What best describes the difference between protestant and Catholic beliefs?

Question

Parker Braun · Accepted Answer

Protestants believe good works alone cannot gain you salvation.

Answer Catholics and Protestants have much more in common than critics assume.

Both churches adhere to the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds that set out the basic, but most profound beliefs of the Christian Church - a Triniarian God, Father Son and Holy Spirit; that Jesus is fully human and yet fully God, His virgin birth, life, death on the Cross, resurrection, ascension and coming again. They believe in the power of the Holy Spirit at work in peoples' lives today. They all accept The Bible as the source of God's word, written by individuals but inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Any differences, then, are in peripheral matters.

These include:

1. Catholics regard the pope as infallible and are under his authority. Protestants reject the authority of the pope.
2. Doctrines surrounding the Virgin Mary are accepted as fact by Catholics. these include her immaculate conception and her perpetual virginal state, and her intercession (by prayer) between God and humanity. Protestants reject these as inventions as they have no basis historically or biblically.
3. Doctrines surrounding the mass. Catholics regard the mass as a resacrifice of Christ's body, and the bread and wine actually to be his body and blood. Protestants reject this and return to the 'memorial' of Christ's death as he instituted the Eucharist and regard the bread and wine as symbolic.
4. Doctrines surrounding purgatory and limbo. Catholics believe in a place of 'cleansing' after death before entry into heaven. Protestants reject this and regard it as heretical, against Jesus' own teaching, and a rather abhorrent idea which betrays the trust that we are called to have in a loving God.
5. Catholics pray to saints as interceders for us. Protestants regard this as wrong as Biblically there is only one advocate between the Father and us - Jesus Christ.
6. Catholics believe that priestly ministry has to involve celibacy and only men are allowed into the priesthood. Many protestant Churches allow married men and women into their priesthood, or as church leaders and ministers.

There are many other differences, of course, but these just highlight some of them. Despite the differences, we should remember that there is sufficient major doctrine in common to regard both Catholics and Protestants as true members of Christ's Church on earth, something which cannot be said of pseudoChristian cults like Mormonism and the Watchtower Society, where major rejection of even the most basic doctrines render these organisations as outside the Christian Church worldwide.

Answer Protestants believe good works alone cannot gain you salvation. Protestants do not believe in the pope's authority. Catholics give spiritual authority to the pope.

Catholics trace their beliefs back to the apostles. Protestants began as Catholics who protested many aspects of the church in the 16th century. Today there are so many different protestant churches that it is hard to characterize them as a group. Some Protestants believe what might be called the principal doctrines while other Protestants believe fewer of the principal doctrines. The most basic beliefs that Catholics share with many Protestants, and Christians who don't call themselves protestant anymore, are: 1. The Bible as the source of God's revealed teaching. 2. Baptism as the sacrament necessary for salvation. 3. the Last Supper as the event that is the model of a worship service. 4. the Ten Commandments as the basic definition of morality. 5. the divinity of Christ as Son of God made man.

The principal differences are:

1.) Catholics recognize tradition as having equal importance as scripture. Paul points this out in his 2nd letter to Timothy.

2.) Protestants generally do not accept the True Presence in the Eucharist or, if they do, it is only a temporary thing. Our Lord disappears after communion.

3.) Protestants do not accept the leadership of the pope.

4.) Catholics recognize 7 sacraments (all biblical) while most Protestants recognize only one or two.

5.) Most Protestants do not recognize the Deuterocanonical books of the Bible that are accepted by Catholics.

6.) Most Protestants do not recognize the perpetual virginity of Mary.

7.) While most Protestants recognize the Communion of Saints, their view of it is considerably divergent from the Catholic view.

8.) Most Protestants believe man is saved by faith alone. Catholics believe we are justified by faith but saved by good works.

9.) Catholics believe our souls must undergo a final cleansing as punishment for sins forgiven in Purgatory. Protestants do not.

There are many other differences but the above are probably the most distinctive.

Roman Catholics follow the Pope in Rome as head of Jesus' church on earth. Protestants believe that the Pope is not God's chosen leader.

Catholic Answer

The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the first century to bring God to the people and the people to God. The Protestant "churches" were founded by individuals sixteenth centuries after Christ according to their own personal beliefs.

Catholics believe that God the Son became incarnate in a human body through the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary to save mankind from their sins. He established His Church and appointed Apostles (Bishops) and Peter (Pope) to guide that Church on earth and He guaranteed to be with It until the end of time. Catholics believe that you only have one choice in life: to love and serve the Lord, or to reject Him and be separated from Him forever in Hell. Every other choice you have in life comes down to that, is this following Jesus or rejecting Him.

Protestants reject Christ because they reject His Body: the Church. They believe that they are their own little Pope and that they can decide how to follow Jesus themselves. Thus they fragment into many "denominations" as they decide how they want to follow God, ignoring what He, Himself has said, and interpreting for themselves what is right or wrong. Thus they believe that they have more choices than following God or not, they believe that they have the choice to decide HOW they are going to follow God.

