whats the difference between a christian and a catholic?

Question

i am sso confused. this woman from a christian church told me that christians only believe in jesus christ and not mary the virgin and that catholics believe in god, jesus, and the holy spirit. and that catholics have to tell the father of the church their sins so that he can tell jesus. but christians can pray by themselves?????

i believe in god, jesus, mary the virgin, and the holy spirit. i also prefer to pray to the lord to forgive me of my sins. what would that make me????

thankyou!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Catholics are christians, but differ in the fact that catholics pray to saints and the virgin mary. There is also a bunch of different rituals as well. If you haven't been batpized in the catholic church, and gone through confirmation, you aren't catholic. you are christian.. some sort of protestant (christian other than catholic). it depends on what chruch you identify with. you could be Luthern, Baptist... etc.

Answer 2

Catholics are Christians, christian means a belief in Christ. I used to go to a Catholic Church and now I go to a christian church, so I had to learn all the differences between the worship as well. As a catholic, you believe the virgin Mary is a saint, and should be prayed to [hail Mary]
Christians however don't recognize saints, and they don't pray to Mary. Catholics and Christians both believe in God, Jesus, and the Holy spirit. Catholics believe that you should tell a priest your sins, however as a christian, you confess to God alone, because of the verse in the bible, that says confess to God alone.

Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins?
Have you accepted that you are a sinner?
Do you realized that God love your , and you believe and accept him? Then you are a christian
I believe that the virgin Mary is the mother of god, however I do not pray to her. I only pray to God.

Hope this helps
God Bless.

PS. try going to a few Churches and see the one you like the most, to help you develop your faith.

Answer 3

Christianity is a religion that accepts Christ as the son of God. It is that simple. There are some very pompous people who feel that they have all the answers, while the rest of the population is walking around in ignorance. They will tell you that you have to believe in all kinds of extraneous things in order to be a True Christian, because that is what their particular church tells them. Because they are inflexible and judgmental, they have the audacity to decree those they think are Christian and those who are not . News Flash: Catholics are the ORIGINAL Christians. They were around hundreds of years before any Protestant group was ever formed, and their early leaders were originally Catholic. Martin Luther, for example, was originally a Catholic priest! He took issue with some things going on in the church and began a reformation movement. That doesn't mean that the Catholics weren't Christian----only that they had flaws, as does any church, if you are honest about it.

I think it is awful when someone tells another person whether or not they are who they profess to be. If a person claims to be a Christian, I will respect their profession of faith enough not to question it.

Answer 4

In today's day and age, a lot of emphasis is put on religion, and Christianity in particular. There seem to be either those who believe it to be something not to be followed, or those who believe it to be something followed strictly to the letter. I don't think you should worry too much about what you "are" -- you believe in God and in Jesus; that's enough to qualify you as spiritual, which is to me the most important thing.

I personally was born and raised as a Catholic; I believe in the Holy Trinity and in Mary the Virgin Mother of God; I have statues of the saints in my parish; and I was taught to confess my sins inside a closed confessional booth to my priest prior to doing my penance. This last thing I have not done in many years -- I pray to God instead on my own for forgiveness, just as you do.

But Catholicism is just one of several divisions of Christianity; the others are Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism, which includes further divisions such as the Lutherans; Presbyterians; Baptists; Methodists; the Church of England; and Nazarenes, as well as some others.

Each separate sect has its own system of beliefs (otherwise, why have so many different branches of a religion?) but regardless of which of these a person is, all Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God and the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament, and they see the New Testament as the record of the Gospel that was revealed by Jesus. Christians also all believe in certain foundational aspects, including the following:

1) Jesus the Christ:
This much is self-explanatory. All Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God.

2) The Death & Resurrection of Jesus:
Christians consider the resurrection of Jesus to be the cornerstone of their faith and the most important event in human history.

3) Salvation:
Christians believe salvation is a gift by means of the unmerited grace of God and that through faith in Jesus, one can be saved from sin and eternal death. The crucifixion of Jesus is explained as an atoning sacrifice, which "takes away the sins of the world". One's reception of salvation is related to justification.

4) The Trinity:
Belief in the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit is expressed as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which describes the single Divine substance existing as three distinct and inseparable persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ the eternal Word), and the Holy Spirit. According to this doctrine, God is not divided in the sense that each person has a third of the whole; rather, each person is considered to be fully God.

5) Scripture:
Christianity regards the Holy Bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts (the Old Testament and the New Testament) as authoritative -- written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and therefore the inerrant Word of God.

