Is being a Catholic that different from being a Muslim?

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Rozellelily

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I watched this 60 minutes programme about a supposedly catholic girl that converted to Islam because she married a Muslim cricketer and knew how much his religion meant to him (see link below).

It got me thinking is there that much difference between Catholicism and Islam?
Eg:
Both catholic and Muslim believe in faith,modesty,kindness,sin,forgiveness,charity,disagreement with gay marriage,sin,humility,helping others with compassion etc…

The only think I can think of different is belief in Jesus and trinity.
If Muslims can also be humble,love thy neighbor etc (like Jesus’ teachings) what is the need for Jesus/believing in Jesus though?

What should be happening “internally” everyday that would make a catholic Christians inner life different from a Muslims?
Like what should be the difference between these religions (if that makes sense) because how could Christians be a “witness” or whatever regarding their faith to Muslims if they have nothing to offer them so to speak?
Like a Muslim might think Christianity has nothing to offer me because I already get forgiveness for sins in Islam.Or Christianities focus on humility doesn’t offer a “point of difference” to me because Islam already teaches about humility etc…
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What's your view on this Catholic woman converting to a Islam after marrying cricketer husband Social Justice
It makes me a bit confused
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. Is this all from the Holy Spirit somehow? Can both these religions “be one” somehow? Ie:both catholic and Muslim believe in faith,modesty,kindness,sin,forgiveness,charity,disagreement with gay marriage,sin,humility,helping others with compassion etc… Is there anything that distinguishes one from the other? The only think I can think of is belief in Jesus and trinity. If Muslims can also be humble,love thy neighbor etc (like Jesus’ teachings) then …
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Yes… YES… There is a massive, MASSIVE difference between Catholicism and Islam.

Probably most important of which is that Muslims deny the divinity of Christ. That is the core tenant of Catholicism. Jesus is God.

We literally consume God every week at the Eucharist. We have confession to be forgiven of our sins. This is the “need” you ask about. God makes Himself present to us in so many unique ways in Catholicism, ways that reveal the very meaning of life.

We have substantial evidence for Christ’s divinity, not to mention the 2000+ years of miracles and consistency which provides even greater evidence for the Church’s correctness.

Islam has none of this. They have a merchant who claimed to be visited by angels, despite providing no evidence for this. His religion spread through violence, ours spread through example and evidence.

No… the only thing our religions have in common is that we both worship the one true God. Everything else is wholly and completely different.
 
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OP, why did you start two threads about the same thing?
 
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VThere are elements of Truth in Islam: belief in a monotheistic God, rejection of sin, promotion of charity and other virtues, the need for regular prayer (something Muslims take very seriously, all practicing something analogous to the Liturgy of the Hours by sanctifying different times in the day), to name some. They also to some extent venerate Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

But, Islam does not have the fullness of Truth: rejection of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus are two critical ones.

To the extent that we do share some Truths, there is a pathway for dialogue with them. In fact it has been my experience that we share more in common with Muslims than secular atheists and agnostics. At my last workplace, I befriended a Muslim colleague and we became complicit in supporting each other’s prayer life. We had lovely conversations on the issues we held in common: love for God, love for our families, love for prayer. We also encouraged each other during Lent and Ramadan.

We should hold any believer with a love of God and a vibrant prayer life in the highest esteem.
 
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They’re not quite the same.
The other one was what posters thought in general about that girl converting to Islam from Catholicism.
This one I made to get a clearer understanding of the differences between the catholic/Christian religion and the Islam religion.
I mad this thread so that it wouldn’t derail the other thread.
 
A Muslim believer would never consider God as his heavenly father. The very term Islam means to submit. Christians are told that God is our heavenly Father and we are His children upon who He has mercy and love in abundance. We also are given free will because God wants our true love and devotion to him to come from our love for Him. Not to be coerced. That is the slavery aspect of Islam. And as others have mentioned, they do not believe in the Trinity. Jesus to a muslim was only a prophet not the true son of God. They need our prayers.
 
Islam is a heretical sect of Christianity. There is overlap but they do not hold the Truth that the Catholic Church does.
 
Catholics: Say homosexual acts are bad
Muslims: Throw people off high-rises for even exhibiting the slightest hint of SSA.

Different, much?
 
Pretty sure the Catholic Church would not be thinking it was okay to throw someone off a building even if there wasn’t a law against it, so…big difference.
 
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Islam should be somewhat similar to Catholicism because Muhammad did borrow some aspects of Christianity. But not incredibly so. Similarities:

–Veneration of Mary
–A month of fasting each year
–Alms to the poor (but let’s be real, Muslims and Christians don’t tend to follow this doctrine much. A shame)
–Monotheism
–God of Abraham

Differences:

–Islam does not have a sacramental priesthood. Their Imams are more like teachers.
–No Eucharist
–No Doctrine of Atonement in Islam
–Heaven is more physical in Islam. More spiritual in Christianity.
–God never took the flesh of humanity in Islam. That’s kind of big.
 
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Islam is a non-Christian faith.
Any faith that does not accept Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior is massively different from Catholicism, and that’s all that needs to be said.
 
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CD45 said:
Yes, they have much in common as regards treatment of women, homosexuality and the insistence that governmental laws and policy fall in line with their belief systems.
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The commonalities are purely superficial and would only appear to be similar if you have a penchant to be superficial in your thinking about them.

Women, in Catholic thought, are equal in value to men and have the same eternal destiny as men, even though men and women have slightly different capacities and roles in this life. Of course, if you wish to make “roles in this life” the be all and end all of your ideology, then you would have a problem with Catholic thought on the subject.

