"Catholicism vs Christianity"

[NCSue]

OOOH, this bugs me.

I was doing a web search for sites that discuss our faith, entered “Catholicism” as a search term, and found that “Catholicism vs Christianity” was one of the broad topics that popped up.

When will they understand - Catholics ARE Christian. In fact, we’re the original Christians, if you want to know the truth about it!!

Grr.

 

[dixibehr]

The pseudo-dicotomy pops up here frequently.

 

[Mark77]

If they have any knowledge or intellectual honesty, they understand that True (not “luke warm”, wanna be) Catholics are the first and only believers with the fullness of the Faith.

"I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth." (Rev 3:15-16)

Pray for those who have been deceived and lied to!

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

Mark

 

[dnomyaR]

It seems everyone believes in the supremacy of their own branch. Am I wrong for thinking that in the end the divisions aren’t that great?

Don’t mean to sound like a troll but I think our brother Christians have so much in common with us and yet we seem to always argue over what appear to me to be small issues.

Just my oppinion, hopefully if anyone here disagrees they can help me develop a better one.

 

[Famule]

It seems everyone believes in the supremacy of their own branch. Am I wrong for thinking that in the end the divisions aren’t that great?

Don’t mean to sound like a troll but I think our brother Christians have so much in common with us and yet we seem to always argue over what appear to me to be small issues.

Just my oppinion, hopefully if anyone here disagrees they can help me develop a better one.

In answer to the thread, Catholicism=Christianity.

To answer above, the divisions are great. We have the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist. This is something that protestants don’t have. This is not a small issue. We also have the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Orders. The Catholic Church is not a branch of Christianity. It is the fullness of Christianity.

 

[JaMc]

This “Catholicism v. Christianity” dichotomy is one of my pet peeves as well. Many times I’ve heard “you’re Catholic? I thought you were a Christian!” To me, this is every bit as offensive as it would be to a person of another race if one said “you’re [black, asian, native American, etc.]? I thought you were a human!” I’ve gotten in many the argument about this with protestants, mostly of the Baptist/evangelical variety…

 

[NCSue]

To me, this is every bit as offensive as it would be to a person of another race if one said “you’re [black, asian, native American, etc.]? I thought you were a human!” I’ve gotten in many the argument about this with protestants, mostly of the Baptist/evangelical variety…

Darn find point… although you’d rile someone on the basis of being “politically incorrect”.

 

[TLM08]

OOOH, this bugs me.

I was doing a web search for sites that discuss our faith, entered “Catholicism” as a search term, and found that “Catholicism vs Christianity” was one of the broad topics that popped up.

When will they understand - Catholics ARE Christian. In fact, we’re the original Christians, if you want to know the truth about it!!

Grr.

As someone who has been on both sides of the debate (more than once!) I have come to the decision that it all comes down to interpretation of the scriptures. Catholic doctrine is not really found in the New Testament. It was developed by man using the Bible as a guide. Both protestant and catholic scholars present great arguments for their positions.

Many anti-catholics use the text from Revelation 17 to support their belief that the catholic church is evil. I think that interpretation is a distortion and I find it lacking. But that is where much of the rabid anti-catholicism comes from. The bottom line is that Catholics are indeed “christians”.

 

[Dempsey1919]

People who say that Christianity is different from Catholicism are really showing their ignorance of Christianity itself. They obviously don’t have a clue about what they are talking about. This is why I don’t join in their discussions. They claim to be experts on the subject of Christianity, but most them have no clue about the faith of the Apostles.

It should also be said that the word Christian is increasingly replacing the word Protestant. Most modern Protestants know very little about the Catholic faith. How can they protest against something they know nothing about? This may be why they prefer to call themselves Christians instead of Protestants.

 

[manualman]

As someone who has been on both sides of the debate (more than once!) I have come to the decision that it all comes down to interpretation of the scriptures. Catholic doctrine is not really found in the New Testament. It was developed by man using the Bible as a guide. Both protestant and catholic scholars present great arguments for their positions.

…

Hi TLM, we meet again.

