What is the exact difference between a Protestant and a Catholic?
I heard that Protestants are against buying your faith.
I am also a Protestant.
They are different sects of Christianity.
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December 27 2008 12:30 am | Protestant
Ryan H on 27 Dec 2008 at 6:00 am #
Protestants “protest” the Papal authority of the Catholic Church. Catholics accept that authority.
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Martin Eisenstadt on 27 Dec 2008 at 6:40 am #
Catholics believe in the pope, Protestants don't. There are many different types of Protestants, though.
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clusium1971 on 27 Dec 2008 at 7:02 am #
After Christ Our Lord, Protestants emphasize the authority of the Bible, followed by the authority of their particular churches.
Catholic & Orthodox go the opposite way: We emphasize the authority of the Church, & then the Bible.
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Kitty Kat on 27 Dec 2008 at 7:35 am #
Catholics believe in a structured religion. While people are given the holy ghost, a head figure speaks for God and directs the people.
Protestants believe that humans have a direct relationship with God. They focus more on the Bible.
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Rev. Marvin on 27 Dec 2008 at 8:04 am #
Catholics created the religion called “Christianity”
Protestants refused to play by the rules
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Patricia© on 27 Dec 2008 at 8:09 am #
The exact difference is:
Catholics go to Catholic churches,
Protestants go to Protestant churches.
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CJ on 27 Dec 2008 at 8:24 am #
Catholicism is not Christian.
Catholicism = faith + works = no salvation, and eternal torment in hell
Christian = FAITH ALONE IN JESUS TO SAVE = salvation, and eternity in heaven
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Simply Jennifer on 27 Dec 2008 at 8:34 am #
Not sure what "buying your faith" means — but if it means what I think it means, then Protestants and Catholics are both against it.
Protestants and Catholics are the same in that they believe in the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
As for the dfiferences:
a) Catholic Bibles have 66 sections or "books." Protestant Bibles have 59.
b) Catholics believe in 7 Sacraments, which are visible and physical manifestations of God's grace and action in our lives. Most Protestants do not.
c) Catholics and Protestants believe that we receive salvation by faith. Some Protestants will tell you that Catholics believe in "salvation by works," but that's not true. Catholics believe that we are saved by faith, and that works are a part of faith. Works and faith are no more separable than an engine is from a car.
d) Catholics have very different beliefs about Mary than Protestants do. We believe that she was conceived without sin, that she remained a virgin her entire life (even after marriage), and that she had no other children besides Jesus. Some Protestants accuse us of worshipping Mary — but that is a ridiculously false accusation.
e) Most Catholic clergymen live under a promise of celibacy. Protestant clergy do not.
f) Catholics believe in the ecclesiastical authority of the Pope and the bishops in union with him. Protestants don't.
There are probably many more differences, but those are some of the major ones.
.
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Catholic
Timothy on 27 Dec 2008 at 8:58 am #
>”Christian = FAITH ALONE IN JESUS TO SAVE = salvation, and eternity in heaven”
Unfortunately, Jesus Himself never taught that. When asked by Nicodemus what must he do to have eternal life, Jesus told Nicodemus to be born again of water and of spirit, not have faith alone. When asked by the rich man what he must do to have eternal life, Jesus told the rich man to keep the commandments, not have faith alone. Also “faith alone” appears only once in the Bible in the Epistle of James where it says clearly that one is not saved by faith alone.
Jesus did stress the imporatnce of faith during his ministry, e.g., the parable of the mustard seed. But inherent in having faith (believing) is all the requirements that are part and parcel to “faith” – love God, love neighbor, keep commandments, be baptised, complete the works that God has set before us, etc. Faith entails far more than easy believism. When Jesus says in the Gospels “your faith has saved you”, this is the faith to which He refers.
As for the differences, the most significant is that the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have the Eucharist and the fullness of the Christian faith. Protestant congregations lack the Eucharist and lack the fullness of the Christian faith. Fortunately, God in his mercy is currently reunifying his one visible Church on earth. Hopefully, in the not to distant future the ekklesia kath olos of Acts 9:31 will again exist.
God bless… +Timothy
Mike on 27 Dec 2008 at 9:12 am #
Catholic is not Christian?
CJ, you must be a troll… there can be no other explanation.
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whiteparrot on 27 Dec 2008 at 9:32 am #
The Catholics and protestants have the same theology of God. They both believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Catholics venerate Mary and I think some believe she was perfect. They pray to her. Protestants do not set Mary apart as a figure to be adored or worshiped. Catholics believe that the elements of what protestants call communion, become the literal body and blood of Christ.
There are a lot of differences but the biggest might be centered around the way we actually gain our salvation.
