What is the difference between Protestant and Catholic beliefs?

[Zane]

I personally find it slightly scary, and uncomfortable, how the big 2, if you please, (cath/prod) have different views on the way to salvation (ordo salutis), ie the sola fide (faith alone) and faith & works.

It puzzels and troubles me that there is the possibility that either we are both right (which would be cool), or only one of us is. I don't think we are both wrong. And that would mean a whole waste of lives who thought they were on the right track, and so close aswell... (this will happen anyway, people thinking they were saved, with all the other religions).

Matthew 7:13 (NIV)
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it"

And that is the verse which brings about the anxiety. How 'few' is 'few', possibly not the supposedly 2.3 Billion, or whatever, Christians around the world.... I do pray that God would open up peoples eyes so that they will be able to recognise his clear ordo salutis.


Feel Free to PM me if you've any ideas or how you reconcile that fact. Thanks.

[Arnobius]

My beleifs use to Clash with Catholic beleifs to the point where I felt the entire religion was wrong. And then I thought about it.

What gets us into heaven?
What confirms the reservation?

If one accepts Jesus as his/her lord and savoir, does it really matter that my opinions differ from yours. I mean When we're up thre during judgement day, Will God say "well you've accepted my son as your lord and savoir, enter the joy of the kingdom of heaven"... "oh wait, you beleive in _______, down to hell you go"

I don't think.

A man asked Jesus how to enter heaven.
"Follow the commandments" -Jesus

Notice commandment #11: Thou shall have Beliefs that are perfectly correct in accordance with everyone else is missing. Probably for a good reason.

Mine are flawed to you, yours are flawed to me.

We're all a bunch of fools, we're all trying to understand something that is not fully comprehensable to us. In the end we've all got some pretty flawed beleifs. Thank God that's not what determains our salvation.

Since then I've never had a prob with other christian's Beleifs.
I ask myself, "have they accepted Jesus?"
If yes then I leave it at that, that's all that matters.
Pretty much what oldphil stated (i just now read it )

That's a pretty good insight there. I'd like to add a little comment made by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (well, a paraphrase, can't find the right quote just now):

"To Call God our Father, we have to call Christ our brother, which means we have to accept all others who Christ has called to be His brothers."

Obviously there are differences, and some of them are serious and will be hard to work out, but that doesn't mean we can't acknowledge the fact that we're heading the same way while we do.

[kazekami]

I've been a Catholic since I was 8. When i was in College I went to church with my friends. Who weren't always Catholic. I went to Non denominational, Baptist, and Lutherin services. The reason I did this was because I had no car. But I also needed to worship God. And I wanted to be with believers. The way I see it is there is one church just many branches. I don't think any of the churches are perfect. theres a good and bad with all of them. My mom really likes Greek Orthodox except for the kissing of the icons. I'd like to go to a Greek Orthodox mass sometime. =).

[teigeki_calesa]

Well, Personally I don't think they are any different. But a lot of fundamentalist Christian people I know always point these out: That the RCC is replacing faith with tradition and superstition; that it promotes idolatry(saints, Mary); and that faith ONLY and not good works as taught by the RCC will save. But don't you think that faith AND good works are like pasta and the sauce: neither can work without the other? I wonder why they can't see that, as they try to wean me out of my Catholic faith. But they just don't want to see that there's no need for that, because we are under the same Jesus after all.

[Joshua Christopher]

Personally, I believe that faith alone is what gives a person salvation.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any
man should boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9, KJV

If a person is really saved, it would make sense to show it by doing these said works.

Don't flame me on this....

[Yojimbo]

Yeah I know some people who don't even think of us Catholics as Christian. And I even see it on here to a degree of when some people talk about Catholics I always see "their religion, that religion, this religion." Everything else aside being Christian means accepting Christ as your savior. That should be enough to respect other denominations, Catholicism, and so forth.

[Ashley]

Yeah I know some people who don't even think of us Catholics as Christian. And I even see it on here to a degree of when some people talk about Catholics I always see "their religion, that religion, this religion." Everything else aside being Christian means accepting Christ as your savior. That should be enough to respect other denominations, Catholicism, and so forth.

Just be wary that it's a 2 way street---I know a lot of Catholics who have tried to convert me because I'm not "geniunely saved". Just as their are misconceptions about the Catholics, we Protestants aren't universally accepted either. And just as you wouldn't want to be judged by the methods of the church in the Crusades, I hope none of you Catholics would judge us by what a few ignorant may have said. I would hate for this thread to degenerate into a "woe is ____ side".