Actually that’s a pretty poor characterisation. The reality is that it never occurred to any christian to take the position that the Bible is the sole rule of faith and contains EVERY legitimate element of divine revelation until Martin Luther dreamt that idea up in the 1500’s. Prior to that time, the Church operated on the model shown in the Acts of the Apostles: apostles established new churches in new towns and ordained/annointed a bishop to hold authority there when the apostle left (or died). The bishops (and apostles) gathered together to discuss controversies and determine the authentic christian response to them. When controversies got REALLY bad, Peter (and later his successors) decided the issue with divine assisstance. Catholics believe that this is not “development by man using the bible as a guide” (the bible didn’t even exist for the first few hundred years of this) but rather God’s design for the function and preservation of the Church.

The major reason the NT writings were considered authoritative was because the authors held apostolic office. It took a few hundred years before there was general agreement on which books were inspired revelation and became the new testament. By that time, ALL the major elements of catholicism were in place and not controversial (sacraments, communion of saints, apostolic succession, Marian devotion, etc). Curiously enough for the protestants, Scripture does not ever contain a statement that the model of church operation described above was supposed to end at a certain point and Scripture to take over as the sole source of authority. How careless of God to forget an important detail like that…

 

[losh14]

It seems everyone believes in the supremacy of their own branch. Am I wrong for thinking that in the end the divisions aren’t that great?

You’re on the right track. Christ does not want our divisiveness, and the divisions come about through the hardness of men’s hearts. When we can find a way to let go of our own need for self-righteousness and keep it focused on Christ’s righteousness, we’ll see how much indeed do have in common.

In the meantime, we should continue to evangelize and proselytize. The former speaks to the inner conversion (towards Christ, no matter where you are standing), the latter to full Communion with Christ (in the Catholic Church, for those outside). Evanglization, done very well, leads the soul to its own proselysis.

 

[Jimzz12]

OOOH, this bugs me.

I was doing a web search for sites that discuss our faith, entered “Catholicism” as a search term, and found that “Catholicism vs Christianity” was one of the broad topics that popped up.

When will they understand - Catholics ARE Christian. In fact, we’re the original Christians, if you want to know the truth about it!!

Grr.

Oh that’s nuthin’!

Jehovahs refer to Catholics as… get this… “Triad Pagans”.

What else do I have?

I just finished a 7000 mile trek across the United States and wouldn’t you be amazed at the number of FM radio station programs out there that call Catholics everything under the sun.

 

[Jimzz12]

This “Catholicism v. Christianity” dichotomy is one of my pet peeves as well. Many times I’ve heard “you’re Catholic? I thought you were a Christian!” To me, this is every bit as offensive as it would be to a person of another race if one said “you’re [black, asian, native American, etc.]? I thought you were a human!” I’ve gotten in many the argument about this with protestants, mostly of the Baptist/evangelical variety…

Last week… my neighbor was having her concrete stairs rebuilt, and of course she comes from a huge Catholic family who have a devotion to St. Josemaria Escriva. The masonry company was owned by Italians (figures)…

…so being a good neighbor I mosey on over and start talking with the workers. All of them were Brazilian (no big deal) and then it happened. I asked if anybody there was Catholic.

The response from the supervisor was, “No! We’re all Christian here.”

This wasn’t an issue of linguistic confusion. I actually have suspected it. My father had commented when he saw them… He thought it was funny seeing guys doing masonry and not having a good old time. Nope. Turns out they were all 7th Day Adventists.

The 7th Day Adventists sponsor the Brazilians to come up here to Massachusetts. They make up the largest single ethnic group (approx. 750,000). They work and then send the money they make back home to Brazil to convert the heathen Catholics. Very few Brazilians in my industry are Catholic. And, yes I do ask people if they are Catholic – total strangers. I don’t care. I tell them they should be Catholic. Everybody should be Catholic. I think the Southern Law Poverty Center has me listed as a hate group because I seek the salvation of souls.

The president of my old condo place was from Puerto Rico. Where I lived it was anywhere around 30 to 40% Puerto Rican. (Main South, Worcester, MA). Very, very, very few Puerto Ricans in that neighborhood are Catholic. I had asked my condo president about being Catholic. He got very angry. He said something very similar to the Brazilian workers. “No! I’m a Christian.”

