What are some differences between the two? I'm not entirely sure of the differences, I tried browsing on line a bit and still didn't completely understand the difference.
I'm doing a project and need to compare/contrast. I am NOT converting.
Catholicism worships a lot of saints including Mother Mary but the Protestants don't!
I will list some main differences below
1) Authority -
Catholicism-Scripture and tradition
Protestantism- Sola Scriptura - Scripture alone
2)Bible -
Catholicism- Includes apocrypha
Protestantism- Excludes apocrypha
3)Results of Fall -
Catholicism- Corruption and tendency to sin
Protestantism- Total depravity and guilt
4)Free will -
Catholicism- Free to do good or evil
Protestantism- Free only to do evil
5)Atonement -
Catholicism- Death of Christ created merit that is shared with sinners through sacraments
Protestantism- Death of Christ was a substitutionsRyacrifice that satisfied God's justice
6)Divine grace -
Catholicism- Prevenient grace helps one believe; efficacious grace cooperates with the human will to do good
Protestantism- Common grace enabling good works given to all; sufficient grace for salvation given to elect only
7)Good works -
Catholicism- Meritorious
Protestantism- Results of divine grace and unworthy of merit
8)Salvation -
Catholicism- Received at baptism; may be lost by mortal sin; regained by penance. Those who have never heard of Christ may be saved.
Protestantism- Result of divine grace; unconditional. Those who have never heard of Christ may be saved.
9)The Church - Catholicism- The Catholic Church is "the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation" but those baptized in other Christian denominations are in communion with the Church
Protestantism- There is a distinction between the visible and invisible church. God saves anyone he chooses, or anyone with proper faith, regardless of church membership.
10)Priests -
Catholicism- A special vocation for some believers; mediators between God and man
Protestantism- Priesthood of all believers.
11)Prayer to saints - Catholicism- Accepted Protestantism- Rejected
Catholicism is not Christian. Catholicism leads to eternal torment in hell, because Catholicism teaches works for salvation, and that is a false gospel of works (Galatians 1:6-9) that is against JESUS'S free gift of salvation!
And Catholicism will not give anyone a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus.
So, you need to get away from Catholicism, and instead, believe in JESUS for His free gift of salvation!
It's clear from the Book of Acts in the Bible that catholics didn't even exist during the days of Acts. Catholicism didn't exist for over 300 years after Jesus. Those in the Book of Acts are the first Christians, and they believed what would be called fundamentalist doctrine today. ANYONE can read the Book of Acts for themselves and see. Had Catholicism existed during the time of Acts, the first Christians would have rejected Catholicism completely.
Also there's TONS of Christians who also completely rejected Catholicism, long before Martin Luther was even born.
So not only is it wrong for anyone to say that "catholics were the first Christians", but this blows away the catholic claim that "no churches existed other than the catholic church, until Martin Luther".
And there is no "pope" in the Bible. Every "pope" is a false prophet.
There were ALWAYS saved believers outside the catholic cult, who knew Catholicism cannot save anyone.
Catholicism cannot save. Only believing in Jesus for His free gift of salvation, is what saves!
So, catholics need to get away from Catholicism, and instead, believe in JESUS for His free gift of salvation!
Jesus is God, and Jesus loves you so very much! And the Trinity is true!
The truth about Jesus is that the only way to be saved and to get into heaven and avoid being sent to hell, is by believing in Jesus for His free gift of salvation, believing in faith alone that Jesus, who is God, died on the cross for all our sins as FULL PAYMENT for all our sins, and then Jesus rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Believe in Jesus for His free gift of salvation, and you will be in heaven, no matter what!
Salvation is a FREE GIFT that happens in a split second when you believe in Jesus alone to save you! It is impossible to lose or "leave" salvation (John 6:39-40, John 10:28, 1 John 5:13).
Please pray now: "Jesus, I believe that You died on the cross to pay for my sins and that You rose from the dead, and I thank You for eternal life!" You will be in heaven with Him forever when you die!
Catholics follow the dogma (rules) and reign of the Catholic church in Rome. The pope is their Representative of God on earth and they do what he says. Minor sins can be confessed to god but major of fences need to be sanctified through confession to a priest.
