Question for Protestant Christians

Ignorance. Many people don't actually study other Christian denominations or other religions, but instead will make assumptions about them based on what they've heard from others. Or they believe their own way of practicing Christianity is the "right and only way" so anything that is different is dismissed as not Christian. But I think people say Catholic instead of Christian because it is naming the specific Christian denomination they are referring to, not because they are two different things.

Hi S.,

Protestants are called Protestants because our roots are from those who protested the Catholic church in the early 1600s. There were those within the Catholic church that were teaching things that were not found in Scripture. The common people did not have access to the Scripture so many in the Catholic church were not held accountable so errors were being taught (intentionally) and things like indulgences were collected. The Catholic church was VERY Christian before and they have given up a lot of that theology NOW that those protested many years ago. I do disagree with some doctrines that the Roman Catholics hold onto however I also disagree with some things that the Baptists, Methodists, Church of Christ, Lutherans, etc hold too as well. The crux for the Protestants in the 1600s was that salvation was by faith alone and grace alone. Many Priests of that time period taught that works gained you salvation.

There are other things like the additional books in the Bible that are not part of the Canon, praying to Mary, and the communion literally being the body and blood of Christ. I know many Christians in the Roman Catholic church and I know many non Christians in Protestant churchs. We grow, we learn and we move toward the truth if we truly know Christ.

If you haven't seen the movie "Luther" it would be a good watch. Luther was a devout Catholic...loved the Catholic church but saw their errors and tried to correct them from within the system. When he could not, he translated the first Bible into the common language for the people.

Hope this helps...

M.

Wow it baffles me what some people believe that Catholics worship. Catholics do not worship saints or Mother Mary. They simply believe that these are individuals who lived their lives devoted entirely to Christ and the church. Catholics believe in the holy trinity like protestants do. Catholics believe that Christ died on the cross for their sins. Catholics can also have one god parent who is from another denomination (my son has a catholic god father and a lutheran god mother) as long as they are Christian. AND there are PLENTY of individuals who are "born into" the other churches. Most babies are baptized into the church that they are growing up in, just like Catholic babies, and are "brought up" in the church with little to no choice of their own. That doesn't mean they can't decide later to convert to another religion (Catholics do have RCIA programs and I actually explored other religious options before returning to the catholic church). So many people in other churches are also not followers of Christ but simply going to church each day. Also, it is not a sin to go to another church. I think the only main difference I have found is that Catholics do not believe that just because you're "saved" you're going to heaven. They believe that you need to live your entire life devoted to Christ and follow in his ways to get into heaven. This is where the St. Peter's judgement at the pearly gates thing comes in. It is easy for people to say that they believe in Christ and are saved, it's an entirely different thing to truly live your life like it.

Okay this is strange. I was born and raised Catholic but I am currently practicing United Church of Christ because of the divorce and no desire to jump through the hoops of an annulment.

I know I am Christian but when one asks your religion you say Catholic just as my friend says Lutheran, another will tell you Baptist. I think when you get into protestant it is just easier to say Christian because there are so many but I don't know exactly why.

So far as the Bible goes horse hockey! there are at least ten different versions of the same Bible that everyone else recognizes that are also recognized by the Catholic Church.

Oh my god Mrslavallie, I am not even a practicing Catholic and I can honestly say your answer is the most offensive thing I have ever read on this board. It is unacceptable that you insult a religion that you clearly know nothing about.

I think this is just from a lack of knowledge? I think that people who don't know a lot about Catholocism, Christianity, etc. just say things, not realizing that they are the same? Perhaps they are confusing the difference with protestants and catholics, not realizing they are all christian religions?

Catholics are Christians.
Non denominational Christians aren't Protestant either.

O. thing I fond odd about Catholicism is the lack of bible reading by Catholics in general. Catholic bible studies are almost still a "new" kind of phenomenon.

I think the reason most Catholics are reluctant to leave their church is because it is extremely frowned upon to do so. But really, all Christians should be free to find a church in which to worship in a way that "makes sense" or is "comfortable" to them.
I don't think you find this "fear-of-leaving-the-church" in any other Christian religion.

