my girlfriend told me that only cristians go to heaven and that the catholics preach the wrong things...is this true or what? help?
2007-08-23 08:18:04 · 31 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Your girlfriend is an idiot... Catholics ARE Christians.
2007-08-23 08:21:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 24⤊ 3⤋
Oh good grief. Are there still people who don't believe that Catholics are Christians? No wonder the non-Christians here find Christians intolerant and hateful.
Catholics are a type of Christian. They have a long and rich tradition, and though I don't agree with everything the Catholic Church preaches, nor do I agree with everything every Protestant (non-Catholic) church preaches.
Yes--the Catholic Bible has a few extra books in it. So what? It is absolutely not true that Cath.s aren't encouraged to read the Bible. Bible readership among Catholics is growing at a much faster rate than among Evangelical Protestants. It's not true that they don't believe or follow the Bible.
Get a grip, people. Jesus Christ is the key belief for Christianity. That's all that matters. I guarantee you that every one of us believes something that is wrong.
2007-08-23 08:43:25 · answer #2 · answered by Elissa 6 · 8⤊ 0⤋
Greetings. Sorry bud, but your girlfriend is misinformed. Only God knows who goes to heaven. God is also love and mercy, do you think He will forsake people who never had any exposure to Christianity? What about the people who live in remote parts of the world who have never heard of Christ or little babies who die in wars and famine? God will take care of them and like everyone else they will be shown mercy if they so desire it.
All Catholics are Christians, in fact they are the first Christians. I think what your girlfriend is trying to say is that only Protestants go to heaven.
As for what Catholics teach are wrong I have to disagree for the following reasons.
1) The Catholic Church assembled the New Testament and combined it with the Old Testament.
2) The Bible was assembled about 300 years after Jesus ascended to heaven. Before then there was no bible, only traditions taught by Jesus. These traditions are still being taught and practiced by the Catholic Church despite what society says and how they may seem out-dated by our standards.
3) Protestantism started when Martin Luther had an issue with theology and decided to rebel against the Church. He wanted to change the Bible canon to something he agreed with. He took out books he didn't like. The bible had been around for over 1000 years but Luther felt he had the authority to remove sacred writings.
4) Who has the authority and resources to interpret the bible and Christianity in this world? The Catholic Church has been living and studying Christianity since the days of the apostles. The Pope has a committee and one of the largest libraries in the world to study the bible and Christianity. No other Christian institution has such resources available to help in interpretations. Every Catholic deacon, priest, bishop, and cardinal also has a masters and/or Ph.D. degree in theology or related fields.
The Catholic Church has stood the test of time for nearly 2000 years. I think it is very sad that people ignore history and choose only to listen to stuff that they agree with.
I used to support your girlfriend's belief system. But the truth set me free. Do some research on your own, talk to practicing Catholics about what they believe, and let the Holy Spirit guide you. Don't rely solely on the opinions of other Protestants.
There may be thousands of denominations all hating each other, but if we focus on God's teachings and obey the commandments we may find that we have more in common than not.
The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
2007-08-23 10:01:34 · answer #3 · answered by Void Engineer 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Your girlfriend is preaching the wrong things.
Catholics are Christians for one thing; the original Christians. So, if Catholics have it wrong, it is utterly impossible for any other Christian denomination to be right. Remember that.
Second, any Christian will tell you that Jesus is the One Mediator between us and the Father. Correct? Your girlfriend, is saying ANYONE is worthy of salvation and/or ANYONE is not, has just fired Jesus from His Mediating job and made themselves their own "Jesus".
God judges each of us individually. Therefore, we should judge each other individually. Judgements by the group are NEVER accurate. It's possible for Catholics to be saved. It's possible for non-Catholics to be saved.
I hope this has helped.
2007-08-24 04:44:23 · answer #4 · answered by Daver 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Catholicism is the one true Church founded by the Jesus himself, the others branched off from Catholicism because of the personal preference of the person who lead them to do so. It is and will always be the mother Church.
There is truth in Christ and those who state differently are wrong, the Catholic Church is more Christ centered than any other, because Christ is present in the Scripture, the Congregation, the priest and above all in the Eucharist, in body and blood. No other Church other than Catholicism can stake this claim.
Truth is what you make of it and if you are so easily mislead it is because you haven't taken the time to find out the truth on your own.
Own the truth and you shall never be mislead.
