whats the basic difference between Christians and Catholics?
598293
Catholics believe that one can get to heaven by "being a good person" and doing good works.  But the Bible says that "There is none good.  No, not one" and that "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags".  There are many more references but I don't have time to type them all right now.  Real Christians have been born-again.
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YES.  According to the good ol' American Heritage Dictionary, a Christian is one who professes "belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus."  I'm a Catholic, and I know this describes me, as I'm sure it describes you as well.\n\nI have come to understand a bit more about why sometimes Protestants say Catholics aren't Chritistian, however.  Hopefully, these will help you understand your friends' logic:\n\n1. The Saints.  It's thought that by praying to saints, Catholics are worshiping them.  This isn't true, of course, for reasons I won't get into here - I'm sure you know them - but you can see how people might think you're not Christian if they thought this was true.\n2. The Bible.  Because Protestants don't have a Church structure the way Catholics do, Protestants often end up paying a lot more attention to the Bible, memorizing passages etc.  It seems to them that Catholics ignore the Scriptures and so the word of Christ.  This isn't true either, but it's a not-infrequent misconception.\n3.  The Eucharist.  Catholics say that the Eucharist is the essence of Christ, present with us.  We worship Christ in and through the Eucharist.  If you're Protestant, you (generally) think the Eucharist is bread, symbolic of Christ, but not actually Christ.  So if they see us worshiping God in the Eucharist, they think we're bowing down to a piece of bread.  You can see how this would seem sacriligious?\n4. Salvation.  Generally, Protestants believe that salvation can only come from accepting Christ as your savior.  Essentially, no matter how good a person is on their own, because they're not perfect, they wouldn't be able to make it to heaven if it weren't for Chirst's sacrifice.    Catholics believe this is true, but that you also have to 'walk the walk, not just talk the talk.'  Salvation is based on the acceptance of Christ as savior combined with good works.  The reason some Protestants have a problem with this is because they're thinking we're discounting the importance of Christ's sacrifice and that we think we could get into heaven on our own. \n\nSo you see, the concept of Catholics not being Christian is generally based on misconceptions.  Try explaining these concepts to your friends (without proselytizing) and try to find out why they think Catholics don't count as Christians.  We all believe in Christ as the source of eternal life.  Maybe you can help them see this.
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Technically, there are more Protestants in the U.S. than Catholics (66 million vs. 62 million). However, you must consider that Roman Catholic is one large religion made up of 62 million Americans, while Protestant is made up of many religions (ex. Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, and the largest, Baptist). Both Protestants and Catholics make up Christians, which are about 80% of the US population.
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go to\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic
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Catholicism is most definitely NOT Christianity. If you people knew both of the religions, you would be able to make the distinctions between the two. Christianity may have derived from Catholicism, but they are not the same things.\n\nJust thought I'd clear that up...
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Where to begin...the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Patriarch of Rome has universal authority while the Orthodox Church teaches that no bishop has authority outside his diocese.\nThe Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Holy Spirit proceeds in essence from both the Father and the Son and illegitimately changed the creed, while the Orthodox Church teaches that God the Father is the essential source of both the Son and the Holy Spirit.\nThe Roman Catholic Church teaches that we bear the actual guilt for the disobedience of Adam and Ever whereas the Orthodox Church teaches that we suffer the consequences of their disobedience but are ourselves not culpable for it.\nBecause of the RC's teachings on original sin they have made up the doctrine of the immaculate conception, which is not the same thing as the virgin birth, whereby she was born free of the guilt of original sin, or is somehow different than other humans to explain how Mary could be able to give birth to God. Of course they wouldn't need to make the Virgin Mary free of the consequences of Adam and Eve's disobedience if they hadn't construed it the way they had in the first place.\nThe Roman Catholic Church requires preistly celibacy whereas the Orthodox Church allows married priests, only bishops and monks are required to be celibate.\nThe differences go  on and on, these are just some of the essential ones.\nBy the way the difference between the Roman Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Church is that the Ukrainian Catholic Church uses the liturgy of the Orthodox Church and has married priests while still being in communion with the Roman Catholic Church and accepting the authority of the Pope. It is an Eastern Rite, or Uniate, church.\nIf you have more questions feel free to ask me. I am Orthodox.
337859
A Christian is one who follows Christ. Catholics are Christians but not all Christians are Catholic. A Christian can be Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, etc.
847022
Catholicism is a branch of Christianity.  Not believing in the Bible defeats the purpose of Christianity.  You can't claim to be a Christian yet not believe in the one book that Christianity is all about.
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Catholics ARE Christian!  Every Christian church no is an offshoot of the Catholic church.
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The main two categories are Catholic and Protestant.  And the main difference between them is the way they interpret the Bible.  If you're serious about researching this, you'll want to speak with a Priest (Catholic) and a Pastor or Reverend (Protestant) about what each believes.  \n\nThe problem you might run into, however, is that there are so very many ways to be a Protestant.  Episcopalian, Lutheran, Baptist, Mormon, and the list goes on and on.  And there are even variations among those, like WELS Lutheran, ALC Lutheran, etc.  The main differences still being interpretation of the Bible.
