DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Wondering... Differences between Christian Denominations?

In more of an attempt to understand protestant denominations, I've attempted recently to look up some of their churches and see what they believe in. Well... there's a lot of them! So I was wondering if people on here could tell me most of the differences between them? We don't need this to turn into a "my church is right your's is wrong" deal or a good old fashioned Catholic-bash, I would just like to know most of the differences between protestant denominations.

The difference between Catholics and Southern Baptists is the Catholic will say hi to you when he sees you in the liquor store where the Baptist will try to hide so you don't see him..

Lutherans -vs- Catholics

Catholics - Bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ. Transubstantiation is a complicated issue.

Lutherans - Transubstantiation isn't complicated at all. Bread is bread and wine is wine.

I can't tell you every difference, but I know catholic's believe in sprinkling a baby to baptise them, and those who belong to First Christian churches believe that the person must be old enough to give themselves to christ and make up their own mind about being baptised (dunked under the water) I know many Nazerine churches do not allow members to dance or watch R-rated movies.

IMO (and I have been a Deacon in a Christian church) If you believe in God, and Jesus, then it makes no difference which church you attend or even if you attend church. God sees whats in your heart.

Are you looking for a church to join? Because if that's the case I would suggest just going out and visiting the churches. Plus there are a lot of little difference between all the major denominations but you'll also find small differences within the same denomination at each individual church.

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God sees whats in your heart.

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that's the smartest thing you've ever typed, GM...

i cannot say what the differences all are, but i know that in some cases, it is organizational...when i first started going to church, it was presbyterian...the old pastor retired, and when the new one was hired, many people had a problem with him...half of the church split off and established a new church, but it was not presbyterian...the reason is b/c they did not want the 'power-structure' set up as it was in the presbyterian church...

I have been member of three different churches that have split, and every one was for stupid reasons. Just remember church is an organized religion . Whats in your own heart is between you and god

Amen to that, GM. I'm certainly not a religious person, by any stretch or the imagination. But, I am spiritual. Long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I had priest tell me essentially what you've just said. Yeah, I know, hard to believe from a Catholic priest, right.

I went to confession and confessed that I hadn't gone to church every week (my big sin back then...LOL). The priest asked if I'd prayed (and I had). He told me that as long as I had a relationship with God, I was good to go.

I have not been to church in over five years, yet I have done more praying, and Bible readin than I ever did in my entire life. IMO all that counts is whats in your heart, and God and yourself are the only ones who really know that is.

I think non-denominational churches are honestly the way to go.

That is the school I attended and church I still attend to this day.

I've always found that to be the truth. I mean more so than anything a personal motto I've come to take on is "Love God, not the church..." It has to be a relationship with Him, not just some formal routine of waking up and daydreaming for an hour on Sunday. I still do that, because I find I can pray and reflect best at a mass setting, but I have wondered from time to time if the Catholic Church is the place I wish to do that. I have a few things I just don't agree with, namely the insistance of celibacy in the priesthood, and sometimes even issues with the whole idea of Confession. Also unclear on just HOW church doctrine says we are with the saints (some see that overemphasized and that people pray TO them). At the same time, I find presence of God in the Eucharist... I can't go to a place where someone limits where Jesus' presence is to me, I don't think that's necessarily their call, but more so my own.

With that, I know from going to a Catholic mass I can still get what I seek out of the Sabbath day, it's just that I DO wonder if I can get a more fulfilling, enriched experience elsewhere.

Last thought: I don't think it's the most important issue of my faith. I am at peace with the philosophy and ideal of Christianity as selflessness and going out and just LOVING unconditionally as best as Christ did as possible. I leave it at that and find that we all must have that in common. Christianity, when performed correctly, is simple, pure, true, LOVE.

That's what I most genuinely hold in my heart.