God bless and thanks for the question.
2007-08-23 08:44:58 · answer #5 · answered by Perhaps I love you more 4 · 8⤊ 0⤋
No. Jesus himself said that "I am the way the truth and the life. No man goes to the father but by me. What did he mean by that? You must be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you must be born again (filled with the Holy Spirit) read Acts 2:38. That's what he meant when he told Nicodemus you must be born again. A lot of people says yeah, well in Matthew he told the disciples to baptise in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost--he did, but the Disciples knew exaclty what he meant. What is the name of the father? Read Isaiah 42:8. What is the name of the Son? Read Luke 1:31, and what is the name of the Holy Ghost? Read 1 Corinthians 10:4, which again will relate back to Acts 2: 38, also, read Acts 4:12. Hoped I helped.
2016-05-21 01:05:30 · answer #6 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Protestant Christian beliefs were the same for the first 1600 years after Christ, we were ALL Catholic.
Catholics do not believe that only Christians go to heaven.
It sounds like she is going to a radical Protestant church. I was Protestant for 20 years and they did not teach that.
She should seek the truth instead of saying something broad like "Catholics Preach the wrong things" What "things" is she referring to?
All of our beliefs are in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, with the Scriptural backing for them. If she wants to debate, she really should cite specifics and dispute the scripture reference in the Catechism.
Most of the time they prefer to stay in broad generalized bashing though. You don't have to back that up.
Good luck and God Bless you both!
PS. Anyone who thinks a statement like "Catholics preach the wrong things" is INFORMED, is silly!
Once again, we see people saying that we Worship Mary, WE DO NOT! Find it in the Catechism that we consider Mary our Redeemer! Find it ANYWHERE! If you don't know what you are talking about, don't pretend to!
What ever happened to "Thou shall not bear false wittiness"?
Peace!
2007-08-23 08:33:07 · answer #7 · answered by C 7 · 8⤊ 0⤋
Anyone that has His Spirit! The Bible says that we must be born again of the water and of the Spirit to enter into the Kingdom of heaven. When we repent of our sins, are baptized by immersion in the name of Jesus Christ to have those sins washed away, we will be given the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in an unknown language. There are many churchs of many different denominations that are now practicing what the apostles taught! Your girlfriend needs not to be so condemning!
2007-08-23 08:29:39 · answer #8 · answered by michael m 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Catholics do NOT worship Mary, or pray to idols, or pray to the saints.
It is generally acknowleged that souls in heaven can hear our prayers. If it is not wrong to ask your neighbor to pray for you, then why is it wrong to ask a soul in heaven to pray for you?
You may find groups who do seem to worship Mary. Regardless of what individuals may say or do, you must judge the church by what it teaches. The church does not teach that you should worship Mary. Any prayer you may hear directed at Mary is ALWAYS of the form "pray for us."
The so-called "Catholic" bible is substantially identical to the Protestant Bible, except that it has a few more books in the old testament than the Protestants do.
And yes, we are allowed, nay, encouraged to read it and study it at home.
In Matthew 16:15-20 Jesus announced his church, and commissioned Peter as the head. He stated clearly that this church would be eternal. This church was the Catholic church, the ONLY Christian church in the west for 1400 years. Are you saying that his prophesy was false, that the church fell into apostasy? Then you deny Jesus!
2007-08-23 08:56:00 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
Simple answer. Yes.
Informed answer. There are a few things that I can see that are/were in Catholocism that would contradict the message of the Gospel.
Purgatory and being able to pay a priest so that they would pray for the salvation of those in purgatory. A concept that says "you don't need Jesus Christ to go to heaven" which is contradictory to the Bible. I think the pope just did away with the idea of purgatory, but still, this was a practice for a long time.
Worshiping of Mary and making idols of her. Though some may say that the whole Catholic group doesn't worship Mary, I know of groups that do and have seen several others write articles on this very concept. People were worshiping Mary the idol rather than God and Jesus.
These things could blind people from the truth that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father but through Him. If they are blinded and don't accept Jesus as their savior, then they will not make it to heaven.
2007-08-23 08:31:37 · answer #10 · answered by Thomas The Servant 4 · 0⤊ 6⤋
Well, due to the belief that I am Catholic, Cristans are the same as Catholics, just do things in a different way.
2007-08-23 14:13:43 · answer #11 · answered by Sugar Sweete 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