ONE Faith?

[Paris_Blues]

I have a question:

When non-Catholics say, “we have one faith” are they referring to ALL Christian denominations or just one faith, meaning they believe in the same thing, fact, whatever you wanna call it?

I get so confused when I hear Catholics say, ONE (meaning the CC is the ONE TRUE faith) than non-Catholics say, ONE…(meaning there is one faith that all believers believe!)

What I’m trying to get at is are ALL denominations suppose to have ONE faith with another or what? Do I make sense?

 

[deb1]

Most protestants are talking about all denomenations(sp?) in theory. If you nail them down then you will see that often there is a very narrow definition of Christianity as described by their particular church doctrine or pastor.

 

[pprimeau1976]

The Catholic Church does not believe in relativism when it comes to the truth. We claim that we have the truth entrusted by Jesus Christ to the apostles and are guardians of it. Hence, all of the Catholic teachings on faith and morals have not changed. Mind you, fath and morals have not changed, but disciplines or liturgy may have.

Now, is it right to boast and to brag to others that we have the truth. Absolutely not! In fact, it is rather counter productive. if we posess the truth, the most loving thing to do is to share it with others with charity and humility.

Now, does that mean that all who are non-Catholic are going to hell for rejecting the truth? No! Because one who is incapable of knowing the truth - whether through invincible ignorance or another impediment - cannot be held accountable for not believing it.

Does it also mean that we are right and everyone else is wrong? No! We claim that all of our teachings are 100% true, but elements of truth can be found elsewhere in other religions. It is the responsibility of us as Catholics to build on the commonality of different religions and share with them the elements that they are missing. If we do it just right, the Holy Spirit will lead them home.

 

[Jennifer123]

The last post was spot on but I’ll also chime in…

When Catholics mean one faith, they are talking about the CC in that we believe Jesus established one church on Earth, and we’re it. One faith, one baptism.

When Protestants speak of one faith, it is more basic in that it’s the “spiritual” church, collection of denominations that believe that Jesus Christ is the savior.

Catholics believe that (Jesus is Lord) as well, but we believe that one Church means only one faith, one set of doctrines that unites all Catholics, and furthermore all Christians. The many Protestant denominations believe many different things about many different doctrines.

 

[LSK]

You two are right on the money. I think it’s a very inclusive belief system us Catholics have and I know that not knowing our belief system is what causes so much pain.