well, they both believe many of the same things,and are both christian, but protestants broke off from the catholics a long time ago, because they didn't agree with the way it was run...
Christianity holds groups...Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox. Protestants are the only ones with branches that are not unified. Meaning, a Baptist and a Methodist are not unified , but they both view themselves as Protestants. They are all Christians though. :-)
Denominations seem to act primarily as a division. The only true Church consists of the believers and followers of Christ... not the church buildings - or institutional leaders - themselves. They're all Christians, and some simply need to learn how to accept that as Christians, they are the one Church of Christ. Not the building they attend every Sunday.
**Mystical - I don't follow anything mandated by the Pope, and I can't control what greater society chooses to. This avatar is a common picture seen in millions of Protestant and Catholic churches throughout the world. And my Bible is infallible, regardless of who translated it... it's the extra Gnostic texts which I refuse to follow, because they were inspired by the words of men... not God.
Oh, and way to send me a caustic message without allowing me to email you back. Very classy. Good thing I'm not offended by cowardly tactics, eh? Otherwise, I'd be pretty irate at such a display of wanton cowardice.
Different forms of Christianity - but they're much more alike than they are different generally speaking. Some are heretical.
Protestantism split away from the Catholic church in the middle ages and took a different road. Where the Catholic church has a central global administration - as in the time of Christ, the protestant church split further and continues to split such that the teaching of one church is not the same as another.
They are religions.
They are forms of Christianity.
Catholicism was the original, then it split into Catholic and Orthodox. Catholic then split into Catholic and Lutheran and a few others later on. Lutheran and the others then kept splitting into the approximately 34,000 Protestant Churches we now have.
AFAIK, the difference is that Catholics (supposedly) accept the authority of the Church as to what the scriptures mean, and Protestants assert the right of everyone to read and interpret the Bible for themselves.
The 30,000+ forms of Protestantism are Catholicism minus something or many things
Trinitarian Protestantism, Orthodoxy and Catholicism are Christianity
Protestantism is actually a term used to refer to many sects of Christianity which either
A. formed split off from the Catholic Church as part of the Protestant Reformation, partially jump-started by Martin Luther, who began the Lutheran Church in the late 16Th Century.
or B. Have since split off from other Protestant sects, such as the Church of God in Christ, which was organized by former Baptists.
Some people use the term to refer to ANY new (post late-16Th Century) Christian sect, even if the sect in question did not actually "protest" (hence the name Protestant) the actions of its mother church. This is partly because most Protestant sects - even the few which didn't technically split off from another church but simply grew up on their own - share a few common beliefs and opinions (other than the basic acceptance of Christ) which are decidedly non-Catholic. Generally, Protestants allow their ministers to marry, allow women to become ministers, don't hold any human being to be infallible, don't believe any other human is necessary for confession/absolution, and many also have no issue with birth control.
Religion is just a belief in "something." Christians specifically believe that Christ was God and He died to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose again from the dead. Catholics believe a whole bunch of stuff that the church added because of tradition, but it isn't supported by scripture. There are basically three kinds of Christian religions: Roman Catholic, Christian Orthodox and biblical Christians(usually Protestants that worship and adopt church hierarchies and services as outlined in scripture)
Both Protestantism and Catholicism:
? Are religions
? Are Theist religions
? Are Monotheist religions
? Worship the God of Abraham
? Worship the God of Moses
? Worship the God of Israel
? Are Christian denominations
? Are Trinitarian in belief
"What separates us as believers in Christ is much less than what unites us." (Pope John XXIII)
Almost all important doctrine is completely agreed upon between Catholic Christians and other Christians.
Here is the joint declaration of justification by Catholics (1999), Lutherans (1999), and Methodists (2006):
By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to good works.
There are many minor doctrine issues and some major cultural traditional differences which, I believe, do not matter that much.
A Catholic worships and follows Christ in the tradition of Catholicism which, among other things, recognizes that Christ made Peter the leader of His new Church and Pope Benedict XVI is Peter's direct successor.
For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/index.htm
What do you call Protestantism and Catholicism? Are they religions or just different
