's parishioners subscribe to.

The differences between Christian religions are incredibly minor compared with the differences between Christianity and other world religions.

In summary, Catholics are Christians, yet many other religions are also Christian religions. So, some Christians are Catholic but many Christians belong to some other Christian church such as Baptist or Methodist etc..

Answer 8

All Catholics are Christian, but not all Christians are Catholic. Almost all non Catholic Christ based religions came from the Catholic Church. Catholics pray to Mary and ask for her intercession for the same reason you would ask a fellow Christian to pray for you.

Answer 9

How true. I don't "hate" catholics, and many of them are Christians. However, I don't "pray to Mary", or any other saint for that matter. I pray only to God through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

Answer 10

>>>Christians do not pray to saints, or mother mary<<<

Actually, neither do we Catholics. We ask them to pray for us, just as you would ask someone in your family, church, or office to pray for you. There's a difference.

>>>or seek confession through the booth<<<

Actually, confession is not always done in "the booth." I have received the sacrament of reconciliation many times in places other than "the booth."

In the priest's office, in his classroom after class, walking in the garden (like Al Pacino did in "The Godfather Part III"), one time even just sitting with him in a pew in an empty church.

We receive forgiveness from God, through one of His priests. This is just the way Christ wanted it when He said "whose sins you forgive are forgiven; whose sins you hold bound are held bound."

How were the apostles supposed to know which sins were to be forgiven or held bound, unless these sins were TOLD to them by the penitent?