Are catholics Christian?

[ChosenbyHim]

There are many versions of catholics now, like couples for Christ, singles for Christ, but are they really Christians of the bible?

True Catholics are not Christians. True Catholics follow a works based salvation where they believe that grace is only given through doing the sacraments of the Catholic church. If any Catholic begins to really study what their religion teaches and then compare it to the Holy Bible. They will see that Bible believing Christianity is totally different to Roman Catholicism. And that is because Roman Catholicism is not Scriptural. When I say Holy Bible, I am referring to the King James Authorized Bible. You won't find the words "monk," "pope," "nuns," anywhere in Scripture. And neither will you find "purgatory" in there. Roman Catholics, true roman Catholics are no saved.

I am not talking about a professing Catholic who is just being led astray and has been greatly deceived. A person who has decided to trust Christ, if that person does not spend time in the Scriptures, and study them. Then that person can be deceived easily. So while that person professes to be a Catholic, he is really not, because he has no idea what Catholicism is all about and what Catholicism teaches.

It is the same thing with the other cults and heretical movements out there like Seventh Day Adventist, there could be a few genuine Christians in that movement, but because those genuine Christians don't spend time in the Book, those same Christians can be deceived.

Same thing goes with the Charismatic cult or the Campbellites. As Christians, our only hope for not being deceived, is staying in God's Book and allowing the Holy Ghost to lead us into all truth. And of course if a person is truly saved, then eventually they will leave the heretical movement since they will receive chastisement. All sons of God receive Chastisement from the Heavenly Father (see Hebrews 12:6-10).

So again, I am talking about a person who is truly counting on the sacraments for salvation. That person may be nice, and sincere. But still that person is on his way to a burning Hell because he has not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith only. It is not of works in this dispensation (The Dispensation of Grace).

Therefore like I said at the beginning, true Catholics are not Christians.

 

[Shinji]

The Catholics accepted the OT canon of the Jews, and then added the Apocrypha, which the Jews did not accept.

Close but not technically correct. There were TWO different "canons" accepted by different groups of Jews, the masoretic and the Septuagint, so the church accepted the Jewish canon accepted by a certain group of Jews. This Septuagint canon was the one quoted by Jesus, since there is one NT saying of Jesus where he quotes an OT text that appears only in the Septuagint text, not in the Masoretic text.

 

[twotwo]

There are many versions of catholics now, like couples for Christ, singles for Christ, but are they really Christians of the bible?

Denomination does not make you Christians but true Love does! As Jesus said: "Love one another; as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples". Where there is love, there is God...

There was a guy, called Ariel Castro, who went to a Lutheran church every week. Not only he went to church every week but he also read the bible. Does that mean that Castro is a Christian?



Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

 

[kenisyes]

Close but not technically correct. There were TWO different "canons" accepted by different groups of Jews, the masoretic and the Septuagint, so the church accepted the Jewish canon accepted by a certain group of Jews. This Septuagint canon was the one quoted by Jesus, since there is one NT saying of Jesus where he quotes an OT text that appears only in the Septuagint text, not in the Masoretic text.

This is right, of course. It's inconsistent of me to acknowledge the popular concensus on the NT as being definitive, and then to insist on the formal statement of the Jewish leaders for the Hebrew only OT, in place of the popular Septuagint. The Jewish leaders (roughly the ones of the tradition represented in the Talmud) determined not to allow books in the OT which were not written originally in Hebrew, hence the rejection of the Septuagint books which became the apocrypha. It does not change the date for the relationship on the decision of the canon. In either event, the canon was assembled before there was a recognizable Catholic church overseeing the other churches.

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

i honestly dont know church history. i never took interest in it. theres too much to learn in the Bible for me to study the church history. not to come off as rude, but God didnt tell me i have to learn the history of the Church for me to get into heaven.

i didn't say you had to know church history...but when a person claims that they have church history on their side...as the person i was responding to claimed...is it too much to expect them to actually know what they are talking about?