JOSH...

well, i attend Catholic mass with my father from time to time...of course it will be a matter of personal opinion, but honestly, if you value your personal relationship with God more than the church, i would suggest most any Protestant church over the Catholic church...

my wife and i just went to the baptism of a friend's child last weekend...we were talking afterward about how the ritual/protocol that must be followed for mass takes away from the more personsally meaningful stuff...as far as i'm concerned the homily/sermon should be the bulk of a mass/service...i can sing in the car on the way home...and i'm not sure how the recitation of things like the Lord's prayer and Profession of Faith really strengthen or deepen anyone's relationship spirituality...

the one caveat (based on you liking the Eucharist) to some Protestant sects, though is that communion is not taken by the people every Sunday...i'm pretty sure some do, but not all...i don't know how old this is, but here are some comments on it... link

well, you see what you want to see, EXCL, b/c i was not implying that mass/service should be fun...

so the recitations, kneeling, and singing are the "actions" that speak louder than "words"?...that's a pretty low bar for "actions", IMO...

if taking 1 hour out of your week is all that church is, you could do that at home, just as you can read and interpret the Bible at home...it seems arbitrary to say 1 is appropriate at home, the other at church, but that's your prerogative...the reason that i think it's good to do the reading and application/interpretation in the service is that i wouldn't consider myself an expert at this...on the other hand, i would expect the priest/pastor to have the more deep knowledge...that's not to say their interpretation is the right one, and mine is wrong, but that i can learn from their understanding of a passage and its implications...they are likely to have some insight that i don't have, etc.

in fact, the church i spent several years at made an effort to have the sermon chosen and given by churchmembers regularly (once every 6-8 weeks)...this was done to get people more active in the process and to allow people to share what was important to them at the time...and though perhaps they weren't the sorts of sermons an experienced pastor would give, they were some of the most inspiring to me...

I am Roman Catholic and while I don't agree with everything it does I still think it's BPA, if you want a football analogy.

I respect Protestants, even though I disagree with some of their theology. I have respect for Protestant churches that are old-school and have tradition. There's nothing more inspiring than going into St. James Cathedral (Episcopalian) in Cleveland Heights and listening to the choir.

My main caveat with Protestant denominations isn't so much the actual philosophy, but the New-Age megabox churches that spring up around here.

If you're in Cleveland the closest one you can relate to is Parkside in Aurora--very big population-wise, lots of nice foreign cars, more WASPs than a hornet's nest.

There's no minorities there. I've gone about 13 times in a 3-year period with my former best friend. Same with 707 Worship in Seven Hills (right off 77 at Wallings).

You have to have a certain income level and be invited at that particular Megachurch, whereas most tradtional churches--Catholic or Protestant--are accomodating. Even the Jewish religion, which is obviously not Christian, maintains a sense of traditionalism. My father is Jewish and I've visited synagogues. I've participated in a Passover celebration that's very moving at my aunt's house. The Maltz Museum is touching (Richmond Road).

The problem with megachurches, including the Rick Warrens, the Joel Olsteins, the Alistair Beggs, is that those particular churches revolve around the pastor's interpretation of the Bible. What do those churches do if their guy goes down with an injury? think Peyton Manning and Jim Sorgi here. Big dropoff from the starter. In a worst-case scenario the congregation leaves the church for another one.

Unfortunately, some Cath churches have cranky pastors that do the same thing. Other Catholic churches--I'm not criticizing just protestants--changed for the worse after Vatican II and do their own thing (St. Noel in Willoughby Hills). But all in all, Catholicism is built around a system. It's very Patriots-like. Same with Life Teen.

(My home parish lost a dynamic youth leader that was not replaced until we bought into a nationally-based Life Teen system. Think BK going down and Vinny becoming a cog in the replacement machine).

The problem with the megachurches is that they've become a business. Gift shops, bookstores, cafeterias, etc. The loud, blaring rock music. It's geared toward younger, white, upwardly mobile families with little kids or teenagers disenfranchised with their parents' traditional Cath or Prot churches.

In fairness, some of the megachurch interpretation dovetails with Catholic doctrine. They even have notebooks and pens you can use to take notes on Alistair Begg's speeches. (Not sermons). There's some sound theology that Catholics would agree with. Occasionally the band is good.

