Christian Denominations?

Question

I know they're pretty much the same, but what's the difference between Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, etc?

Answer 1

They are not pretty much the same.

Catholics are an orthodox religion founded by Jesus. The others that you mention are created by men as a reaction against Catholicism.

While some (like Episcopalian) are very similar, others are very different. For example, most Protestants religions don't believe in transubstantiation. I find this odd, since they take much of the Old Testament literally (while Catholics do not) -- but don't take Jesus literally when he says "This is my body."

There are a lot of other rites of the Catholic Church (like the seven sacraments) that are widely misunderstood by most Protestants.

In addition, the Protestant Bible is missing several books that were taken out of the Catholic Bible -- primarily because the men who founded the various Protestant religions decided that they were not the holy word of God.

Answer 2

I don't have alot of experience with each one, but I can shed a little light... I have a heavy Baptist background, a little Presbyterian, and now I go to a Bible church which is sort of a denomination all of it's own, very much like Baptist. Anyway, all of the ones you named do believe that Jesus is the only son of God and the only way of salvation. Most of the differences are slightly doctrinal (baptism, music, the role of women, and so forth) but none of these believe that the other are any less Christian. Methodist are a little more works oriented (many believe you can lose your salvation by commiting certain sins or backsliding) Baptist and Pres. have 2 or more "sides." The Pres denomination broke off 2 major ways about 9 years ago- one side going very liberal, while the other stayed conservative. The southern Baptists did the same I believe about 11 years ago. Then there are the independant baptists, of which most of them are very conservative (no tv, dancing, women must only wear dresses, King James Bible only) I am not familiar with Episcopalian. The Catholic church prays to the saints, and to Mary- while other denominations only pray to God through the name of Jesus. The catholics also use the catholic bible, which contains several extra books than the Bible the other denominations use. The Lutherans are a branch off the Catholic denomination, but I am not familiar with them either. Hope this helps some.

Answer 3

First, before answering this question, I'd like to address the post by the person whose moniker is "wisdom."

I think you should change your user id to "fool," because your answer was downright stupid & ignorant!!

Back to the question:

The 3 main divisions within Christianity are: Catholic, Protestant, & Orthodox.

The denominations that you mentioned--Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, & Episcopalian all belong to the Protestant denomination.

While all these are Christian, because the Main Authority for their beliefs is Christ Jesus, their disagreements lie where they place their second main authority & third main authority.

Catholic & Orthodox Christianity emphasize the authority of the Church, after that of Christ, & then the Bible.

Most Protestant denominations--with the exception of Episcopalian(AKA Anglican)& possibly Lutheran Christianity, place emphasis on the Bible, & then on their particular Protestant Christian Churches.

Catholic & Orthodox Christianity split in the 10'th century AD.

Protestant Christianity split from Catholic Christianity in the 15'th century AD, starting with the Lutheran Church, & then the Presbyterian Church, Anglican Church, etc.

There, does that help?

Answer 4

It depends if you include the early church, there were quite a few Christian groups back then which would not be considered Christian if they sprang up today (The Gnostic cosmology was radically different on how they viewed the god of Abraham). Most would agree with Jesus as "'son' of 'god'" and 'messiah', but then again, there's some on the edges that don't. The resurrection is also an extremely common belief. Virgin Birth isn't that important. And what "original sin" means varies a great deal. It's a difficult taxonomy. It's like trying to say what's in common between an Reform Judaism, Orthodox Judaism, and Judaism as practiced before King Josiah. If I had to put it into words, I'd say that they all believe that Jesus, a Jewish dude who lived in first century Levant, was uniquely important, divinely so, in forgiving mankind of their flawed nature. I think that covers even the early gnostics. Oh, also he got executed by the government, undesrvingly so.

Answer 5

Here is a really good visual showing the start of Christianity, the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation (Methodist, Preybyterian, Baptist, etc.) and the resulting denominations after separation from the Catholic Church.

http://www.truecatholic.org/grreligions.htm

Although I cannot speak for Protestants, I do know that their particular denominations and names stem from particular religious focus.

http://protestant.christianityinview.com/denominations.html

Answer 6

Christianity is based on Christs teachings of the Gospels. He did not endorse or set platforms for various " denominations."
Man is responsible for that. Thats why there is so much confusion. God is not the author of confusion. Denominations are the creation of humans who rebel against God & who want to serve their own agendas & bogus doctrines ...<><

Answer 7

You might find that there are some pretty big differences. Considering that God looks at us all as individuals, it might be that a good way to test a religion out is to see if it tries to make you addicted to the feel of it, or whether it wants to discuss issues that you are personally interested in.

Answer 8

Why looking for differences? It will only augment the dispute among them.
Better look for similarities and gain peace!

Answer 9

It would take a month of Sundays to answer that question. So I'll just pick one

You should not include Catholic in with these Christian Churches because they are a Cult.

Answer 10

Here: http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/denominations.htm