Catholic, Protestant or other....?

Question

What are the differences? Me, I'm nondenominational, meaning I don't follow the church rather the Bible itself. What are y'alls denominations and what's your stance on issues?

Answer 1

"What separates us as believers in Christ is much less than what unites us." (Pope John XXIII)

Almost all important doctrine is completely agreed upon between Catholic Christians and other Christians.

Here is the joint declaration of justification by Catholics (1999), Lutherans (1999), and Methodists (2006):

By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to good works.

There are many minor doctrine issues and some major cultural traditional differences which, I believe, do not matter that much.

A Catholic worships and follows Christ in the tradition of Catholicism which, among other things, recognizes that Christ made Peter the leader of His new Church and Pope Benedict XVI is Peter's direct successor.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

To which issues do you refer? I am a Christian who mainly attends The Salvation Army Church, which is considered non-denominational. I've attended the United Church, Catholic Church, Baptist Church, Presbyterian Church, Charismatic Church and Anglican Church. If you can be more specific about the "issues" I will try to edit in additional information into my response. The differences between Catholic and Protestant churches are the teachings about salvation, the apparent worship of Mary in the Catholic Church and the fact that I have yet to see a Bible in the pews of a Catholic church. Also, the Catholic Church seems to teach the infallibility of its leader, the Pope. The protestant church believes that all humans are fallible. There may be other differences, but right now I can't think of any except that the Catholic Church includes the Apocrypha in its Bible whereas the other churches do not.

Answer 3

Well, I guess by your definition, I am technically nondenominational, also, but when I go to church I like to attend Anglican (high church, not low church) services, but the nearest one to me at the moment is St. Mark's & it's a rather long drive. :)

I believe someone else pointed out the differences between the denominations (with his/her own opinion in the mix), but I think every denomination thinks their church is the only "correct" one. The division separates us, and very few of us end up actually doing God's work, as He intended for us.

Answer 4

Protestantism means that faith alone can save a person. This doesn't just meant that "I believe in Jesus so I'm going to Heaven" though. Martin Luther even questioned his own salvation because he believed that God elected people for salvation; however, after salvation the person did nice things. At the time time of the big split, there was a great anxiety that many people had in regard to salvation. In the last few hundred years, though, the attitude has changed to the idea that Christians can bring about their own salvation.

Another big difference is transubstantiation. Catholics believe that communion is Jesus, while Protestant views vary about it being more or less a metaphor or reenactment of the Last Supper. Protestants also don't have a Pope, and their Bible doesn't have the Apocrypha. Protestants feel they can pray directly to God, while Catholics use the Saints as go-betweens because they don't feel it's right to talk directly to God.

Answer 5

I like the list of dates though there is one that is wrong. The Catholic church is not 33ad. Eastern Orthodoxy was the first christian church. Catholic (meaning universal) and apostolic. Catholics are a branch off from Orthodox at the time of the schism. Go ask your priest.

Answer 6

Hi, Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist(Holy Communion), and the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and the infallibility of the Pope when he teaches on matters of faith, Protestants do not believe in these or at least the vast majority do not.

regards .

Answer 7

You should go to church because that is where Gods will is being done.

I am a member of Church of Christ which is non-denom. We believe in no creed but Christ and the power and authority of Scripture. We believe conversion and salvation lies in a person confessing Jesus as lord, repenting of their sins, being baptized in his name, and living a faithful life for him.

Answer 8

The use of the word Catholic was first recorded in the writings of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch and Archbishop of the Syrians. He was trained by Peter and John and ordained by them. He is the third bishop of Antioch. Peter was the first leader of the Church at Antioch. It holds two meanings. First, it means "according to the whole," second, it means "all embracing." It is clear from the writing that it was already well in use and was not some word he added.

To be Catholic is to embrace all. It is religion without denomination. There is more variety of religious expression and experience across the Catholic Church than across all of Protestantism. To be non-denominational is to embrace the best of Christianity. It implies that you are willing to love your brother as yourself even if you do not see eye to eye. That is the reason there are currently 46,000 Protestant denominations. The principal of Protestantism is division not embracing. Though they profess loving one another, the activity you see is continued division. The whole Protestant non-denominational movement is the rejection of that very principal.

The second meaning of Catholic is "according to the whole." This means that a Catholic belief is a belief held by the whole Church across all time. It must be a belief handed down by the apostles in what the New Testament calls paradosis. In English, it is called Apostolic Tradition, which literally means that which was handed on by the apostles. The apostles left letters and books, which we call the New Testaments, services (which are still in use), art (Luke painted), songs, stories, beliefs and a framwork for understanding God and His Life with Man and in Man.

Not all "Catholic" beliefs are Catholic however. An example is the Rosary. It is a particular expression of an ancient form of prayer, but not all Catholics find the Rosary useful. Nor is there a specific fixed form to the Rosary. It changes across time and place and in any city of any size you are likely to find three or four expression in use in the United States. Some of these are used by Protestants, but they do not realize the origin. In Protestantism it is called "centering prayer." Some Catholic beliefs are only locally held, or only held at particular times. These are not Catholic beliefs in the sense they are obligatory beliefs or essential parts of Divine Revelation, rather they are how particular Catholics express or understand their world.

