I live in a country full of superstitious twits

Catholics aren't Christians? What are they then?

Wait I minute I got it! They have gone back to their origins and have begun Jewish!

"Protestant is not a religion."

"Excuse me, but the white people are melting out here!"

Someone needs to go rouse Sabine Baring-Gould from his grave, the author of "Onward Christian Soldiers", a Catholic, and tell him how wrong he was.

Bollocks, Christianity includes Catholics (both roman and orthodox), and every denomination of protestantism.
In fact, Catholics are the original christian church (again RC and orthodox)

BTW, its Jews who follow the old (not 1st, get the terms right) testament.
All Christianity is based the new testament.
The papacy follows its Disciplic succession from the apostle Peter, whom I'm sure youll remember was a buddy of Jesus.

As a Catholic, I can assure you, we're Christians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholicism

Yes, but not all christians think catholics are christians. One of my uncles is a christian preacher and doesn't think so.

Yes, I think it has something to do with praying to Mary... I was told a long time ago, but I have since forgotten. Of course, being agnostic, I don't really care

Catholics are those who belong to the Roman or Eastern Orthodox branches of Catholicism. In a nutshell, they accept the Pope as the infallable leader of the Church.

Those that follow any theology that accepts Jesus as Messiah are considered Christians, and this includes the Protestant branches of Christianity along with other various flavors that came along later. Again, the major difference is the Pope (or lack thereof). There are other differences, like which books of the Bible are canon, how much do you dig Mary, views on evolution and other scientific topics, etc. etc.

To make matters more confusing, many Christian religions use the word "catholic" during their services, but in the sense where catholic means "universal".

So, while all Catholics are Christians, not all Christians belong to the Catholic church.

Weeeee.

Catholics follow the pope over Jesus. If Jesus says one thing and the pope says another, Catholics must obey the pope. Also, only Catholics pray to the saints and Mary. They also say prays that are repetitive, such as "Hail Mary".

Non-Catholic Christians follow Jesus over anyone. They don't pray to the dead. There are several other issues between them such as the books within the Bible, whether one can pay for ones own sins with penance etc etc.

To many Christians these are major differences.

Catholics follow the pope over Jesus. If Jesus says one thing and the pope says another, Catholics must obey the pope. Also, only Catholics pray to the saints and Mary. They also say prayers that are repetitive, such as "Hail Mary".

Non-Catholic Christians follow Jesus over anyone. They don't pray to the dead. There are several other issues between them such as the books within the Bible, whether one can pay for ones own sins with penance etc etc.

To many Christians these are major differences.

Being that Jesus isn't here to speak for Himself, Catholics believe that the Pope is an appointed mouthpiece of Jesus in the modern world, for the modern Church, the first Pope being Peter - " And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church". Its not a matter of following the Pope rather than Jesus - I cannot recall of any decree set by a Pope that directly contradicts Jesus's words. We were certainly never taught that the Pope supercedes Jesus' teachings.

Catholics also do not pray to saints in the sense that an appeal to a saint is circumventing Christ, or placing a saint upon the same devotional level as Christ Himself. Sainthood presumes a special place within the favor of Christ and as such, specific appeals for the saint to intercede on behalf of the sinner are seen as appealing to an intermediary, one who could better relate to the temptation and trials of human life and as such could offer support to Christ on the person's behalf. This is also true of the devotion to Mary, who herself was human but who's grace helped her to devote herself fully to God's will, and she is held up as an example to Catholics.

Prayers of repetition, such as the rosary/novenas, are considered private spiritual devotion. They are neither required nor expected of Catholics. The repetition is used much as a mantra or vocal method of relaxation to increase concentration and devotion.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"

He said, "Like what?" I said, "Well...are you religious or atheist?" He said, "Religious." I said, "Me too! Are you christian or buddhist?" He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too! Are you catholic or protestant?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me too! Are you episcopalian or baptist?" He said, "Baptist!"

I said,"Wow! Me too! Are you baptist church of god or baptist church of the lord?" He said, "Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you original baptist church of god, or are you reformed baptist church of god?" He said,"Reformed Baptist church of god!"

I said, "Me too! Are you reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1879, or reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915!"

I said, "Die, heretic scum!", and pushed him off.

-- Emo Phillips

Classic
You rock Mr Petunia

I'm an agnostic (or atheist, or Buddhist, depending on which forum poster you speak to).

And I say: it utterly depends on the specific human and cat in question!

How many felines have instigated an imperialistic war, or tortured an ethnic group lately?

(then again, how many humans have cruelly toyed with hundreds of mice?)

Just a thought.

> ^ . ^ <

Sorry Briana, you are wrong. Catholics are Christians in that they believe is Christ as the only begotten son of God, they believe in the resurection. Indeed, not all Christians are Catholics, but all Catholics are Christians.

Good grief....

The term 'Christian' covers a vast panoply of behavior, ranging from benign to outright aberrant. If you don't believe me, go to a church where they take up serpents. There's one not very far from where I live. Go watch some people pass rattlesnakes around, play with fire, and drink strychnine tea, then see if you still think the differences between Catholics and most of the Protestant splinters are all that huge.

The technical term, Kevn, is 'pwned'.

Doesn't "education" imply retaining new information and skills?

I love watching Christians draw ever narrower definitions of Christianity. That way they can feel comfortable hating other Christians. After all, if you don't believe exactly what I believe you aren't a real Christian and God is going to send you to hell. Just proves that fundamentalism is a mental disorder.

I've actually found some christians to be far more irrational and violent then atheists/agnostics.

Whether you are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or whatever, are you sure heaven is where you want to be? Think of that the next time you want to induldge yourself in that wonderful tasty piece of pie. Indulgence is a sin, thus, there'll be no pie in heaven

That is just too sad to comprehend

Jesus is here to speak for Himself, through scripture and inspiration. Catholics must accept the word of the pope even if it seems to conflict with Christ's teachings. They say it's a clarification etc.

The scripture you quoted doesn't tell Peter to be the boss of all Christians, and it certainly doesn't give him power to hand down any power given him from Christ. Also, no where in scripture will you find Peter handing down any position of power.



The Bible clearly says it's a sin to pray to the dead. Whether it's praying or even talking to those who are passed on isn't permitted. The saints can't hear your requests, and if they could they wouldn't be interceding for you.

Mother Mary wasn't even included in the last Supper. She was favored among women, but she wasn't made a disciple of Jesus.


Jesus clearly says not to repeat prayers. Yet Catholics do it anyhow.

No graven images either, yet we see statues of saints, Mary, the cross and more.

These are clearly issues that separate Catholics from regular "Bible believing" Christians.

Once Kevn and his cohorts are done with athiests and other non christians they'll start burning other denominations of christians as heretics.
Keep posting the way you do Kevn, you're the best advert against religion I've seen in a while.
I dont think you even realse what a hate monger you appear to be, do you Kevn?
Kevn, you suffer from dogmatic glaucoma.

THis is one funny thread.