Are Roman Catholics are Christians? Or Christ followers?

Question

If Roman Catholics are Christians, then why they have many other man-made traditions and doctrines?

For to be called a Christian means: a disciple, a believer, and a follower of Christ Jesus, Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Joh 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Answer 1

+ Are Catholics Christians? +

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 C.E., 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.

For a complete description of what Catholics believe, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/index.htm

+ Holy Tradition +

I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. (John 16:12-13)

The Catholic Church does not use Holy Scripture as the only basis of doctrine. It could not. The early Catholic church existed before and during the time that the New Testament was written (by Catholics).

There were hundreds of Christian writings during the first and second centuries. Which New Testament writings would become official was not fully decided until about 400 C.E.

Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church (and is guiding the church today) to make the correct choices about things like:
+ The Holy Trinity (which is also only hinted at in the Bible)
+ Going to church on Sunday instead of Saturday (which is actually directly against one of the Ten Commandments)
+ The Communion of Saints
+ Which writings include in the New Testament?

Things that are even more modern like
+ Slavery is bad. Slavery is never declared evil in the Bible. This was one of the justifications for slavery in the Confederate States.
+ Democracy is good. The Bible states that either God should be the leader of the nation like Israel before the kings or kings should be the leader, "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's." This was talked about a lot during the American Revolution.

This second source of doctrine is called Apostolic Tradition.

Do Christians who do not allow the continuing guiding force of the Holy Spirit to make their beliefs more and more perfect, still endorse slavery as Colossians 3:22 commands, "Slaves, obey your human masters in everything"?

Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

We instruct you, brothers, in the name of (our) Lord Jesus Christ,to shun any brother who conducts himself in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us. (2 Thessalonians 3:6)

I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you. (1 Corinthians 11:2)

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect1chpt2.htm#80

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 2

It is interesting to read how poorly informed the Catholics are in the group. No they are not the church that goes back to the beginning. There are many others that can make the claim to fame. The Orthodox and Armenian churches among others. But that is on a physical line. The real claim to are you a Christian is do you believe what the early church did and practice what they did? I have read much of the early church writings and even translated one from the Greek. The Catholic church is way off the road from what the church was like in both belief and practice. Therefore are they true Christians? Without doing the research yourself my opinion is yes and no. Yes if they put Christ and the Early church understanding of the Bible ahead of their false church and no if they put the Church ahead of truth. They are taught a lot of false things with twisted interpretations of the Bible to back it up. Most of them never study anything of their history on there own and take everything at face value from mother church.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The whole idea of the Catholic church has been about power over people. Take that away and you have no Catholic church. They followed the style of the Roman empire in structure and then as the Romans decided to rule the world. The Roman empire never died it just mutated.

Answer 3

Whether you realize it or not, there are people in every denomination, not just the Roman Catholic Church, that are not Christians at all. They may call themselves Christians, but a person is not a true Christian, until they have their sins washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ. I do not know too awfully much about the Roman Catholic Church, but I do know that no person shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, unless they are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. There are a lot of traditions and doctrines that I do not agree with. But I just try and let the Holy Word of God be my guide as I live my life one day at a time.

Answer 4

All Christians have human made traditions, because our God became human. Just like all the other Christian denominations, Roman Catholics have a history with the good, the bad and the ugly. Faithful Roman Catholics are called to serve Christ as disciples and bear fruit so that God may be glorified. The Bible has always been the source of worship for Roman Catholics. Only after the Reformation, and the printing press, did the Bible get taken away from its context of worship and dissected for one-liners for those who disagreed with the RC Church. The RC and Eastern Orthodox Churches preserved the Bible so that you can read it today. Without the Roman Catholic Church you would not have been able to use this quote to disagree with them. The traditions of the Roman Catholic Church are validated by Jesus Christ and infused with the Holy Spirit. Christ continues to live among his people and for this reason the Church can develop traditions in keeping with Jesus' mission. Jesus did not leave his followers after the resurrection, he continues to be with his people and guides them until the end. For this reason traditions develop, because Christ continues to be with us, even today. Your reasoning implies that Christ left at the ascension and never looked back to us. Christ continues to reveal himself every day. Peace be with you.