My personal stance is "in essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity".

[teigeki_calesa]

Of course. Saying this and that will go to hell is the last thing that I want to do.

[Ingemar]

I don't know if anyone has brought us up. Probably the biggest difference substantive between Catholics and Protestants is Communion. (Or at least, to some Catholics, that is the biggest difference). I'm no Catholic, but here goes:

Cathlics believe that Communion is the actual act of receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. I don't know if this mean that bread turns into skin or wine turns into blood by some 'magic,' but the important thing is that to Catholics, Communion is a means of coming face to face with Christ.

Protestants believe that Communion is a tradition, a symbol which serves to remind us of Jesus Christ. (To an extent, this applies to Catholics as well). What sets the two apart is that Protestants do not believe that Communion is a means of receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus (though it varies from denom to denom--older Lutheran branches believe in transubstansiation, and Luther himself had no problem with that doctrine).

Of all the ceremonies and traditions that both practice (ahem, Christmas and Easter) only one is explicitly commanded. And that is Communion. So I think that is important.

[teigeki_calesa]

Cathlics believe that Communion is the actual act of receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. I don't know if this mean that bread turns into skin or wine turns into blood by some 'magic,' but the important thing is that to Catholics, Communion is a means of coming face to face with Christ.

No, it's not magic. It's just a matter of internalizing things.

[true_noir_chloe]

I know I can not speak honestly for all Protestants, since it has changed drastically since Martin Luther first split from the Catholic church in the 1500's. I believe many have mentioned differences such as, Calvinism, Armenianism, Charismaticism and on and on. There are oh so many Protestant churches today. I was very pleased to read CDLViking's explanation of Catholicism.

I can only speak from what I know.

I'm a Biblical Christian - some call this Evangelical, but I'm not even sure that fits today. I know that not all Protestants believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God - the Bible, being kept secure and true by His Sovereign Will through the ages. I believe the Bible and the Holy Spirit work tandem in a believer, opening our eyes to His truth and what He wants to teach us - each and every believer, not just those who work in a certain position in the church.

I believe all men and women are equal in God's eyes. As He spoke of people in the body working like parts of our physical bodies, we each just have different tasks that we do and are called to do, not one is greater or lesser to our Lord. He equally loves all His children who believe in His Son for their salvation. This is how all Biblical Christians believe. They believe Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven. They believe that all of Scripture is meant to lead to Christ and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. God longs to have fellowship with us more than anything, however He is a Holy and Just God, and we are sinners, thus we needed a representative who was sinless - Jesus Christ. It is only in belief in Jesus Christ that we are saved.

Yes, the road to Salvation is very narrow. I teach my children that if anyone says there is any other way except through the Cross of Christ they are a false teacher - that includes a "works" version - works testify belief, they do not get you into Heaven. Someone may be upset with what I said, but this is what all Biblical/Evangelical Christians believe.

To Arbre, I have to say that there are many false teachings in the church today. Many people define God by man, rather than defining man by God. God does not need to be judged, nor rationalized by man. And no man will ever know God except by the Holy Spirit working in their heart.

It is a matter of belief - Sola Fide ~_^. If anyone has any further questions, you may definitely pm me.

[termyt]

I hesitated to post in length early in the thread and I think I shall continue that trend to avoid injecting my opinion into my post. Especially since CDL and Ash, a Catholic and a Baptist, described their belief systems so well. Generally speaking, these two systems of faith are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Most will fall in-between somewhere. But there I go giving my opinion.

Instead, I would like to focus on common ground. I think that it is worthwhile in a thread dedicated to our differences to at least mention the similarities in the different denominations. I believe we all agree on this, and if we don’t I’d really like to come to a better understanding of the differences, so please let me know:

Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God. This means He is God the Father’s direct descendent and literal Son of God. He is not simply a son of God as we are all sons of God.

Jesus is divine – He is God incarnate. As God in flesh, He felt what we feel and was tempted as we are tempted, but He lived a sin-free life.

Since He was the only one to live without sin, only He could serve as the perfect sacrifice to wash the sins of the world away.

It is our faith in Jesus as the Christ (as described above) through the grace of God that we are saved.

The rest we bicker about like a pack of rabid dogs fighting over a T-bone.

[Mi-Ru-Me]

I only read the first and last page so I dont know what alot of people say.


