Christian is a broad term used by many sects, generally indicating that they follow the teachings of Jesus Christ of the New Testament. Catholicism is a Christian sect (though some would argue). Catholicism finds its roots in Paul, who founded the first Christian church. Many Catholic Bibles contain the Apocrypha, a collection of books that were removed from the Bible during various times in Christian history. Their have been many splits from the Catholic church, and it is the source of many of today?s major Christian denominations.
That is a basic answer. For a more detailed and biased answer, ask a Catholic Priest and a Born Again Minister. They will give you some interesting answers.
jssmthrfcknchrst
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"catholic" means "universal"
roman catholics are from that group of christians which were led (at their earliest time) by the apostle peter...
there were 5 patriarchates in the early christian world, of which rome was one...
the "romish' church split from the eastern, or "orthodox" churches in the 11th century c.e. (the so called "great schism") over the nature of the third person of the trinity (the holy ghost, or holy spirit) over 2 words in the creedal statement fromulated in nicea several centuries earlier: "et filoque" -- one group claiming that the holy spirit proceedeth from the father, and the other that the holy spirit proceedeth from the father _and the son_ ...
the "protestant reformation" started formally with a (german) roman catholic priest (of the order of st augustine) & college professor, dr martin luther, who saw many things going on in the church (including, but not limited to, the sale of papal indulgences) which had no scriptural justification --- and this priest "protested" & nailed 95 debate topics (the 95 theses) to the cathedral door, challenging anyone to debate any of the topics with him, using only the bible as authority (& and not church tradition, papal degrees, or saying of the early church fathers); when called to defend hinself against charges of heresy (the diet of worms) he showed up, ans was ready to give a spirited defense of himself, with a promise of immunity; he would have lost his trial, and the church would have rescinded the promise of safe conduct, and he most assuredly would have been convicted and executed for heresy (as happened 50 years eatlier to czech thoelogian johanne hus) exceept for the intervention of certain german nobles who had no love for rome taxing the lifeblood out of german volk, and who arranged for a little friendly kidnapping of fr. luther, whom they hid in a castle, safe from the tender offices of the holy inquisition until it was much to late to stop luther's words...
other reformers followed luthers's lead (calvin, zwingli, melancthon, fox, wesley, many many more), and eventually king henry VIII turned all of england from romish to anglican (by royal decree)... and by that time there were dozens of sects or denominations in europe (& eventually elsewhere) who called themselves followers of christ, but not of the pope in rome...
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there's more; are you really interested???
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& you better believe there are christian history websites out there, fella...
this ramble/rant is just off the top of my head, hehheh...
(gets crowded in here sometimes, heh... not...)
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-------------------- old enough to know better
not old enough to care
Edited by gnrm23 (04/08/03 07:22 AM)
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