It’s amazing. I don’t always get the negative response. Sometimes it’s friendly. But, it is almost always along the same lines – No, I’m a Christian. Well… it funny strange in a way. I came across an interview by Marcus Grodi and his guest had said something along the lines of how he thought that although the Pope was Catholic, the Pope hadn’t realized he often acted as though he were a Christian.

I find it very odd. I’d say that’s one of the biggest myths that need to be fought. We need to spread the word that Catholics are Christians despite the fact that we go to church on Sunday. Of course it would also help to spread the word that the 7th Day Adventist Church official endorses and sponsors abortion.

 

[NCSue]

Oh that’s nuthin’!

Jehovahs refer to Catholics as… get this… “Triad Pagans”.

Oh gracious - that’s horrible.

 

[Chatter163]

It should also be said that the word Christian is increasingly replacing the word Protestant. Most modern Protestants know very little about the Catholic faith. How can they protest against something they know nothing about? This may be why they prefer to call themselves Christians instead of Protestants.

I have observed this phenomenon myself.

 

[Eddie_Mac]

My wife was delivering her homily to me the other day about this subject (sort of - after something I said most likely).

She said that “If you are a Christian you should not have to tell someone. They should know it by how you act and what you do.”

I agreed to a point.

Now that I think about it, how can we, as Catholics, separate ourselves from the also-ran not full of the Gifts Christians? How is it that we can demonstrate to the rest of the world’s 20,000++ self proclaimed Christian splinter factions that we are the true Church instituted by Christ?

Catholics are legendary for not knowing scripture and not being able to defend their faith, yours truly to a certain degree.

Something to think about.

Would the problem be that most of the rabid ones who claim Christ but not Catholicism actually be obtaining their knowledge of us second hand?

Eddie Mac

 

[jmcrae]

As someone who has been on both sides of the debate (more than once!) I have come to the decision that it all comes down to interpretation of the scriptures. Catholic doctrine is not really found in the New Testament. It was developed by man using the Bible as a guide.

Actually, the Catholic religion, with the Pope, the Hail Mary prayer, the Mass, and actually most of what we would find very familiar even today, was around for more than 350 years before we had a Bible.

The Bible came to exist as a result of questions about what is proper to be read out at Mass. These questions were raised during and after the Nicean Council of 325 AD. The end result was that the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament were listed in an official Canon that was assembled at the Councils of Rome, Carthage and Hippo, which were authorized by Pope Damasus, and then promulgated officially to the whole Church by Pope Innocent I in 405 AD, a few years after the death of Pope Damasus. The books of the Bible were actually chosen because they conform to the doctrines of the Catholic Church - not the other way around.

The Bible came from the teachings of the Catholic Church; not the other way around.

Protestants, on the other hand, do look first at the Bible, and then formulate doctrine based on what they find in the Bible.

 

[Ruthie]

My response to this is to say, “You can’t find a more Christ-centered church than the Catholic church!” If given the opportunity, I explain that I searched for years for a truly Christ-centered church, and wound up coming Home to Rome.

 

[Protestant101]

The 7th Day Adventists sponsor the Brazilians to come up here to Massachusetts. They make up the largest single ethnic group (approx. 750,000). They work and then send the money they make back home to Brazil to convert the heathen Catholics. Very few Brazilians in my industry are Catholic. And, yes I do ask people if they are Catholic – total strangers. I don’t care. I tell them they should be Catholic. Everybody should be Catholic. I think the Southern Law Poverty Center has me listed as a hate group because I seek the salvation of souls.

I find it very odd. I’d say that’s one of the biggest myths that need to be fought. We need to spread the word that Catholics are Christians despite the fact that we go to church on Sunday.

It’s too bad that more people didn’t understand or accept the fundamental Bible truth that SOME Catholics are Christians, just as SOME Protestants/Adventists are Christians. How anyone could miss that point after even a cursory scimming through their Bible - is beyond me.

Christians must learn to dilineate between doctrines and people much more often when deciding whats “Christian”

 

[stuart12]

A friend I was speaking to earlier, asked me what I was doing to night and I replied that I was going to Mass. She was like ‘whats Mass?’. I told her. And asked how could she ever hope to pass RME at school if she did not know what it is. She responded that ‘we dont do catholic stuff, only christian stuff’’. Now that annoyed me. I had to put her straight. We are the only Christian Church, the rest of these Christians left us.