why do people insult christians by classing catholics as christians?

Question

Catholics pray to mary and saints, they do not read a bible and they call the pope holy father.
They go against everything True Christianity is all about.

Answer 1

+ True Christianity +

Most Christians believe true Christianity is about accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Catholics accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Mary, the other saints, and the Pope are not as important as this central belief.

+ Mary and the Saints +

Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and Methodist Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints, you, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mother Teresa.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends here on earth to pray for you. Or, you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother in heaven to pray for you.

Prayer to saints in heaven is simple communication, not worship.

+ The Bible +

Catholics are encouraged to read the Bible.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ,' by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. ‘Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.'

There are four separate Scripture readings during every Sunday Mass.

+ Father +

In context, the Scripture reads, "... And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."

This is call for humility for those in leadership roles. Not to be taken literally.

We are not to deny our male parent and cut the Commandment to honor our father and mother in half.

Some leaders in any church may fall into the same folly as the pharisees of Jesus' day.

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I personally do pray only to God, read my Bible, and I avoid using titles with anyone - the Pope or anyone else. The problem, however, is not calling Catholics Christians, but calling any denomination Christian, as if everyone in it were Christian. There are Catholics who at very least pray only to God and read their Bibles.

On the other hand, there are millions of people in other denominations who perhaps do not pray to the saints - but they don't read their Bible either, and think nothing of using the title 'Reverend' for their pastors - and in extreme cases, they view every sermon as a word straight from God, and consider themselves obligated to obey their pastor in all things! Is that any better?

Bottom line: Better to look at the contents of the individual person than at the label.

Answer 3

Then why do the Christians use the bible that was put together by the catholics. Sure the claim to have their own version but if you read them they are the same except for minor changes in wording.

Get a life.

So-called Christians are just slightly warmed over catholics. The similarity's far out weigh any minor differences.

Love and blessings
don

Answer 4

If you want to know why people call Catholics christians then you really need to talk to your pastor. All denominations of Christianity that exsist today came from the Holy Mother Curch, they do read the bible, and it is more accurate then your king james version. They do not worship saints they just relate to them they pray through them not to them. They do not go against everything christian they are what it meant for hundreds of years to be christian. Learn the history of your own religion you will be that much the wiser.

Answer 5

You're misinformed. Catholics DO read the bible. We seek insessions through the saints. Catholics were in truth the first Christians. As Christians, we need to find what we have in common and learn how we can encourage peace and promote justice. It's all the same God and bible.

Answer 6

The most objective I can be about Christianity is that Roman Catholics were the first Christians. The Orthodox split from them, followed by the Protestants. Just what I read, as an agnostic.

Answer 7

Catholics are the original Christians, part of the one and only true Church started by Jesus when he gave the keys of the kingdom to St Peter. I am sorry you misunderstand the Church. As a Christian Catholic, I will pray for you that your eyes will be opened to the faith. As the Catholics pray every Sunday in the Apostles' Creed, "We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, the creator of heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only son, our Lord..." Incidentally, like most Catholics, I have read the Bible and studied it extensively.

Answer 8

I am a protestant so am not involved in praying to Mary, or to dead saints. I've read the Bible in it's entirety several times and do not call the Pope, father.

However, I know many protestants who do not read the Bible, who get all of their Christian instruction from others via the tradition of their congregations, while, in my judgment, they appear to work hard against much of what Christianity is about. Is there any surprise that this might be found among Catholic congregations as well?

Pray does not equal worship. Prayer is a plea. We pray to bosses to give us a raise, we pray to our children to behave, etc Our prayers are often directed to people of different faiths, and even to atheists. This is a semantic issue, I think.

Many Catholics today insist that they do NOT worship Mary and I find no reason not to believe them. Others do worship her as "Co-Redemptrix" with Christ. However, I believe there was a Vatican Council formally removing this doctrine from church teachings. That does not affect the beliefs of each individual congregant, of course.

I don't think there will be a doctrine test to get into heaven. It is a matter of the heart. Do we rest on Christ for salvation and strength? Do we trust in Christ so much as to follow His commandments?

There is wide variation in protestant teachings, even between congregations and individuals within one denominational umbrella. The church is the community of saints, wherever they meet, or are ignored. Matters like infant baptism, whether dead saints can intercede for us with God, etc. seem peripheral and unrelated to salvation, spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, caring for the needy, and having the love of God spread abroad in our hearts. Protestants also carry a lot of doctrinal baggage due to traditions. Satan is working in our churches, both Catholic and Protestant. He is causing division, hate, and leading us away from the work that Christ has appointed for us.

Many Protestants and Catholics tend to keep their eye on the main thing, our relationship with Christ, and love for God and others. Many in both camps do not. The RCC is not one church, IMHO, any more than United Methodism is one church. There is a difference between the Biblical notion of church and man's created church heirarchies, governments, and traditions.

Let's spend more time exhorting each other to advance God's kingdom and not our own pride. Let's spend more time helping the poor, the stranger among us, the hungry, the sick, and the imprisoned; spreading the good news of Christ to all nations, protecting the least of these, and teaching and doing all that Christ has commanded us.

Arguing about icons, believer's baptism, church governments, etc. is a matter of pride, not humble service for God's kingdom. Read the Bible. It will tell us what's important. In spite of that, the vast majority of us will ignore the hard parts that we don't obey and act as if we never read them or pretend they dont really mean what they say. We are all in need of further sanctification (purification, holiness.)

If you want to read about the first church, begin in Acts 2 and read on. It doesn't much resemble current RCC or Protestant practices. There were many belief systems before Roman Catholicism came into being. Much was corrupted by the politcally motivated sun-worshipper Constantine, anyway. How did Rome become the center? There is history to read that precedes the RCC form of church government. Also, we must ask, Who split from Whom? Did Greek Orthodox split from the RCC or vice versa? This is a logic question that will not be answered by deeply entrenched biases. If you want to follow the early church pattern, look at Acts, look at Jesus' letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Don't look to Rome, Greece, to your denomination's headquarters, or to your preacher. We have more authoritative, objective, and accurate information right there in the Bible that I pray you have near you.

I encourage Catholics and Protestants of all stripes to be like the noble Bereans.

Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Answer 9

catholicism is a sect of christianity, btw im an EX catholic and an EX protestant for those that like to scream I wasnt a true christian. Also, catholicism is where the protestants stem from, get off your high horse they are sects of christianity and so are the JWs and Mormons.

Answer 10

Catholics are Christians. They just happen to have different Rituals and Ceremonies than the Protestant Religions who also have differing Rituals and Ceremonies among themselves depending upon the denomination one belongs to.