big question for christians?

Question

I heard that catholic is a part of christianity but then again isn't. Same goes for baptist, pentacostal, etc. Christians all have the same concept.. like they all believe in the one holy Jesus Christ. but every branch of christianity has its on beliefs. am i right?

Answer 1

You are right, you pretty much answered your own question. But Catholicism IS a branch of Christian belief. Anyone who worships Jesus are called Christians.

Answer 2

I am no longer Christian so maybe I can answer this with some objectivity.

Catholics and the Orthodox still hold the same beliefs they did when the apostles lived. The reason they look so strange to Protestants is that their beliefs are stuck in the first century. They are the most biblical and the most conforming to ancient practice of all groups.

Protestants and Baptists on the other hand acquired their beliefs from people, primarily in the sixteenth century. Although some groups are just forming now. Each of these groups seems trapped in their founding time period with at least echoes of the sixteenth century. They are also Christians, they just look very different and if you read the writings of the other first century Christians then they look so different they would have been mostly unrecognizable to them.

While Catholics and Orthodox have held on to the early beliefs. Protestants have not. Some Protestants believe in baptism while some do not, some believe in bishops while some do not, some believe in male ministers only and some do not, some believe you must handle poisonous snakes to be save while most do not, some believe you must speak in tongues while most do not, some believe the service should be totally silent while some have reverential services and others have loud boisterous services, some believe your feet must be washed for salvation and some do not, some believe in communion and some do not, some believe marriage is from God and some do not, some use sixty six books in their bible while others use seventy three and for a while there some only used sixty three (Luther excluded James, Jude and Revelations), some believe in the laying on of hands and some do not, some believe in deacons and some do not, some use the bible extensively in the service like Catholics and Orthodox and some never once read a verse, some believe the truth is immutable and some change it at every conference vote, some believe their own group is the only group that will be saved and others do not, some believe in gay marriage and some do not, some believe in tradition (such as the Methodists) and some do not, some believe you must sing without instruments other do not and so forth

What differs is that there are no boundaries on what a Protestant believes even if the apostles themselves would have condemned it. Protestants tend to follow the beliefs of their founders, whomever they might be. The only agreement they really share is that they are the reformed true church and the Catholic Church is wrong.

I believe that all, except Unitarians, Jehovahs Witnesses and Mormons and a few odd groups here and there are Christians. You do get a few strange groups like the Shakers who believed Jesus came back as a woman and the second coming already happened. I do not think they count as they are all way to far from anything that looks Christian.

Answer 3

The difference is that many denominations (baptist, pentecostal, Methodists, etc) would agree on the basics, like that salvation is through grace alone, not works. While they may differ in details, many of them would agree other denominations are Christians, because they share the same basic beliefs (which include that the Bible is the final authority). Catholics do not think the Bible is the only authority, therefore the have got some unbiblical teachings.And think salvation is through works, not only faith.

Same to groups like Jehovah's witnesses, for instance; they don't share beliefs and think only they have the truth.

Answer 4

The Catholic Church was the founding Christian Church. It IS the definition of original Christianity. It is not "just a part of" Christianity, it's the original. There were no Jews left at that time in the movement, due to the idolatry (to Jews) that was being taught such as Jesus being born of a god and a virgin, being a god-man who must be worshipped, even turning God into a man, etc. All of these came from the surrounding pagan communities and Paul adopted these concepts to make Christianity more appealing to the pagans he was trying to convert. He says so, in the New Testament.

Protestantism came along much, much later when Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic Church and started the new branch which was called Protestant. This today is all the baptists, lutherans, methodists, etc. They all kept the paganism that the Church adopted when Paul was going around preaching to the pagans trying to get them to convert to Christianity.

So for one branch to point fingers at the other and call "you're not a real Christian you're pagan!" is extremely stupid, since they all are, actually. Yet we see it happen all the time.

Answer 5

Since almost the beginning of the Christian Religion nearly 2000 years ago, there have been different "sects" (or groups) that argued about the details of Christian belief, such as, is Jesus truly God or just a person like all of us? The main thing that makes them all "Christians" is that they believe that Jesus is important and wish to follow his teachings in the way they think is right. Unfortunately, these differences in the details of what they believe have led them to extreme violence at times, killing and torturing people just because they believe differently.

The recent war between the two countries of Ireland and Northern Ireland was often referred to as a war between Catholics and Protestants, even though Catholic and Protestant religious leaders in those countries often appeared publicly together to call for and end to the violence. So it is still a problem in today's world.

Similar things happen in other religions. For example Islamic people known as "Shiite Muslims" and other Islamic people known as "Sunni Muslims" are even now killing each other over religion in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. So the problem is not confined to Christians.