Homosexuality is a distortion of the role of sex in nature and human society. It requires a mature outlook and moral disposition to see that role properly and in context. The fact that current western secular society has completely lost its moral moorings and thinks ultimately individuals are their own destiny and can manufacture that destiny as from whole cloth, including deciding their gender, their species and their reality as the whims of their imagination dictate does not mean reality or God must comply with those cherished aspirations.

Having government laws and policy fall into line with the determinable moral good for human beings and the truth of reality is not, in itself, a bad thing; unless, of course, you believe there is no truth and no moral reality, in which case your government policy and laws will be brutally dictatorial in imposing your own nonsensical ideology, itself, not based on any truth nor any moral reality. Good luck with that, if you can survive the radioactive fallout.
 
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CD45 said:
You might want to consider the importance and power of “superficial”. More people probably know what happened on “The Bachelor” than are familiar with the intricacies of the Baltimore Catechism. Just as many Muslims have had to go to great lengths to explain that their religion is peaceful and non-violent. Catholics may find themselves having to defend themselves in the public square also due to the action of some of their more passionate believers and their interpretation of the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and the role women.
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Recall that the opening post was asking about the differences between Catholicism and Islam and not about how those who are nominally “Catholic” and who happen to watch “The Bachelor,” are any different from those who are nominally Islamic.

Perhaps the OP (or you) should have been clearer that they (or you) wish to merely focus on the sociological differences rather than the actual doctrines and dogmas of both religions.

Keeping the terms fuzzy and ambiguous does help your overall rhetoric, but it doesn’t actually address the question, does it?

Just as there are many Muslims who have had to go to great lengths to explain that their religion is peaceful and non-violent, there are not a few Catholics who have to go to great lengths to claim Catholicism supports abortion, homosexuality and a number of other progressivist doctrines. That is quite a different matter from what Catholicism and Islam actually hold as central tenets.

Merely because you can point to a nominal Catholic who happens to think murdering others is unproblematic, morally speaking, does not mean Catholicism espouses murder. And merely because there happen to be jihadi butchers in the world does not mean Islam espouses butchery. However, it does mean that to uncover what both religions do teach, it is necessary to move to analyzing the central doctrines of the respective faiths. It isn’t even enough to point to some Muslims or some Catholics who happen to be peaceful or decent, it is necessary to assess the authoritative teachings of both.
 
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CD45 said:
Yes, they have much in common as regards treatment of women, homosexuality and the insistence that governmental laws and policy fall in line with their belief systems.
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One believes Jesus was a holy man, but merely a prophet. The other believes Jesus is the central figure in both our personal lives and in all of human history, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnate God whose obedience saved us from our sins, the Alpha and the Omega who will be placed in the seat of Judgment at the end of time.

Yes, that is a huge difference. We do not simply believe in a set of rules that Jesus gave. We believe in Jesus, Himself and His saving power.

Consider this magnificent passage, which Christians believe and Muslims do not:

Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Phil 2:5-11
 
Well, most obviously, Muslims don’t believe in the divinity of Christ. They believe that a “stunt double” took His place on Calvary, and they reject the fact that He was the greatest and last of the prophets.
 
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CD45 said:
On further thought, I would say what both Catholicism and Islam have in common is that the majority of people in Western and other advanced countries don’t pay much attention to them.
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Judging by what many in western and other “advanced” countries do pay attention to, that isn’t much of an indictment.
 
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Many have commented on the obvious differences (trinity, divinity of Jesus etc.) and clearly those are significant differences. Additional differences are:
  1. We believe we are made in God’s image and Muslims do not. So whatever we do against our fellow human, we do against God. Muslims do not believe that.
  2. According to John 1 God is Love. In Islam Allah has 99 names, I’m not sure if one of them is Love, but one of them is the Deceiver. So in Islam God deceives, but in Catholicism God is Love and is incapable of deceiving.
  3. In Catholicism heaven is about reuniting with God and the beatific vision. In Islam it’s about fulfilling carnal desires (virgins everywhere, rivers of wine, etc.)
I’m sure there are many others.
 
Islam denies that Jesus is God AND that Jesus resurrected from the dead.
Very different religion.
 
I just looked up the 99 names on Wikipedia and cannot find deceiver on it.
 
Rozellelily said:
I watched this 60 minutes programme about a supposedly catholic girl that converted to Islam because she married a Muslim cricketer and knew how much his religion meant to him (see link below).

It got me thinking is there that much difference between Catholicism and Islam?
Eg:
Both catholic and Muslim believe in faith,modesty,kindness,sin,forgiveness,charity,disagreement with gay marriage,sin,humility,helping others with compassion etc…

The only think I can think of different is belief in Jesus and trinity.
If Muslims can also be humble,love thy neighbor etc (like Jesus’ teachings) what is the need for Jesus/believing in Jesus though?

What should be happening “internally” everyday that would make a catholic Christians inner life different from a Muslims?
Like what should be the difference between these religions (if that makes sense) because how could Christians be a “witness” or whatever regarding their faith to Muslims if they have nothing to offer them so to speak?
Like a Muslim might think Christianity has nothing to offer me because I already get forgiveness for sins in Islam.Or Christianities focus on humility doesn’t offer a “point of difference” to me because Islam already teaches about humility etc…
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I wanted to ignore such thread as this is from people who do not bother with the truth but rather the external effect of religion. The idea is to water down the faith and doctrine but jump to simple relativism.

Christianity and Islam is different. Period.

Christianity, as the name suggests, first and foremost, believes that Jesus is God as the second person of the Trinity. He died on the cross and risen again on Easter so that anyone who believe may be saved.

Islam does not proclaim that.

Just want to emphasise this which can never be said enough.
 
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