Are Christians a lil' bit Catholic?

Question

I found, through several sites, that the Roman Catholic Church is the church for Christians. I look up "Roman Catholics" and find "Christianity" link all over the place. My friends said they're the same, and then my teacher says they're not. I'm wondering if I might be part Catholic or not....

Answer 1

The first christian church was the Catholic church started by Saint Peter, a Roman by nationality, and it was started in Rome as a secret society. It took a couple of centuries for the Catholic Church to be accepted as the official religion in Rome and as Rome was ruling Europe it spread to complete Europe. Martin Luther, a German Catholic priest broke away from the Catholic Church by protesting and started a new movement and the followers are called as Protestants. The Church of England was the second Church after the Catholic Church to be established and then their number is Legion. A catholic is a Christian but all christians are not catholics

Answer 2

'In a nutshell', your teacher is correct.

"There will ... be false teachers among you.
These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects... "
--2 Peter 2:1

All the 'Christian' chrches of Christendom are offshoots of the Catholic church. But, it itself did not originate with Christianity. It is a fusion of pagan beliefs & practicces, with Christian names & stories. It is not Bible-based. true Christianity does not incorporate any manmade teachings or practises, & follows the Bible implicitly.

If you want to examine the differences, I highly recommend reading:

"Mankind's Search For God",
a book that gives the basic facts on worldwide religions. Each chapter focuses on only one (or, two if very similar). It covers their early origins, worship, beliefs, practices, & gods. Here is a list of the chapters, &, religions it covers:

1. Why be Interested in Other Religions?;
2. Religion--How Did It Begin?; 3. Mythology;
4. Magic & Spiritism; 5. Hinduism; 6. Buddhism
7. Taoism & Confucianism; 8. Shinto; 9. Judaism;
10. Christianity; 11. Apostasy; 12. Islam; 13. The Reformation 14. Modern Disbelief; 15. A Return to the True God;
16. The True God & Your Future http://watchtower.org/publications/publications_available.htm

Chapters 10, 11, 13, & 15, are the ones you ought to compare to get your answer.

It answers hundreds of questions about the world’s religions. Here is a sampling:
What factors usually determine a person’s religion?
Why is it not wrong to examine other faiths?
What similarities between Roman Catholicism & Buddhism? What role do myths play in many religions?
Why do many people believe magic, spiritism, & astrology?
Who was the Buddha, and what did he teach?
How do we know that Christ is not a myth?
Why do Catholics say that Peter was the first pope?
Why did Catholic priest Luther break away from the Roman Catholic Church?

The questions are almost endless, & this publication packs in the answers. IT is surprisingly small, as it is very concise. Truly unbiased, I keep it handy!
http://www.watchtower.org/publications/publications_available.htm

If you'd rather look at something on-line, let me recommend these 2 for comparison against one another:

What Does God Require?
http://www.watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_00.htm
Unbiblical Doctrines + Ungodly Actions = Not Christian
http://www.watchtower.org/library/pr/article_04.htm

Read The Bible Online
http://asv1901.com/
http://www.watchtower.org/bible/index.htm

Answer 3

Catholics are Christians. Protestants separated themselves from the Catholic church over some doctrinal and ideological issues.

While Catholicism is a Christian religion, not all Christians are Catholic. Catholicism is a Christian sect, just as are Lutherans, Pentecostals and Baptists. All are separate Christian traditions.

Some protestants claim that Catholics are not Christian, but then again many protestants will claim that about other protestants. There is no single Christian tradition that isn't claimed non-Christian by at least one other. That's part of the fighting that makes Christianity seem so unappealing to many.

Answer 4

The Catholic church was the original church began by the apostle Peter who was following Jesus' commandment. The name 'Peter' means 'rock': "...and upon this rock I will build what I must call my church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it." At its beginning, the original church was pure and holy.

