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One_in_Christ_1
Guest
Being Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox is not essential of being Christian. What are your thoughts with this belief.
Being Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox, is not essential to being Christian.
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wmscott
Guest
Christian = being a follower of Christ. with that said, Christ did establish one Church here on earth. If a Church is not necessary, then why did Christ see the need to establish one?
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Julian0404
Guest
No, you are wrong in this belief, it is required - not by force, but by love. “If” you are truly Christian, and know and study your faith, you will not want to stand alone, but join as the Bilbe gives us that scenario and become part of the FAMILY OF GOD. If you chose to stand apart from the FAMILY OF GOD, you either not christian or you do not understand christianity.
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BrianH
Guest
Except in very very rare circumstances, you cannot remove yourself from one of the frameworks for interpreting and applying Christian beliefs.
If you are using a Protestant Bible, unless it contains the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books, you are embracing Protestantism.
If you read any books by Protestant authors or Bible studies, you are embracing Protestantism.
You cannot really deny these influences.
So essential…I don’t know. People do it. I once tried it when I went to a house church for awhile. But we really were just staging our own little Reformation of the Protestant Reformation
If you are using a Protestant Bible, unless it contains the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books, you are embracing Protestantism.
If you read any books by Protestant authors or Bible studies, you are embracing Protestantism.
You cannot really deny these influences.
So essential…I don’t know. People do it. I once tried it when I went to a house church for awhile. But we really were just staging our own little Reformation of the Protestant Reformation
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One_in_Christ_1
Guest
I’m not standing alone since my family consists of Protestants, Catholics, Anglicans, and Orthodox Christians. My church is much bigger than the Catholic Church since it includes the Catholic Church plus the rest of Christendom.
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One_in_Christ_1
Guest
Don’t you believe that non-Catholic Christians are part of the church in which Christ established here on earth?
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One_in_Christ_1
Guest
I believe in the corporate visible church and have attended quite a few corporate churches for the last 22 years. My point is that we don’t really need to be Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox to be truly Christian.Except in very very rare circumstances, you cannot remove yourself from one of the frameworks for interpreting and applying Christian beliefs.
If you are using a Protestant Bible, unless it contains the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books, you are embracing Protestantism.
If you read any books by Protestant authors or Bible studies, you are embracing Protestantism.
You cannot really deny these influences.
So essential…I don’t know. People do it. I once tried it when I went to a house church for awhile. But we really were just staging our own little Reformation of the Protestant Reformation
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Nine_Two
Guest
And your point is incorrect.
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BrianH
Guest
What does it mean to be not Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox?
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ConfusedTim
Guest
Jesus left sacraments and so as long as you partake then we are all in the same church
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mariahloves
Guest
You get the Bible from the Catholic Church so every single Christian can trace at least some of their beliefs back to the Catholic Church…it’s really impossible to seperate being a Christian and being either a Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox. You either have Protestant beliefs, Catholic beliefs, Orthodox beliefs or a combination of all three but you can’t use the Bible and not share any beliefs with any denomination. It’s impossible. That seems confusing but I don’t know how else to put it lol
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michaeldaniels
Guest
I am sorry…but you are wrong. It does matter…and if one truly understood Christ, The Church, and Christianity, they would be Catholic. The following quote is from “Acts of the Martyrs” The first Martyrs of the Eucharist was in 305 AD by Emperor Diocletian…this is what they had to say:
"We cannot omit the celebration of the Divine Mysteries. The Christian cannot live without the Eucharist and the Eucharist without the Christian. Don’t you know that the Christian exists for the Eucharist and the Eucharist for the Christian? Yes, I participated with the brothers in the meeting, I celebrated the mysteries of the Lord and I have here with me, written in my heart, Divine Scripture. The Eucharist is the hope and the salvation of Christians".
You see, to be Catholic and to have The Eucharist is everything
"We cannot omit the celebration of the Divine Mysteries. The Christian cannot live without the Eucharist and the Eucharist without the Christian. Don’t you know that the Christian exists for the Eucharist and the Eucharist for the Christian? Yes, I participated with the brothers in the meeting, I celebrated the mysteries of the Lord and I have here with me, written in my heart, Divine Scripture. The Eucharist is the hope and the salvation of Christians".
You see, to be Catholic and to have The Eucharist is everything
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gurneyhalleck1
Guest
Dittoes Michael. I’m glad somebody stepped up. I’ll join ya. It does indeed matter. Christ established a visible, tangiable, real ecclesastical body on earth–The Catholic Church. He established the sacraments, apostolic succession, the Eucharist, and life-lines that save our souls. Just calling oneself a Christian, getting baptized, and then following the Bible in the manner of a rogue hanging out with some like-minded folks doesn’t make one a Christian. Following the ecumenical councils, the sacraments, being in communion with the apostles, living according to the deposit of faith, practicing worship in the liturgy, finding forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation, and partaking of the most precious Body and Blood of Our Lord is what a Christian does. It does matter a great deal. That’s not to say that a protestant or non-Catholic cannot be saved, it just means there is more doubt and less certainty and more spiritual danger in not being a Catholic.
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grace_singh
Guest
i would agree. one does not need to be grafted onto a hierarchical body of men practicing certain traditions and teaching certain doctrines in a tradition of Apostolic succession in order to be grafted onto, alive in, and belonging to this historical and eternal Son of God, and Christ.