I do say this all though catholics and babtists are on obosite ends of chritianity as previously posted it also depends on the conviction of the people and weather they read there bilbe and seak to understand what it says. One cannot get a clear picture if you just listen to others tell you about your religion. This is something I need to work on because I get attacked from all sides not only do non christians berate my christianity but christians who dont study the bible or even listen in church berate me because of their ignorance of the word.

The funny thing is I am a babtist and the only person in class who knew enoph to help me was my good friend who was catholic. heres the thing he is one of the very few catholics in the school and the only one who really knows what he is talking about and I am the only babtist. I dont really count those who never ever went to church but still say they are because they have no clue what they be talking about. And the peole who are sitting there saying that the bible cant be trusted because it was written by men a self proclaimed methodist who never went to church except on christmas and a bunch a lutherns who in our school were known drunks and other things. So its more about how well the person studys the bible and not wether he or she is catholic or Prodestant.

[mitsuki lover]

I skipped to the last page so didn't see what everyone else wrote.I have to say a lot of the differences between Catholics and Protestants have to do with Mary and
her role in Salvation,the impotance of the Pope,Justification by Faith and Works as
opposed to just Faith,Prayers to the Saints,Purgatory,etc.
It's hard to see from a Protestant point of view how Catholics are able to justify many of these things when they are not found in the Bible.
Oh,and Protestants in general don't accpet Tradition as being equal to Scripture.

[Technomancer]

In which case, it's best to read CDL's post. Basically, a lot depends on our understanding of the source authority and the role of scripture. Of course, there is the rather obvious fact that we do we interpret scripture differently, and also have a few more books in our bible to begin with.

[Arnobius]

No, it's not magic. It's just a matter of internalizing things.

Proper term is transubstantiation. Not magic either. We believe it is done by God. We believe that it literally becomes the body and blood of Christ, though retaining the appearance of bread and wine. I understand that some Protestants believe it's just a symbol and others believe in Consubstantiation (Christ enters the bread and wine).

It's a hard teaching, I know. But that's the Catholic view of John 6, where many stopped following Jesus because that teaching was too hard to accept.

(Not trying to tell everyone "my way or the highway" here. Just trying to show what we believe against misconceptions of what we believe).

[oro!]

I have read through all of the posting and am glad that we have been pretty civil over the differences. I agree with what Chloe, Ashley, and others said, but I don't get Catholics very well. Please help me to understand you!
Okay, this discussion has reminded me of something I read in a Jesus Freaks' book...
In a time when fighting would decide which would be the religion in an area( muslims or Christians) do you know what the religous leaders were doing? Debating amongts themselves about such IMPORTANT problems like: if a fly gets into 'holy' water, is the fly holy or the water desecrated(?). They didn't seem to care that many people were out there who needed to hear the good news of Jesus. All they cared about was some little thing that didn't do anything in the whole scheme of things.
Moral of the story: we should be missions minded nad realize that, despite the differences, we are called to make disciples of all nations. We shouldn't spend our time and effort debating amongst ourselves who have been blessed with knowing God, but look to whats going on around us.
I could go on preaching, but I wont. That bit jsut there was laid on my heart by the Holy Spirit to say. I know we have differences...
I was going to go on the offence as a Baptist, but really that'd do nothing but probably hurt somebody.

[Fsiphskilm]

[quote="Arbre"]I'm

[Nate]

So yes, Mormons are a great example of "at what point does a god become false, or religion become non-christian"

Indeed.

To try and go further, Mormons believe Jesus was God, they will tell you so themselves. The problem is, they believe if you work at it hard enough, you can become God as well.

I think that when a religion tries to tell you that you can become an equal with God, or try to deny Christ's uniqueness as one of the Trinity, you can classify them as "non-Christian."

I think most people converted to Mormonism simply so they could have multiple wives, but that's just my theory.

Other than that, I can think of nothing else to add to this thread...everyone has summed it up pretty good. Oh, just one add-on:

But that's the Catholic view of John 6, where many stopped following Jesus because that teaching was too hard to accept.

I will just add that, being a non-denominational Christian, our view comes from John 6:63, after Jesus gave his speech about the Bread of Life (himself), and he said, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." We take this to mean that Jesus did not mean a literal eating of his flesh and blood through Communion, but rather a symbolic thing. Doesn't make them right and us wrong or vice-versa, just thought I'd add that note in.

[Fsiphskilm]

[b]Abou

[Technomancer]

I have read through all of the posting and am glad that we have been pretty civil over the differences. I agree with what Chloe, Ashley, and others said, but I don't get Catholics very well. Please help me to understand you!
Okay, this discussion has reminded me of something I read in a Jesus Freaks' book...
.

