Why do Catholics and Chrstians want to be called on in the same?

Question

Ive posted quite a bit of questions on R&S and i usually begin my questions with Christians and Catholics blah blah blah?


But, i never get my answer.... all i get is "stop stop Catholics are Christians"
First, Why do you believe this - and elaborate on your answers please.

and let me tell you why i dont think they are the same:
Catholics call Priests "Father"
Matthew 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven

Catholic Church Forbides the priesthood to marry.
Yet almost every Christian Reverend you speak to is usually married.

Catholics "idolize" Mary as well as 5,000 other saints
"god" tells us not to have false idols yes?
Christians do you idolize mary and saints? ... no i didnt think so

As an atheist, im a little confused, just because you believe in Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible...... you are the same?

Even though you practice differently and have different beliefs....?

Umm "CJ" you should please READ the question before you answer....because it clearly states that i am an Atheist.

Candace it is not called the Roman Christian Catholic Church.


"Roman Catholic Church"

Answer 1

Most non-Catholic Christian denominations accept Catholics as Christians. A very few do not.

A dictionary would say that a Christian is someone professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.

Catholics would fit this definition.

In the Nicene creed, from 325 A.D., Catholics profess:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.

Through Him all things were made.

For us and our salvation He came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried.

On the third day He rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are baptized as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:19, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

We truly are spiritually "born again," we just don't usually use those words.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I think what you're seeing is a lot of anti-Catholic propraganda. The scriptures you quoted are misinterpretations by the protestants. A study of Catholic history and teaching will show this.

Calling priests "father": Jesus was talking about giving the reverence due to God to men, which is wrong. This would be akin to worship. The use of "father" is nothing more than a term of affection, endearment. It's no different than if I said "teacher", or "master", which are all forms of the word "father".

"Idolize" Mary: Protestants claim we idolize Mary and the saints when we pray to them. There are many errors with this reasoning. First, not all prayer is worship prayer. If I ask God for help or advice, that's not worship prayer; it's request prayer. Worship prayer is what you would see at Sunday Mass.

Catholics know that the holy saints in heaven are our family members, no different than our family members here on earth. I ask my family here to pray for me all the time, so it's not that difficult for me to ask the same things of my family in heaven. It really is as simple as that.

In general catholics share a common ground with protestants because we are both Christian. The doctrinal differences you see are because of differences in biblical interpretation. Note: even though there is a line drawn in the sand between protestants and catholics, there are thousands more between just the protestants. You see, not all protestants believe the same things are each other either. Notice the different protestant denominations - baptist, lutheran, anglican, mormon, church of christ, etc. They don't agree with each other, much less catholics.

Why so many divisions?

It gets to the root of protestantism: a rejection of the authority of the Catholic Church. There are 54,000 different protestant denominations because of one simple fact - different personal interpretations of the same bible. How is anyone supposed to learn the truth of Christ among so much confusion?

These insights point to the true, God-given authority of the Catholic Church. I know this because I used to be protestant. After much study and prayer, I converted to God's true Church, the Catholic Church, and have been home ever since.

Go here to learn more: www.catholic.com. Click on the links; the articles are very helpful.

God bless.

Answer 3

You got your facts right, but wrong analogy and conclussion and not all christians are catholics!
I for one is a Christian, but I don't believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is God, but he is a man that is perfect upon the eyes of God and that we should follow his footsep in order to be in the grace of God.And if Jesus is God then he is a liar buy their teaching because when the Lord was on the cross he shouted "My God, My God, why has though forsaken me?" when he could have said " My self, My self, why have i forsaken myself?" and why did he needed to pray before he was arrested and said "let Thy will be done and not mine"
Every denomination of Christian has different beliefs, one thing is the crucifix, the catholics, would have a figure of a man hanging in the cross, the baptist however, would have the cross but no man hanging. Church of Christ, do not believe in the crucifix at all, they do not worship or revere mary or any saints, for they plainly believe what the Lord had said, " No one commeth to the Father but by me"
So not all Christians are catholics, and only catholics forbids priest from marrying, I can therefore tell you that the Jesus that the Catholic church is preaching is different from the other Christians teachings and doctrines. Not all trucks Ford, ther is silverado by chevy, dodge ram, gmc, etc.

Answer 4

Christianity is the name of the WHOLE religion.

Catholics are just a denomination of Christianity.

An couple of examples would be . . .
1) I am a Christian Baptist
2) I am a Christian Catholic
3) I am a Christian Lutheran
4) I am a Christian Protestant

These are all denominations of Christianity which hold DIFFERENT beliefs about Christianity. While Christianity is the name of the whole religion, the religion of Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible. Although Catholics are found to be hypocrits when it comes to the teachings of the Bible they are still viewed as Christians because they believe in Jesus Christ as the savior.

