What separates Christianity's branches over other religions?

[Michael68]

I don’t understand the op question but I want to respond to your post here. Your last paragraph to me beautifully capusulizes the Christian faith as taught by Jesus and the Apostles. “It is finished.”

Hi
I hear Protestants use this all the time. What does it mean? How is the Christian faith finished

 

[Wannano]

Hi
I hear Protestants use this all the time. What does it mean? How is the Christian faith finished

Christ came to atone for our sins. He made forgiveness of sins possible by His Sacrificial death on the Cross. There is nothing more for God, man or a religious institution to add. It is forever finished.

His resurrection from the dead gives us the promise of our own resurrection and eternal life with Him.

 

[rinnie]

One common argument us Catholics make is “We have a singular Magesterium with a singular, true, teaching. The other religions don’t have a singular, true, belief. They are composed of different schools that sometimes contradict each other.”

But someone on the outside will see all the different Christian denominations and will think that there is not one, singular, true Christian branch…accusing us of the same thing we accuse the other religions of.

So how do we make the distinction that our religion just wasn’t one that broke up into different branches and the other religions vice versa?

If I am understanding this correctly it would be we were here first. The first Church was the Catholic Church started by Christ himself.

 

[rinnie]

I don’t understand the op question but I want to respond to your post here. Your last paragraph to me beautifully capusulizes the Christian faith as taught by Jesus and the Apostles. “It is finished.”

I thought it is finished is when Jesus died on the cross. I though it meant he had accomplished his work here on earth that his Father sent him to do for the forgiveness of our sins. I don’t see that as the Christian faith. I feel the Christian Faith should carry on until the day they meet God face to face.

 

[rinnie]

I have never found this argument in favor of Catholicism to be very persuasive. Frankly, the criticism of the argument is correct - Christianity and even Catholicism are not markedly more uniform in belief or practice than other faiths. Even if you look only at the Catholic faith, the Church is itself fairly broad, with a lot of room for varying interpretations even within Catholicism. Just go to any thread on this forum about biblical interpretation, or justification, and you can see how diverse opinions are within the Church.

More importantly, I don’t see how homogeneity is a good proxy for correctness. Lots of movements with very strong centrally controlled belief systems turn out to be very wrong. The strength of the Church is in its universal nature - hence the name - and that very nature leads to differences in belief and practice. That diversity is a strength, not a weakness.

Well they should be. We do in the RCC. We have the Pope and he and his Bishops are in union with what they preach and teach.

Now if you are saying the People of the RCC sometimes try to define scripture on their own and can actually say things the RCC does not teach, I will give you that.

But it is never the Church teaching it is our own ignorance of what our Church teaches. If you can show me a teaching one RCC disagrees with another RCC I would love to see it,

Or any other Catholic Church that is united with us, Now if you are speaking of disciplines thats a completely different thing. And has nothing to do with the truth taught in the Catholic Church.

 

[TMC]

Well they should be. We do in the RCC. We have the Pope and he and his Bishops are in union with what they preach and teach.

Now if you are saying the People of the RCC sometimes try to define scripture on their own and can actually say things the RCC does not teach, I will give you that.

But it is never the Church teaching it is our own ignorance of what our Church teaches. If you can show me a teaching one RCC disagrees with another RCC I would love to see it,

Or any other Catholic Church that is united with us, Now if you are speaking of disciplines thats a completely different thing. And has nothing to do with the truth taught in the Catholic Church.

I am not sure what you mean, but let me explain what I mean. There is a wide variety of opinion within the Church. You can believe that the first three chapters of Genesis or literal, for example, although most Catholics believe they are largely symbolic. You can believe Job was a real person, or that the entire book is a parable. You can believe in penal substitution theory, or in other atonement theories. There is a lot of room within Catholic theology for discussion, where some sects have very narrow and mandatory belief sets.