Christianity - For Those Who Don't Understand

I don't think many people realize how diverse this Religion truely is. In debates people tend to say things like, "Well Christians do this..." or "Yeah, well Christians believe this, so..."

Christianity is not this one cohesive body that some other religions may be. Here is a very vague rundown of the groups, I guess you could call them, are. I'll give just ONE type of church that fits into each catagory.

I. Roman Catholics

A. pretty straight forward here. There are subgroups of catholic churches but I think you get the idea.

II. Orthodox

A. Straight forward again here. Generally have Orthodox in the tittle. Common in Russia, Greece, etc., besides the US.

III. Protestant

A. Methodist

IV. Anglican

A. (a Saint's name) Episcopal Church

V. The Free Churches

A. A Baptist or other fundamental church would be an example here.

VI. Pentecostal

A. Assemblies of God



Now what each of these six groups believe is vastly different. Each group even has different beliefs within its self. Some Protestant churches believe that infant baptizim saves you while some do not. Some Pentecostal churches speak in tounges while others never do.

I think what people have to understand is that even though we are all under the Christian banner we are not all the same. One groups actions do not speak for us all.


(I should note that Mormons consider themselves Christian. Groups such as Jehova's Whitness do not consider Jesus the Christ and are not considerd Christians.)

 

Because although they all disagree about many things they are agree on the most important thing. That Jesus Christ is their lord and savior. If you can find a pivital point to agree on, civility is possible, even amongst religions

 

What is there to discuss or debate here?

 

You and your questions KnightWriter.
"What's to debate here?"
"who took my wallet?"
"Why do you keep throwing eggs at my house?"

Some things you just don't question

 

It's kind of my job to question if there's anything to debate .

 

and that's the reason for the eggs

 

People can come in and read it. Discuss what they originaly thought Christianity was. Leave coments. They can even correct me or add things to the list if I'm wrong.

If the thread fails it fails. However, I can see lots of room for debate. I'm no expert, and I'm sure I left things out. Sure, its not abortion or gay turtles, but who knows...

 

I've seen quite enough religious threads in here of late, and I'm not quite sure why I'm letting this one pass. This isn't a post and read forum, a list forum, or a religious forum.

We'll see how it goes.

 

Well...we're allowed to have a non-religious "Q&A", why aren't we allowed to have a Christina "Q&A?"

 

I like to think that there are very few differences between Catholics and Protestants. I like to think that the reasons they fight each other are rather pety and stupid. Heres an example of a difference between Catholics and Protestants;

Catholics believe Mary was a virgin.

Protestants believe that Mar wasn't a virgin.

Is this any reason to spill blood?

 

KaineDamo, I grew up in a protestant church. I am now attending a fundamental christian church. From what I remember when I attended a protestant church, they preached that she was in fact a virgin.

There would be no miracle in his birth if mary had gone to bed with joseph.

There may be some church out there that says she was not a virgin, but I'd wager to guess 99% say she was.

 

The Islamic faith believes Jesus was born of a virgin, and that Mary was a virgin. Yet, Muhammad is still the greater prophet. Kind of strange.


Hey Knightwriter, let the religious threads stay. I like them.

 

If I may, I think the actual debate occurs after Jesus' birth.

I could be wrong but the official Catholic teaching is thay Mary was a virgin throughout her life even though she did wed Joesph(this was uncommon but not unheard of).

Severl Protestant churches teach that MAry and Joesph did know each other as man and wife, to put it biblically, and that Jesus had brothers and or sisters(or atleast step brothers and sisters).

 

I stand corrected on the Virgin Mary thing. I guess I forgot that Catholics believed her to remain a virgin throughout her entire life. That being the case, yes, most protestant churches believe she was not a virgin after she gave birth to Jesus.

Do people of the Islamic faith believe in the New Testiment then? I'm just curious considering all the references to Jesus as the Christ.

 

Question: The Pope is Roman Catholic, right?

 

I hope I'm not taken for a fool falling for the old "is the Pope Catholic?" question, but yes he is Roman Catholic.

 

I don't know about you guys, but i want to debate religous differences being used as justification for terrorist killings. If only irish terrorists posted at this board.

 

In the case of Muslim terrorists and Irish terrorists I think that religion is just used as an excuse to kill. There is a deep, brooding hate for the other person that extends well beyond the fact that their religion is different then yours. I think that the people who are terrorists just like to kill and use the easy target of religion as their cover up.

 

I hope I'm not taken for a fool falling for the old "is the Pope Catholic?" question



What ever

The main difference between Roman Catholics and Protestants is that Roman Catholics have a lot off saints right?

 

Okay. Here's some things about Christian doctrine I've never understood:

1) Why did God sacrifice himself to himself to save us from himself?

2) Why did he take so long to institute this new convenant?

3) How did one enter the kingdom of Heaven before Jesus?

4a) Why was God revealed only to a small population in a remote portion of the world?

4b) What happened to all those souls who just after the ressurrection and before all the New testament was even written?

5a) Why can Hitler be saved, yet all 6 million Jews he gassed go to Hell?

5b) Is that an all loving God?

 

Also, what did Jesus do in the time of his life that the Bible completely left out??

 

From what I understand of the situation in Ireland is that the true animosity is directed at the English. And of course, after Henry VIII and the Act of Supremacy, Roman Catholics weren't in vogue in British territories including Ireland. The English made the Catholics second class citizens and imposed all sorts of hardships on them. All the Protestants were for the most part Englishmen, or Irish viewed as traitors.

So I'd say the conflict is more political than religious, with the religion merely serving as a convenient indicator of which "side" an individual is on.

The differences between Protestants and Catholics depend on which type of Protestants you're talking about. Generally, Protestants take the Bible to be the sole source of teaching on matters of Faith and Doctrine, while Catholics have a long Apostolic Tradition which is equal in status to Scripture.

 

"So I'd say the conflict is more political than religious, with the religion merely serving as a convenient indicator of which "side" an individual is on."

I agree with this.

 

The thing that struck me at once was the way in which the various groups are classified.

I understand the separation of Catholicism and Orthodoxy, with - I think - Protestantism as an offshoot of the former; but as an outsider I don't understand why Anglicans, Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians and the rest don't all fit under the 'Protestant' heading. Obviously it doesn't matter whether or not I think of them as Protestants, but I think Ian Paisley might be a tad surprised to learn he's NOT one. So, I'd like to ask what the rationale is for that classification.

 

The term "Protestant" applies to those churches that broke off of the Catholic Church around the time of Martin Luther (if I'm not mistaken). Not all non-Catholic Christian churches fall into this category; for example, the Pentecostal church was founded much more recently. Others (like many Baptists) believe they were always entirely separate from the Catholic church, so they didn't "break away" when the other Protestant religions did.

Are Mormons considered Christian? You didn't mention them in the original listing, but that's another example of a non-Protestant church.

A lot of people like to use the term "Protestant" as a general reference to all non-Catholic Christians, but it doesn't really work that way.