A question about Christianity?

xw2lj9uspm1eyh

First off(hope this is the right place for this) I read the charter and I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this for me:).I was in work and the topic came up about Christianity between a work colleague and I(It was a long day:D).Long story short I was saying been a Christian and Catholic(which i am) are two different things and that Christianity is a separate religion to Catholicism though the beliefs are generally the same.His point of view was that Catholicism was a branch of Christianity and that he's a catholic christian.I never heard of that term used before and I always thought that you were either one or the other(though i could be proven wrong in this thread hence why I'm posting it confused on the whole matter.So hopefully I'll pick up some much needed info ).


Thanks in advance.

PDN

Generally Catholicism would be viewed as a branch of Christianity, along with other churches and denominations. However, this simple answer can be made more complicated.

For example, some Catholics maintain that Catholicism is the one true form of Christianity (more like the roots and trunk of the tree than a branch) and that the rest of us are defective offshoots from it.

Then again, you get lots of cultural Catholics, who have been raised in a church and yet have no personal faith in Jesus Christ. Such a person may then come to a personal faith, at which point they speak of having 'become a Christian'.

I personally prefer to speak about a 'Christian' as being someone who has a personal faith in Christ, and is seeking to live their life as a follower nof Christ. By this definition you get Christians in many churches and denominations (including Catholicism) but you also get people in those churches who are not really Christians at all but are there to keep mammy happy or because they want a nice building for their wedding photographs.

BrianCalgary

I get asked this quite a bit.

There are those who attend Catholic churches and would understand that they are the true followers of Christ and all others are not quite there.

There are those in non-Catholic churches who are protetstant, in that they identify in their opposition to Rome, and would claim that you can not be Catholic and Christian.

Then there are those in any denomination, Catholic, Pentecostal, C of I, Methodist, Baptist, etc, who genuinely follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and desire to know Him and would therefore be classified as Christ followers and therefore Christian.

The last category are those who warm the pews on Sunday morning to do their 'duty'. They will be the surprised ones come judgement day.

liamw

BrianCalgary wrote: »

They will be the surprised ones come judgement day.

A pleasant surprise I hope?

BrianCalgary

liamw wrote: »

A pleasant surprise I hope?

Unfortunately not.

Piano man

Hi Mendusa!
Yes, Catholics are definitely Christians. Christianity and Catholicism were synonymous until the Reformation.

For all the information you ever wanted about Catholicism try these sites:
www.catholic-pages.com
www.ewtn.com
www.catholic.com

God bless:)

PDN

Piano man wrote: »

Hi Mendusa!
Yes, Catholics are definitely Christians. Christianity and Catholicism were synonymous until the Reformation.

Actually not the case.

In 1000AD, there were 20 million non-Catholic Christians living in Asia - including Orthodox, Nestorians, Jacobites, Copts and Armenians. There were also 5 million non-catholic Christians in North Africa and Ethiopia.

At that time the estimated population of Europe was 40 million - which included 5 million Muslims in Southern Spain, at least 10 million pagans in places like Russia, Lithuania and Scandanavia, and European Jews.

So, 1000 years after the birth of Christ, or half way through the history of Christianity so far, Catholics constituted about 50% of Christianity.

The Church in the East tends to be a huge blind spot when both Protestants and Catholics discuss Church history. For a more balanced, and less eurocentric, view I would heartily recommend Philip Jenkins' excellent book - The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

homer911

BrianCalgary wrote: »

I get asked this quite a bit.

There are those who attend Catholic churches and would understand that they are the true followers of Christ and all others are not quite there.

There are those in non-Catholic churches who are protetstant, in that they identify in their opposition to Rome, and would claim that you can not be Catholic and Christian.

Then there are those in any denomination, Catholic, Pentecostal, C of I, Methodist, Baptist, etc, who genuinely follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and desire to know Him and would therefore be classified as Christ followers and therefore Christian.

The last category are those who warm the pews on Sunday morning to do their 'duty'. They will be the surprised ones come judgement day.

You have left me very confused Brian, PDN was on the mark imo.

BrianCalgary

homer911 wrote: »

You have left me very confused Brian, PDN was on the mark imo.

Which bit is confusing? I'll try and explain it better.

BrianCalgary

PDN wrote: »

The Church in the East tends to be a huge blind spot when both Protestants and Catholics discuss Church history. For a more balanced, and less eurocentric, view I would heartily recommend Philip Jenkins' excellent book - The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

QUIT recommending books, I can't keep up.

I'd love to read that one as well. After Persian Fire, Millenium and The New Christendom.

PDN

homer911 wrote: »

You have left me very confused Brian, PDN was on the mark imo.

I think Brian was saying the same thing as me.