God certainly can and does work through various churches, and their saints. the EO and OO churches have a wealth of amazing theological material, Biblical commentary, hymns, and prayers. the CC has produced many Godly, pious, and Spirit-lead saints who have done much to represent Christ in the world.
Protestants have also produced many great thinkers and theologians, who have enriched and contributed much to Christian writings and thought. through their preaching and mission work, many have been introduced to Christ, and come to faith in Him.
Christian life can be lived out through ecclesial life, and ecclesial life can also be lived out devotedly without a grounded and personal relationship to Christ. for me it is Christ and His Word (the Bible) which matters paramount, and i am willing and thankful to call all who know Him and live for Him brother or sister.
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gurneyhalleck1
Guest
Without the Catholic Church you wouldn’t be sure about the Holy Trinity, have a Bible, know if Christ has one will or two, if he’s fully god or fully man or neither, whether He is begotten or made, and there would be a myriad list of questions unanswered. It is the Church that has provided these answers under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in ecumenical councils and in holy tradition under divine guidance. You wouldn’t even have a New Testament canon. Without the Catholic Church, western Christendom wouldn’t have even developed. Without the Church you would have no sacraments or apostolic succession. Being in a relationship with Christ means being sacramental. Confessing to Him in the confessional, partaking of His body and blood at communion, hearing His word preached at Mass, adoring Him in His Eucharistic Body, being one with the communion of saints, being one with the Church is being in a relationship with The Son of Man. Jesus isn’t a do-it-yourself kit or a private friendship, He is corporate as well and created a visible, real Church through which His word is protected, nourished, flourishes, and is adored. God bless you.
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grace_singh
Guest
Gurney ~
actually, that is untrue. there existed many, many churches and Christian communities with Apostololic roots, their own teachers and fathers, theologians, theology, traditions, and practices in various places long before any of the schisms.
these churches later became the EO and OO churches, who did not in fact suddenly stop believing in Orthodoxy at given times, but merely kept believing what their own communities’ bishops had been believing and teaching all the while, in response to newly expressed or proposed ideas coming from an increasingly important Western Christian school(s) of thought, which would later become what we recognize today as the RCC (and EO if you’re OO).
these churches have their own Popes (or the equivalent thereof), and their own perfectly valid lines of apostolic succession, their own wealth of theology and traditions, and sacrements.
actually, that is untrue. there existed many, many churches and Christian communities with Apostololic roots, their own teachers and fathers, theologians, theology, traditions, and practices in various places long before any of the schisms.
these churches later became the EO and OO churches, who did not in fact suddenly stop believing in Orthodoxy at given times, but merely kept believing what their own communities’ bishops had been believing and teaching all the while, in response to newly expressed or proposed ideas coming from an increasingly important Western Christian school(s) of thought, which would later become what we recognize today as the RCC (and EO if you’re OO).
these churches have their own Popes (or the equivalent thereof), and their own perfectly valid lines of apostolic succession, their own wealth of theology and traditions, and sacrements.
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gurneyhalleck1
Guest
Hi Grace, with all do respect (and I mean that) please don’t think me such a goober as to not know of the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox and the history of Christendom. I was never saying that Orthodox churches lack the sacraments or any of the things I mentioned. I was referring to the OP. the OP said that being Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant is not essential to being a Christian. You agreed with the statement, I respectfully diagree. I never said Orthodoxy is illegitimate or somehow un-Christian? I disagree with some major ideas of Orthodoxy and think Catholicism the One, True, Apostolic, Holy Church created by Christ on the Rock of Peter, but I love my Orthodox brethren and highly respect much of their belief system and completely acknowledge whole-heartedly their validity of orders and sacraments. Where did I say otherwise?
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grace_singh
Guest
Gurney ~
my intent was not to try to paint you as somehow anti-Orthodox, but to demonstrate why i feel that the various Orthodox churches have as much right to be called original, holy, and apostolic as the RCC, and that there is really nothing singular about the RCC itself.
the Bishopry of Rome is certainly apostolic, but the centrality and importance of that city’s Bishopry is something we see developing over the first centuries of Christian history. Antioch, Jerusalem, and other important cities likewise can claim apostolic succession, and they do.
the St. Thomas Christians (Indian Orthodox) have been a presence in India since A.D. 52.
i love the Orthodox as well, and admire them greatly.
my intent was not to try to paint you as somehow anti-Orthodox, but to demonstrate why i feel that the various Orthodox churches have as much right to be called original, holy, and apostolic as the RCC, and that there is really nothing singular about the RCC itself.
the Bishopry of Rome is certainly apostolic, but the centrality and importance of that city’s Bishopry is something we see developing over the first centuries of Christian history. Antioch, Jerusalem, and other important cities likewise can claim apostolic succession, and they do.
the St. Thomas Christians (Indian Orthodox) have been a presence in India since A.D. 52.
i love the Orthodox as well, and admire them greatly.
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TriuneUnity
Guest
While obviously disagreeing with the specifics of Roman Catholicism, I agree with your sentiment, gurney. Therefore, I have to disagree with the OP. It matters greatly whether we believe the doctrines Scripture teaches, Christ and the apostles preached, and whether we receive the sacraments validly. While one may be a true Christian if in a church that is not fully orthodox… no true Christian should associate in fellowship with a church which is not fully orthodox.
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One_in_Christ_1
Guest
Why is my point incorrect? You are Christian because you have been united to Christ and not because you are Orthodox.
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