Catholicism Is Not Christianity?

[options]

Mods: I am placing this in the off-topic board because I do not ascribe to Catholicism as Bible-based Christianity. I am wondering if Catholic members here consider themselves Christians, or something else entirely or possibly something else closely linked.

Let's peruse and consider the information in the following link: http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0071/0071_01.asp

 

[Eiano]

Catholics believe in God and accept Jesus as our savior....

For a while, the Catholic Church was very corrupt and immoral. Some of the changes that occured when it was corrupt have become part of tradition. That doesn't mean that we are not CHRISTians-- believing in Christ. But it takes time for changes to be accepted, and some of these changes have become out belief.

And as for this website..

Pope Innocent died in 1216 from what I found. I have a hard time seeing Pope JPII saying some of these things.


A lot of these 'facts' are being quoted from people who have died . What one man says shouldn't be used to judge the whole religion. So.... that's just my defending of Catholicism...

 

[aquarian1252004]

Girl, I don't even want to go there (especially under the current circumstances) . . . and I have way too much to say about it. But I will say this the world worships the pope as if he is God or the Lord Jesus Christ himself . I will keep my "real" thoughts to myself because I don't want to offend anyone .

 

[InsertCleverNameHere]

This is the same type of argument my bf was trying to make about protestants or the rest of the Christians. He doesn't feel like they believe in the bible because they make up their own holidays and worship on sunday instead of the sabbath, etc things that aren't in the bible...

I personally believe that if you believe in Christ and that he died for your sins and all that jazz, that is what makes you Christian.

But I dunno, I have been thinking about this since he made that comment.

 

[Poohbear]

What is the big deal about the Pope? Why is he looked up to so much? What has he done and what does he do??? (I'm just asking out of curiosity, not attacking )

 

[EbonyEyes]

My mom revealed something to me about the Catholic religion through her Bible studies and it scared the living daylights out of me.

If I'm wrong, please correct me but Catholics believe they are Christians because they believe in Christ. An interesting thing though: There are Catholics that believe that they are the ONE TRUE Christian religion.

I will never for the life of me understand why people will bow down to the pope and kiss his hand like he is God. With that being said though, I cried for the life of the Pope and prayed that if it is God's will, that his soul be accepted by God and the Pope will have eternal peace in heaven.

-Ebony

 

[nurseN98]

My mom revealed something to me about the Catholic religion through her Bible studies and it scared the living daylights out of me.

If I'm wrong, please correct me but Catholics believe they are Christians because they believe in Christ. An interesting thing though: There are Catholics that believe that they are the ONE TRUE Christian religion.

I will never for the life of me understand why people will bow down to the pope and kiss his hand like he is God. With that being said though, I cried for the life of the Pope and prayed that if it is God's will, that his soul be accepted by God and the Pope will have eternal peace in heaven.

-Ebony

I was raised Catholic but I have developed my own view on religion as a whole. But I have to say that I have met many, MANY Protestant people who embody the sentance that you wrote. MANY...they've tried to convert me and my mother telling us we will go to hell if we don't join thier church. I don't believe there is one true religion because RELIGION is man made.....all of them. So please don't generalize Catholics and Catholicism that way.

 

[nurseN98]

Mods: I am placing this in the off-topic board because I do not ascribe to Catholicism as Bible-based Christianity. I am wondering if Catholic members here consider themselves Christians, or something else entirely or possibly something else closely linked.

Let's peruse and consider the information in the following link: http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0071/0071_01.asp

I'm not a die hard Catholic anymore but my mother is and she is a Christian...so am I. She studies the Bible as do I. There are many things I stopped doing because I learned the origin of it. But there are many faithful Catholics that accept Jesus Christ as their saviour. As I said earlier I don't consider myself a true Catholic anymore but I refuse to enter any other denomination that condemns me because I was Catholic and judges Catholics and views us as some kind abomination. I am a Christian and I wish protestant people would stop bashing Catholics so badly. Jesus saves Catholics also.

 

[stcsweet]

Here's one reference to differences between Catholics and Protestants..

CARM.org

 

[aquarian1252004]

I just wish people would stop arguing over RELIGION which is not created by God, but by man. I believe religion is the devils biggest tool to create division amongst the body of Christ. Has any one ever noticed that the word denomination sounds like it is rooted from the word demon? Bottom line if we all truly read our bibles under the interpretation and guidance of the Holy Spirit there would be no argument. Because no man can argue with the true word of God.