When you look more closely at the problem, however, you will find that the killing and violence is really often about politics in places where the Church and the Government are intertwined, so that religion is an instrument of the state. In a country like the United States where our Constitution specifies that churches and the government are to be separate, such disagreements rarely go beyond words -- "Mormons aren't real Christians" or "The Pope is the Anti-Christ."

Just last week the Pope issued an official statement about how Catholics define what a "church" is, in which he said Protestant churches such as Baptists and Presbyterians are not real churches, and that they "suffer from defects." This has angered people all over the world. See for example a newspaper article in the International Herald Tribune, (which is published in Switzerland): http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/11/news/pope.php -- if you go to Yahoo news and search << pope protestants >> you will see hundreds of other articles about it: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=pope+protestants

I think it's just fine for people of one church to talk among themselves, in their schools, universities, homes, over a beer at the pub, or whatever, and decide what they believe. And if they differ so much about things they personally feel are so important that they can no longer stay in the same church, then it certainly is their right to leave and start their own church. It's terribly sad however when they spend time and energy judging other people's beliefs, telling them they are going to Hell for believing the wrong thing, or worse, inflicting violence on them. There are many serious problems in the world such as hunger and poverty, and wasting time judging what other people believe religiously in their heart is an unfortunate way to live, when that same time and energy could be better spent helping people in need.

I hope this answers your question.

Answer 6

Basically a christian is one who believes Jesus Christ is perfect and committed no sin whilst on earth. They believe He loves us all. Christians believe He died on the cross for our sins. He had to die because man is a sinner and cannot stand before a Holy God. So the only way this could happen was thru a perfect sacrifice and that was Jesus Christ. Christians believe He died and on the 3rd day arose. Today He is in heaven and will one day return to take his own. These are the fundamental basis of the christian faith.

However denominations have come because of different interpretations of scripture like:
1)should one consume alcohol or not?
2)Should we go to church on sunday or saturday?
3)How should we dress?
4)Should we be involved in politics?
5) What is the correct way to baptize?
6) Should we all speak in tongues?

These and other reasons have led to the different denominations.

Answer 7

Hello,

These are all personal opinions and though all believe Christ is the son of God and the messiah who came to redeem us, there are different theologies or ideas on how this is achieved, As mentioned the Catholics and quite a few other sects believe that you need faith and good works for salvation wheras others think only belief and faith alone are good enough. These debateas and arguments have been an on going thing for 500 years and I expect they'll continue for another 500. Nevertheless all parties are Christian by definition and criteria.


Michael Kelly

Answer 8

Well not exactly, but close to it. It would be better to say that they each emphasize different things. The Catholics for instance emphasize communion. The Pentecostal church emphasizes speaking in tongues. Others emphasize the need for baptism. Some churches emphasize salvation by God's grace alone. Other churches emphasize the need to do good works.

However sometimes these churches take it to an extreme. They say you MUST have communion to be a Christian. Then there are certain sub-denominations, some say you must take wine and bread, and these things are TRULY and LITERALLY the blood and body of Christ, and if you believe it is only a "symbol" then you are not a true Christian, even if you partake in the eating of the bread and wine (or juice). Others say, "If you are not baptized, you are not a Christian" and sub-denominations say, "You MUST be fully dunked under water" and others say, "Sprinkling is okay as well".

Answer 9

I am a orthodox christian. You are right except for a the part where you said Catholic is defenitely a part of christianity. The only reason why it seems it isn't a part of christianity is because they worship Christ in a more different way. All these branches are united in christianity because they all worship one true God. All the branches are seperated because of the WAY of worship! Some things are clearly right or wrong. Some things depends on what YOU think is right like eating meat.
hope I helped and very VERY good question!

Answer 10

Christian - someone who believes that Jesus was the son of God and died so that we might gain eternal life. That's a pretty decent (but simple) definition of a Christian. The RCC definitely falls into this category.

The primary reason sects are created is that each of the founders of these sects was firmly convinced that 1) the church they had been a member of was inaccurate in its teachings and therefore was leading people astray 2) they knew the correct teachings and therefore could lead people on "the right path". The second reason sects are created is that there's a lot of money and/or power in running your own sect (Jim Bakker's PTL, for example).

So, yes, as in (nearly?) all major religions, there are several sects. There are several sects of Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, just to name a few. Christianity did not invent sectarianism. There just happens to be a lot of Christians living in a lot of very free-thinking societies.

Jim

Answer 11

Yes, over the course of 2000 years, many different historical events happened which caused people to break off into different groups. It happens in all religions and in nation-building, politics, race, cultures, etc.

Basically there were divisions about Christian doctrines, for example is Christ God or just the son of God? Should Jewish Christians still practice Jewish customs? What is the correct way to preach the gospel,etc etc. These divisions gained momentum and different leaders rose up to represent these specific beliefs, or opposition to these beliefs. People followed the leaders, and eventually formed unified, codefied churches.

It's sad but it's the nature of human beings -- our hearts are divided, especially about God.