How are the Pentecostal and Catholic different?

Answer 1

Catholicism is the first Christianity as noted by Ignatius of Antioch, 1st c. A.D:

"Where the Bishop is, there let the multitude be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' (Greek: Katholicos Ekklesia)

It was started by Jesus Christ: Matt 16:18-19

18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."

The keys of the kingdom (Is 22:22) were given to Peter, which started the line of popes which has continued in an unbroken line to today (2000 years). The Apostles are the church fathers and Acts describes the actual beginnings of the church. The first Catholic Council is in Acts 15:6 in 50 AD (there have been 21 total so far).

We don't have denominations like you are used to in Protestantism (which number 20-30,000). We've got one church.

The Catholic Mass started with the Apostles: Acts 2:42 and has continued daily (Acts 2:26) for 2000 years.

The Catholic Church gave the world the first Bible in 420 AD (called the Latin Vulgate). You can see it in English online, see link below.

If you would like to know more about the start of the Catholic Church, get "The Early Church Fathers" (available at Amazon), --these are the writings of the disciples from the 1st & 2nd C who studied with the Apostles.

The Eucharist is the body of Christ, consecrated during the Mass. Catholics believe the Eucharist is the Body of Christ as Jesus described in John 6:48. (Not a symbol, but the real thing--in the form of bread.)

The Protestant Reformation is from the 1550s (Martin Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc) who rejected the priesthood, sacraments and doctrine of Christianity. They created new doctrine that never existed before:

They created the belief that a person is saved by "faith alone", which the Bible says you are "not saved by faith alone" (James 2:24). So, in Catholicism, there is no sinner's prayer, so there's no belief in "once-saved-always-saved" because its not in the Bible. We believe that a believer can lose their salvation (Luke 8:13). The Rapture is from the 1830's, so we never had that belief.

If you say to a Catholic, "are you born again" they would think you are talking about baptism: John 3:5 - "Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to you, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Also, baptism is not a 'symbol' but we believe it really forgives sins (Acts 22:16)

You can attend Mass, just don't go up for Communion when everyone else does. (Only Catholics may receive the Body and Blood of Christ - read St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 11:27-32).

Basically, the Catholic Church is a "snapshot" of Christianity in the 1st C. We incorporate the Old Testament, so some things that may appear strange are probably coming from the Old Testament (like Holy Water is from Numbers 5:17, etc.)