sws4420
11-17-2007, 03:59 AM
Q:
Hello,
I was brougt up Catholic. Although I feel I am a Christian, I don't fully believe in the Catholic religion and am looking to join another church. However, I do not know what the belief differences are between the different Christian faiths...could you tell me what the differences are? For example, I know that only Catholics believe in the Virgin Mary, and that women can't be priests. These are the types of differences I'm trying to find out. Thank you!
A:
Well, having left non-Catholic religion to become Catholic I certainly cannot fathom going backwards to a protestant religion but what I can do is give you an understanding of why there are differences.
In your question you mention Mary. Catholics and protestants both "believe" Mary existed; after all she is the Mother of Jesus. Catholics however give honor to Mary as their spiritual mother whereas protestants often never talk of Mary except at Christmas time. Catholics do not worship Mary; a falsehood often preached by those not educated in Catholicism. They merely honor Mary as the Mother of God; a soul specifically chosen by God to bear God Incarnate within herself. Indeed, a very high honor; not to mention she is the perfect example of a good Christian....something which all Christians should acknowledge as they try to mirror Christian practice in their own life.
You also mention women as priests. Only pagan religions allowed women as priests. It was only in modern time that *some* protestant denominations decided to forego this and let women gain priestly vestment. The Catholic Church's view on this matter is that Jesus did many things during His life; many things which were extraordinary and beyond the norm. He could have easily called women to be His disciples if He wanted but He did not. Thus the Church believes it does not have the right to change that which God has established. Plus it recognizes that women and men both have their own vocations. It is interesting to note that the Catholic Church is also the only Church that truly acknowledges women as saints. St. Teresa of Avila, for example, is a Doctor of the Church. Mary, is THE woman saint fo all saints. So women don't have a lesser role just because they fulfill other vocations in the Church.
Other differences in the denominations have to do with history. There are over 30,000+ different Christian churches in the world today. Jesus did not wish for all this division. He created only One Church. Most of the common protestant denomiations we know of today started from the main protestant branch which was created by men in the 1500's. The Lutheran churches were created and then persons left that church to create their own church (example: Methodist); Anglican church was created by a disgruntled King Henry VIII who, because he could not gain yet another divorce from the Church, decided to create his own church (aka the Anglican or Episocopal church) so he could marry again. In that case, the Church gained several martyrs (one of them, St. Thomas More) in England when they broke away from the Catholic Church to follow their own ideas of religion.
+++
A grave difference is the Holy Mass. When Luther broke away from the Church, he edited the Bible (removed 7 books..you can see the original books in the Catholic bibles as opposed to the King James version which is missing them); he also denied the Sacraments except two. Protestantism does not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Most protestant denomiations that broke off from the Lutheran church no longer celebrate Mass at all; they just preach sermons based on their own interpretation of Scripture. This is what is called "sola scriptura". Or personal interpretation of Scripture. This is why you can go to one protestant church and find women pastors or pastors marrying homosexual couples while you go to another and find no women pastors and no homosexual marriages. Those that are using women pastors and marrying homosexual couples are following their "own interpretation" of what they deem to be God's will. They are thus making up their own religion. It's actually sad to think that Christians can go from one church to another and find such drastic differences especially when they are to all be following the same Faith.
I recommend to learn about religion, to study it's history. You will thus see how these different religions came into creation by the minds of men:
History of protestantism:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12495a.htm
This is another good online book:
http://www.scborromeo.org/truth/truth.htm
This gives you a timeline of Christianity:
http://www.scborromeo.org/truth/c1.htm
And a lot of questions/answers about the Faith:
http://www.scborromeo.org/glad/glad.htm
+++
On a personal note, I was raised Methodist (though I was told I was baptized Lutheran). I came into the Catholic Church on my own when I was 16 yrs old. I had read about the saints and was truly impressed by their Faith and desire to follow Christ. I always recommend reading about the saints because they are souls who truly wanted to do the right thing and follow God.
Some of my favorite saints are: St. Joan of Arc, St. Agnes, St. Thomas More, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux. You can find a wealth of information in books on them or on the net. Here is a good bookstore that is inexpensive to get books from:
www.getfed.com
Let me know if I can assist further or if you just want to talk more about your faith in general. :)
And remember.....bring all your desire to follow Christ to prayer. One of my favorite prayers is the Divine Mercy prayer:
"Jesus, I trust in You."
