Why does the answer to your questions about Christianity vary by denominations?

Answer 1

"Christianity" is separated into dozens (maybe even hundreds) of sects. Catholicism is the original Christian church, it traces its beginnings back to Jesus Christ and St Peter (also known as Simon-Peter ... one of the twelve disciples). In about 1300 CE the "schism" "Orthodox" split from the Catholic church under a different leader who lead them in a different direction.

In the 1600's, an obscure priest (Martin Luther) challenged the Catholic church and ancient Jewish tradition which dated back to biblical times. He claimed his interpretation of Christianity was the True Way and created his own church and implemented many changes to the religion. Along the way, many realized it would be easier to modify the religion and "purge" it of the teachings they did not particularly like.

Different Christian sects trace their roots back differently to different leaders who interpret the Bible differently. Catholicism has tried for over 2000 years to maintain the teachings and customs that were handed down in ancient times in order to preserve the religion in its most pure form. If you have questions, I don't mean to be biased, but ask a devote Catholic, in order to understand Christianity, one must know the tradition and customs that go along with it. Many churches now neglect to teach the "whys?" of the faith and focus on the "whats?" of the faith.

Because history and traditional are not taught by many of the churches, many are ill-informed or practice partial-religions. It is because we do not all agree on how it should be taught that we are all taught a little differently about how to do something.

My Economics teacher used to always tell us "If you ask three different Economists how to solve a problem, you'll just get three different answers". Religion is no different.

I hope this was helpful... good luck