type of christian or what?

Question

Hello..

i am a catholic 18 yr old chick, but i'm not , like, truly devoted to it and stuf...
im wat some friends call me, a Liberal Catholic....

well, my question is this.:


how come when i ask a friend what religion he/or she practices, they just say :
"Christian..i'm christian.."

but like, isnt "christian"of way of saying "christianity?"
.or what? is there like a sub-level of christianity that they're saying?..

arr..well, wen they ask me the same question , i answer "catholic"...and THEY answer "christian"...
no, they dont say Lutheran, pentacostal..etc..and so on...
They say "christian"...

so whats da difference? arent they both "christianity"?

im a bit confused..

someone help!


p.s: my aunt has recently mentioned that she converted "christian" but used to be "catholic".... ok?? i dont get it.....

Answer 1

In the beginning, Jesus founded a church. He promised to remain with it forever. Two thousand years later, that church still exists and he is still with it. This is the Catholic Church.

About 500 years ago, some Catholics decided they knew better than all the bishops and popes who had come before them, and decided to make some changes. They said the Catholic Church was wrong about this and about that. Some of them got themselves kicked out of the Catholic Church, and others left on their own, and started new "churches." These were the Protestants (comes from the word "protest", since they were protesting against the Catholic Church).

Lutherans, Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, are all Protestant churches. Their founders were Protestants who, although they agreed the Catholic Church was wrong, could not agree with each other. That's why they founded multiple Protestant churches.

Today, there are literally thousands of churches which broke away from these multiple Protestant churches.

In some of these churches, people think it's wrong to call themselves by the name of their church. They prefer to just call themselves "Christians". In this way, they think they are being more pure or something. They think they have a direct connection with Jesus and only want to identify with him.

In my opinion, it would be better if they called themselves by the name of their church, because that's a quick and easy way for others to know what they believe. If they just say "Christian", we have no way whatsoever of knowing what they believe, because so many Protestant churches disagree with each other on so many things. So in my opinion, you are right, they should just say which church they belong to.

As far as your aunt, she is wrong to say she used to be Catholic but is now Christian, because Catholics are Christians. In fact, Catholics were the first Christians. Without us, there would be no Christians in the world today.

There is such a thing as a non-denominational Christian. This basically means they don't belong to any particular church. They decide for themselves what they want to believe based on what they read in the Bible. Although they all consider themselves "true" Christians, they most often disagree with each other on multiple issues.

Answer 2

Christian is a follower of Christ. It does not matter what church you belong to, as long as you have Jesus in your heart, then you are a Christian. Jesus did not teach religion, but a belief, in Him. You can attend a catholic church and be a born-again Christian. I think it is that when you are a follower of Jesus, it is not the church that you attend that distinguishes you, but just being a Christian. Now if you were to ask them what type of church they attend, they would say Lutheran, Pentecostal, etc. I grew up catholic, and they believe that it is the catholic label that makes one a believer, but you have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior to be a christian.

Answer 3

Hi! I am a Christian and I can see why you are confused. Christianity(not sure if I spelled that right) is when you ask Jesus Christ into your heart to be your personal saviour. You have to have a personal relationship with him. Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship. You have to talk to God, and read His Word so you can get to know him better. You can be Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentacostal, etc, but if you don't know Jesus Christ personaly, you won't get into Heaven. I hope this cleared it up for you!!

Answer 4

The reason you're confused is because we are living in a post-modern, relativistic era. For example, you've probably heard from people, "Christians, Muslims, Jews...they all worship the same God the Father," (not true by the way) or "There are many ways to God, Jesus is just one way," (not true either).

Similar thinking has unfortunately crept into the Church. Many Christians think that theology & doctrine are no longer important. "All that's important," they say, "is that you believe that Jesus died for your sins," or some similar thing. The problem with that thinking is that groups that we know not to be truly Christian (e.g. Church of Jesus Christ of LDS, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, etc.), many times will use that very same terminology.

I am a Confessional Lutheran Christian. I have to use "Confessional" because there is at least one church body who calls themselves Lutheran, but no longer holds to the biblical & historical confessions of the Lutheran Church (either in belief or practice). I have to use the word "Lutheran" because my theology is distinctly & historically Lutheran. I have to use the word "Christian" because as per my own theology concerning the Invisible, Cathlolic (Universal, not Roman Catholic) Church, I know there are those who may not call themselves Lutheran, who nonetheless hold to essential Christian doctrine (that is the Three Ecumenical Creeds--http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=582).

People who insist they are nothing but Christian, are either in denial that there are different doctrines in different denominations (& people are going to hold to those differences); are trying to decieve themselves &/or others into believing there is outward unity in the Invisible, Universal Church, when in reality there is only & ever will be (until the second coming) inward, invisible unity in the Invisible Church; or are just plain ignorant about such differences in doctrine (which I think is increasingly the case). They want to "just all get along" with no other objective reason but to try to manufacture a man-made unity within the Church.

To clear things up for you there are 3 basic sects of Christianity: Orthodox (Eastern or Greek), Roman Catholic, Protestant. The first two church bodies claim that there is no Invisible or Universal Church outside of themselves--that is, salvation comes only through membership in that church. Among Protestants there are many denominations (e.g.Lutheran, Anglican or Episcopalian, Baptist--many so-called non-denominational or inter-denominational church bodies are basically Baptist, Presbyterian or Reform, Methodist, etc.).

As a Confessional Lutheran, I believe that the Lutheran Church or Churches who administer the Word (The Bible: Law & Gospel) & Sacrament (Holy Baptism & Holy Communion) in their purity, are the true *Visible* Christian church. However, because no man knows the heart of each believer, there may be authentic Christians in each of the other Christian denominations as well. To be fair, this could be another reason people say they are "just Christian". But I sincerely doubt it in most cases.

Don't let people fool you into thinking that there are no doctrinal differences between those who call themselves Christian. To get at what they really believe, you'll have to study the history of each denomination & match it up with what they're saying. Increasingly, however, people are picking & choosing what parts of doctrine from which denominations they prefer, just like the world outside of them does with pagan religions. Go figure.

Hope that helps.

Answer 5

Technically Catholicism isn't a religion. Its a denomination. Lutheran, Protestant, Baptist, etc... are all denominations. Christianity is a religion. All Christians believe in the same basic ideas. The difference in denominations are due to different interpretations of the bible and different forms of worship. When someone says they are a Christian, most often it means they are a protestant of some sort.

Answer 6

I am a Christian and am not affiliated with any church. I have nothing against other Christians who are part of a church, but I am not very happy about some of the dogma associated with some churches. I lose no sleep over it - all people of faith will get to the right place eventually. As for myself, I'm just a Christian who tries to follow the example set down by Jesus.

Answer 7

Bleeder,
All Catholics believe that they are following Christ which means they believe that they are Christians but a "special kind of Christian" called Catholics. There are many Denominational Christians who are following their own game plan but still believe they are following Christ even though they do not want to read and study HIS WORD ONLY. I am a Non-Denominational Christian and we attempt to follow what is said in the New Testament exactly as it is written without adding to it or taking from it. Have a wonderful evening.
Thanks,
Eds

I do my best to read, study, and obey HIS WORDS each and every day. We also attend services twice every Sunday and Bible Study mid-week.



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Answer 8

Some fundamentalists will tell you that Catholics are not Christians.
They are wrong.