Catholicism vs Christianity - Difference and Comparison

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	Catholicism	Christianity
Identity of Jesus:	The Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father the Son is one and the same God.	Son of God, God Incarnate, Saviour of the world, one with God the Father and Holy Spirit. We become family as we receive the "spirit of adoption" to God, therefore Christ is ones huband, brother, savior, and Lord.
Death of Jesus:	Death by crucifixion	Death by Crucifixion
Day of worship:	Sunday(and on any other day too)	Sunday but varies throughout many individual churches.
Place of worship:	Church, chapel, Cathedral	Church, chapel, Cathedral
Place of origin:	Palestine & Rome; Western Roman Empire	Palestine
Time of origin:	c. 33 AD	c. 33 A.D.
Geographical distribution and predominance:	France, Italy, Spain, Latin America, USA	Europe, North and South America
Ressurection of Jesus:	affirmed	affirmed
Population:	1.1 Billion (http://worldchristiandatabase.org/wcd/)	1.8 Billion (Wikipedia)
Original Languages:	Aramaic, Greek, and Latin	Aramaic, Greek, and Latin
Second coming of Jesus:	Affirmed	Affirmed
Scriptures:	Holy Bible (Duay version)	Holy Bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts (the Old Testament and the New Testament)
Confessing sins:	To God or to priests	To God or to priests
Clergy:	priests, monks, ministers, pastors, bishops	priests, monks, ministers, pastors, bishops, Elders, Deacons, Youth Ministers, Sunday School Teachers
Belief of God:	Catholics believe that there is only one God and argue that he has revealed himself as the trinity.	Christianity believes in the Trinity of God. They also believe that there is only one true "God" while there are many other "gods" that the world serves.
Concept of Deity:	Believe in the Trinity of God. Three persons in one Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit	Believe in the Trinity of God. Three persons in one Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Holy days:	Christmas, Easter, New Year, Pentecost, Saints' Feast Days.	Christmas, Easter, New Year, Pentecost, Saints' Feast Days
Status of women:	Variable but treated with respect. Generally women are not allowed to be priests. However, they can become nuns.	Variable. Conservatives & liberals differ greatly. Women can become nuns, pastors in some denominations and only teachers in others.
Legislation:	Prerogative of the church which is the supreme authority.	Prerogative of the church denominations or independent churches. Each church decides it's own bylaws but usually follows the greater authority of the General Counsel of that denomination for rulings in disputes on church issues.
Use of statues and pictures:	Permitted	While crosses and pictures are generally accepted, the act of prayer to saints (their statues), Mary, or deceased believers for intercession or to the image of Jesus is not accepted and is labeled worshiping false idols.
Resurrection of Jesus:	Affirmed	Affirmed
Religious Law:	canon law (Catholics)	laws are recognized but this religion focuses on Grace. The 10 Commandments are a base but they focus on the idea of following the whole Bible as they have been freed from the legalistic following of the OT laws.
Original Language:	Latin	Aramaic and Greek
Literal Meaning:	catholic - from the Greek adjective καθολικός, meaning "general" or "universal"	Christian" (Greek Χριστιανός Strong's G5546), meaning "belonging to Christ" or "partisan of Christ". Also referred to as "little Christs"
Belief:	The Catholics believe that salvation to eternal life is God's will for all people.	Christians recognize Jesus as the Messiah, believing that salvation to eternal life is God's will for all people
About:	Catholics follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as transmitted through the Old & New Testament via Rome and the Vatican.	Christianity is an Abrahamic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, believed to be the son of God.
God's role in salvation:	Christ can save people and can help in salvation.	Many denominations believe in predestination, while others do not. Salvation is available to all people, but not everyone will accept it. However grace is extended to all who will accept it and God would have no man perish.
Practices:	All Catholics are expected to participate in the liturgical life of the Church, but personal prayer and devotions are entirely a matter of personal preference.	Regularly visit the church especially on Sundays for Holy Mass & Bible studies. And encouraging involvement not only within the church (body) but also in the community, doing good works and spreading the word.
Birth of Jesus:	Virgin birth	Virgin Birth
Means of salvation:	Received at baptism; may be lost by mortal sin; regained by penance.	Salvation through faith, while differing denominations debate eternal security, they generally agree that salvation is secured through a relationship with Jesus Christ and daily repentance of sins.
Prophet:	Jesus	Jesus
Human Nature:	Humans are free to devote themselves to knowledge and communion in the image of God. "original sin" inherited from Adam - tendency towards evil (Infants must be baptized)	"original sin" inherited from Adam, tendency towards evil, but the sins of the father do not pass through to the son, therefore, Children are holy, and until they reach the age where they can know good from evil, their sins are not held against them.
View of other Abrahamic religions:	According to Catholic doctrine, Catholicism is the original Christian Church.Christianity is the true religion and Catholics believe that sanctification and truth may be found in other religions also.	According to Christian doctrine, Judaism is a true religion, but with incomplete revelation and Islam is a false religion.
Status of Adam:	Sin came into the world, through Adam.	Sin came through the fall of Adam in the garden and resulted in separation from God but was reconciled through Christ's death and resurrection.
Use of statues:	Common
Geographical predominance:		Europe, North and South America

A Christian refers to a follower of Jesus Christ who may be a Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Gnostic, or follower of another branch of the religion.

A Catholic refers to a Christian who follows the Catholic religion as transmitted through the succession of Popes of Rome and the Vatican Empire across history. The Catholic Church is the largest of the Christian Churches - about 60% of Christians are Catholic.

