Right, so ever since I moved out to go to school, I have been in need of a new church that's close to where I live, preferably something conservative. I was raised as a protestant and was wondering what are some fundamental differences between protestants and catholics? So far, the only thing I'd have a problem with is saying that the Pope is infallible, do all catholics believe this, or is it more like a "what he says goes" kind of thing?
2007-10-14 12:48:12 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
There are differences in both theology and culture between the two. I will only compare Calvinist Protestants here to Catholics since the former represents the majority in the United States.
Calvinist Protestants believe that one must accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior to achieve salvation. They usually tie such acceptance to a conversion experience in which the individual becomes emotionally overwhelmed and is said to "receive the spirit." Consequently, Calvinist religious services tend to elicit emotional responses from the congregation.
This idea of a personal savior is alien to Catholics. They see salvation as an acceptance of grace. Grace is imparted by opening oneself to divine love. This is a complex idea, but for the common person, it becomes manifest by going to Mass and taking part in the sacraments. Participation is thought to put a person on the path to grace. Consequently, the Catholic Mass will likely feel very different to you. If you are not culturally ingrained in it, it requires significant education to understand.
On a side note, I find it interesting that you believe the Catholic Church is conservative. It may surprise you to know that the Bible is banned from U.S. public schools because of pressure applied by the Church. Additionally, for over 100 years, the Church has been at the forefront of social welfare movements (and sometimes, as in Latin America, these have become extreme). You may consider its stance on abortion and birth control politically conservative. On these issues, however, catholic theologians (I cannot speak for the hierarchy) do not have a political agenda. They are simply being consistent. Catholicism opposes abortion because it violates principles of Natural Law not because the act is a violation of tradition. It opposes birth control for the same reason.
2007-10-21 13:37:30 · answer #1 · answered by Tobit 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are so many lies and misinformation on this answer, it is shocking.
You prefer a conservative Church and think that the Roman Catholic Church will give you that? It may or may not. Parishes can differ in style and in what is emphasized. Indeed, we even have quiet dissenters who try to give their own opinions as those of the Church. So, you still need to understand the Catechism and realize that fallible sinners (aka 'human beings') make up the Church .
You might want to start your journey by reviewing some of the information at www.catholic.com . They have some great forums at forums.catholic.com . Also, the Coming Home Network ( www.chnetwork.org ) is a smaller but still instructive place to go for answers.
To quickly address your last question, we believe that Truth does not change. These teachings, propagated by the Councils, and/or the Magisterium (in conjunction with the Pope)_ are known as doctrine. Every once in awhile, confusion takes hold, doctrine is questioned. A Council may address this issue. Councils are infrequent, so the Pope may address it.
If he does, and speaks on an issue of faith and morals officially from his office of Pope (the chair of Peter - "ex cathedra"), this will be known as dogma. It's more formally defined.
Discipline is more like 'tradition" (lower case 't') and can change depending on the needs of the times. Discipline can be 'localized' to a country or rite. Roman Catholicism is the Latin Rite, whereas we have a Maronite Rite which is from the eastern Church of Lebanon.
If you read the Catechism, it does refer back to the Bible and early Church Fathers for everything.
We don't worship Mary or the saints, etc Please take the time to research what sounds unsettling.
If you do decide to become a Catholic, let me be the first to say "WELCOME HOME"!
2007-10-14 15:35:29 · answer #2 · answered by SigGirl 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The Roman Church is one of the older but certainly not the only Catholic Church. The infallibility issue has caused more in-house fighting than we like to admit.
My personal suggestion; since you are coming out of one of the Protestant faiths is that you contact The Reformed Catholic Church of America and take a look at their doctrine, for the most part they adhere to Romanish beliefs with some notable acceptions, the infallibility issue being one.
The Reformed Catholic Church of American comes out of the Old Catholic tradition; you may find the transition a little easier.
2007-10-14 13:55:35 · answer #3 · answered by benjamin 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's not a what he says goes kind of thing at all. I was raised Catholic in an all Catholic neighborhood, went to Catholic school. Catholics in general(not the hard-core fundamentalists) are pretty laid back. One difference is that they honor saints, which I think is awesome because they are real people who have done wonderful things. Christians try to say that they worship saints and therefore are breaking the 1st commandment. Honor and worship are 2 very different things. They also focus on the virgin mary much more than Christians do. That's about it, oh, and they're really into statues.
Oh! They also have confession, which is a wonderful thing as long as you don't take advantage of it. It doesn't mean that you can go out and do whatever you want and then be forgiven when you say your penance. If everyone went to confession there would be no need for psychiatrists!
We can't forget about the sacraments. In order to go to confession and recieve communion you must make your sacraments. You can do that through CCD classes if you're interested but if you're not you will still be welcome in the catholic church.
2007-10-14 12:56:09 · answer #4 · answered by getalifeFATTY 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Jen,
Protestants and Catholics have more in common than we have in differences. We all agree on the main thing - Jesus is our Savior, we are saved by His grace, we are to love our neighbors.
Some of the main doctrinal differences are:
Protestants believe that the Bible is the sole source of truth. Catholics rely on both the Bible (which is the true inspired word of God) and the Church's Sacred Tradition. We believe this because our Tradition pre-dates the Bible and there is more to Jesus' teachings than what was recorded. (The Bible affirms this in many places such as 2 Thess 2:15.)