Another Answer Depending on the domination. One of the major differences would be that Catholics believe in the pope and Protestants don't. Protestants also don't hold as many sacraments as Catholics do and women are allowed to become pastors in Protestantism while Catholics don't allow such a thing. Lutherans are the closest to Catholics while Baptist are the farthest from Catholics.

The main differences between Catholics and protestants are...

Catholics believe in:

Purgatory
The Pope

transubstantiation
Indulgences
Apostolic succession
Protestants believe in:

Consubstantiation
Dead in the body = Dead in the soul
"The invisible church"
The bible is the only source
Traditions are bad
Wine is evil

There is more in common betwen the Catholic Church and most Protestant churches than there is different, especially in the most important things, like our faith in God as Trinity, faith in Christ, the Resurrection, baptism, the importance of the Bible, etc.

There are many different Protestant churches and communities, each is different from the other, and so each is different from the Catholic Church in different ways.

Catholic Answer

As the above answer points out there are some amazing similarities between the two. However, the difference is huge. The Catholic Church was founded by Our Blessed Savior as His Mystical Body and He appointed Peter as His first Vicar to guide the Church on earth. He send the Holy Spirit to guide it into all truth and guaranteed that it would remain One (as His Body and His Bride) until the end of the world. As such the Catholic Church brings Our Blessed Lord to people, teaches them in His truth, forgives their sins, and feeds them with His Body and Blood leading them to salvation and happiness forever with God in Heaven. The protestant communities have literally nothing in common except that they all reject Christ Body in His Church "protesting" against His truth. They have fragmented into over 30,000 thousands different belief systems as of last count, and continue to fragment. The Catholic Church teaches that man has free will but only has one decision to make in life - whether to follow Our Blessed Lord and be saved, or not. It is a decision that one must keep making throughout one's life and is the decision behind all the other decisions that one makes. Protestants believe that they can tell God how they are going to worship Him, and what they are going to believe. Protestants reject some of the books of the Bible that the Church has preserved for centuries, they reject the sacraments that Our Blessed Lord gave for our salvation, and they believe many different things as each believer is his own final authority.

I am a Catholic. I find that the beliefs are extremely different. First, Catholics believe in Transubstantiation, or the turning of the bread and wine into Christ Jesus' body, while Protestants do not. Catholic have the unique idea of praying to saints, who give our intentions to the LORD, while you do not. Our [Catholic] priests cannot be married, and give their full honor and integrity to GOD, while Protestant ministers can be married. These our only the large differences between the two, but there are many more. Maybe one day we will all join together to worship as one large congregation, but until then... Those are the differences!

Catholic Answer

There is only one major difference. Catholics believe that God gave us free will, and we only have one real decision to make in life, whether to follow God or not. We have to make that decision in everything throughout our lives, but it all boils down to that. How we worship, how we interpret the Bible, what our moral values are, etc., are all given to us by Our Blessed Lord through His Church. Our job is to apply those values in our lives, and follow Him.

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Protestants, on the other hand, feel that God has given them free will to exercise not only in following Him or not, but as to HOW they are going to follow Him. They feel as if they can interpret the Bible for themselves, decide how they are going to worship, etc. They do not believe that Our Blessed Lord appointed St. Peter and his successors as His Vicars on earth, so they set up themselves as their own individual pope.

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That is the only real difference.

Yasmine Welch · Answer

Protestants believe good works alone cannot gain you salvation.

Answer Catholics and Protestants have much more in common than critics assume.

Both churches adhere to the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds that set out the basic, but most profound beliefs of the Christian Church - a Triniarian God, Father Son and Holy Spirit; that Jesus is fully human and yet fully God, His virgin birth, life, death on the Cross, resurrection, ascension and coming again. They believe in the power of the Holy Spirit at work in peoples' lives today. They all accept The Bible as the source of God's word, written by individuals but inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Any differences, then, are in peripheral matters.

These include:

1. Catholics regard the pope as infallible and are under his authority. Protestants reject the authority of the pope.
2. Doctrines surrounding the Virgin Mary are accepted as fact by Catholics. these include her immaculate conception and her perpetual virginal state, and her intercession (by prayer) between God and humanity. Protestants reject these as inventions as they have no basis historically or biblically.
3. Doctrines surrounding the mass. Catholics regard the mass as a resacrifice of Christ's body, and the bread and wine actually to be his body and blood. Protestants reject this and return to the 'memorial' of Christ's death as he instituted the Eucharist and regard the bread and wine as symbolic.
4. Doctrines surrounding purgatory and limbo. Catholics believe in a place of 'cleansing' after death before entry into heaven. Protestants reject this and regard it as heretical, against Jesus' own teaching, and a rather abhorrent idea which betrays the trust that we are called to have in a loving God.
5. Catholics pray to saints as interceders for us. Protestants regard this as wrong as Biblically there is only one advocate between the Father and us - Jesus Christ.
6. Catholics believe that priestly ministry has to involve celibacy and only men are allowed into the priesthood. Many protestant Churches allow married men and women into their priesthood, or as church leaders and ministers.