Catholics Aren't Christians?

[Philthy]

Hi,

I am wondering if catholics are raised somehow to believe there is a difference between the two words. I say this because I know MANY catholics and they only refer to themselves as catholics and when I say OH your a christian they will say well (with hesitation)Im a catholic. Making me think they are not sure what I mean by that.

The other day I was telling my daughter something about Sunday School and her two friends(catholic)were over and they said “OH I thought christians didnt have CCD” They didnt think they were christians because they are being raised catholic.

So, Im wondering that if when children are going through CCD that only the word catholic is used and so they just think christian is used for other people that are not catholic.

I see this with older catholics as well. So, Im thinkin the word christian might not be being taught at local levels and they only hear the word catholic.

Here is the situation:

• Catholic and Christian are different words - they used to have identical meanings, but no longer do
• In the secular and common senses of the words, Catholicism is a subset of Christianity.
• Relatively recently - ie, since the Reformation - the term “Christian” became unsatisfactory to represent the differing view which came to fall under the category of “Christian”
• As a result, some confusion has arisen as to what the term Christian means functionally, although technically all followers of Christ can be lumped together as Christians.
• In order to preserve the unique identity of Catholicism as the first and purest form of Christianity, and also as a means of distinguishing itself from those who claim the name Christian using a novel approach to the term (ie the definition of the word “Christian” has changed), Catholics have chosen to emphasize the term Catholic as describing their faith. This has nothing to do with whether Catholics are, in the technical (follower of Christ) and historical sense, Christians.

 

[Milliardo]

Hi,

I am wondering if catholics are raised somehow to believe there is a difference between the two words.

In my experience, no. No Catholic I know of is raised to differentiate between Catholic and Christian because we’re taught we Catholics are Christians.

I say this because I know MANY catholics and they only refer to themselves as catholics and when I say OH your a christian they will say well (with hesitation)Im a catholic. Making me think they are not sure what I mean by that.

I think this has less to do with the fact that a Catholic doesn’t know he’s Christian, and more because Catholics don’t see themselves as generic Christians.

 

[Eileen_T]

How would you respond to someone who believes that Catholics aren’t Christians?

Would you ask him to tell you why and then break down his objections into more manageable chunks and address them one at a time?

Would you simply smile and walk away since there is not much you can do to change her mind?

How would you answer someone making this claim?

How I would answer depends entirely on the disposition of the person. If it is an anti-Catholic attack by someone who likes to argue, I would walk away probably after telling the person they don’t know what they are talking about.

OTOH, I used to work for a man who held this belief and described himself as having been an anti-Catholic. I gave him my reasons for believing the Catholic Church to be the One, True Church with an Authority going back to the apostles.

After months of discussions, answering his questions and explaining Church doctrine, he came to the conclusion that he had been lied to or misled about the CC.

He went so far as to check out the CC further and even put it on a list of possible ‘churches’ for him and his wife. When she saw it on a list she told him, “Over my dead body.”

He has a problem though, they were both married previously and were divorced. I think he realises that, if he searches further into the claims of the CC, he may have a problem with his marriage, but he is an honest person and I pray for him to accept the truth and give his life over to God to sort out.

Getting back to the problem of why some non-C Christians don’t believe Catholics are Christians, I think it is because they see how very different the Mass is from their own Protestant way of worship and realise that if for one to be “right” the other must be wrong.

Think about it…

If Catholics are right, then every other non-Catholic Christian has got it very, very wrong. They can’t bring themselves to admit that possibility, so we can’t possibly be Christians. After all, if they are “right” then we worship bread and wine and are deluded into thinking it is Jesus Body and Blood.

 

[Bridget07]

I realize that, but to avoid the symantics of what a Christian has become in the last 500 years to the outside world I prefer the Catholic lable.

I’ve always thought of myself as Catholic…when asked I always say I’m a Catholic. A term (I don’t know why I’ve just noticed this recently) I’ve heard used a lot lately is Catholic Christian when speaking about ourselves.

I think my Protestant friends know we are Christians…guess I’m lucky.

 

[Bishopite]

How would you respond to someone who believes that Catholics aren’t Christians?

Would you ask him to tell you why and then break down his objections into more manageable chunks and address them one at a time?

Would you simply smile and walk away since there is not much you can do to change her mind?

How would you answer someone making this claim?

Randy,

I would ask them who and more importantly WHERE were those followers of Jesus post Apostolic age and prior to the reformation?

Obviously the Holy Spirit was leading someone, right? Well, history proves it was Catholicism hands down. Even secular books, magazines and news paper articles regularly affirm Catholicism as the begining and oldest form of Christianity.

 

[Atemi]

How would you respond to someone who believes that Catholics aren’t Christians?

I would ask “which ones?”

Would you ask him to tell you why and then break down his objections into more manageable chunks and address them one at a time?

Sounds good.

Would you simply smile and walk away since there is not much you can do to change her mind?

Yeah. It’s kinda like when some folks claim others are not in the Body of Christ: the Church.

There is not much you can do to change the minds of people like this.

…

 

[Mannyfit75]

Catholics are Christians. They are the first Christians before Orthodoxy and Protestantism came into the world. I am a Christian because I have been baptized, In the Name of the Father, And Of the Son, and Of the Holy Spirit.

Since Baptism itself is a Mark of a Christian. To those individuals who do not believe Catholics are Christians, I think you need to be re-educated in what a Christian is. Apparently, those who deny it lack any education about Christianity as whole.

I have heard Non-Catholic Christians call Catholics are not Christians. Yet, I have not heard a Catholic say to a Protestant, Protestant aren’t Christians.

Who in their right mind think they know any better.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

*]In order to preserve the unique identity of Catholicism as the first and purest form of Christianity, and also as a means of distinguishing itself from those who claim the name Christian using a novel approach to the term (ie the definition of the word “Christian” has changed), Catholics have chosen to emphasize the term Catholic as describing their faith. This has nothing to do with whether Catholics are, in the technical (follower of Christ) and historical sense, Christians.

Yes, this is why I call myself a born again christian to differentiate myself from just a christian. Unfortunately many people call themselves christian and they are not true followers of Christ

You know how the news says that 90 or 95% of Americans are christian. Well, I would consider that number to be considerably less. Many people are just going through the motions. I would say there are very few true christians worldwide. Few is relative of course compared to the population of what 6 billion.

The word christian has really lost its true meaning in the secular world.

 

[Techno2000]

How would you respond to someone who believes that Catholics aren’t Christians?

Would you ask him to tell you why and then break down his objections into more manageable chunks and address them one at a time?

Would you simply smile and walk away since there is not much you can do to change her mind?

How would you answer someone making this claim?

Thats like saying " COKE " is not a cola.

 

[Techno2000]

ALLFORHIM:
Yes, this is why I call myself a born again christian to differentiate myself from just a christian. Unfortunately many people call themselves christian and they are not true followers of Christ

You know how the news says that 90 or 95% of Americans are christian. Well, I would consider that number to be considerably less. Many people are just going through the motions. I would say there are very few true christians worldwide. Few is relative of course compared to the population of what 6 billion.

The word christian has really lost its true meaning in the secular world.

I think that number is for people who say they Believe in "God " …in general.