There are hundreds of versions of Christianity that claim to be the "true" one. That should tell you something, when none of them has any more proof than the others
I've not, to date, seen the Catholics-aren't-Christians brigade railing against Eastern Orthodoxy yet. I suspect its because they have little idea what the entire sect is about, and spend all their time being told lies about Catholics so they can tell them to others in the rather bizarre belief that this is a good thing.
The eastern orthodoxy cult split from the catholic cult in the year 869 A.D. Not because they disagreed with Catholicism, but because they disagreed with a need for a pope.
They still fit into the category of a religious cult because they still adhere to the beliefs of the catholics.
I just would like to point out that there are many Protestants who believe Catholicism is a respectable Christian religion, as is Eastern Orthodoxy. Everyone who thinks the Bible has some authority & truth needs to stop arguing about stupid details and labels & calling each other names. It's ridiculous.
as a protestant, i can say with certainty that protestants don't view Catholicism as UN-christian, and i would doubt that most would. that said, there are certainly aspects of Catholicism which i do not like, but that doesn't make them UN-christian. as for eastern orthodoxy, i would say that there has never been too much cause for conflict in recent memory. that schism happened around a thousand years ago, and since then the two branches have stayed fairly separate. catholics and protestants, on the other hand, have been and still are (northern Ireland) fighting over "turf" if you will, so this brings problems right to the surface.
The word Catholic (FM Gk "Catholics") refers to the complete body of believers who both accept the doctrine that Jesus was a material being as opposed to pure spirit and the concept of the Apostolic succession. That means that the Eastern Orthodox are Catholic, as are the Coptic and Anglican churches. The Roman Catholics only became a separate Church in 1054 over a political dispute over claims by the Bishop of Rome that his authority superseded all other Bishops, a claim the Eastern and Coptic Churches rejected, as did the the Anglicans much later under Henry VIII. The only groups who insist that Catholics aren't Christian are the Fundamentalists, and they are actually a minority among Protestant Churches world wide, however it's been my observation that they don't consider who disagrees with them on anything to be Christian, so the answer to your question would be Yes.
I don't think of them as a cult, either one. I do think they are adding in their own idea of God. In other words, they have created a God they can believe in. A lot of pomp and circumstance and not enough adherence to the Bible as it is written. They have added things that are not in the bible such as purgatory and the ascension of Mary. I don't think the Catholics read their own Bible. They have it read to them. You should never confuse tradition with truth.
Having once been Protestant, now Orthodox, I found a great affinity between the two. Once the misunderstandings over the worship (not!) of Mary and worship (not!) of idols are cleared up, there is much that is explained by Eastern Orthodoxy that left me puzzled by Protestant thought. Thinks like "just where did the Bible come from, and who protected it for the first 1500 years? THEM?"
But since for the first 1000 years of Christianity Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy were united, they also have a great deal in common that some Protestants will take to mean that the Orthodox're go in' to hell right along with the Catholics.
A committed Orthodox Christian loves Jesus as much as a Protestant does; he worships in a continuum of the life of the early church to today under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, not with a new set of traditions made up a couple of centuries ago.
There are those who will say that Orthodoxy teaches a false gospel of salvation by works. To that we just remind them of Jesus words, "If you love me, keep my commandments." And Eph 2:10, which says we are created for good works. We are saved by grace, not by "faith alone", and our faith is exhibited by our works. We are not saved by works, but neither are we saved without them. We are doers of the Word, not hearers only.
In the typical Orthodox service, you'll hear more scriptural references than in a typical Protestant service. The church existed before any of the books of the New Testament were written; the church collected those which described its beliefs as taught by the apostles. It's cheeky indeed to say that the Orthodox don't obey the scriptures: they brought us the scriptures, knowing full well what they say. The Orthodox don't pit Tradition and Scripture against each other; Scripture is part of the Tradition
I don't think Protestants consider Eastern Orthodoxy a cult. They are not too bothered about them they have already chosen the oldest faith to spew all their venom on.
Dream dress2 should know that it was Luther who threw out books from the Bible and that it was the Catholics who gave us the Bible. I don't think dream dress2 has ever read the Bible as she claims that Catholics have added things such as purgatory and the ascension of Mary.Catholics DO read the Bible, we don't have pastors who read out the Bible to us unlike some others nor do our Pastors focus all their attention on Prosperity Gospels unlike some others who want to get rich quickly and then have enough money to break laptops and buy a plane at the congregation's cost and call it "The vehicle of God" which is reserved for the Prosperity Gospel preacher only. Dreamdress2 should not make such false statements.Talk about "Thou shalt NOT bear False Witness" Something that some Protestants have forgotten.
Okay, I'm going to try and bite down on my hatred of the Eastern Orthodox church (not all of it's followers) and answer this rationally. I'm also not a Christian, but this information comes from that time when I was, and went to protestant schools.
Officially, the Eastern Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic church are considered to be in 'full, proper and blissful communion.' IE: Their teachings are so close together that an Eastern Orthodox clergyman could give communion at a Roman Catholic church, if it was needed, and the members can partake of communion with either church and not be in violation.
Some protestants are fine with the EO church, others, such as Baptist, consider it to be the "lesser demons" that surround the devil/Whore of Babylon/etc that they see the RC church to be. They also take issue with a lot of it's teachings and consider it to be a cult due to these teachings.
-- The use of icons
-- The joining in full divine communion with God after death.
-- The importance and headship of the Holy Spirit over Christ.
-- The reasoning behind the need for salvation
I know Protestants think Catholicism is an un-Christian cult, but what do they think