Protestants believe that everyone has a direct line to Jesus. They follow different governing bodies to org anise but the heads of those groups can not dictate lifestyle. All sins are forgiven through ones personal commitment to Christ and no priest is required to confess. Only JEsus
Catholicism is a religion begun by a Jewish prophet called Jesus Christ who claimed to be the promised Messiah in first century Israel.
Protestantism refers to a group of religions begun by various European intellectuals during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries AD (Jan Hus, Huydrich Zwingli, John Knox are some names you could look at).
The Protestant denominations are so diverse that you can't compare Protestants, as whole, per SE, to Catholics.
The main difference, of course is that the Roman Catholic church is under the authority of the Pope, their leader.
The Protestant Reformation began when Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic Church. A denotation (Lutheran) was named after him. Throughout history other denominations, with their distinct styles of worship, were formed.
I've been to churches of all denominations- Episcopalian, Southern Baptist, Quaker, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, AND Roman Catholic and there is a good deal of diversity in their beliefs and doctrines. The Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, and others baptize infants. In my denomination, Southern Baptist, they teach "accountability" and a person is Baptized when they accept Jesus as their Savior. In the Quaker church they practice communion, but they don't have Eucharist like the Episcopalians and Roman Catholics do. It's a time to share and think.
In spite of all these differences it would be very ignorant to make statements like "CZ denomination is not Christian because they baptize infants," etc. There certainly are differences in doctrine and worship styles, but that doesn't mean that some denotations are not Christian.
There isn't one denomination that's "better" nor is there a "wrong" one, just different worship styles. The doc tine does vary, but the common thread is belief in Jesus, and that's what matters
What IS a Christian?
They all worship Jesus... isn't that what a Christian IS, by definition?
Protestants believe in sola scriptura (Scripture alone), while Catholics believe in using both Scripture and t/Tradition (there are traditions, and then there are Traditions; Traditions are believed to have been passed down by the apostles, while traditions (lowercase t) are just part of Christianity, but aren't major doctrines.
Some Traditions include confession and the intercession of saints (Catholics ***do not*** worship saints!!!). An example of tradition (lowercase t) would be the Rosary prayers.
Protestants believe in sola fide (faith alone), while Catholics believe that works are also important, and are an extension of that grace through faith.
Catholics believe that most people have to be cleansed through purgatory, while Protestants don't believe in purgatory. Catholics have six books in the Old Testament known as the deuterocanonicals, while Protestants don't use them, and don't believe that they belong in the Bible.
The fact of the matter is you're not going to get an unbiased answer on R&S. What you're going to get are a lot of passionate answers, lots of them hateful - the person called "David" for example hangs around here all day long, using any opportunity to bash Catholics that he can get, using cut-and-pasted misinformation.
You will get a lot of people misrepresenting Catholics and what they do, suggesting that they "worship" idols, the pope, Mary, statues, saints, etc. which is utter nonsense. If you go to WNW.catholic.com you'll see that it would be a grave sin in the Catholic church to do any of those things. Catholics might pray to God through saints, and they certainly have reverence for Mary who is, after all, the mother of Christ, but worship is reserved for the tribune God.
Protestantism began with Martin Luther - who never intended to start his own religion. But the upshot of it was that we now have over 30,000 Protestant denominations, all slightly different.
Again, I don't think this is the best place to start for an UNBIASED answer. Try WNW.religioustolerance.org for a good introduction to what you're after.
Hi, Im catholic but I think you forgot a 3rd option, Orthodox. The orthodox church split off before the Protestant reformation. I am interested in learning more about it myself.
There are already some very good answers here, but I would like to add one more. About the difference in bibles. catholics have 7 books that the Protestant books do not have. Some will say it is right they took them out, others will say that catholics added them. From everything I have read, they were removed primarily because there were never any Hebrew translations of the books, so they were not considered cannon. But when the dead sea scrolls were found, there they were, in Hebrew, not Greek. So Im still not sure why others do not accept them, regardless of denomination.
Protestantism vs Catholicism?
And the Trinity is true!