The world view of what a REAL Christian is has changed alot. Real Christians right after Jesus where called Christians because it was said that they looked and acted like Christ. But, these days it seems like Christian just means that you believe in Christ, you do not necessarily act like him.

This is the reason why I refrain from calling myself a Christian, Because I believe in Jesus Christ but I do not act like Jesus.

Hope you understand. :)

PS. If you are a REAL Christian you pray to no one except for God this would mean : no saints, no Mary, no one but God. And I agree with REV R's statement.

AND TO YOU, MAYBE YOU SHOULD READ YOUR ANSWERS BECAUSE I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT A ROMAN CHRISTIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND MY NAME IS SPELLED CANDICE! HAVE A NICE NIGHT. :)

Answer 5

I'm an atheist, too, but I grew up Roman Catholic.

First of all, Mary and the saints are not divine beings. You can pray to them, but they just sort of, I guess, relay the message to God.

Catholic priests aren't supposed to marry because, as a priest, you are devoted fully to Jesus Christ. I guess you could kind of say they're married to God.

Last, and certainly not least, Catholics believe in Jesus Christ. Therefore, they are Christians.

A lot of conservative Christians argue against this for the same exact misperceived reasons you posted.

I hope this helps. :)

~Carol

Answer 6

Catholics are Christians because they believe in God and Jesus and I am not going to repeat about Mary and the Saints and also calling the Priest Father because this question gets asked everyday and you would not believe me anyway

Answer 7

I am sorry but it is NOT the same...Christian means to follow Christ.

Not follow man, or traditions.

You can not be a Christian and follow Man's rules, Man's traditions....You can not put anyone or anything equel to or above God.

You can not pray to anyone or anything other than God in the name of Jesus (I know, some will say they do not pray to the saints or mary but if someone is dead and is spiritual and you try to talk to them THAT IS PRAYER!)

God does not change, yet everytime there is a new Pope, rules change and teachings change.

Sorry but facts are facts-and the same holds true for any other denomination that does the same thing,
I am not coming down on Catholics I believe there are many God fearing people there but they have been taught the wrong things just as many from other denominations have.

By the way someone above me said that the term Reverend was not Catholic (I THINK REVEREND MOTHER, THE RITE REVEREND "NAME GOES HERE" AND REVEREND FATHER WOULD DISAGREE WITH HIM)

Answer 8

Because Catholics are Christians. We believe that Jesus is God, and we worship Him. We do not idolize. If you think we think of Mary and the saints as equivalent to God, someone lied to you. If you don't believe in any of it, why do you care what we call ourselves? It's clear you're confused.

Answer 9

your confusion is understandable. Unfortunately, because man has gotten a hold of God's word and twisted and made it into something he likes - folks have a hard time knowing what to believe. Just know that Jesus Christ was a simple
( not dumb ) man. His only purpose on this earth was to call men to God - he wanted and still wants men and women to know His Father as He knows Him. I'm so thankful that God is not the author of confusion - man and with the help of satan- have confused God's simply perfect plan of salvation.
I think the term Christian is loosely used in today's society -
I want to be a 'child of God' not what the 'world' calls a Christian. Thank you for asking - if your question is from a true desire to know - then God will reveal a little at a time to you. I truly hope and pray that is the case. :)

Answer 10

believe or not the Catholic church is on of two original churches following the teaching of Jesus. the other is, as you might know the orthodox church. all the rest are derivates from several protestant and potestant -like heretics :) not to talk of the "modern" churches that resemble the sects.
so answer to your question is: yes, catholic is christian. vice versa it shall not work. not all christians are Catholic.

btw "every christian reverend" is merely an american term, in catholic europe there are no reverends and so there are none in the catholic lands of influence.. So showing "every.. reverend" like majority is something like saying "every white elepahnt" ...reverend is word more or less related to the protestant church,yet even more with the American branch. I guess in Britain there are no reverends, too.

me: atheist grown in a country with catholic past and originating one of the protestant churches in the 15th century.
That church refused any relay between God and human, refused any hierarchy wiithin church. Its preachers were men of arms, they could marry, too.
Anyway that church wasn't ideal, cause it was something like todays Taleban, they were quiet puritans and devasted many church buidings and killed monks of the Catholic. Christians killing Christians. several crusades were launched against them, and some 15 years from the sart of that movement its units went fighting each other and eventually dispersed. Their Ideas influenced Martin Luther, German reformer of the church in the 16th century..