6) Afterlife & Eschaton:
Most Christians believe that upon bodily death the soul experiences the particular judgment and is either rewarded with eternal heaven or condemned to an eternal hell. The elect are called "saints" (Latin sanctus: "holy") and the process of being made holy is called sanctification. Furthermore, at the last coming of Christ (the eschaton or end of time) all who have died will be resurrected bodily from the dead for the Last Judgement, whereupon Jesus will fully establish the Kingdom of God in fulfillment of scriptural prophecies.

Answer 5

Before there were Catholics, there was something called the Early Church.
The Early Church was the closest thing to the way Church was supposed to be.
The best place to read about the Early Church is to Get a New International Version (NIV Bible) and read the entire Book of ACTS, then decide what type of church you should belong to.


I personally believe that Churches should not have Buildings. In my opinion, and apparently I'm alone of this I believe that both Catholics and Evangelicals(aka "true Christians") should get rid of having chruch buildings and focus on feeding the poor and helping the sick.

(((The Early Church did not need a permanent building with an electrict bill and a mortgage payment and grounds keeping and plumbing problems and hot-dog socials, and swim parties, and carnivals and on and on and on.)))

Answer 6

Many people believe that Catholics are not Christians. Many of those people are Protestant or another denomination of Christianity other than Catholic.

I believe in the virgin Mary but I don't pray to her. I believe that she is a great woman and better than I will ever be. She deserves respect and honor. But she doesn't deserve my prayers. Many Catholics pray to the virgin Mary, they also use their rosary beads to pray people out of hell. I don't believe in saints and all that. I also don't believe in the idea of what the pope is, I believe he is human just as me. Also the Vatican is one of the richest cities in the world, yet there are thousands of poor Catholic children who are forced out of their homes every year because their family can't afford to take care of them. This is due to the no contraception rule. Those children could be helped if the pope wanted to help but he sits on his lily white butt and prays, yet doesn't move into action. These types of things frustrate Christians of other denominations that believe in action as well as prayer.

But I do think Catholics are Christians. I think there are a lot more Catholics that are among the nonbelievers than any other Christian religion too. Many people who are atheist now claim to have been brought up Catholic.

Another problem I have with Catholicism is that it seems there is no room for god, after all the rules and regulations about church service, nevertheless life, it seems that those people worship rules more than God.

Answer 7

Catholicism and Christianity are not the same religion.Most people have a tendency to think and say that they are the same.Catholicism is not the branch of Christianity.It is another religion.There are Christians,Roman Catholics, Independents, protestants, Orthodox and Anglicans.These are the 6 chief/important 'religions' that worship the Christian God or Jesus Christ or both.I don't know much about other religions I only know about Catholicism.So it's not easy to point out the real differences.

Answer 8

christians believe in Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, but christians do not worship or pray to the Mary (i think that catholics do, but not sure). christians pray to God and ask forgiveness for their sins. God hears all of our prayers, not just when we ask forgiveness.

Answer 9

Well all Catholics are Christians...... "We follow the teachings of Christ"

We believe that we go to confession because the bible says
James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to one another that you may be healed"

When we go to a priest he not only represents God in confession he also represents the Body of the church which is part of the body of Christ. When we sin we cause a wound to open up. Would you want to stand in front of the church and confess your sins to everyone?

We we go to confession we receive "Grace" (Spiritual Gift) from God and we truly know we are healed by his stripes that he endured on the cross. It not something we like to do but it is something we should do.

When we go to confession we are given a clean slate that we may be a tabernacle for the body and blood of Jesus which we are to recieve without blemish each time we go to Mass.

Remembe the Saints our our friends they are people who have gone before us. The Virgin Mary is not only the Mother of Jesus she is also a saint. When you pray to them it is like asking a friend to pray for you to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit also.
Remember there is no time in the bible when Mary told Jesus to do something and he didn't. The Wedding at Cana is a good example of this.

May I also suggest a book called Catholic Answers to Fundalmenlist questions (Amazon.com used are really cheap)

Just remember that Protestant churches (anything other than Catholic) do not posses the true body and blood of Chirst. They perform communion as a "symbol" of what actually took place the on Holy Thursday night. We live the sacrafice over and over again each time we go to Mass.

I will pray for you and pray that the Holy Spirit will bring you understanding. Remember stand strong in your faith... for there is only one God, One Church and One Truth....

Answer 10

Catholics are are sect of the Christian faith. Because they have limited the move of the Holy Spirit they tend to trust in the power and rules of man rather than the power and freedom of God. They put much emphasis on non essential truths but do believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ .