From someone currently studying catholicism
Submitted by Drifter on 2002-09-19 08:44:21, Thursday
In reply to Religious Differences submitted by Huckleberry on 2002-09-18 22:17:45, Wednesday
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The fundamental difference between catholicism and protestantism is the catholic beleif of bible + tradition vs the protestant beleif of bible only. The catholic church was the only christian church for many years, they claim to be able to trace their church back to the times of Jesus. The pope is the person they believe holds the position once held by Peter (whom Jesus gave the duty of founding the church), Peter named someone else the head of the church before he died and that person named someone else after him and the next person named someone else, etc, until we get to John Paul the second, our current pope. For that reason, catholics believe that they hold an authority granted by God that other churches do not have. Catholics also realize that the bible is something they themselves put together in the council of Nicea, and that christianity predates the bible. Therefore, their emphasis is not on the bible only but also on the traditions they have kept alive from the early years and on the decisions of the Pope (whom they believe holds authority granted by God by virtue of being Peter's successor). On the other hand, protestants believe in the bible only. They believe the bible is the only source of truth and they base all of their beleifs on the teachings of the bible alone. They believe that the catholic church strayed from the truth (held in the bible) and that Martin Luther brought true christianity back to the forefront by breaking from the catholic church and promoting the beleif in the bible as the only source of truth. There are many differences in the way catholics worship vs the way protestants worship and in many of their beleifs (such as prayer for the intercession of saints or Mary). But all of these differences boil down to the fundamental difference of whether you accept the bible as the only source of truth, or if you accept the bible + the traditions handed down by Peter and his successors (all the way down to the current Pope). |
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