Whats the difference between catholic and christian?
I know that Catholic is a branch in Christianity but there has to be a reason why they are separated?
What is that difference?
The 1st C Christian church was Catholic as noted by Ignatius of Antioch, 1st c. A.D:
"Where the Bishop is, there let the multitude be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church” (Greek: Katholicos Ekklesia).
Some people who want to deny the history of Christianity will say that the Catholic Church did not exist until the 4th C with Constantine. This is an error. It is true that Constantine’s Edict of Rome that allowed religious freedom that stopped the killings and persecution. By then the Catholic (Christian) church had grown very large.
There were four popes in the 1st C alone: Peter, Linus (mentioned in the Bible), Anacletus and Clement. The first 22 popes were martyred. By the time of Constantine, there had been 30 popes.
Constantine himself was baptized Arian, not Christian, but he allowed religious freedom. He died in 337 AD. About 380, Emperor Theodosius I named Christianity (the Catholic Church) the religion of the land.
The Catholic Church has remained in a continuous line for 2000 years since the time of Christ. There are no denominations, just one unified church under the pope. The Orthodox left the church in 1054 AD over an argument with the pope, but because they took the original bible, priesthood and sacraments with them, they have remained very similar to their Catholic mother church.
During the Protestant Reformation, they rejected the priesthood, sacraments and doctrine of 1600 years of Christianity and invented new doctrine that never existed before. They now number 20-30,000 different denominations. Their beliefs follow doctrine of men, not the bible. The Catholic Church kept to the biblical teachings. For example, the Reformation stated that you are saved by "faith alone." The Bible says, "you are not saved by faith alone." The Reformation stated "once-saved-always-saved" yet the Bible does not say this — in many verses it says that a believer can lose their faith.
Protestants like to refer to themselves as Christian, yet they are actually in rebellion against Christianity by the name "protestant." (See OT Numbers 16 for what happened to other children of God who rebelled against God’s teachings.)
I just answered another question on Catholic basics, if you are interested in more information:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Algxxk70pmvakBoy3JNlYWfsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100314231606AAC6u33&show=7#profile-info-b2Ckfmvuaa
If you would like to learn about the early Catholic Church, read "the Early Church Fathers" (available at Amazon) which are the writings of the 1st & 2nd C disciplines. You will begin to see that they are describing what the Catholic Church is today.
God bless…
<)))><
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March 22 2010 12:55 pm | Catholic
Boris on 22 Mar 2010 at 6:37 pm #
Catholics are the true Chistians. All the rest are just splinters.
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LP S on 22 Mar 2010 at 7:13 pm #
Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ is the Anointed Savior of God; the begotten Son of God or God in the flesh.
Catholics believe the same but with their own rules and rituals…
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TheKitten on 22 Mar 2010 at 7:57 pm #
Long story short:
Martin Luther had a disagreement with the Church over a number of issues, including indulgences, sola scriptura (the idea the Bible could be used as a unique source for faith), and the nature of salvation – works vs faith.
Protestant Churches arose in opposition to the Pope, which Luther eventually came to believe was the AntiChrist, in favor of a scripture-only, faith-based idea of salvation.
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Bob on 22 Mar 2010 at 8:24 pm #
Catholics are christians, they are not separate. They happen to be the most popular type of christianity.
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Maurog III on 22 Mar 2010 at 9:09 pm #
Long story short – Catholicism was the original movement, but it became so corrupt that when Martin Luther stood up and accused the leaders of corruption, it all blew up and the resulting schism is the birth of Protestantism. All previous such attempts were hushed up, but since the printing press was just recently invented, Martin’s points spread like wildfire and simply like that, a branching occurred.
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IRome on 22 Mar 2010 at 9:53 pm #
‘What is that difference?’
It’s all the same too me.
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Lion Jester on 22 Mar 2010 at 10:24 pm #
the Catholics are technically the first christians. Catholism was what came out of the roman councils that defined christianity in the early 4th century. The roman emperor constantine order the chrisitans to define their traditions, since all the various ‘early chrisitan’ ‘denominaitons at the time were causing alot of problems in the roman empire. THough one should not that not all of the ‘denominations’ were invited to attend, nor were any of these councils unamious in their edicts…here are a few.
the FIRST: 325CE Council of Nice: Promotion of the Goodman, Christ is Divine
363CE Council of Laodicea names 26 New Testament books as "inspired word of God"; Book of Revelation is excluded.
364CE Council of Laodicea ordered that religious observances were to be conducted on Sunday, not Saturday.
381CE First Council of Constantinople drew up a dogmatic statement on the Trinity and defined Holy Spirit as having the same divinity expressed for the Son by the Council of Nice 56 years earlier.