Answer 5

Saint Ignatius of Antioch called the Church the Catholic Church(Universal Church) in his writings for He says wherever the Bishop appears there led to the people as wherever Jesus Christ is and there is the Catholic Church The Universal Catholic Church consist of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholics Orthodox Church who are now separated.The reason why Saint Ignatius called them Catholics because they affirmed to the Universal beliefs of the Church,the teachings of the Apostles through our Lord God Jesus Christ and baptism that ir removes original sin and the collegiate structure of the Church and the Holy Eucharist anyone believing in things that were otherwise were schematics and heretics Saint Mark of Ephesus Patriarch Jonas Saint Ignatius of Loyala Pray for us Kryie Elesion Kryie Elesion

Answer 6

Absolutely.

First. Last. Always.

Without a doubt.

Tradition is simply the name for the method the Holy Spirit uses to guide the authentic church, from age to age.

The bible is simply authentic church tradition reduced to writing.

All authentic doctrine is the complete revelation of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, as it was faithfully handed down to us, by the apostles.

The Mass and the sacraments are outward signs of a particular type of spiritual reality, instituted by Christ himself, that provide the superabundant graces that sustain the "Body of Christ" ... which is the church.

Anyone who claims that the beliefs and practices of the Catholic church ... which was the ONLY Christian church present on the earth for the first 1500 years of modern world history ... and which has Jesus Christ as it's head and the Holy Spirit as the arbiter of all divine truth ... and in which ALL the authentically Christain denominations continue to subsist ... comes very close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

Better be careful.

Answer 7

What is your question, dear? It makes no sense.
The truth is that Catholics are Christian AND Christ followers (same thing). The Catholic Church is the oldest Christian denomination established by Jesus. The "Early Christians" who organized to carry on the new way of Jesus Christ after His death, eventually adopted the name "Catholic" which is a Greek word meaning "Universal". The first head of the church established by Jesus was St. Peter, the apostle. Jesus said, "On this rock (referring to Peter), I will build my church.". Peter was the first pope and all the subsequent popes inherited that throne of honor in succession from Peter down to the present pope, Benedict xvi. The traditions of the Catholic Church are carried over from the Jewish traditions practiced in the Jewish faith long before Jesus came to establish the New Covenant between God and His people. It is important to remember that Jesus was born a Jew and all of His apostles and first disciples were also Jews. The New Covenant was one of God's love and Mercy and the promise of Salvation fulfilled in Jesus' Holy Sacrifice on the cross to atone for the sins of mankind. That is what is most important. The traditions that Christians may have kept from the Jewish faith does not diminish that importance, but rather enhances it. Most traditions were established through the prophets like Abraham. The sacraments we practice in the Catholic faith are all established by Jesus Christ, Himself and the inception of each one can be found in the gospels. They are all meant to bring us closer to God. I don't think "man made" is a correct term for all of these things. By the way, ALL protestant denominations of the Christian faith were established from the 1500's and later by MEN., as opposed to Christ, Himself establishing His Church 2,007 years ago, and that church is still living today as the Catholic faith.
Don't get me wrong. We are all disciples of Jesus who believe in His saving power and keep His commandments, whether we are Catholic or protestant. This calling to be Christian also means that we must "Love our neighbor as ourselves and to love God above all things with our whole heart and soul".
You must not judge others, especially with nit picky pettiness that borders on hate. After all we all subscribe to believe in the One who teaches love, peace and forgiveness. Jesus said, "Judge not that ye be not judged" and He said, "You will be judged by the Father with the same measure that you have judged others".
I hope I have enlightened you to truth and that you will no longer live in ignorance.

Answer 8

Even Paul says there are many Traditions and it also said that the bible could not hold everything that was done---of course Catholics are Christians---they are more Christian than you and I will go one step farther and say if you do not love Catholics you do not love Jesus. If you speak against Catholics you speak against Jesus.

Answer 9

Jesus Christ Himself followed tradition as did His parents. the Last Supper was the traditionally celebrated passover meal wasn't it?!

Answer 10

I am sure some Catholics do have a genuine relationship with Christ. However, others do put more faith in Mary (who is NOT the same) or man-made practices and are not true Christians