question for christians?

Question

why do some of you claim that catholics, mormons and jehovah's witnesses are not christians?

if they are not christians, then what do you concider them to be?

Answer 1

They're Christians. Some people claim that they're not, however, because of misconceptions or prejudices concerning these religions. Some people claim that Catholics, for instance worship Mary/saints/Pope. Just goes to show we need more education and less intolerance.

Answer 2

The literal translation of the word "Christian" is "follower of Christ." Catholics, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses all claim a belief in Jesus Christ, so technically they are Christians. However, many Protestants believe that the Catholic Church is the Anti-Christ (don't necessarily believe that, but the argument for that position is VERY interesting and VERY convincing) and many Protestants also believe that the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are misled at the very least (cults at the most). So I guess the claim is that Catholics, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are not TRUE followers of Christ and are therefore not Christians.

Answer 3

Catholics are the only real christians. All of the other sects of christiandom are cults, by definition. Now don't get me wrong here, just because you might be in a cult, doesn't mean that all cults are bad. If your cult is a christian cult that, let's say worships on Saturday as your sabbath, probably not a dangerous cult. If your cult says you have to kill yourself so the comet will take you to heaven, probably a bad cult. Funny how semantics can mis-lead a person as to the true meaning of a word.

Answer 4

With respect to Jehovah Witnesses I just consider them Jehovah Witnesses - The 2 JWs we have here do not want to be called a Christian at all. They tell me they do not consider Christians true follower of God.

Answer 5

A Christian is one who is following in Jesus' example of loving God and teaching others about his kingdom government and his loving provisions for mankind. A firey torment (Catholic teaching) is not at all consistant with God's loving personality and justice for all. Mormons teach that eventually all people can be gods of their own worlds--totally inconsistant with Jesus' teachings. Jehovah's Witnesses (as a whole) are true Christians in every sense of the word but as individuals they also inherit sin like everyone else does and must constantly strive in order to follow Jesus' example.

Answer 6

Catholics would be pretty strange to deny... but Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in the Bible as a complete and accurate work. Jehovah's Witnesses don't accept Jesus as Christ, for instance. They can't be CHRISTians if they don't believe in Jesus as Christ.

Answer 7

This is tricky because some actually are. The key to being a Christian is a belief that acceptiong Jesus Christ is the only way to get to Heaven.

Traditionally...Catholics, Mormons and JWs do not believe this.

I consider them to be "Christian-Based" cults myself.

Answer 8

A few religionists who have no intelligent way to refute another religion's theology sometimes resort to an ultimate insult "Your religion is NOT CHRISTIAN". The claim is never supported from Scripture, and is actually worse than a more common insult, "Your religion is a cult." However, in the case of Trinitarian attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses, the Trinitarian claim is a step beyond a simple insult, and is based on the Witnesses' rejection of the non-biblical Trinity teaching.

Trinitarians repeatedly pretend that Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christian. Trinitarians use an artificial, trinity-specific definition of the term "Christian" which excludes anyone who does not believe that Jesus is God Himself, rather than the Son of God. Interestingly, pagans in the first century pretended that Christ's followers were Atheists(!) because the Christians had a somewhat different idea from the pagans about the nature of God.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that no salvation occurs without Christ, that accepting Christ's sacrifice is a requirement for true worship, that every prayer must acknowledge Christ, that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom, that Christ is the head of the Christian congregation, that Christ is immortal and above every creature, even that Christ was the 'master worker' in creating the universe! Both secular dictionaries and disinterested theologians acknowledge that Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian religion.

The Trinitarian arguments are intended to insult and demean Jehovah's Witnesses, rather than to give a Scripturally accurate understanding of the term "Christian".

In fact, the bible most closely associates being "Christian" with preaching about Christ and Christ's teachings. Review all the times the bible uses the term "Christian" and note that the context connects the term with:
"declaring the good news"
'teaching quite a crowd'
'open eyes, turn from dark to light'
"uttering sayings of truth"
"persuade"
"keep on glorifying"

(Acts 11:20-26) [The early disciples of Jesus] began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus... and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.

(Acts 26:17-28) [Jesus said to Paul] I am sending you, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God... Paul said: “I am not going mad, Your Excellency Festus, but I am uttering sayings of truth and of soundness of mind. ...Do you, King Agrippa, believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” But Agrippa said to Paul: “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.”

(1 Peter 4:14-16) If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy... But if he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name


So why do anti-Witnesses try to hijack the term "Christian" and hide its Scriptural implications? Because anti-Witnesses recognize that it is the preaching work that makes it clear that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are by far the most prominent followers of Christ:

(Matthew 28:19,20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded


Learn more!
http://watchtower.org

Answer 9

I am a Catholic with friends of various denominations and I believe the answer is because they want to be right and be the only ones who are right. I do not think all Christians think this way just many. The most judgmental ones I know do.

Peace Of Christ Be With You,
Debra

Answer 10

Mormons and JW's are considered cults. They do not accept the basic doctrinal tenets of Christianity. Space does not allow me to do a complete refutation of their beliefs.
Catholicism is a mixture of paganism and Christianity in it's teachings. That being said, are there Christians who are Catholics? Sure, just like there are Catholics who are not Christians. The doctrinal issue that separates denominations and pseudo-Christian groups is salvation. In essence, if you believe in salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, you are considered a Christian.