 

[EbonyEyes]

I was raised Catholic but I have developed my own view on religion as a whole. But I have to say that I have met many, MANY Protestant people who embody the sentance that you wrote. MANY...they've tried to convert me and my mother telling us we will go to hell if we don't join thier church. I don't believe there is one true religion because RELIGION is man made.....all of them. So please don't generalize Catholics and Catholicism that way.

Generalizing is saying ALL (or most) Catholics believe that Catholicism is the one true Christian religion. I said There are Catholics who believe that Catholicism is the one true Christian religion. I know they exist because I have spoken to Catholics who feel this way. I didn't even say that there are many because I don't know how many Catholics actually feel this way.

There are Christians who are pro-life (True Statement). This is different from All Christians are pro-life or Most Christians are pro-life. I honestly don't even know what percentage of Christians are pro-life so I wouldn't dare say most.

There are people who attend church and claim they are Christian but are really hypocrites (True Statement). This is different from All people (or the majority of people) who attend church and claim they are Christian are hypocrites.


Please don't accuse me of generalizing when I did no such thing.

-Ebony

 

[EbonyEyes]

I'm not a die hard Catholic anymore but my mother is and she is a Christian...so am I. She studies the Bible as do I. There are many things I stopped doing because I learned the origin of it. But there are many faithful Catholics that accept Jesus Christ as their saviour. As I said earlier I don't consider myself a true Catholic anymore but I refuse to enter any other denomination that condemns me because I was Catholic and judges Catholics and views us as some kind abomination. I am a Christian and I wish protestant people would stop bashing Catholics so badly. Jesus saves Catholics also.

I am not afraid to say that I don't agree with some principles of Catholicism for there are principles that I don't agree with in my own Baptist church.

And I agree with you, Jesus does save Catholics. He also saves baptists, lutherans, and presbyterians, etc. As far as I'm concerned, if you love Jesus, then you're in there.

I do have a question....Does Catholicism trace its roots back to Saint Peter (I learned that he is sometimes referred to as the 1st pope)?

-Ebony

 

[Poohbear]

You can't flat out say Catholics are not Christians. It all depends on that one Catholics' beliefs. Some consider themselves Christians (I'm assuming if they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior) and some do not consider themselves Christians. I remember in high school, this boy asked this girl if she was a Christian and she said "No, I'm Catholic." I didn't understand because I myself thought all Catholics were Christians since Catholicism is considered a Christian denomination.
I know that some Catholics carry a Bible that has more books in it than Protestant Christians do (is there a Catholic here that knows what I'm talking about? I forgot what the extra books were called). I'm not sure what those extra books say though. I also know they practice and do certain things that are not in the Holy Bible that Christians follow such as sprinkling of babies, confessing sins to a priest, putting big emphasis on Mary, believing in Purgatory (sp?), etc. But I'm thinking that some of those things could be in the extra books in the Bible they have.

 

[Poohbear]

Generalizing is saying ALL (or most) Catholics believe that Catholicism is the one true Christian religion. I said There are Catholics who believe that Catholicism is the one true Christian religion. I know they exist because I have spoken to Catholics who feel this way. I didn't even say that there are many because I don't know how many Catholics actually feel this way.

There are Christians who are pro-life (True Statement). This is different from All Christians are pro-life or Most Christians are pro-life. I honestly don't even know what percentage of Christians are pro-life so I wouldn't dare say most.

There are people who attend church and claim they are Christian but are really hypocrites (True Statement). This is different from All people (or the majority of people) who attend church and claim they are Christian are hypocrites.


Please don't accuse me of generalizing when I did no such thing.

-Ebony

I didn't think you were generalizing. But I just wanted to say that using "All" is more generalized than using "Most" so they are different.

 

[Poohbear]

I just wish people would stop arguing over RELIGION which is not created by God, but by man. I believe religion is the devils biggest tool to create division amongst the body of Christ. Has any one ever noticed that the word denomination sounds like it is rooted from the word demon? Bottom line if we all truly read our bibles under the interpretation and guidance of the Holy Spirit there would be no argument. Because no man can argue with the true word of God.

ITA! Great post! But you know what? I think it's hard not to avoid division when you have different denominations that practice and believe certain things in the Bible. I think that's why we have people that argue about certain things in the Bible. Even among protestant denominations we have differences in beliefs (e.g. There are Baptist churches that are for woman preachers/pastors and there are Baptist churches that are against woman preachers/pastors). I wish Christians (whether you're Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, etc.) could come together but I don't think that'll ever happen.

