What's the difference between Christians and Catholics? - Calvary Youth Apologetics

Question:
What's the difference between Christians and Catholics?
Answer:
I love the way young minds are spinning, seeing the world we live in and then trying to gauge what we hear from a biblical worldview, even within a church like ours. So, let's break down some of the key distinctions between Catholics and Christians.
We have to go back to church history. I'll summarize this as quickly and concisely as possible, but when you go back into church history, when you read the book of Acts 2:1-4 NLT, you'll see that the early church began and had this beginning where they were gathered together.
“On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.”
It says that they were of one mind and of one accord, and they would have these gatherings. But then, of course, the church continued to multiply and spread. It's exactly what Jesus intended, to go from Jerusalem to Judea's Samaria, that surrounding region, into the uttermost parts of the earth.
But what has happened over time is, and, unfortunately, what tends to happen is that we take something that starts with the right foundation, but then we develop man-made traditions and ideas. And so, Catholicism, when you think of the word in general, Catholicism is actually not a negative word, or a bad word, or an ultimate false sect or religion, but "Catholicism" simply means universal.
The idea of universality is correct, and we are one church. When I say "one church," like anybody who is a true believer in Jesus Christ, is part of the church. That is exactly what the word "catholic" means. So, probably to distinguish your question is more in line with the manmade religion known as Roman Catholicism.
You can think of a man by the name of Martin Luther, who was a Catholic priest who realized that a lot of the traditions that came from the Roman Catholic Church in about the 1500s, he recognized that a lot of those were actually contrary to what the Bible taught.
Martin Luther is most well-known for hanging up the 95 Theses on the door of the church. In these 95 Theses, he shares his struggle with the contradictions he sees in the man-made religion of Roman Catholicism versus what the Bible teaches. This was what launched what's known as a Protestant movement.
Although Calvary Church is considered non-denominational, where we don't hold to any denomination, we do find ourselves in the sense that we would consider ourselves Protestant, which simply means we protest against some of the man-made ideologies that the Roman Catholic Church has developed.
One of the key issues is praying to saints because the Bible tells us that there is one God and one mediator between God and man, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. So, praying to Mary or praying a tradition like praying the rosary, where Jesus said, "Don't think we will be heard by our vain repetitions."
So those are a couple of examples, but let me also be clear: we don't take this hardcore stance against the Roman Catholics or against people who say they're Catholic. We have a lot of similarities, too. I think most Catholics would fully subscribe to the essentials of the faith that they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, they believe that He died for our sins, that He was buried and rose again. And the Bible couldn't be more clear that if you confess the Lord Jesus Christ with your mouth and believe in your heart, He's been raised from the grave, you shall be saved.
There are many problems within the Roman Catholic Church. I would strongly caution you from attending mass or participating in those services. But what I will tell you is this: There is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus. And I believe that many Catholics, maybe not understanding, still have that foundation, and that is the foundation that gets us to heaven.
Let me read this verse to you. It’s about what Jesus prayed over his disciples and even over future disciples. John Chapter 17:20-21 NLT, Jesus says:
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one-as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”
That's the idea. Let's not look for things that divide but look for things that unify, and that's the very prayer of Jesus.
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As a former 'cradle' Catholic, I'd like to expand on our answer. When you ask a Catholic if he is a Christian, most commonly you will hear a response, "I'm Catholic," as if that settles it. To a Catholic, being Catholic means being a member of what they think is the "one true church." If you ask the Catholic what a person must do to be justified before God, most often they will answer something like, "be good" or "live a good life". A Catholic will usually think that he is a "good person" and that his goodness is probably greater than his sinfulness.
The Catholic believes that only his church can provide the proper Communion, in which the consecrated bread and wine cease to be bread and wine (except for their "accidents", which are the things one can detect _or measure or analyze_ with the senses: taste, smell, touch, appearance, chemical composition, molecular structure, etc.) and that they become "the whole Christ," including Jesus' physical body and blood, His soul, and His divinity. The Catholic places supreme importance on the consumption of God, of His actual flesh and blood, in their Eucharist meal. It is the highlight of their service (called a Mass). Because they believe that no other denomination's ministers have the authority from God to confect this Eucharist, the Catholic believes His Church to be superior to all others. The consumption of Jesus is emphasized so greatly in the Catholic Church, to the typical Catholic this "Sacrament" holds the place of importance in his life that a personal relationship with God through the indwelling Holy Spirit would hold in most other Christians' lives. The Catholic even worships and adores the Eucharistic elements as Almighty God.
The Catholic has been taught erroneously that Jesus' discussion in John Ch. 6 was about Communion. They take Jesus' words literally when He said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." Catholics do not realize that they are taking the words out of context and that Jesus was speaking metaphorically. Jesus was urging them all through the discussion to believe in Him as their Messiah (see verses 28-29, 35-40, and 47 for the main theme He kept repeating). The old Greek manuscripts have Jesus speaking in the "present active participle" word tense, which indicates that _present action_ was being urged. (This same tense is found in verse 35, too.) Since we can be sure that Jesus was not telling them to take a bite out of His bicep right then or to slit open His vein for a drink right then, we can be sure that Jesus did not mean they were to eat Him with the digestive tract, but they were supposed to "consume" Him _by faith and belief_ in Him. As St. Augustine once wrote, “Believe in Christ, and thou hast eaten Christ. For, believing in Christ is the eating of the bread of life.”
The Catholic also places great stock in the authority of his priest to hear his auricular confession of sins and to pronounce God's absolution from those sins, pending the person's performance of assigned penance (which usually consists of certain prayers, such as for example _5 Our Fathers and 10 Hail Marys,_ or sometimes the performance of reparatory good deeds).
When I attended Catholic catechism regularly as a child and youth, I was taught that if I ever left the Roman Catholic Church and failed to repent and return to "her" before my death, I would definitely go straight to hell. "Outside of the Catholic Church there is no salvation," the lesson book said.
What does the Bible say about our salvation? Jesus promised:
Joh 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Joh 3:15 That _whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life._
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18 _He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed_ in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Paul wrote in Romans 4 that we are justified in the eyes of God by His gift of grace through our faith, apart from works. Nowhere does the Bible say what the church of Rome says, that one must be Catholic, must receive Catholic Sacraments, must do good works, and must obey all the Commandments to be saved.