Girl
Boy
Man
Woman
All individual, yet part of a big group...HUMAN RACE

Baptist
Catholic
Methodist
Greek Orthodox
All individual, yet part of a big group...Christianity

The Catholic Faith is just a small group that joins the other groups in a belief that WE ALL HAVE IN COMMON...CHRIST. ALL THESE GROUPS are CHRISTIAN b/c we ALL believe in CHRIST and live our lives by being CHRIST-LIKE.

I think the traditions of Catholicism, are not Biblical, or correct according to God's commands. (Their "Baptisms" and confessionals, to name a couple.) Does that mean they aren't Christians? I have no idea. Every church does things that aren't Biblical.

P.S.
Exactly. Different Bible. That's a problem, in my opinion. But, everyone is free to do what they want...and I'm not going to question someone's salvation, since it's based on faith. How am I to know someone isn't going to Heaven?

These are all labels, with meanings assigned by the user. In other words, meaningless.

Wow!! This questions has garnered a lot of responses. I for one and Protestant,Methodist to be exact. I never thought of Catholics as not being Christian so some of the responses surprised me. I have a friend who was raised Catholic. She said in school they prayed but she never knew why they were praying. She said she was never taught what all of the prayers meant so the religion never made sinces to her. Now she doesn't go to church at all but she still considers herself to be Catholic.

I saw a few posts that says the Catholic bible is different. The Catholic bible that I saw has same stories as the King James but with a few more added. There are more stories of women. The King James didn't want to glorify women because when that bible was written or put together, they wanted women to be subserviant to men.

There are alot of contridictions in the bible. I look at it as a guide but I know that it was written by man who tried to interrupt the bible from a language that hasn't been spoken in hundreds of years. There is no where in the bible that says you have to read and follow the bible to be a believer in God. If there is please let me know because I missed that part. My feelings are if you believe in the Lord and live a good life than it doesn't matter what your religion is. God bless you all!!!

I think when some people use the term "Christian" they are referring to evangelical Christians who believe that every word of the bible is factual. Perhaps those folks don't believe Catholics are "true" Christians b/c they have their own interpretations. Which could mean that they also don't believe many mainstream Protestants are true Christians, either.

You are right...anyone who believes and accepts Christ as Lord and why He is our Savior is a Christian.

It's just that the Catholic religion is a whole lot different from other Christian religions. From my experience, they are a whole lot stricter.

I don't know why I think of Catholics and some other religions as a bit different. Maybe it's because they baptize babies and I think that the bible is pretty clean that immersion is the correct way. Maybe people think the teachings of Christ to Nicodemus isn't correct. John 3 is pretty clear to me. So, I think that is the main point. Other than that I think pretty much every church teaches a lot of the same principles, believe in the Atonement of Christ, Love Your Neighbor, Keep The Faith until the End, etc....we all believe lots of the same teachings. But every Faith has some different twist on one teaching or another and that is what makes each one different.

I'm Catholic, and I've had people be surprised that we were Christian. One of my husband's friends came to mass with us once, and when we left she told us she didn't know we were Christian. I'm not sure what she was expecting, then, coming with us.

One of my coworkers thinks it's hilarious that people don't always think we're Christian so she'll often pop up with "well, you guys aren't Christians" as a response to something. :-)

A head scratcher for me. I never heard that Catholics weren't Christians as well. Different denominations of the same overarching religion - Christianity. I have friends who are Greek Orthodox but just because they celebrate Easter (for example) on a different day doesn't mean they don't believe in Christ. There are some very strong traditions in the Catholic church, but there are also strong traditions in other denominations as well. Mennonites, for example, are also Christians.

There are also many versions of the Bible. The King James is, to the best of my knowledge, the one used in many Catholic churches, but it is also used in many other churches. My church often uses the NIV (New International Version), but we've used the King James as well. Fewer archaic words in the NIV but it still details the life of Christ, the Psalms, etc. In fact, the Old Testament is also shared by Judaism and I once read a wonderful blog from a Jewish POV by someone who read through and wrote reflections based on the "Jewish Bible". But I digress.

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