As the church grew, the office of the pope was created, and various other offices (cardinals, etc). The church leaders authorized some unusual practices. It became possible to buy pardons for sins from the pope; this meant that the more money you had, the more you could be forgiven for your sins, so you could buy your way to heaven. The church also decided to move the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.

These were some of the things Martin Luther protested against (not Martin Luther King, the black civil rights leader. He was named after Martin Luther). Luther nailed his 47 protestations to a church door to show his disgust and to let everyone else know his opinion. This was the beginning of Protestantism. The invention of the printing press made the spread of Protestantism possible; until then, the only bibles anyone had were handwritten by monks in Latin (now a dead language). Protestant churches include the United Church, the Pentecostals, the Evangelicals, the Baptists, the Lutherans, Anglicans, Mennonites, Amish, Quakers, and any other church you can think of that is not Catholic. All of these churches are Christian including the Catholic church. A Christian church is a church that follows the Gospel of Christ.

The difference is that Catholic churches follow the pope, who is their moral and spiritual leader on earth. He is supposed to be Jesus' representative here on earth. Protestant churches may respect what the pope has to say on matters and may even agree with him (and often do), however they are not bound by any obligation to follow his lead on things.

Answer 5

Catholics are christians. As a simple definition a christian is someone that believes in Christ. And for the rest of you, Roman Catholic was NOT the first christian church. Check your history. Orthodox is the first christian church. Roman Catholics broke off around 1054 ad.

Answer 6

Christianity is based upon the teachings of Jesus, a Jew who lived his life in the Roman province of Palestine. Roman communications networks enabled Christianity to spread quickly throughout the Roman empire and eventually to the rest of Europe, and finally the entire globe.

As time progressed, Christianity divided into three major branches. The Roman Catholic branch of Christianity is the successor of the church established in Rome soon after Christ's death. It traces its spiritual history to the early disciples of Jesus. The Pope, or spiritual leader, traces his office's lineage back to St. Peter, the first Pope, one of Jesus' disciples. Roman Catholicism was originally predominately practiced in Ireland, Poland, France and Spain.

During the fourth century, the Roman Catholic church split and the Eastern Orthodox branch was formed.


The split was primarily a political one due to the division of the Roman Empire into western and eastern components. The two churches became officially separate in 1054. Orthodox churches are largely national, each associated with a particular country. Orthodoxy is common in Russia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, and Armenia.

The Protestant branch split from Roman Catholicism during the Reformation, a sixteenth and seventeenth century series of church reforms in doctrine and practice. This movement challenged the authority of the Pope, and became popular in Scandinavia, England, and the Netherlands. Protestantism eventually divided into many denominations which arose in response to disputes over doctrine, theology, or religious practice. Some of the large denominations today are Lutherans, Methodists and Baptists.

Answer 7

There are many different Christian churches. Anyone who says all Christians are Catholics is a tad confused. You have the Anglican (Church of England) Church (Started by Henry VIII) then there's the Mormon church started by, I believe, Joseph Smith, there's the Methodist church, the Uniting Church, Protestant Church, and so on, and if you told anyone from any of these other churches they were Catholic they'd probably be a little annoyed at being lumped in with the Catholic church, considering most of them split with the Catholic's for some reason.

Answer 8

Maybe we were Catholic when Catholic wasn't cool? All joking aside, the only thing all Christians have in common with Catholic, and they are Christians too, btw, is that we love Jesus and God.

Answer 9

Roman Catholics are Christians but for some reason some people call themselves Christians only...i have no clue why...but if you are a Roman Catholic you are AUTOMATICALLY a Christian because we beleive in Jesus Christ as our Savior, that he dies for our sins and that he is the son of God through Marie

Answer 10

Christianity is a wide category of religions that includes the Catholic religion. But I don't really like to label myself as a Christian. God did not intend for their to be "religion", he put us on this Earth to follow his ways. But humans, being humans, had to make that mean 100 different things lol. So I just like to say I go to an AME church and I have a relationship with God.