Since your word usage of catholic and christian being separate, then you probably of one of the protestant denominaitons, aka one of the protesting daughters of catholism. The protestant traditons really started splitting of in the early 16th century, usually rebeling based upon some the these early edicts or on interpretation of revised translations of the scriputres.
The common differences were over the hierachy of the clergy, like acknowledging the roman bishop as the head of the church-the pope. THis was the earliest split from roman catholic and eastern orthodoxy in like the 6th century. Other issues were over the practice of indulgences, confession, concepts of purgetory, and even which texts were used in whose bible. Presently there is over 3200 differing bibles in print with different books and verses.
The history and evolution of christianity is a long and twisted road, some say its well worth the time and energy to research if ya so inclined.
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theyoungimmortal on 22 Mar 2010 at 10:41 pm #
Catholic religion began centuries after Christ, with many man made traditions and thoughts of their own religious leaders, died and from the apostasy. Christian religion, which many religions claim to be, began with Jesus first century disciples and they strictly have faith in what the bible says.
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Charis on 22 Mar 2010 at 11:27 pm #
The 1st C Christian church was Catholic as noted by Ignatius of Antioch, 1st c. A.D:
"Where the Bishop is, there let the multitude be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church” (Greek: Katholicos Ekklesia).
Some people who want to deny the history of Christianity will say that the Catholic Church did not exist until the 4th C with Constantine. This is an error. It is true that Constantine’s Edict of Rome that allowed religious freedom that stopped the killings and persecution. By then the Catholic (Christian) church had grown very large.
There were four popes in the 1st C alone: Peter, Linus (mentioned in the Bible), Anacletus and Clement. The first 22 popes were martyred. By the time of Constantine, there had been 30 popes.
Constantine himself was baptized Arian, not Christian, but he allowed religious freedom. He died in 337 AD. About 380, Emperor Theodosius I named Christianity (the Catholic Church) the religion of the land.
The Catholic Church has remained in a continuous line for 2000 years since the time of Christ. There are no denominations, just one unified church under the pope. The Orthodox left the church in 1054 AD over an argument with the pope, but because they took the original bible, priesthood and sacraments with them, they have remained very similar to their Catholic mother church.
During the Protestant Reformation, they rejected the priesthood, sacraments and doctrine of 1600 years of Christianity and invented new doctrine that never existed before. They now number 20-30,000 different denominations. Their beliefs follow doctrine of men, not the bible. The Catholic Church kept to the biblical teachings. For example, the Reformation stated that you are saved by "faith alone." The Bible says, "you are not saved by faith alone." The Reformation stated "once-saved-always-saved" yet the Bible does not say this — in many verses it says that a believer can lose their faith.
Protestants like to refer to themselves as Christian, yet they are actually in rebellion against Christianity by the name "protestant." (See OT Numbers 16 for what happened to other children of God who rebelled against God’s teachings.)
I just answered another question on Catholic basics, if you are interested in more information:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Algxxk70pmvakBoy3JNlYWfsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100314231606AAC6u33&show=7#profile-info-b2Ckfmvuaa
If you would like to learn about the early Catholic Church, read "the Early Church Fathers" (available at Amazon) which are the writings of the 1st & 2nd C disciplines. You will begin to see that they are describing what the Catholic Church is today.
God bless…
<)))><
References :
verses on 22 Mar 2010 at 11:55 pm #
Christianity says once you get Jesus he has paid the price for your sin and you are justified (stand just as if you never sinned) by faith in the fact that Jesus died, took your sins and gave you His righteousness. It says then that you have right standing with God forever every time you approach God on the belief that Jesus has paid your sin dues.
Catholics believe that you have to still earn your way to God’s good graces even after Christ by doing good deeds, keeping away from sin, confessing and doing penance.
My issue is, i have lived a goody-two-shoes life and i have tried to be good. Its impossible. So i lean on God’s everlasting gift of Christ and rest from all that trouble. I can like the Apostle Paul now say – Th elife that i live it is not I that live it but Christ that lives through me.
Hope i tried to put it in perspective for you.
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woo! hoo! on 23 Mar 2010 at 12:26 am #
Catholics are the original Christians. The first, the true ones. Christianity is like a branch, of Catholicism, Jewdiism, Lutheran, Unitarian, Presbyterian, Jehovahs’ Witness, Etc, Etc, Etc! So Catholicism is basically just a leaf on the branch of Christianity. All believe differently to SOME extent.
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goodluckwithhat on 23 Mar 2010 at 12:58 am #
There IS no difference; Catholics ARE Christians. The FIRST Christians–about 1500 years before the first Protestants existed.
Protestants have been told ad nauseum that Catholics don’t believe that we have to earn our way into heaven with good works but, rather, we profess our faith by doing good works as James tells us to do IN THE BIBLE that so many of them claim to follow to the letter, "Faith without good works is dead."