You can visit the Divine Mercy Shrine at:
www.marian.org
They have some beautiful pictures of Jesus there. :)
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Christianity-Church-History-2348/Differences-Christian-Religions.htm
Hello,
I was brougt up Catholic. Although I feel I am a Christian, I don't fully believe in the Catholic religion and am looking to join another church. However, I do not know what the belief differences are between the different Christian faiths...could you tell me what the differences are? For example, I know that only Catholics believe in the Virgin Mary, and that women can't be priests. These are the types of differences I'm trying to find out. Thank you!
A:
Well, having left non-Catholic religion to become Catholic I certainly cannot fathom going backwards to a protestant religion but what I can do is give you an understanding of why there are differences.
In your question you mention Mary. Catholics and protestants both "believe" Mary existed; after all she is the Mother of Jesus. Catholics however give honor to Mary as their spiritual mother whereas protestants often never talk of Mary except at Christmas time. Catholics do not worship Mary; a falsehood often preached by those not educated in Catholicism. They merely honor Mary as the Mother of God; a soul specifically chosen by God to bear God Incarnate within herself. Indeed, a very high honor; not to mention she is the perfect example of a good Christian....something which all Christians should acknowledge as they try to mirror Christian practice in their own life.
You also mention women as priests. Only pagan religions allowed women as priests. It was only in modern time that *some* protestant denominations decided to forego this and let women gain priestly vestment. The Catholic Church's view on this matter is that Jesus did many things during His life; many things which were extraordinary and beyond the norm. He could have easily called women to be His disciples if He wanted but He did not. Thus the Church believes it does not have the right to change that which God has established. Plus it recognizes that women and men both have their own vocations. It is interesting to note that the Catholic Church is also the only Church that truly acknowledges women as saints. St. Teresa of Avila, for example, is a Doctor of the Church. Mary, is THE woman saint fo all saints. So women don't have a lesser role just because they fulfill other vocations in the Church.
Other differences in the denominations have to do with history. There are over 30,000+ different Christian churches in the world today. Jesus did not wish for all this division. He created only One Church. Most of the common protestant denomiations we know of today started from the main protestant branch which was created by men in the 1500's. The Lutheran churches were created and then persons left that church to create their own church (example: Methodist); Anglican church was created by a disgruntled King Henry VIII who, because he could not gain yet another divorce from the Church, decided to create his own church (aka the Anglican or Episocopal church) so he could marry again. In that case, the Church gained several martyrs (one of them, St. Thomas More) in England when they broke away from the Catholic Church to follow their own ideas of religion.
+++
A grave difference is the Holy Mass. When Luther broke away from the Church, he edited the Bible (removed 7 books..you can see the original books in the Catholic bibles as opposed to the King James version which is missing them); he also denied the Sacraments except two. Protestantism does not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Most protestant denomiations that broke off from the Lutheran church no longer celebrate Mass at all; they just preach sermons based on their own interpretation of Scripture. This is what is called "sola scriptura". Or personal interpretation of Scripture. This is why you can go to one protestant church and find women pastors or pastors marrying homosexual couples while you go to another and find no women pastors and no homosexual marriages. Those that are using women pastors and marrying homosexual couples are following their "own interpretation" of what they deem to be God's will. They are thus making up their own religion. It's actually sad to think that Christians can go from one church to another and find such drastic differences especially when they are to all be following the same Faith.
I recommend to learn about religion, to study it's history. You will thus see how these different religions came into creation by the minds of men:
History of protestantism:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12495a.htm
This is another good online book:
http://www.scborromeo.org/truth/truth.htm
This gives you a timeline of Christianity:
http://www.scborromeo.org/truth/c1.htm
And a lot of questions/answers about the Faith:
http://www.scborromeo.org/glad/glad.htm
+++
On a personal note, I was raised Methodist (though I was told I was baptized Lutheran). I came into the Catholic Church on my own when I was 16 yrs old. I had read about the saints and was truly impressed by their Faith and desire to follow Christ. I always recommend reading about the saints because they are souls who truly wanted to do the right thing and follow God.
Some of my favorite saints are: St. Joan of Arc, St. Agnes, St. Thomas More, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux. You can find a wealth of information in books on them or on the net. Here is a good bookstore that is inexpensive to get books from:
www.getfed.com
Let me know if I can assist further or if you just want to talk more about your faith in general. :)
And remember.....bring all your desire to follow Christ to prayer. One of my favorite prayers is the Divine Mercy prayer:
"Jesus, I trust in You."
You can visit the Divine Mercy Shrine at:
www.marian.org
They have some beautiful pictures of Jesus there. :)
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Christianity-Church-History-2348/Differences-Christian-Religions.htm