Basic Question About Christianity

[Akno21]

What are the basic differences between the different types of Christianity? (Catholic, Protestant, etc)

[The Man From G.O.P.]

What are the basic differences between the different types of Christianity? (Catholic, Protestant, etc)

Catholics are stupid

[phk]

Ugh!

[zachman]

I've always wanted to know the differences between Methodists and Presbyterians.

[Tory]

I've always wanted to know the differences between Methodists and Presbyterians.

Calvinists believe that once you are saved you are always saved. Methodists believe that one can fall out of salvation.

[dazzleman]

There are not a lot of real substantive differences among different Christian denominations.  Much of the differences revolve around style and the way the congregations are governed.

The Catholic Church is the most hierarchical and legalistic division of Christianity, other than possibly the eastern orthodox divisions.  The Protestant churches, by contrast, have a lot more autonomy at the individual congregation level.

Calvinists believe in pre-determinism, which is that it is determined at birth whether a person will be worthy of being saved or not, and their life will simply follow that destiny.  This is unusual for Christianity in that most Christian churches believe in the idea of free will, that each person can choose whether to do the right thing or not, and will be saved or condemned depending upon the choices made.

There are differences in expected behavior, with the Catholic church being the most conservative doctrinally, though few Catholics fully follow the church's rules.  Catholic law says a Catholic must attend mass every Sunday and holy day of obligation, not eat meat on Fridays during Lent (formerly every Friday), engage in sexual relations outside of marriage, including masturbation, use birth control, or remarry after a divorce.  Other Christian churches have some of these rules, but they tend not to emphasize them as much.  Abortion is also not as big an issue for Protestant churches as it is for the Catholic church.

[J. J.]

I've always wanted to know the differences between Methodists and Presbyterians.

Presbyterians do not have an episcopate.  The local church can dismiss a minister, not renew his contract, and the minister is out.  In the Methodist Church, the Bishop assigns clergy.

The theology of communion is different.  The Methodist Church considers it more sacramental, while the Presbyterian Church considers it more symbolic.

[Akno21]

Didn't the pope accept evolution at one point?

[Bono]

When in doubt, use wikipedia.
But more simply,. the Orthodox Church is like a lot of Roman Catholic Churches, each autocephalic and with their own leader(Patriarch). They belive the Catholic Church broke away from them, and the Catholic Church beleives the Orthodox broke away from them. basically what happeend was around 1100, when the Patriarchs of Rome(Pope) and of Constantinople couln't settle their divergences, they drif apart. Both churches still consider each other to upheld apostolic sucession.
Protestant churches are more diverse. I'll talk about the presbyterians and the baptists , since those are the ones I'm mostly familiar with. Presbyterians are Calvinists, altough the PC(USA), a liberal denomination, has watered down Calvinism so much it is almost irrecognizable. calvinsim is the view not that one's life is predetermined(that is predestinatarism), but that one is predestined to go either to heaven or to hell, and nothing we can do will chagne that(altough we do missions, because those elect need some way to meet the teachings of Christ); prebyterians also believe in infats baptism. Baptists belive in adults baptism, and mostly are arminians or wesleyans in soteriology, altough there is a growing Calvinist faction, especially inside the SBC(there are some Baptists who have always been calvinsts, like the primitive and some independent baptists); most predict the battle over soteriology will be the next battle inside the SBC.

[TeePee4Prez]

What are the basic differences between the different types of Christianity? (Catholic, Protestant, etc)

Catholics are stupid

I'm no great Catholic, but I take offense to that. 

[J-Mann]

The sacraments are another large gulf between Catholicism and Protestantism (in general).  The Catholic Church has seven sacraments, whereas most Protestant churches celebrate only two or three.

And yes, Anko, the Pope has accepted the possibility of evolution.  The Catholic Church leaves the matter open to interpretation.  We don't know how God did it, we just know that He did.

[angus]

What are the basic differences between the different types of Christianity? (Catholic, Protestant, etc)

as an academic matter, they're usually divided into catholic, mainstream protestant, and evangelical protestant.  but that offends mormons, who absolutely reject being called "protestant"  of course, Eastern Catholics don't mind being lumped with Roman Catholics, as a matter of practicality.

as a political matter, the chief difference--and I'm sure someone will jump up and tell me how full of crap I am--Catholics have material ambition as a vice, whereas protestants see it as a virtue.  you can see how this would stem back to Calvin, et al.  And you can easily see, then, why countries like Italy and Spain and Ireland are poor and countries like England and Scandanavian are rather wealthy, by comparison.  Also, this clearly explains why latin americans generally accept a much larger role for government than do north americans.