We believe that Jesus was speaking literally in John 6 when he said, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you will have no life in you." We believe this is literal because of the context of the story, and how the followers left him out of shock at the idea, but he did not call them back and say, "Hey, I didn't mean it." He let them go. He asked his disciples if they would leave him, too, and they said, "Where would we go?" A short time later, Jesus explained exactly how they would eat his flesh and drink his blood - though the Holy Eucharist, where the bread and wine become the body and blood. He said, "This IS my body. This IS my blood. Do this in memory of me." And the Catholic Church does. We believe he is really present in the Eucharist and we celebrate the gift of his precious body and blood at every Mass - we do this in memory of him. Protestants believe that the bread and wine are only symbolic of his body and blood, but we believe that Jesus is physically present with us.
Protestants don't follow the Pope, and you'll have to ask them why. We follow the Pope because Jesus told Peter he would build his Church on him and gave him the keys to the kingdom. Jesus said, "Whatever you bind on earth, I will bind in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, I will loose in heaven." Matthew 16:18. This is where we get the Pope and his infallibility. He cannot make an error (when he is making a proclamation on faith and morals - certainly he could run a stop sign or something like that - he is only human, where God is divine, and that is a key distinction that some don't realize we make, but we do) because Jesus gave him the keys and said he would back up his teachings - put him in charge of the house. Our current Pope is a direct successor of Peter through a 2000 year old chain of leadership of the Church. The bishops are also successors of the Apostles.
Edit: Jesus also said he would send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church into all truth and that the Spirit would remain with the Church until Jesus returns. The Church is guided by the Holy Spirt - another reason for infallability. To deny that is to say that either: 1) Jesus did not do what he said he would do, 2) the Bible is incorrect John 14:16-17 or 3) the Holy Spirit is not doing what Jesus said it would do. Personally, I 'm not willing to say any of that.
Some Protestants (although not all) believe that people are saved by faith alone. Catholics believe that one must have faith in Jesus, but that we must actively participate in receiving his grace by receiving the sacraments (Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Confirmation, Matrimony or Holy Orders, Annointing) and by keeping his commandments to love our neighbor by performing works of mercy and charity. Some Protestants erroneously call this "earning our way to heaven." This is an incorrect characterization - we believe that our salvation is a free gift and we do nothing to earn it, but we must be open to receive it.
Some Protestants get really hung up about the statues, which is always completely out of ignorance and misinformation. We do not worship statues or Mary or saints or anyone or anything other than the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We use the statues to represent and remind us of good any holy people in the same way we have stautes of George Washington in the US Capitol to remind us of our zeal for freedom or soldiers on your courthouse lawn to remind us of those causes. We do not worship them, we just use them to draw our thoughts to holiness. And, yes, we bow and kneel in church, but that is not because of the statues, it is because of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. We are bowing to Jesus.
I hope this helps. I know I will get thumbs down from folks who are anti-Catholic, but that doesn't change the facts. The Church has survived 2000 years against all kinds of false teachings and persecutions, today will be no different. :)
2007-10-14 13:26:10 · answer #5 · answered by Myth Buster 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
The pope is only infallible in so far as he declares something "from the throne of St. Peter." Popes have only done this twice. The only other infallible doctrines are gotten from a coming together and voting of bishops, similar to the churches early councils.
2007-10-14 12:54:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
The main difference between protestant and Catholics is that Catholics believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist (Holy Communion). You can find out all about Catholics at the below link which is wonderful. May God bless you, lead and guide you.
2007-10-14 12:56:49 · answer #7 · answered by Carolyn T 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Associated Press - Sep 2005:
ROME — The U.S. Justice Department has told a Texas court that a lawsuit accusing Pope Benedict XVI of conspiring to cover up the sexual molestation of three boys by a seminarian should be dismissed because the pontiff enjoys immunity as head of state of the Holy See.
Ratzinger is also the author of a May 2001 letter to bishops stating that the "Crimine solicitationies" law (regarding strict secrecy in sex abuse cases) is still in effect.
In other words, if you're molested by a priest, keep your Host hole shut or face excommunication. And if you expect the Head of the Church to see that justice is done regarding these victims, keep dreaming. He's immune, Bush upholds his immunity and he's gonna play that card for all it's worth. Find another church.
2007-10-14 13:00:32 · answer #8 · answered by J Maime 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Since Jesus told Peter "and the gates of Hell shall not prevail over her" (meaning the Church) we believe that the Pope is infallible in teaching the Doctrine of the Church. Personally he can sin just like everybody else and goes to confession just like everybody else. You would love it and we would welcome you. Catholicism is the largest and oldest Christian religion started by Jesus. We have a few dissenters on this site but you can tell by their posts just how loving they are which is the real Hallmark of a Christian huh?
2007-10-14 13:14:08 · answer #9 · answered by Midge 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
The RCC worships Mary. They pray to her, they ask her for to pray for them. The RCC calls Mary their mediator to God. They have Graven Images of her that they dress in fine linens and place a crown of jewels on here head. In some country's they have this Idol of Mary and put her on these polls and parade her down the street with everyone giving praise to " Holy Mary, queen of the Universe".
What would God say to all of this you ask?
1-"there is no one Holy but God (Godhead)."
2- "the dead know not what happens under the sun"
3- "you shall have NO graven images"
4- "there is one Mediator between God and man, Jesus who is the Christ".
REad the new test. Find a church that follows the bible and does not put man's traditions over God's word.
†
2007-10-14 12:56:44 · answer #10 · answered by Jeanmarie 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