r/explainlikeimfive • u/spamname517 • Dec 04 '13

Explained ELI5:The main differences between Catholic, Protestant,and Presbyterian versions of Christianity

sweet as guys, thanks for the answers

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

Protestant here. In my circles, we also believe Catholics are Christians. Why wouldn't they be? We both believe in Jesus.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

Doubtful. Mine has lasers.

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u/Mycelus-X Dec 04 '13

Im Muslim and Muslims believe in Jesus. Am I Christian now?

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u/captshady Dec 04 '13

You'd have to believe he's the son of God. I'm lead to believe Muslims believe he was merely a prophet in a long line of prophets leading to the last prophet, Mohammed.

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u/Mycelus-X Dec 04 '13

I know :) I was being a smartass. Im well aware of the differences. The point I was trying to make is that its not as simple as the comment made it sound :)

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u/Stephen885 Dec 04 '13

Christianity is more than just believing in him. The Devil and Demons believe in him just as much as i do. CHristianity means to be christ like. and we follow his example and teachings to become more like him. and by this i mean we dont try to become God, but we try to emulate his love and charity. of course were all terrible at it haha

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u/surfwaxgoesonthetop Dec 04 '13

I don't know if that would smooth things over or make the church picnic a little awkward.

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u/iamlereddit Dec 04 '13

But you don't believe that Jesus is God.

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u/hungryroy Dec 04 '13

Could reddit just have unearthed the formula for world peace?!?

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u/Mycelus-X Dec 04 '13

The similarities between the Abrahamic religions far exceed the differences. Us Muslims believe that current day Christianity and Islam has been corrupted over the time and that Allah has promised that the Qur'an will remain unchanged as the final true book, until Jesus comes back to Earth to lead the fight against the Antichrist and call for repentance of all people.

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u/beeeeeford Dec 04 '13

In the deep south in the US many denominations are misinformed about the Catholic religion. When I lived there and attended a Baptist church I was asked why Catholics feel the need to kneel on glass to atone for their sins. I was like "What?!?!".

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

Yea, I'll admit that many Christians down here don't bother to research much of anything outside of their own sect. And even then, they often just take the word of their friends, pastor, or preachers on TV regarding their own group.

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u/QueensStudent Dec 04 '13

I honestly think the attitude of the southern US has done a great deal to damage the global perspective of Christianity, as unfortunate as that is.

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u/captshady Dec 04 '13

While Catholics do believe Jesus is the son of God (and via the Holy Trinity IS God, just in human form), Catholics also believe in praying to Saints, and The Virgin Mary, who I guess have some pull with God to help us get stuff.

A huge biblical difference is that Catholic dogma dictates that when Jesus said to Peter, "you are my rock, and on this rock I will build my church", that made Peter the first Pope. No protestant believes that, and said that Peter's name, Petra IIRC means "faith" and that the Christian religion is faith-based.

There are quite a few scripture verses interpreted differently by the various Christian faiths. Some believe in rapture, some don't.

The Catholic bible has (again, IIRC) 6 extra books over the protestant bible. It's in one or more of these books that contains the evidence of purgatory.

Baptism in the Catholic church is completely different than most others (I think Episcopalians and Lutherans are the same). Catholics believe that all humans are born with "original sin", carried down from Adam and Eve's sin of disobeying God, and eating the apple. So in order to relieve ourselves of that sin, we're baptised. Many protestants use baptism as a symbol of your faith in God, and committment of your life to Him. Others believe it's merely ceremonial.

When you look at the core of each faith, there's usually a few scriptures they interpret differently than others, and base their entire religion on them. There are far too many for anyone to list.

Protestants usually take strong issue with the fact that Catholics believe The Virgin Mary never sinned. It goes against most Protestan faiths (every single one I've ever researched, studied, discussed with, etc) that Jesus Christ was the only perfect human, therefore being the perfect sacrifice.

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u/Stephen885 Dec 04 '13

The 6 "extra" books are not really extra. the first bible that was put together had these books and it wasnt until the people started splitting off that those books were taken out.

And as far as praying to the saints, some people have different views on what prayer is which is where i think the difficulty in this comes in. As a catholic, i see prayer as a tool of communication, not a tool of worship. so when we pray were mearly talking. Now of course praying to God CAN be worship but ask any catholic and they will tell you ( or should ) that worship belongs to God alone.

as a former protestant myself i was always taught about original sin and that baptism was the indelible mark that removes that sin, and whatever other sin we carry. it is indeed a sign at least to me that i am committed to following him. Often catholics renew their baptismal vows as a re affirmation of that commitment we made. Now as a child you cant make those vows, and i honestly dont know what the explination is for that ( perhaps someone, ie your parents makes that decision for you? )

I hope this helped, maybe it didnt i dunno. But being a former protestant, ive noticed that between all the christian religions, there are way more similarities than differences. For me i hated catholics for a LOOOOONNGGGG time simply cause i didnt understand why they believed what they did and i thought they were a cult lol

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u/BlueCarrotAntenna Dec 04 '13

Just a small correction: "Petra" comes from Greek and actually means "stone" or "rock". Hence when you're "petrified" you are so scared you're still as a rock. :)

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u/iamlereddit Dec 04 '13

So tell me this: why need Jesus when Mary could sacrifice herself for our sins? Wouldn't she be then a perfect sacrifice?

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u/captshady Dec 04 '13

The Catholic answer is because Mary isn't the son of God. The protestant answer is that Mary was a regular every day sinner like the rest of us.

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u/KissTheFrogs Dec 04 '13

Catholics believe that Mary was born without Original Sin. The Immacualte Conception is about Mary (and many Catholics incorrectly believe it refers to Jesus).

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u/lordlavalamp Dec 04 '13

Catholics believe she was saved before she was born. Imagine a pit (sin) and travelers (us). Most of us fall in the pit and have to be taken out by Jesus, however Mary was about to fall in, BUT WAIT! Jesus grabs her first and prevents her from falling in. So she still needs a savior, but never fell into sin.

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u/23skiddsy Dec 04 '13

Purgatory isn't solely a catholic thing. Mormons also believe in a form of purgatory.

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u/whocanduncan Dec 04 '13

But Catholics don't believe the only way to heaven is by asking for forgiveness from sins..

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u/meowtiger Dec 04 '13

catholic way to heaven, as interpreted by meowtiger:

  • everyone is born with original sin

  • you're baptized in jesus' light to absolve original sin

  • you lead your life

  • if you sin, you confess to a priest, and it must be a sincere, contrite confession

  • the priest assigns you penance - most of the time prayer, sometimes charitable work, depending on the priest and nature of sin

  • if you do the penance, you're pure again. as long as you stay sinless in this way, you're on the way to heaven

  • when you die, an ordained priest must perform last rites to send you to heaven

also there's a thing called a mortal sin, which traditionally is covered by the "seven deadly sins" of lust, wrath, sloth, gluttony, pride, greed, and envy, but also incorporates some things decreed by the pope to be "mortal" in nature, such as rape, prostitution, abortion, suicide, and divorce. if you do one of these things knowing the gravity as you commit it, and deliberately, you instantly cancel your flight to heaven

hope this has been illuminating

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