 

[options]

I don't know why the Pope is revered as if he is God himself. He is a man, a human, like you and me and Joe Blow. Has he performed good deeds? Probably. But have you and I? Probably so.

I asked my mother, who was once a Catholic is now a Bahai, why she wanted us to be Catholics when we were young. She said, "I wanted you to be in the best Christian church." I told her that I do not believe Catholicism is Christianity. I asked her, "Why do they pray to saints? Saints are humans who presumably did good deeds and were designated as saints posthumously. If I performed good deeds in life and then was deemed a saint after death, would you pray in my name (as some Catholics do)?" And she did not want to touch that.

LOL.

My mom revealed something to me about the Catholic religion through her Bible studies and it scared the living daylights out of me.

If I'm wrong, please correct me but Catholics believe they are Christians because they believe in Christ. An interesting thing though: There are Catholics that believe that they are the ONE TRUE Christian religion.

I will never for the life of me understand why people will bow down to the pope and kiss his hand like he is God. With that being said though, I cried for the life of the Pope and prayed that if it is God's will, that his soul be accepted by God and the Pope will have eternal peace in heaven.

-Ebony

 

[options]

I just wish people would stop arguing over RELIGION which is not created by God, but by man. I believe religion is the devils biggest tool to create division amongst the body of Christ. Has any one ever noticed that the word denomination sounds like it is rooted from the word demon? Bottom line if we all truly read our bibles under the interpretation and guidance of the Holy Spirit there would be no argument. Because no man can argue with the true word of God.

I totally agree! I am not trying to incite discord, but I am seriously wanting some answers and thoughts from others on Catholicism. I don't align myself with any denomination in particular, period.

 

[MeccaMedinah]

I totally agree! I am not trying to incite discord, but I am seriously wanting some answers and thoughts from others on Catholicism. I don't align myself with any denomination in particular, period.

Did you read the "I Have a Question For Catholics" thread? They answered many questions there, including whether they consider themselves Christians.

 

[Laginappe]

I totally agree! I am not trying to incite discord, but I am seriously wanting some answers and thoughts from others on Catholicism. I don't align myself with any denomination in particular, period.

Options - if you're not trying to incite discord then why post a site that's filled with hate and slander? That site is so far over the top its incredible. Here's what I learned after a few minutes clicking around on that site:

- The Catholic church is a whore. And it was at the root of the Holocaust.

- African nations are suffering today becuase they broke ties with Israel

- Homosexuals have demons living inside them, and teachers who instruct from a stance of accepting all others - well they're just evil witch like hags.

- Holy Communion is actually a Death Cookie - very interesting since I thought most Christian based churches had one form of Communion or another. But I suppose its only a Death Cookie if its given at Mass?

- Only the people of Isreal are God's Chosen - well then I guess the rest of us are screwed no matter what huh?

- Vampires walk the earth. - Seriously. They have a book listed there that tells the story of a supposed ex-vampire "Lucifer Dethroned", the true story of an ex-vampire by William Schnoebelen. By Chick Publications.

- Jesus himself actually hates Catholicism (Cause remember the Church is the Great Whore) and and and actually the KKK along with other vague images of various world and religious leaders - well they're all in cahoots with the Pope! Whodathunkit?

Now this is really cool!

- If you can decode Satan's secret message, about Mary (you did know Mary was Satan's masterpiece to control his religious slaves didn't you??) Well if you can unravel the secret Satan Code - Jesus will expose the counterfeit church to you. Hmmm I wonder if I need a secret decoder ring for that one? And I wonder if it can be purchased at Chick.com?

And I just really love how its all designed in an "innocent" comic book / cartoon format. Very slick on their part. Be careful of where you get your "information" from. Sites like that are based in hate not exchanging information about another way of life. You can find similar cartoons on sites that are anti-Semite, Nazi and Skinhead based etc. The KKK types use similar methods to teach their children about their version of the "truth" of Black people.

It saddens me that a reasonable intelligent person would look at the contents of that site and eat up it. Believe it because it reinforces their pre-disposed opinions about someone else's way of life. We're supposed to be smarter than that.

 

[nurseN98]

I just wish people would stop arguing over RELIGION which is not created by God, but by man. I believe religion is the devils biggest tool to create division amongst the body of Christ. Has any one ever noticed that the word denomination sounds like it is rooted from the word demon? Bottom line if we all truly read our bibles under the interpretation and guidance of the Holy Spirit there would be no argument. Because no man can argue with the true word of God.

