Controversey in Christianity.?

Question

There are SO many views under Christianity not to mention the seemingly huge gap placed between Christianity and Catholicism. What am I to believe? There are so many views that eventually at one point clash with others. What do I believe? What do I listen to??

Answer 1

Start and end with the Bible as your reference point. If any teachings contradict the Bible, then throw them away. I think too many people in ALL denominations just accept what they hear on Sundays and don't check out the Scriptures for themselves to see if what they are hearing is true. Feel free to drop me a line at [e-mail] if I can help.

Answer 2

That's tuff buddy.
Start by trusting God to show you the right religion-sect-denomination. Eventually the Holy spirit will lead you to where you should be. Are you born again? If not, then that's where you start. Find a church that teaches the Bible and believes you must be born again. I may can help a little:
Stay away from-
Catholic
Charismatic
Episcopal
Anglican
Lutheran
Unity
Unitarian
Harvest
Seventh day
Church of Christ
Church of God
There are many more, I just can not remember all of them---there is just way toooooo much error in these churches.

You may try-
Presbyterian-old fashioned, but straight
Southern Baptist-some more modern-very straight
there are other baptist-independents may be too narrow
Methodist-some still okay, but many are slippin into apostasy
Calvary Chapel-good place to start, you may stay-this is the old Jesus people from the 60's-a real good hybrid church.
Bible church-straight and narrow.

The more I think about it-try to find a Calvary Chapel close by. If you can't fit there, you can not fit anywhere. There are about 2500 of them around the USA. Do a web search on Calvary Chapel and look under churches-you will find one.

Answer 3

I think you meant Protestantism and Catholicism because Catholics are Christians so there is no gap.

The only thing to do is start reading. Stop listening to what people tell you and start looking for yourself.

If you ask people questions, as you've probably seen here, you get a lot of small minded bigoted answers. Not well formed Christians. Formation means to study. Formation as a Christian is through out our lives. We never stop learning.

Your faith formation happens every day.

Go to the library. Get some books and dig in. Find out who you are.

Answer 4

Catholics are Christians. And there is no huge gap. All Christians, Catholics included, believe that God is a trinity or Persons. That Jesus Christ is the only Savior and the second Person of the Trinity.
As to who you should listen to....Do some research and find out which claims are true by which church. Which church can trace itself back to Jesus and most faithfully follows him. On whose authority does the church teach what they say?
Then believe the truth. It does matter.

Answer 5

Dear jrunk,

The most reliable thing you can believe is God's word which is the Bible. i am a Christian and have some issues with some Catholic practices because they are not Biblical- ie: the infallability of the pope, confessing to priests, Mary and Saints receiving worship???

i know there are parts of the Bible that are hard to understand (but how about the parts that you do understand). i would suggest finding a good bible believing church and getting involved in a Bible Study. You'll receive guidance as to how to understand God's word (and be able to ask questions) but ultimately be the one who is sorting through everything and learning how to discern between truth and error.

Hope that helps. If you want specific Bible teachers who are pretty right on... feel free to email me or ask me any questions: [e-mail]

Kindly,

Nickster

Answer 6

"Read the Bible, and follow it. If you're told to do anything else, you are being told wrong."

This is an interesting take on it. Yes. I agree. Read the bible and make your own decision. And me? What did I do after reading the bible? Well ... once I got over the shock of reading about some of the most unethical and unconscionable acts ever perpetrated on man, I decided that this particular religion was not for me. So...

Do your own research. Look at them all. If none of them ring true to you, that's okay. It does not diminish you as a spiritual person. In fact, if you're smart about you, you might go past the so called holy books and try for a direct link to the source.

Answer 7

First of all, let me explain to you that Catholicism is Christianity. The Catholic church was the very first church, established by Jesus Christ Himself, and built upon Peter and all the Apostles who were the direct disciples of Jesus Christ. The church follows the tradition of Apostolic succession from Peter on down to the present Pope Benedict XVI. All down through history, there have been false teachings (schisms, and heresy) that have taken place and even serious abuses within the Catholic church itself that resulted in other "Christian" churches being established and up to the present day, there are so many countless branches of Christianity, but ultimately, they all stem from the Catholic Church. Listen to Jesus as He speaks to you in your own heart and the Holy Spirit will guide you in all Truth. Just pray and ask for guidance and truth in following His word and you will receive it.

Answer 8

Somewhere in the Old Testament, it says that God will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread and water but of hearing the word of the Lord. They will run to and fro and will not know where to find it. Finding the truth is an arduous process that is primarily a matter of being in tune with the Holy Spirit, which is done by applying good principles into your life. Ask God what branch of Christianity you should explore and He will lead you where He wants you to be. If you have been sincerely following his spirit, the famine should end there.

Answer 9

Protestants and Catholics generally dismiss each others practices. And the Jehovah's Witnesses are against all other religions. If you come to see enough of society you will dismiss almost all Christians as fools and believe whatever you want. All that matters is that you don't get in trouble with the law.

Answer 10

It's really not confusing, hun....Christrianity is following the Christ of Biblical teachings...ie the Bible (nothing more and nothing less)...Catholicism was started in 313AD when Constantine was in rule. Read your Bible to find the answers about Christianity, and forget about religion...Jesus was crucified by the "religious" leaders of His day and accepted by those who would have a RELATIONSHIP with Him. Thats what counts. Repentence of sin and turning to Jesus as a substitutionary Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world!