It should be noted that one system of thought is neither better nor worse than the other, just than one lends itself rather more to capitalistic tendencies and laissez-faire than the other.  It can also explain why, traditionally, more protestants have been Republican, and, from the beginning of time till 2000, why more catholics voted democrat than republican.  (of course, now that the GOP has a vision for at least a big-spending free-wheeling cumbersome government as the Dems formerly did, albeit the money's spent on entirely different projects, the catholics find some comfort more in the GOP than in the democrat party.  Also, you should set these notions completely aside, in your mind, from the nationalism that so fundamentally defines the GOP, and has defined it since its first national convention in Pittsburgh in 1856;  that is, I'm speaking of big government/small government trends and how they'd appeal to catholics vs. protestants.  We could also try to figure out how nationalism, the defining characteristic of the GOP would fit in to all this, but I think that's beyond the scope of your original question.)

Beyond all this, I'm sure Supersoulty and Jmfcst, both astute scholars of the Bible, could set you straight on the fine points of doctrine, etc.  I'm more of a spectator.  But then, spectators often have a better view than those actually on the field, you know what I mean?

[JohnFKennedy]

Calvinists believe in pre-determinism, which is that it is determined at birth whether a person will be worthy of being saved or not, and their life will simply follow that destiny.  This is unusual for Christianity in that most Christian churches believe in the idea of free will, that each person can choose whether to do the right thing or not, and will be saved or condemned depending upon the choices made.

I don't know if this is still applicable but Calvin himself preached a doctrine of double pre-destination, not merely single pre-destination. Double pre-destination is where God actively has decided who goes to heaven and then who goes to hell rather than merely deciding those he saves and letting the others fall to the consequences.

[12th Doctor]

What are the basic differences between the different types of Christianity? (Catholic, Protestant, etc)

Catholics are stupid

Piss off!

[12th Doctor]

I'll address this question when I return from my incredible journey.  aka McDonalds

[Akno21]

Let's see if I understand the political parts, which is basically I care about. Catholics are somewhat populist, explaining centuries of Democratic voting, but have voted GOP recently as moral values come into play. The Protestants aren't as focused on the strict interpretational things and stuff like abortion. But then why are they the religous right?

[12th Doctor]

First, let me start off by saying that what I am about to say will be very general and does not always apply.  For instance, (high) Angliganism is very much liek Catholism on all but a few issues.  Most Calvinist religions are the antitisis of Catholic teaching (or at least as close as you can get in the Christian world.

1) Catholic comes from the Greek word meaning "universal".  As such there is a heavy emphasis on the community and the health and faith of that community.  The importance of community as a whole can be found throughout the Gospels and the Letters of Paul.

Conversly, most Protestant faiths and esspecially Calvanism place the concentration on individual faith.  Community as a factor, is deemphasised in favor of "personal relationship" with God.  The assumption is that the structure of the Church is meaningless.  They too claim that certain Epistles support thier view (usually pointing to Romans).  In fact, Romans seems to be the favorite Epistles of most Protestants.  They always seem to quote it.  Catholics don't take it for granted, but there are other letters that are held in high regard.

2) The sacraments are another major difference between the Catholic and Protestant Churches.

a) Baptism- Most Catholic and closly related Protestant Churches support infant baptism.  The Gosples and Epistles tell us that Jesus and his Apostles Baptised whole families, with no exception made for infants, anywhere.  Baptism is traditionally seen as a welcoming into the Church family and as a remission for original sin.  Though there is less emphasis on the latter (at least in Catholic teaching) then there used to be, those are still the basic reasons seen for the act.

Cavinists are against infant baptism, as many of them see it as only an acceptance of faith and usually as a solitary "saving" act.

b) Confession

Confession is practiced by some Protestant Churches, but not many.  Jesus gave his apostles the power to forgive sin, as seen in John 21:22-23.  We believe that the disciples pasted down this ability to others and so on, down through history.  This is not the priest forgiving sins per se, mind you, but the grace of God, acting through the priest.

Many Protestant faiths have "group" confession where people will spontaniously say their sins and ask for God's forgivness.  They objectto the idea that anyone can forgive sins other than God and they say that it should be a private matter.  Ironically enough, they said the same thing about Jesus himself when he forgave sin.

c) communion

Communion is key to the Catholic faith.  Catholics believe in transubstanitiation, meaning that when the Christ told the apostles, "this is my body, this is my blood" he really meant it... that what we have is, indeed, Christ's body and blood broken and shead so that our sins maybe forgiven.  It is a deeply mystic act, in the eyes of the faithful.  The argument for it can not only be found in all of the Last Supper stories, but also John 6:22-71.  Note that Christ does not correct those who take him literally and thus leave him, as he corrected many when they misunderstood his metaphorical teachings.

