Zeppflyer wrote:PLAYER57832 wrote:
Roman Catholics even somewhat accept Protestants. That is, you cannot take Communion, but marriages to non-Catholics are recognized, as are non-Roman Catholic Baptisms of children if the child is later brought up to be Roman Catholic (they don't usually have to be re-baptized to be confirmed).
I was baptized Presbyterian and converted to Roman Catholicism in college. Baptism in the Catholic tradition (as it is now defined) says that any baptism "In the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit" where water is used is valid. Catholic Tradition has always held that a baptism can be performed by anyone. In the middle ages, when infant mortality was through the roof, midwives often baptized children right after they were born as it was considered absolutely necessary for salvation at the time.
Until recently, they were a lot more persnickety about the exact form of the baptism. For instance, a friend of mine who is in her 50's and who went through a similar experience, was rebaptized at her conversion because at her original one water was merely sprinkled. This is known as a "Conditional Baptism". That is, when there is question as to the propriety of the original baptism, or question as to whether it happened at all, it will be redone 'conditionally' or, 'just to be safe'.
We certainly do accept Protestants as Christians and are happy when they return the favor. (I wouldn't have joined a church that judged my Protestant family to be damned. Heck, my Lutheran father is a better Christian than I'll ever be.) I know that the majority of Christians accept us as fellow believers, but I do think, based on 4 years at a Christian college where people from all parts of the Corpus Christi were represented, that the opposite opinion is held by far more than just the far Fundamentalist fringe. We're working on it.
You mean Texas is part of the US? (jokng, of course).
Seriously, views in the south, in general are more conservative. Even Protestant churches like the Methodists can be fundamentalist in their practices. (I was once told by an adult Sunday school teacher that Hillary Clinton was "Satan" ... I asked him what he thought of a church that had her as a member, he did not even realize she was a Methodist!).
Most of the mainline Protestant churches (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Methodist, etc.) and even many that are more conservative (Covenant, etc.) offer communion to "any Baptized Christian", and that definitely includes Roman Catholics. Some Roman Catholic priests "look the other way" or don't specifically challenge visitors who come up for communion, but the church itself does not offer communion to non Roman Catholics.
As for the acceptance of Baptism. It varied considerably by parish. I know of 2 children who were actually refused Baptism simply because the person selected as a God parent was not a Roman Catholic and others who were not allowed Roman Catholic Baptism because one parent had not converted, but I don't believe that was ever really true Roman Catholic doctrine.
Anyway, there are a LOT of technicalities. Botton line is that Roman Catholics who accept Christ as their savior (almost 100%) are Christians. The "almost" is just because there are no doubt some who attend church or claim to be Roman Catholic, but don't really believe (same for ANY church!).
Japs wrote:Getting back to an earlier post.... Someone said that Catholics were not the first Christians... Ill give you that. However they are the oldest church we know of right now that still exist and they are the church that all of the protestant churches broke off of. So following logical order it would make sense that if protestant churches have all broken off from the Catholic church and that protestants are Christians then Catholics must be Christians as well.
To make a long story short yes Catholics are Christians.
The Greek Orthodox church is generally considered to predate or be concurrant with the Western, Latin church that became the Roman Catholic Church. There were other churches. I believe the Ethiopian church, for example, dates back to about that time (but am not completely sure how far back).
Two of the main differances were whether the church should be subservient to the Secular laws or vice-versa. Another was the use of icons, that is, figures that represent real people, various symbols. There were more, but I am keeping this brief.
As for the whole Reformation thing... the biggest differance is that Protestants believe we can relate directly to God. Roman Catholics believe in "intermediaries" -- Priests, The Pope, Saints. Also, Protestants don't believe in pennance in the way that Roman Catholics do because we don't believe any Earthly act can obtain salvation, only the grace of God. Again, that is an extreme simplification.
