why do catholics call themselves christians when they dont follow the bible (without the apocrypha)?

Answer 1

Christian is a name derived from that of Christ himself.

The name refers to all those who have been anointed through the gift of the Holy Spirit in Baptism; hence, the followers of Christ, the members of the Christian Church.

According to Acts 11:26 "it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians."

Mary and Joseph believed that Jesus was the Messiah even before He was born. They were the first Christians and probably never saw or read any of the written Gospels.

+ Sources of Doctrine +

I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you. (1 Corinthians 11:2)

The Catholic Church does not use Holy Scripture as the only basis of doctrine. It could not. The early Catholic church existed before and during the time that the New Testament was written (by Catholics).

There were hundreds of Christian writings during the first and second centuries. Which New Testament writings would become official was not fully decided until about 400 AD.

Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church (and is guiding the church today) to make the correct choices about things like:
+ The Holy Trinity (which is also only hinted at in the Bible)
+ Going to church on Sunday instead of Saturday (which is actually directly against one of the Ten Commandments)
+ The Communion of Saints
+ Which writings include in the New Testament?

Things that are even more modern like
+ Slavery is bad. Slavery is never declared evil in the Bible. This was one of the justifications for slavery in the Confederate States.
+ Democracy is good. The Bible states that either God should be the leader of the nation like Israel before the kings or kings should be the leader, "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's." This was talked about a lot during the American Revolution.

This second source of doctrine is called Apostolic Tradition.

Do Christians who do not allow the continuing guiding force of the Holy Spirit to make their beliefs more and more perfect, still endorse slavery as Colossians 3:22 commands, "Slaves, obey your human masters in everything"?

Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. (1 Corinthians 11:2)

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I don't know how you arrived at those conclusions but they are all wrong.

Catholics were the first Christians and still are the biggest Christian denomination on earth. The definition of Christian is one who follows the teaching of Christ. Catholic doctrine is rooted in the teachings of Jesus.

About the apocrypha. Before Martin Luther there was only one Bible - the Catholic Bible as we know it today. But after the Protestant reformation, Luther removed the books which you now refer to as apocrypha.

You can check all these at Wiki or any non-denominational encyclopedia and it will tell you that what I am telling you is the truth.

Peace and every blessing!

Answer 3

Hasn't the Catholic Church successfully defended and shown that all it's teachings are Bible based and Christ centered for the last 2000 years?

As for tradition, they ARE backed by the Bible, even Holy Communion, Confession, etc, are Bible backed and the Catholic Church has shown this thru the Bible and sacred scripture.

How can you say we do not follow the Bible when , when some of the Christ's Apostles, who were the first leaders of the Catholic Church wrote part of it?

Answer 4

Christians are all those that follow the guidelines of the so called new testament.
As a non practicing catholic I've read the bible, mostly the historic books Kings, Joshuah, Chronics, etc and found very interesting. I haven't read the prophetic books because they are boring and full of lies, can you believe in the book of Jonas? but I found interesting a couple of essays like Esther (both versions) Judith and Tobit (apocryphal). If you want consider yourself a christian, read and follow the Gospel after Mark, and discard John, is full of lies
Apocalypse seems to have been written by somebody that smoked some weed or ate some mushrooms.

Answer 5

Catholics DO follow the Bible. No Tradition currently practiced by Catholics is contradicted by the bible.

What part of the bible do Catholics not follow?

The definition of the word "Christian" is a person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, who died, was resurrected, ascended into Heaven and by doing so, provided salvation for the world. Catholics believe that. What part of this do you think Catholics reject?

Answer 6

Christians ...... People who follow Jesus Christ's Teaching.

Catholics .... They follows Jesus Christ's Teaching, at least from the bible or their recognised version, which is largely similar to the rest of the denominations.

In fact, if there are people who aren't fit to be called christians, are those who interpret the bible as it suits them. Protestants claims they are true christians as they are learning the truth from bible are in fact deviating away from the book, most just use what they think of the bible and twist the words to suit their needs.

If Protestants think catholics are wrong to praise Mary, mother of James, think again. If you had been to any catholic mass you should know they said "Praise Mary, mother of Christ", "Praise Jesus, the messiah, saviour, you had ....... bla bla bla". So, what is wrong with them praising the mother of christ? They are not worshipping as per say, just praising the woman for given birth to christ. They also stress that JC is the only way to god, they praise mary for bringing jesus christ to earth so human can be saved. They also stress what JC had said about the bread and the wine and through him christian will be going to heaven.

It is definitely better then some which starts to weep and shout, or start to speak garbage, or start to act like schizo and say "Yes god, I hear you god. I am sorry, I will inform them god" .... Christians?


note : each denomination has some difference between bibles, hence you cannot really fault catholics for that.

I am not a Catholic, nor a Christian.......

Answer 7

The Catholic church from the beginning had the enormous task of sorting out what was the word of God from what was not,many of the early Gospels and other hidden writings were in fact the product of the `Gnostic sects` and therefore not authentic scripture,we can call ourselves Christian because we believe and follow the Gospel of our Lord and Savior,Jesus Christ as handed down by the Apostles and taught by the Catholic church since early times.

Answer 8

Christian is someone who believes in Christ. Full stop.
Literally believing in the Bible, as such, is certainly not a catholic feature. We believe in what is contained in the New testanment. The Old testament is a collection of books of non-christian content.

Answer 9

If it wasn't for the Catholic Church and tradition, you would not have the Bible or be able to ask this question. Think about it!

Answer 10

Because they have similar believe and their religion is based on the teachings of Jesus and they to follow the bible