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

Then how was the canon established then?

the short answer is that technically the canon was never officially established until after the reformation...for about 1,500 years there was no official declaration of the canon and really no need for one...debates arose from time to time over specific books...but overall everyone pretty much understood which books were 'the bible' and which books were spurious...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

and study there church methods,(the way, they do things, in the church.) not the church history.

it is funny that many roman catholics claim to have church history on their side and appeal to it for legitimacy...but when they meet a few protestants who -actually know- church history...suddenly church history gets downplayed by the roman catholics...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

It is the same thing with the other cults and heretical movements out there like Seventh Day Adventist, there could be a few genuine Christians in that movement, but because those genuine Christians don't spend time in the Book, those same Christians can be deceived.

this is an ironic claim given that the king james only cult was started by a seventh day adventist...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

This Septuagint canon was the one quoted by Jesus, since there is one NT saying of Jesus where he quotes an OT text that appears only in the Septuagint text, not in the Masoretic text.

actually if you compare all of the new testament quotations with the hebrew masoretic text and greek septuagint...it is actually evident that jesus and the apostles took an 'eclectic' approach to old testament quotation...

sometimes their quotations match the septuagint...sometimes they appear to be giving a direct translation of the masoretic text into greek...and sometimes they paraphrase rather freely in ways that match neither source text especially well...

evidently the holy spirit showed the apostles which of the two texts if any was most useful to quote depending on their purpose in quoting it...

 

[RachelBibleStudent]

The Jewish leaders (roughly the ones of the tradition represented in the Talmud) determined not to allow books in the OT which were not written originally in Hebrew, hence the rejection of the Septuagint books which became the apocrypha.

there is actually a pretty good chance that one detail you mentioned here is incorrect...some recent scholars have made a compelling case for identifying ben asher...the most important editor of the masoretic text...as a karaite jew...that is one not of the talmudic tradition...

 

[Imperfect]

Not to come off as rude, but God never told you to learn how to drive, operate a computer, how to read, brush your teeth or comb your hair for you to go to heaven either. Your argument sounds very silly when put this way, right? I don't appreciate they way you answered "rachelbiblestudent" and I hope you can show her and all other ladies the respect they deserve, next time and have a nice day.

so driving is a commandment? is not knowing how to drive a sin? because im 25 and dont have my license. all that that you mentioned are luxuries. knowing the church history is a personal choice, not a commandment, not a sin if you dont know.

not sure how it sounds silly.

 

[7seven7]

Love you Charlie, go and worship God in Spirit, wherever you go for gathering as I know you already do.

Yep either you do believe God at God's word or you don't?
So what do we believe about this what it states Christ did
Colossians 1:21-23

Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

[SUP]21 [/SUP]And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled [SUP]22 [/SUP]in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
[SUP]23 [/SUP]if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

I know how thankful to God I am. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to this amazing feat.
This is what I see we have a free choice in responding to this.
We can appreciate this and be thankful continuously and not have time for sinful behavior being too busy in thanking and praising God.
Or we can ignore or take advantage of. If we ignore and or take this grace given for granted how shall we escape.
Hebrews 2:3
how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Hebrews 10:27-29

Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

[SUP]27 [/SUP]but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. [SUP]28 [/SUP]He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: [SUP]29 [/SUP]of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

If all you so called Christians who go bashing other churches wanna know what it means to be a true Christian, read this guys posts lol love you too brother! We can ALL learn from you! You're a blessing to this place!!!

 

[Timeofknowing]

If you do the work of god you are a christen
IF it has any form of evil/greed it is not of god
Time of knowing has come

 

[onlinebuddy]

I read through some of the posts and I think many are confused with the definition of the word "Christian."


26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.(Acts 11:26, KJV)

From the above verse I learn the following:
=>A Christian is a "disciple" of Jesus (the Bible says this)
As evident from the Book of Acts, a disciple is someone who (irrespective of his family religious background) has sought God(or responded to the seed of the Word sown in his heart), read the Bible, believed, repented [made a conscious decision to renounce past sins (and sinful environments) and turned over a new leaf in Christ] and was baptized in water (let's not get into a discussion on baptism)
=>You are not a Christian if you were born in a Christian family
=>Being a Christian is a conscious decision (that must be taken in your lifetime)
Irrespective of whether you were born in a Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Baptist, Lutheran, Evangelical, Pentecostal or "non-denom" family background, you aren't a Christian unless YOU make your own conscious decision to follow Christ, by being a disciple (believer) following the pattern in the Book of Acts.
=>One cannot be born a Christian
=>Christianity cannot happen to someone
=>One cannot be a Christian because of someone else's prayer or faith
=>A Christian can he confident that he or she is saved
=> In the early church period, the word "Christian" was used by the Jews to mock (or mark) the believers. Christians were often the people who were targeted to be persecuted


I'm wondering if everyone else has the same definition

 

[AgeofKnowledge]

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch in the early second century is apparently the first we are aware of to use the word 'Catholic.' He spoke of the 'Catholic church,' when he said, 'Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic church.'