I'm afraid that that is very far from the truth, and sounds more like an exaggeration of the debates had by the medievel scholastics once upon a time. The reality is that for the most part there was real leadership (or at least better than what your book implies) in the church during times of crisis. If you're interested there are many good books on the subject of church history written by competent scholars that are available, hopefully from your local library.

You may also be interested in the following websites:

http://www.catholic.com
http://www.newadvent.org
(keep in mind that the encyclopedia portion predates Vatican II and may be a bit dated in some portions)

[livingsacrifice]

just watch the history channel. they have somthing about it every once in awhile. But I guess alot of people died for what they thought was the right way to worship and practice religion. Iv'e always believed that it dosnt really matter much how you worship Jesus, just worship him.

[dragonshimmer]

[quote="Impact Alberto"]Personally, I believe that faith alone is what gives a person salvation.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith]

Why would you be flamed? There is more truth in those words than most people care to realize.

[Yojimbo]

About Works...

Salvation gets you into Heaven.

Works gets you wealth in Heaven.

A lot of christians forget that in heaven we are not all equally gifted.
Your Mansion will not be of equal value as My mansion or Ashley's Mansion or Paul's Mansion.

The bible describes Crowns and gold and great wealth in Heaven to those who do good works etc... You don't need them, but they are there as a reward, a bonus.

Bling Bling.

I sincerely doubt there are wordly things such as "mansions" or "gold" in heaven. God has no need of that junk in heaven and neither do we. I'd rather think of heaven as being in a state of eternal happiness with God from scripture. I challenge you to back that up with scripture where it says I'll get a Rolls Royce "Heavenly Edition" if I feed a hundred starving children.

[CDLviking]

Please let's not start challenging other people's posts here, or it will get closed. If you have questions, do it via PM.

Yes, Theologians have from time to time fought over absolutely ridiculous questions. One was, "How many angels can fit on the head of a pin." Another was, "Did Jesus own his own clothes." We laugh at these types of questions nowadays, but they were important to the people who asked those questions. Just because these debates were going on does not mean that the Church leaders were uninvolved with important issues as well. These types of theological questions were mostly debated amongst doctors of universities and monastaries.

[Fsiphskilm]

John

[Hephzibah]

I sincerely doubt there are wordly things such as "mansions" or "gold" in heaven. God has no need of that junk in heaven and neither do we. I'd rather think of heaven as being in a state of eternal happiness with God from scripture. I challenge you to back that up with scripture where it says I'll get a Rolls Royce "Heavenly Edition" if I feed a hundred starving children.

FWOOOO Tal to the rescue!

Revelations:

21:18
The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.

22:12
Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

(also, side note: the angel that measured the New Jerusalm did so with a golden rod)

The way I see it, there is gold and other precious metals in heaven, cause after all, if God put them on Earth, He must like them! But we will not think of them the same as we do here on Earth.

Also, I think God does reward us for what we have done with our talents, gifts, resources, and most importantly time.


Edit: More Bible verses on houses in Heaven

2 Corinthians 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

John 14:2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you


Further edit:
Not all Christians are called to 'go feed 100 starving children'. Afterall, when the issue of feeding the widows came up in the early church, not everyone was told to feed them... 7 mne were set aside for this task. God has separate callings on everyone's life. He will reward his faithful servants who do the work He called them to do.

[Fsiphskilm]

Ugg.. wh

[Hephzibah]

Ugg.. where'd you find those verses?!

I looked all over for them but BibleGateway was not cooperating

Bible Gateway
I typed in... errr... something. Cant remember what now
*goes searching*

Aaaah yes. I typed into the Keyword section:
I have prepared you a house
and
gold pearls 12 (in relation to the 12 giant pearls)
I love Bible Gateway!!!

[uc pseudonym]

I would ask that the subject of mansions/rewards not be continued in this thread. Discuss it via PM if you like, but this thread does not need that manner of conflict.

Now, first off I'll say that I'm impressed with this thread. I sincerely expected it to become an argument after about a page, but it is stayed fairly civil and been informative. Having actually posted, however, I feel the need to say something on the subject:

Certainly there are differences between denominations, but often in that discussion we forget that we are discussing only denominations, not individuals. All of us, as Christians, believe slightly differently, generally on matters we can agree are not consequential. Denominations are a form of roughly grouping people in accordance with their main beliefs, but each person is an individual. I view denominations in roughly this light: differences.