What are some of the differences between protestant and catholic church teachings?

[anendlesswaltz]

Hey guys! I’m back with another really basic question. I started to just google it cause i didn’t want to bother you all, and then i saw that many of the search results were just google or the washington post or whatever. Not what i’m looking for.

What are some of the differences between protestant and catholic church teachings?

I was given a link on www.usccb.org where i can read the entire catholic bible, which i plan to do starting with what google says was excluded from protestant bibles. As well as what google says Luther (that’s his name, right?) wanted excluded from the bible but did not succeed in getting excluded.

I also found the catechism of the catholic church online and it looks really long from the table of contents, but i’ll be looking through that, too.

 

[RaisedCatholic]

Catholics teach that grace is infused, while Protestants teach grace is imputed. Catholics teach sola ecclesia, while Protestants teach sola scriptura. Catholics teach the sinner cooperates with God with his faith for salvation, while Protestants teach salvation is by faith alone (sola fide). Catholics teach that salvation can be lost, while Protestants teach that once a person is saved, they cannot lose their salvation (perseverance of the saints). Catholics teach there are “at least” 73 inspired books in the Bible (there “might” be more - Trent “passed over” some books, allowing the possibility of more to be added in the future), while Protestants teach the number of books in the Bible is fixed to 66 (none can ever be added later). Catholics teach transubstantiation of the communion bread & wine, while Protestants teach either that Jesus is “ever-present” during the communion meal (consubstantiation - Lutherans, or the “eucharistia” is simply the “giving of thanks” we do in remembrance of Christ’s finished work on the cross for our salvation). Catholics teach Jesus built His Church on Peter, while Protestants believe either Jesus built His Church on Himself or the rock is Peter’s confession (God revealing to Peter that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God) that Jesus built His Church on.

There is a lot more, but this is a good start.

 

[Maximian]

Since Protestantism is divided about what it believes it’s a difficult question to answer. But classic differences are

1. Protestants believe that theconly source of authority is the Bible, whereas Catholics believe that authority comes from the Church and the Bible (which is itself defined by the Church)
2. Protestants do not believe that priests are endued with powers that laymen are not
3. Therefore at communion, the bread and wine become body and blood of Christ due to the faith of the communicant, not the action of the priest
4. Similarly according to protestantism priests have no power to absolve sins in confession
5. Protestants believe the dead can’t hear you so it’s pointless and possibly blasphemous to pray to saints.

There are many other differences and the issue is confused by the fact that some Protestant sects have taken up catholic positions on some issues.

 

[RaisedCatholic]

i plan to do starting with what google says was excluded from protestant bibles.

If you are looking for information on this, there’s book written by someone who grew up Catholic. It’s called “Why Protestant Bible Are Smaller.” It is on Amazon, and the author recently was on Reason & Theology (a Catholic YouTube show) hosted by Michael Lofton & William Albrecht (friend of Gary Michuta, “Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger,” who is a frequent guest on Catholic Answers).

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s hard to answer your question because there are literally hundreds of different Protestant denominations with different teachings from each other as well as from the Catholic Church. Depending on what Protestant denomination we are talking about, the differences from Catholicism will vary.

The things they all have in common is that they don’t believe the Catholic Church is God’s one true church (or they’ve somehow redefined “Catholic Church” as including their non-Catholic church), don’t believe that there’s no salvation outside the Catholic Church (or have somehow redefined “Catholic Church” as including their own non-Catholic church), and don’t believe in the authority of the Pope, the Vatican, or the Magisterium.

Basically each of the denominations thinks their own Protestant church is the correct one.

 

[1ke]

What are some of the differences between protestant and catholic church teachings?

Well, that’s a difficult question because the Protestant churches have a plurality if beliefs that are all different from each other.

You can’t really say “Protestants believe X and Catholics believe Y”. You would have to look at a specific denomination.

 

[VeryBlessed]

It is very true what others have said, about the thousands of denominations and variations within Protestantism. I spent years in evangelical churches after growing up Catholic and I’m back in the church again. When people ask me why I returned to the church, for me, it really comes down to the question of authority. Within Protestantism, individual interpretation of the meaning of scripture is elevated to almost the highest place. Individual interpretation of the meaning of scripture is valued in Catholicism, but, it must stay within the confines of the teaching of the magisterium. So within Catholicism we are not nearly as free to come up with new interpretations of scripture, whereas that door is quite open within Protestantism.

I really believe that the emphasis on individual interpretation of Scripture was well-intentioned, but the unintended consequence has been dramatic disunity within Protestantism. I see this as being the root of all the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. It breaks my heart. We should be one.

 

[Thom18]

The simplest answer, which covers most all of Protestantism, is that they believe that Scripture is our sole authority. The Church has no teaching authority, there is no division between ordained and laypeople, the Church is only the community of believers. The rest follows from this, and the rest are differences probably just the result of language.

 

[TheLittleLady]

“Protestant” is not monolithic.

You will find one denomination that believes in infant baptism, next door a denomination that strongly rejects infant baptism, one denomination that believes a woman will go to hell for wearing anything except a skirt/dress another who teaches that instrumental music in a church building is a grave sin.

Take a denomination, go to their HQ website and read their statement of beliefs.

 

[Todd_Easton]

I also found the catechism of the catholic church online and it looks really long from the table of contents, but i’ll be looking through that, too.

I think you will find the online Baltimore Catechism (Revised Edition of the Baltimore Catechism No. 2, published in 1941) a much easier read than the larger Catechism of the Catholic Church.

 

[Dan_Defender]

In a nutshell, Protestants have two 'pillars": only the faith, and only the Bible. Catholics have Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and Magisterial Teaching. All the differences start there.