But it doesn't replace mass.

You wouldn't run a 4-2-5 nickel as your base, would you? Teams would gash you with the run until you brought a S down or put a LB on the field. You either run 34, 43, 46 or maybe 5-2 "Okie."

But a nickel is a sub defense, not a base. The non-denominational churches should be used in conjunction with a Catholic or Protestant mass or service, not in lieu of. JMHO.

J/C

It's mostly just minute differences in the interpretation of the Bible. Some types of Christain focus on the act of Communion, some on Confession, etc. Truth be told, I'm an Orthodox Christian and I couldn't tell you a lot of Bible "fact" or things like that, but I'm deeply spiritual, pray everyday to the big Hulkster in the sky, and all that jazz.

If anyone is looking to boost their spirituality, I'd strongly recommend the teachings of Joyce Meyer.

J/C?

Ack ... okay, out of my meetings. Let me continue to explain.

So, I had mentioned before that going to mass is more of a confirmation to yourself that you are willing to make that extra little sacrafice to show that dedication to God. Confession works the same way in Catholisim. You can ask God directly for forgiveness, and there is nothing wrong with doing that. Going to a priest to confess is sort of that extra step to sort of "show" that you are truely contrite. I think you can probably be 100% dedicated to God and not go to mass and not go to confession, and that's probably just fine with the big guy. I think the point of going to mass and going to confession is to help avoid the pitfall of "apathy", where you just get to the point where you *think* ... "yeah I think of God all the time and want forgiveness of my sins" ... but your heart truely isn't into it.

By making those small sacrafices, you're sort of forcing yourself to be more honest with yourself ... if that makes sense. Like the analogy I used before, you can say you love your wife, and think you love your wife ... but it's the actions you do for your wife, that really show your true feelings.

Again, I'm not saying everything else is 'wrong' ... I'm just explaining why I think the CC does things the way it does.

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the reason that i think it's good to do the reading and application/interpretation in the service is that i wouldn't consider myself an expert at this...on the other hand, i would expect the priest/pastor to have the more deep knowledge...that's not to say their interpretation is the right one, and mine is wrong, but that i can learn from their understanding of a passage and its implications...they are likely to have some insight that i don't have, etc.

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Yes, I agree you can learn ... which is why the church still has reading and a sermon. But I think it's mostly supposed to serve as an appetizer, to get your mind to start thinking about that certain passage and then seek out more answers yourself, either through further study, conversation or prayer. You could have the priest speak for 30 mins about a reading, but then you are starting to get more into their own personal interpretation of the reading, rather than the general jist of what is being said, and leaving the rest open for you to discover yourself.

The main purpose of Catholic mass is celebration of Eucharist, but understanding of the Bible is still important as you say ... which is why they still do readings/sermons.

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in fact, the church i spent several years at made an effort to have the sermon chosen and given by churchmembers regularly (once every 6-8 weeks)...this was done to get people more active in the process and to allow people to share what was important to them at the time...and though perhaps they weren't the sorts of sermons an experienced pastor would give, they were some of the most inspiring to me...

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And there is nothing wrong with that. I think the CC leaves this up to Bible Study groups where you can do the same thing.

IMO, the purpose of the mass is to celebrate God and sort of leave the human element out of it. I'm really not fond of pastors giving long sermons about thier own interpretations of this and that. I'm not even really fond of choirs that sort of go out of their way to "entertain" parisoners. I feel that when they do that, they are taking the focus off of God and putting it either on themselves or the people in the church. Is doing all that other stuff wrong? No. IMO, I think it just kind of takes a little bit away from the true intention of a mass ... and that is to show devotion to God. (even if it means sitting through boring sermons and off-key choirs)

i think i got ya, EXCL...keeping the regularity of attendance, you are preventing yourself from letting your faith become passive...it is our tendency to let ourselves get away with a little less day after day, week after week, whether it be time with the kids, gestures to the spouse, or spiritual reflection...