Finally, the books of the bible were chosen by the Catholic Church. Luther, realizing that in rejecting the Catholic Church he was rejecting the authorizing party for the bible (it was Pope Damasus I in 397 who issued the final list of books) decided to rechoose the books. He excluded the books of Revelations, James, Jude and the books now called the Apocrypha. He disagreed with them and more importantly, they disagreed with his beliefs. This is why King James authorized a bible. By claiming the authority as head of the Church, he was authorized to choose which books were in and out since he would not be King if God did not will it and therefore as head of the nation he must be head of the Church by the Divine Right of Kings. Eventually, Lutherans returned the books of James, Jude and Revelations but the Apocrypha fell by the wayside, mostly because the writings held inconveniet texts.

The Catholic and Orthodox Churches are a single Church in schism not separate denominations. Each carry forward the apostolic teachings as they were left to them. The Orthodox tend to favor services written by James and Mark, the Roman Catholics tend to favor the service written by Peter and also that in use by the Gallicans. Eastern Catholics also tend to favor the services written by James and Mark. This is historical accident more than anything else.

The bible alone as a doctrine came about because Luther was well aware that the early Christian writings by the people who were trained and ordained by the apostles and who wrote commentaries on the original intent of the scriptural passages would have rejected Luther and what Luther was trying to do. Luther removed the early framework to the texts in use because this framework was opposed to his point of view. Luther's and for that matter Calvin's views only work if you ignore the Christian writings between scripture and their time period, excepting maybe St. Augustine who heavily influenced both.

Protestantism was useful when it was correcting the sinful issues in the Christianity of its origin. The problem is the Church mostly accepted the criticism and reformed. By that time however, the German princes realized that they could declare a civil war and be exempted from taxes by supporting Luther as an alternative to historical Christianity. One third of all Germans died in that civil war. The war led to other civil wars and inter-nation wars based upon religion and greed. Henry VIII transferred 80% of the land in England into his personal name when he was told he could not divorce his wife because she was bearing daughters. So he started his own religion that supported his divorce and went on a massive land grab to gain the support of nobles.

I am part of the Catholic Church because it still teaches what it taught in the 100's, 300's, 500's, 1000's, 1400's, 1700's and today and does not let the current view alter its stance. There are 46,000 Protestant denominations all of which claim to be the bearer of truth. There is still but one Catholic Church. Protestants change their beliefs at conference. Catholics do not change their beliefs nor do they vote on them. Either Jesus did teach something or he did not. We don't get to move the beliefs to where we want them to be. If we did, the apostles would never be able to recognize the religion.

It does mean the Catholic Church takes archaic stands from time to time because it does not vary its stands from what it perceives would have been held in the apostolic period. On the other hand, what has been considered archaic has depended upon what time period and what location people lived in. The Franks felt the Catholic Church held archaic views, but the issues are on things we would now agree with. So should the Church drift with the winds of change or hold fast to the teachings of the apostles?

The differences are whether or not you believe you can reason out a better religion than the ones the apostles left or if you believe you are not bright enough to do so. It is the position of the Pope's, the Catholic and Orthodox bishops and the Catholic laity that they are not bright enough to do this. It is the Protestant position that God must pick charismatic figures such as Luther, or Calvin, or Miller or Smith to reveal the correct way to and they are permitted to create new ways of practicing the religion because they are bright enough to say "lets try a do over." And then people follow those ideas. And, even though the second coming didn't happen in 1846 as Miller predicted the Millerites are still going strong.

So the question for you is "are you bright enough to invent you own way or should you look at the varieties of ancient expression to enlighten you path to God?"

Answer 9

the only basic differences in any Christian religious belief system and another are the Rituals and Ceremonies which are performed to Adore, Honor, Worship, Pray to and Petition, Thank, Etc. other than these basic differences they are about the same.

Answer 10

Actually, "non-denominational" is a denomination. The true non-denominational Church is the Catholic Church since there were no denominations, only the Catholic Church, until Protestants broke away and invented denominations after the 16th century.

The word "Catholic" means universal. The Catholic Church is called Catholic because it's the Church that spread the gospel to every part of the world.

How Old Is Your Church?

If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex- monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.

If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.

If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560.

If you are a Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.

If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582.

If you are a Methodist, your religion was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.

If you are a Unitarian, Theophilus Lindley founded your church in London in 1774.

If you are a Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, N.Y., in 1829.

If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1605.

If you are of the Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder, because he originated your religion in New York in 1628.

If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865.

If you are a Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.

If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as 'Church of the Nazarene," "Pentecostal Gospel." "Holiness Church," "Pilgrim Holiness Church," "Jehovah's Witnesses," your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past century.

If you are Catholic, you know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ the Son of God, and it is still the same Church.