Some closly related Protestant groups believe in a varient of transubstantiation called consubstantiation.  They believe that the body and blood are literal, but they do not believe that there is any set point at which this happens and they also do not believe that the change is perminant.

Other groups, mainly Calvinists, reject the idea out of hand.  they think that the body and blood acctually refere to the teachings of Christ, but anything literal.  They do celebrate the last supper, but usually only once a year and they take no spiritual meaning from it. 

They believe, rather, that Christ died on the cross so that our sins are forgiven.  Catholics, on the other hand, believe that Christ died so that our sins might be forgiven.  This does not exclude those who those who came before Christ, however, because of the omnipotent nature of God.

d) Confirmation

In the Catholic Church and closly related Protestant faiths, confirmation is, well... the confimation of ones personal faith in God and the Church.  This is the fullfillment of our earlier baptism and our passage into adulthood.  The confirmee is anointed in oil and the bishop lays his hands on the forehead of the individual.  At this point, that individual receives the Holy Spirit and one of the gifts mentioned in 1 Cor 12.  People are then given the gifts to be either Apostles, Teachers or Propets (meaning wise men) or are given the gifts either "mighty deeds", assistance, administration or understanding a variety of tongues.

Most Calvinists faiths don't have it, as they see this as the proper point for Baptism.

to be continued...

[12th Doctor]

e) Marriage

The Catholic and Orthodox faiths are the only ones that see Marriage as a true sacrament, a promise made between the couple and bound between them and God.  Divorce is not illegal in the Church, it simply is not recongnized and therefor, remarriage is seen as another marriage and is, therefore, not permitted.  The Catholic marriage is seen as deeply spiritual, the souls of those two people are, from that point on, deeply coneected.  That is not to say that the ultimate fate of one partner is determinant upon the other, at least, not entirely, though it is assumed that both partners should are responsably for guiding and gaurding one another, and there children, so a failure in the marriage is usally regarded as a mutual failure.

Most Protestant Churches do not veiw a marriage as a mystical bond.  Indeed, there deemphasis on the community leads them to seperate the husband and wife and thus, see the bond as seperable.  The marriage is legal, not a covenant before God.

and... it's Super Bowl time, so I will conclude this later.

[Colin]

explaining centuries of Democratic voting

I don't think the Democratic party has been around for centuries. I don't remember hearing about a Democratic Party in 1400's Europe.

[Akno21]

explaining centuries of Democratic voting

I don't think the Democratic party has been around for centuries. I don't remember hearing about a Democratic Party in 1400's Europe.

Century and a half.

[angus]

explaining centuries of Democratic voting

I don't think the Democratic party has been around for centuries. I don't remember hearing about a Democratic Party in 1400's Europe.

Century and a half.

actually, you're still a bit generous.  recall the first big wave of potato-famine immigrants having to prove themselves in battle.  It must have been quite a sight.  unaccepted by the english-accented gentry in New York and Boston, reviled by the nationalistic republicans, yet unable to conform to the sensibilities of the elitist aristocratic Democrats of the 1850s and 60s.  By around 1870 they had "arrived" and were generally accepted by the GOP as faithful voting blocs.  At some point, and I can't say for sure--Maybe Al or Brunsel has some historical knowledge about this--but probably with the new deal they were full-fledged democrats.  Or maybe it was as early as the first world war.  Either way, they were democrats for the better part of the 20C.  Along with other catholic groups such as hispanics, Louisiana natives, Italians, and Poles.  Of course, the mafioso always had a soft spot for Nixon, and slowly the nixonian strategy won many of them over.  I believe it was in 2000 when a bare majority (something like 51%) voted for the first time, in a long time, for the GOP.  Yet, catholics certainly cannot be considered a bloc.  Not the way, for example, that Hindu can be considered a bloc for the GOP, or the way, for example, that black evangelical protestants can be considered a bloc for the Democrats.  As to the wherefore? and why?  I offer only speculation.  The DNCs abdication of the anti-capital punishment position, and its concurrent rightward shift under the rather centrist Bill Clinton surely cannot be ignored in this analysis, I suspect.

[12th Doctor]

I'll get back to this later.  I have a paper due tomorrow about "Edge Cities".  Swear, I will get back to this, though.