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Kazoo M on 27 Dec 2008 at 9:38 am #
The Catholic church was founded by Jesus Christ.
Remember, until the mid 16th century all of Christianity was Catholic.
The protestant church was created by Martin Luther, King Henry VIII, Thomas Cranmer & Oliver Cromwell.
I guess from the above it is obvious the protestant church was man-made etc…
This is an issue that only causes hostility between Christians, when you ask this type of basic question all you are doing is creating chaos of which you will be accountable for; beware!
Why not take the time to research history?
God bless’
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catholic 4 life on 27 Dec 2008 at 10:12 am #
the catholic church is the only church founded by jesus and the apostles. Protestants came about 1500 years later than catholics and decided to to make about 34000 different denominations.
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me
http://www.bible-reviews.com on 27 Dec 2008 at 10:38 am #
OK…..this is going to require some history. I’ll try to keep the history very brief…
In Western Europe, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) was the *only* (legal) Christian group from about 1050 C.E. until Martin Luther in the 1500s.
Martin Luther began the “Protestant Reformation”. Essentially, this was a “protest” against the authority of the Pope (the leader of the RCC). Luther insisted that the bible had authority greater than either the Pope or the RCC, and he essentially attempted to replace papal authority in the RCC with biblical authority.
He failed to overwhelm the RCC entirely, or even the largest part of it. Instead, he ended up generating a separate Christian “sect” – Lutheranism. His ideas concerning biblical authority caught on across the rest of Western Europe, and several other Protestant sects came into being. Each was based on the interpretation of the bible by an individual – and the interpretations differed in ways that were irreconcilable. For example, Calvinism (another early Protestant sect) and Lutheranism attempted to join forces against the RCC but could not agree (in fact, disagreed violently) on matters of doctrine.
This “Protestant sectarianism” has continued to this day. No longer used to describe sects that protest the authority of the Pope, the modern definition of “Protestant” includes all Western sects depending primarily on a particular biblical interpretation for their division from other Christian sects. Still, it is true that Protestant sects do not *accept* the authority of the Pope. However, most sects described as Protestant today do not actively portray the pope as a force of evil, which is what the original Protestant sects did.
That is the essential difference between the two groups. Some will make claims about how many books are in the bible – but different Protestant sects include different numbers of books, and one of the largest (the Anglican Communion) includes more Scriptures in their bibles than does the RCC, while most other Protestant sects include *fewer* Scriptures in their bibles than does the RCC.
As for “buying your faith” – this sounds like a reference to “selling indulgences”. This one of Luther’s primary complaints about the 16th century pope, and probably the primary reason for the Protestant Reformation. The practice came to a halt less than 50 years after it was begun when a new pope ruled that the practice was illegal. In that, at least, Luther made his point.
Jim, Fundamentalist Christian, http://www.bible-reviews.com
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Apostolic Nuncio on 27 Dec 2008 at 11:11 am #
If you would like more answers, consider asking around this site as well…
http://christianforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26
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cellos rock! on 27 Dec 2008 at 11:52 am #
I’m sorry, Justin, but it appears you will have to be doing a lot of your own research for this one. I say this because you’re getting quite a few misleading answers.
However, “Simply Jennifer” ’s answer does a pretty good job of skimming the top of many major topics. Kudos! I won’t recover those.
I have a problem with Kitty Kat’s answer on many levels. I’ll just go into a few. First of all, a personal relationship with God is extremely important in the Catholic faith. Look at the saints. God was extremely real to them and had such beautiful relationships with Him. (I think the personal relationship needs to be stressed more in some individual churches, though.)
Also, the Catholic Church stresses the importance of God’s inspired word in the Sacred Scripture. We have just started the year of the Bible! However, unlike Protestants, we also believe in Tradition. Scripture and Tradition always are compatible with one another.
Why don’t you pick up a Catholic Catechism or a Catholic faith handbook? A Catholic study Bible would be very helpful too.. I use the Catholic Youth Bible published by St. Mary’s Press, the New American Bible translation. It has handy footnotes. If you know your Protestant faith, as you look through the Catechism/faith handbook (often like a simplified Catechism) you will be able to see some of the differences yourself. You’ll see important similarities too.
P.S. Catholics are against “buying your faith”. There have been scandals in the Church, with the selling indulgences thing, but that was never part of the pure theology. There are always scandals in such big organizations… and were even in the early Church. For example, Judas’ betrayal was a huge scandal!
Hope this helps!
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Catechism, Bible
♥Cƒιzιкѕн♥ Eνιl Aтнєιѕт Iη¢υвυѕ™ on 27 Dec 2008 at 12:01 pm #
They are different sects of Christianity.
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