However, he was speaking of Catholic in the sense of 'universal orthodox' to Jesus Christ in the apostolic which it certainly can be argued the Roman Catholic Church veered from.

But just try to tell a Roman Catholic that and see what happens

I would say the 'church' founded by Jesus Christ is an assembly of believers joined to Christ's spiritual body by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13) at the moment of regeneration (Titus 3:3-6) when they individually place their faith in the Lord Jesus as their Savior (Acts 16:31).

If still on earth, they should be partof a local body of believers meeting regularly (Heb. 10:25) for edification (Eph. 4:12), worship (John 4:24), participation, etc...

In this sense we distinguish between the universal church (which. constitutes the invisible body of all believers) and the local church (a visible manifestation of the universal church).

It is noteworthy that the New Testament never uses the word church of a physical structure. Indeed, the early Christians had no public buildings of their own in which to meet; they met at first in the Jerusalem temple (Acts 2:46) and in homes much like the organic church movement, house church movement, cell church movement, etc... does today. The church is only called a "building" in a spiritual sense (1 Peter 2:4-8; cf. Eph. 2:20).

While it has a visible manifestation in the local church, the universal church is not a visible organization (like the Roman Catholic Church) but rather an invisible organization in a sense like a living body that grows daily.

Other than the early post-Pentecost church in Jerusalem, there never has been and never will be a truly catholic (e.g. universal) church on earth. Neither the Roman nor the Greek branch of Christendom is truly catholic; the only truly catholic church today is the spiritual body of Christ, which is all true believers in whatever local church or denomination.

Never does the Bible use the word church to denote one visible ecclesiastical union that is the sole organization representing Christ on earth... the repeated use of the word reveals that only in a general, collective sense can we speak of the many self-governing, independent churches that are based on New Testament teaching as the "church" on earth. Only the invisible church is universal.

Of course Roman Catholics disagree. Periodically, the Vatican will issue a document restating its belief that the Catholic Church is the only true church of Jesus Christ. I don't hold it against them .

 

[Blackson]

Luke 6:37 Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

The least Christian people are people who go around judging and claiming they are more Christian than other people. If you are picking who to hang out with, looks at their actions. How do they treat the poor, the sick and the hungry? That’s says more about who they are than what church they go to.

We have to be careful in using scriptures lest we lose focus of what Jesus really meant by saying so. Using this verse in this context is telling Christians not to rebuke sin for they might be judging. Study the verse well and understand it.

Honestly,going by their presuppositions and doctrines, Catholics, just like Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, SDA and many others in your area are not Christians. They are either cults or fringe groups.
However, there are some individual in these denominations who are Christians by grace.

 

[royalscot]

it is funny that many roman catholics claim to have church history on their side and appeal to it for legitimacy...but when they meet a few protestants who -actually know- church history...suddenly church history gets downplayed by the roman catholics...

strange, church history, was not what i was talking about or ignoring it. yet from what i have read on here, every church or walk of christainity, has a history. this same bible talks of many things, but the history of many christain churches are missing,(it called history for a reason) the fact that receving the holy spirt is from god and not man. and is in the bible for all christain walks/churches to find there own understanding, with gods help.or there own understanding. is more to the point of true christain believers. (in god eyes, not humans).

 

[Shyness]

To tell you the truth, it is not right to make a generalization and label all Catholics as being Christian. Matthew 7:1 says Judge not so you not be judge. Also according to this verse, it is also not right to tell someone such as people who are Catholic that they are "headed to hell." Being Christian or not being Christian has nothing to do with church affiliation. The truth is a real Christian can belong to any church including the Catholic church just as long as they believe in God and do the will of God such as keeping the law and the commandments. Membership to a any church no matter what denomination it is itself does not make you a Christian any more than going to a garage does not make you anymore than a car. Plus according to the Catholic church, those who are baptized in the Catholic church are seen as Catholic by the church for life. Not everyone is the same, and God commands that we love one another (whether Christian or not Christian, whether believer or unbeliever) just as God loves us. There is no way one can love God whilst hating thy neighbor and passing judgement is definitely not love.

 

[watcher2013]

Would you still give reverence to things made by hands if you believed the True God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? NO.
but if you do, you may not have truly believed.
How can you Repent, if you do not believed. And how can you enter the Kingdom of God, if you worship false gods.

 

[loveme1]

Malachi 2

17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Beware that you have not been taken in by people who repeat the error being addressed above.

i'm sure most of us have heard a similar spirited message, let us seek the Truth.

That Truth will lead you away not to the catholic religion.

For it is not of Heavenly Father and Yahshua the Messiah.