I agree 100%

 

[nurseN98]

Generalizing is saying ALL (or most) Catholics believe that Catholicism is the one true Christian religion. I said There are Catholics who believe that Catholicism is the one true Christian religion. I know they exist because I have spoken to Catholics who feel this way. I didn't even say that there are many because I don't know how many Catholics actually feel this way.

There are Christians who are pro-life (True Statement). This is different from All Christians are pro-life or Most Christians are pro-life. I honestly don't even know what percentage of Christians are pro-life so I wouldn't dare say most.

There are people who attend church and claim they are Christian but are really hypocrites (True Statement). This is different from All people (or the majority of people) who attend church and claim they are Christian are hypocrites.


Please don't accuse me of generalizing when I did no such thing.

-Ebony

Pardon me EbonyEyes, I didn't mean to make it sound as if you are a basher. But when you write that you've learned something that "scared the living daylights out of (you)" from a Bible study about the Catholic religion, it comes across as if you've already formed your opinion about Catholicism. You did say there are Catholics who believe Catholicism is the one true Christian religion. You could say that for a lot of other religions as well.

I'm not by any means saying the Catholic church has not been wrong in many instances. That is one of the reasons I've not only distanced myself from it, but all formalized religion in general. The only thing I'm saying is that some people from other denominations always seem fit to question a Catholic person's devotion to God and whether they are truly Christian. My point is why continue to question Catholics? It's a divisive tactic in general.

The person who started this thread has already stated:
"I am placing this in the off-topic board because I do not ascribe to Catholicism as Bible-based Christianity."

If that is the case, what more could you possibly want to know? You've posted the link to that pamphlet (folks used to hand those out where I live) so you must believe what you've read. Is anything a Catholic says going to change your view and help you see that Catholics are Christians?

Just reading over what I wrote, I must apologize for the harshness but I've been defending the notion that Catholics are Christian for a while now and it's getting old. All man made religions have problems and are fillled with hypocrisy. So I don't understand why this particular topic keeps coming up.

 

[PretteePlease]

i dont know enough about Catholicism to say it is or isnt Christianity.
i dont believe in everything but that goes with all denoms

 

[DragonPearl]

I asked her, "Why do they pray to saints? Saints are humans who presumably did good deeds and were designated as saints posthumously. If I performed good deeds in life and then was deemed a saint after death, would you pray in my name (as some Catholics do)?" And she did not want to touch that.

LOL.

IMO, the word saint gets thrown around a little too casually. Doing some good deeds does not qualify anyone to be called a saint. We all do some good deeds, but the difference between people like you and me who do good deeds once in a while, when it suits us, and people who have dedicated their lives to selfishly do good deeds for their fellow human beings is what differenciates the regular person from a true saint.

Obviously you have not read the lives of some of those saints. If you are genuinely wanting to have answers, do yourself a favor, take some time to read about the lives of Saint Francis of Assissi, Mother Theresa, St. Vincent de Paul, etc... There are saints who left the world to live in lepers colonies to help the lepers, at the risk of their own health. How many of us would do things like that? Saints are revered and admired by Catholics because they are examples that it is possible to reach a high state of love and compassion while living in this body.

I don't believe that every canonized saint is really a saint. Too often, the Catholic Church has canonized people for political reasons. Joan of Arc is such an example. Lastly, I also don't believe you have to be catholic to be a saint. There are selfless and compassionate beings in most religious traditions who could be called saints. A prime example are the Tibetan monks who even after being tortured by the Chinese still expressed love and compassion for their torturers. How many of us could claim to be capable of such high spirit of forgiveness?

 

[Keike]

What a cruel thread.

Chris·tian
1.Professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2.Relating to or derived from Jesus or Jesus's teachings.
3.Manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus; Christlike.
4.Relating to or characteristic of Christianity or its adherents.
5.Showing a loving concern for others; humane.

n.
1.One who professes belief in Jesus as Christ or follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2.One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.

Now, how exactly is a Catholic not a Christian?

 

[sunshine91496]

First, I am Catholic, and I was a little apprehensive coming to look at the comments on the board because of the misinformation i've read here in the past, but I felt it would be better to engage in constructive discussion; rather than let the misinformation stand.