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David on 23 Mar 2010 at 1:22 am #
Catholicism is not Christian. Catholicism leads to eternal torment in hell, because catholicism teaches works for salvation, and that is a false gospel of works (Galatians 1:6-9) that is against JESUS’S free gift of salvation!
And catholicism will not give anyone a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus.
So, you need to get away from catholicism, and instead, believe in JESUS for His free gift of salvation!
It’s clear from the Book of Acts in the Bible that catholics didn’t even exist during the days of Acts. Catholicism didn’t exist for over 300 years after Jesus. And catholicism didn’t exist for over 200 years after the Bible was complete and compiled. Those in the Book of Acts are the first Christians, and they believed what would be called fundamentalist doctrine today. ANYONE can read the Book of Acts for themselves and see. Had catholicism existed during the time of Acts, the first Christians would have rejected catholicism completely.
Also there’s TONS of Christians who also completely rejected catholicism, long before Martin Luther was even born. Catholicism murdered millions and millions of Christians. :*(
So not only is it wrong for anyone to say that "catholics were the first Christians", but this blows away the catholic claim that "no churches existed other than the catholic church, until Martin Luther".
And there is no "pope" in the Bible. Every "pope" is a false prophet.
There were ALWAYS saved believers outside the catholic cult, who knew catholicism cannot save anyone.
Catholicism cannot save. Only believing in Jesus for His free gift of salvation, is what saves!
So, catholics need to get away from catholicism, and instead, believe in JESUS for His free gift of salvation!
Jesus is God, and Jesus loves you so very much!
And the Trinity is true!
The truth about Jesus is that the only way to be saved and to get into heaven and avoid being sent to hell, is by believing in Jesus for His free gift of salvation, believing in faith alone that Jesus, who is God, died on the cross for all our sins as FULL PAYMENT for all our sins, and then Jesus rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Believe in Jesus for His free gift of salvation, and you will be in heaven, no matter what!
Salvation is a FREE GIFT that happens in a split second when you believe in Jesus alone to save you! It is impossible to lose or "leave" salvation (John 6:39-40, John 10:28, 1 John 5:13).
Please pray now: "Jesus, I believe that You died on the cross to pay for my sins and that You rose from the dead, and I thank You for eternal life!" You will be in heaven with Him forever when you die!
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wren on 23 Mar 2010 at 1:34 am #
The Roman Catholics believe the word of the Pope is infallible and that he is the Vicar of Christ.
Jesus Christ said, " I AM, the Way, the Truth and the Life, No one comes to the Father BUT BY ME " .
No Pope can claim that, for to do so would be blasphemy against the Word of God.
References :
John 14:6, New Testament, the Holy Bible.
Lives7 on 23 Mar 2010 at 1:49 am #
Catholicism is the first and fullness of Christianity. Read the early Church Leaders and the facts are overwhelming that the original Christ followers were Catholic. Saint Peter was handed the keys to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ by Jesus Himself. This Authority was NEVER revoked. Just the Facts for those who dare to learn the Truth of Christ.
Luther felt that he alone would push the hand of God and determine man made doctrine. Yet, Luther lacked ANY Scriptural and Traditional authority from Jesus to act in isolation against the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Numbers 16
Pride is the main reason why Christian remain seperated from the original and True Catholic Church of Jesus Christ. The Truth will set you free.
The difference between the Catholic Church and other Christian denomination is the Authority of Jesus Christ.
Lk 22:29-30 and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Lk 10:16 "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
That is why Christ could say this to the Apostles. The Apostles rule over a kingdom, the kingdom of God, the Church. The Church is the Bride of Christ, Christ’s Body, with Christ at Her head.
1 Thess 2:7,11 But we were gentle among you, like a nurse taking care of her children… for you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you…
1 Thess 5:12-13 But we beseech you, brethren, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
Protestants Ministers do not have Divine Authority. They lack the Keys of Saint Peter or the Authority of the Apostles.
Just the Facts
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Catholic and Lovin it
happygael on 23 Mar 2010 at 2:30 am #
Catholics are Christian. They are also the first Christians. The differences were created by the people that established the other Non-Catholic Christian religions.
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Susanna on 23 Mar 2010 at 2:35 am #
there are too many to list….Christians adhere to the Bible, the Holy Living Word of God and Jesus’ teachings
catholicism puts their faith in the church and teaches/practices direct contradictions/counterfeits to ALL God has deemed Good & Holy, they have done Great Blasphemes against God, for they state they are "above" the Bible (see below) but "claim" to serve Him
Sunday is our "mark" of authority…the church is above the Bible, and the transferrence of the Sabbath day observance is proof of that fact. Catholic Record, Ontario, London, Sept. 1, 1923
there is much much more….Peace/Love and God Bless
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not PeRfeCt/Just Forgiven
SDA
former catholic