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There are many differences\n\nSome are that Catholics believe in:\nPraying to Saints\nConfessing to Man\n\nCatholics have a different bible, than every other "Christian"religion, \nBaptist, \nPentacost \nApostolic\nEven Jehova's Witnesses
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Answer:  Webster’s Dictionary defines a Christian as “a person professing belief in Jesus as the Christ or in the religion based on the teaching of Jesus.” While this is a good starting point in understanding what a Christian is, like many secular definitions, it falls somewhat short of really communicating the biblical truth of what it means to be a Christian.\nA true Christian is a person who has put his or her faith and trust in the person of Jesus Christ and fact that He died on the cross as payment for sins and rose again on the third day to obtain victory over death and to give eternal life to all who believe in Him.
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Catholicism and Biblical Christianity are divergent religions. They are built on different foundations, and they propose different ways of salvation.\n\nIn principle, Christianity is built solely on the Holy Scriptures, the written Word of God. The Bible is our only infallible rule of faith, being sufficient to give us the sure knowledge of the Gospel for our salvation and holiness.\n\nRoman Catholicism demands submission of the intellect and will to the doctrines taught by the Roman magisterium (the Pope and bishops). It is claimed that the Catholic Church derives its doctrines from the "sacred deposit" found in Scriptures and Sacred Tradition. However the faithful cannot verify these doctrines by referring to the original sources. The Scriptures are inaccessible because only the magisterium is able to establish the authentic meaning. Similarly the contents of Sacred Tradition can only be known through the magisterium. Roman Catholicism is mental and spiritual slavery to the Vatican.\n\nAs expected, since the foundations are different, so also are the edifices built upon them. Christianity stands on the Gospel of God's sovereign grace. In love, God predestines His chosen ones to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ, their sole mediator. The Son became man and gave His life as a ransom to secure their freedom from sin. Being dead in sin, they are completely unable to convert ourselves or merit God's favour. Therefore God graciously grants His people repentance and faith to turn to Him and trust in Christ Jesus for salvation. Believers are accepted in Christ, solely on the merit of His righteousness and blood, and not because of any goodness or human merit. God also resides in His people by the Holy Spirit, enabling them to obey and glorify the Father, and to guarantee their inheritance in heaven forever.\n\nRome's "gospel" is not good news at all. The Roman institution, calling itself "The Church", usurps Christ's mediatorial office, proclaiming herself as the "sacrament of salvation." The "Church" dispenses salvation to her faithful in small portions, starting at baptism and continuing throughout life. Forgiveness can only be obtained through the sacrament of penance. The benefits of Christ's sacrifice are accessible through the sacrifice of the Mass. Instead of teaching the faithful to rest in Christ by faith, Catholics are taught to perform religious works to "merit grace" and to do penance to make satisfaction. Even after death, Catholics remains dependent on the "Church" to relieve their suffering in Purgatory by masses and indulgences.\n\nThe Roman Catholic Church is a mighty obstacle to anyone seeking salvation, enslaving millions of people to a religious system and preventing them from coming directly to Christ.\n\nThe choice is between the Bible and the Roman magisterium; the choice is between salvation by grace through faith in Christ, or through human merit and effort in the Roman religion.
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I am Protestant, but I prefer to just think of myself as Christian - there are many denominations of Protestants that I do not agree with. I don't think that all Catholics are going to hell, and I can't say that all Catholics think I'm going to hell. \n\nIt's difficult to classify Catholics vs. Protestants today, owing to the fact that there are so many Protestant denominations with so many different doctrines and practices. I can therefore only offer the difference between myself and the Catholics (Roman) as I knew them at the school I went to. \n\nCatholics pray to Mary and the saints, I do not. \n\nCatholics christen infants (some Protestants do this too), I don't think that a person should be baptized until they are saved.\n\nCatholics have celibate priests and nuns, I find no basis for that. \n\nCatholics confess to priests/fathers, I do not believe I have to confess to anyone but God in order to be forgiven.\n\nCatholics believe in mortal sins and other kinds of sin (in other words, they "rank" sin), I do not believe that God ranks sin. I believe that they affect us differently on earth, but that the wages of all sin is death.\n\nCatholics have texts such as the Maccabbees that I do not follow. \n\nCatholics believe that the communion wine and bread really become the blood and body of Jesus Christ, I do not. I simply believe it to be a memorial practice. \n\nCatholics believe that Mary remained a virgin her whoe life and had no children other than Jesus. I believe she was a virgin only until Jesus was born, and that she had other children.\n\nCatholics have worship practices that differ from my own - they cross themselves, use holy water, pray the rosary, etc. Their masses, or church services, are often scripted - the priest will say something, then the congregation will reply (see the link). I disagree with the concept of holy water and praying the rosary. I don't disagree with crossig oneself, but I don't do it. Same with the statement/reply format. I worship in a different style and according to some different beliefs. \n\nThere are several more points of difference...\n\nNone of these differences takes away from the fact that both Catholics and myself believe Jesus to be the Savior and the Son of God (part of the Trinity) - and this is the most important and central belief of Christianity.
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ALL Catholics are CHRISTIANS...\n\nin the same way as all dogs are ANIMALS.\n\nPeople who say Catholics aren't Christians...\ndon't understand the meaning of both words.
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there is a difference between Christians and born again Christians, maybe it has something to do with being born again. LOL
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Mormons are Christian.  The difference is doctrine like the many different facets of Christianity.