In traditional times Catholics did believe they were the one true religion. It was widely even said that "good jews" really were Catholic at heart because they wanted to be saved. My parents are from Latin america, and all faiths, Baptists, Pentacostal, Episcopal, Seventh Day, etc all were baptized Catholic "just in case" it was the true religion. The word "catholic" itself means universal, and thus was deemed the universal religion. Saint Peter was the first pope and was said to have been called to this position by direction of God through the Holy Spirit. The Pope's goal is not to be God or even God like (unfortunately as with any institution, people gain power and abuse it) but rather to continue passing on Jesus' teachings on earth. This was especially important because in early years after Jesus' death there were many different factions that attempted to twist and mold Jesus' teachings. It is believed that this is why the Holy Sprit called upon Saint Peter, one of Jesus' closest's disciples to unify the factions. Obviously over the centuries the Church changed from a religious or devotional institution to a political one and unfortunately some leaders took their position to cause harm to other people. This is one of the main reasons Martin Luther led the Reformation to break away from the Church. However the major roled is to unify the faithful. Catholics believe that God through the Holy Spirit directly leads the Pope in making church doctrine. Thus when the Pope speaks he is not speaking as a human, but he is "passing on" the word of God.

As for Catholics being Christians as I said, Catholics were the first identifiable Christians (in the sense that they were a unified organization which espoused Christian thought).

 

[gotshuz]

The word catholic means christian .

Did Jesus die for my sins?, yes do i believe this yes? by this i am saved i by this believe I am christian ........This is one of the most mean spirited threads I have ever read ...... Why must people feel the need to destroy one thing to build up another I have never been around a group of catholics that sit around and wonder if Protestants are saved or christian but i always hear it the other way around ... We worship the same God

 

[fine_beauty]

Options,

I am so appalled by your statements on this hate-filled thread. Ask yourself one question. Are you doing Christ Jesus' bidding by starting this kind of thread? Is the holy spirit glorified? I shake as I type this?

May the good Lord forgive you on this divine mercy sunday during which he has promised his inexhaustible mercy to all.

If you sincerely have any questions, please send them to me via pm or use my email account [email protected]

Please for the love of God desist from doing what Peter (our first Pope) wrote about in 2 Peter 2 vs. 11 and beyond

In summary, do not revile things you have no understanding of.

Gamaliel in Acts 5 vs. 34-39 states

"Fellow Israelites, be careful what you are about to do to these men.
36
Some time ago, Theudas appeared, claiming to be someone important, and about four hundred men joined him, but he was killed, and all those who were loyal to him were disbanded and came to nothing.
37
After him came Judas the Galilean at the time of the census. He also drew people after him, but he too perished and all who were loyal to him were scattered.
38
So now I tell you, have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.
39
But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God."

You and the author of that hate-filled chick comic strip need to take the example of wise Gamaliel so you may not end up fighting God. If the catholic church is not instituted by God and maintained by the holy spirit, God will destroy it but if God has his stamp on it, you are in essence being a pain in the butt to God and you do not want to face his awesome wrath, I can assure you.

Mods: I am placing this in the off-topic board because I do not ascribe to Catholicism as Bible-based Christianity. I am wondering if Catholic members here consider themselves Christians, or something else entirely or possibly something else closely linked.

Let's peruse and consider the information in the following link: http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0071/0071_01.asp

 

[options]

Honestly, I don't see how inquiry is hate-filled. I believe God would want people to interact, communicate and discuss religion and spirituality in order to ultimately find ourselves closer to Him and to the Truth.

I said, let's consider and peruse the following link. I did not say this is the God's honest, absolute truth about the Catholic church. I do think that the site made some interesting points, but I wouldn't use it as a primary or exclusive source for information.

 

[sunshine91496]

Inquiry is one thing, but speech that intends to cause a rise can be hate-filled. Do you know how many message boards have comments that question whether Blacks are even human? or claim to prove that Balcks are just animal socialized to interact with "real" humans. I mean such statements could be argued to be inquiry, but really it's just hate. It's one thing to ask questions, but when questions are packed with inherent bias, then obviously there is a problem. That's not religion, that's logic.

 

[fine_beauty]

Inquiry is one thing, but speech that intends to cause a rise can be hate-filled. Do you know how many message boards have comments that question whether Blacks are even human? or claim to prove that Balcks are just animal socialized to interact with "real" humans. I mean such statements could be argued to be inquiry, but really it's just hate. It's one thing to ask questions, but when questions are packed with inherent bias, then obviously there is a problem. That's not religion, that's logic.

I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and God willing she will have learned something positive and perhaps the answer to her question from this thread.