1 Beliefs
2 Salvation
3 Scriptures
4 Origin
- 4.1 The Pope View
5 View of Homosexuality
6 Hierarchy
7 Worships and Practices
8 Related Articles
9 References

[edit] Beliefs

While Catholicism preaches and believes the Roman catholic church to be the supreme authority, Christianity encompasses all churches as well as believers without churches, as many modern practitioners may be believers in Christ but not active church goers. A Christian will study the Bible, attend church, seek ways to introduce the teachings of Jesus into his or her life, and engage in prayer.

Catholics also follow the teachings of Jesus Christ but do so through the church, whom they consider as the path to Jesus. They believe in the special authority of the Pope which other Christians may not believe in. A Christian seeks forgiveness for his or her personal sins through faith in Jesus Christ. The goal of the Christian is both the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on Earth and the attainment of Heaven in the after-life.

The Catholic Church teaches the doctrines of Jesus Christ as transmitted in the New Testament of the Bible, as well as the teachings, Psalms, and histories of the Jewish prophets in the Old Testament. The Catholic Religion preserves a tradition of Priesthood, Monks, and Nuns that date back to the early middle ages and before. The Catholic Religion is typically based in the direct teachings of Peter and Paul canonically. Other non-Catholic Christian texts based on the teachings of Jesus include the Gnostic Gospels.

[edit] Salvation

Christians believe salvation is a gift by means of the unmerited grace of God, a gift from a loving heavenly Father who sent His only begotten Son Jesus to be their savior. They believe that, through faith in Jesus, one can be saved from sin and eternal death. Catholicism, a branch of Christianity, has a similar view of salvation.

[edit] Scriptures

The teachings of the Catholic Church are derived from two sources, firstly the Sacred Scriptures (the Bible) and secondly the Sacred Tradition. Christianity regards the Holy Bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts (the Old Testament and the New Testament) as authoritative: written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and therefore the inerrant Word of God. So in way both follow the Bible as their central scripture.

[edit] Origin

The first known usage of the term Christians can be found in the New Testament of the Bible. The term was thus first used to denote those known or perceived to be disciples of Jesus. Similarly, in the two other New Testament it refers to the public identity of those who follow Jesus.

The history of early Christian groups is told in Acts in the New Testament. The early days of Christianity witnessed the desert Fathers in Egypt, sects of hermits and Gnostic ascetics. Christianity began in 1st century AD Jerusalem as a Jewish sect but spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond to countries such as Ethiopia, Armenia, Georgia, Assyria, Iran, India, and China.

Roman Catholicism traces its history to the apostles, especially the Apostle Peter. St. Peter is considered the first pope, and every Pope since is regarded as his spiritual successor. It was only after the first thousand years of Christianity that this new denomination of Catholicism came into being. This was for those people who wanted to follow God through the Church. They give the leader of the church spiritual authority that who provides a means for resolving disputes that could divide the church.

[edit] The Pope View

The idea of the "pope" existed from the beginning of the church. It was Christ that instituted the church when He Chose St. Peter as His "Rock."The Papacy can be traced all the way back to St. Peter. Thus Catholics and non-Catholics alike are able to claim they are most faithful to the message of the apostles and the early church. From the Catholic perspective, the early church is faithfully continued in the developments of later centuries, while non-Catholics tend to regard the Roman Catholic church as having corrupted the original message of Christianity. However, in essence Catholics believe the "pope" only to be a leader in their religion. Much like preachers and deacons are leaders of their individual churches. Catholicism just makes the same leadership seem more unified.

[edit] View of Homosexuality

Throughout the majority of Christian history most theologians and Christian denominations have viewed homosexual behavior as immoral or sinful. However, in the past century some prominent theologians and Christian religious groups have espoused a wide variety of beliefs and practices towards homosexuals, including the establishment of some 'open and accepting' congregations. In Roman Catholicism, homosexual acts are contrary to natural law and sinful while homosexual desires are disordered (but not necessarily sinful). The Roman Catholic Church considers human sexual behavior to be sacred, almost sacramental in nature, when properly expressed. Both the religions have had gay priests in the past.

[edit] Hierarchy

The Catholic Religion has a historical lineage and hierarchy that is centered in the Pope and Vatican City in Rome. The Catholic Religion was the source of the Protestant and Anglican Churches as they evolved to break with Papal authority. Catholics do not allow priesthood to women.

A Christian may follow any church based in the New Testament. Some churches permit female priests, while others do not. Both Catholics and Christians venerate the Mother of Jesus, Mary, as well as the 12 disciples as principle teachers of the faith. The Pope is not regarded as the supreme authority by Christianity. Some denominations of Christianity allow women to become priests after ordination.

[edit] Worships and Practices

Christians believe that all people should strive to follow Christ's commands and example in their everyday actions. For many, this includes obedience to the Ten Commandments. Other Christian practices include acts of piety such as prayer and Bible reading which even Catholics follow. Christians assemble for communal worship on Sunday, the day of the resurrection, though other liturgical practices often occur outside this setting. Scripture readings are drawn from the Old and New Testaments, but especially the Gospels.

In the Catholic Church, there is a distinction between Liturgy, which is the formal public and communal worship of the Church, and personal prayer or devotion, which may be public or private. Other Christians may not have such a system and may all pray together. The Liturgy is regulated by church authority and consists of the Eucharist (the Mass), the other Sacraments, and the Liturgy of the Hours. All Catholics are expected to participate in the liturgical life of the Church, but personal prayer and devotions are entirely a matter of personal preference.