The differences between Protestant and Catholic are many. They both are derived from Christianity but vary in many ways. Catholics believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus is somehow the Queen of Heaven. The Protestants do not. The Catholics believe that she has the ability to answer prayer, forgive sins and perform miracles. Again, Protestants do not. Protestants feel that she is favoured among woman but still needed Jesus' blood shed for her to be saved because the Bible says that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. It doesn't exclude Mary from ALL. There is no reference in the Bible that Mary has any power or does it say that we are to pray to her.
Catholics also believe that when a person dies that they must go to a place called purgatory before they can go to Heaven. They believe that they have to pay for their sins. The Protestants don't believe that such a place exists. The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The Bible says that Jesus came to earth to make atonement for ALL sin. If we have to go to a place to pay for our sins, then Jesus' death was in vain. We can do nothing to earn our way into Heaven. It is a gift given by the Grace of Almighty God. The Bible tells us that it is given as a gift by grace through faith lest no man should boast. Which plainly means that no man can take credit for his acceptance into the Kingdom of God because it has been given to everyone by Him. Ours is to believe God and to accept that gift. The gift is Jesus' death as full payment for our sins. We need only to believe ON, not in, Him and to ask Jesus to come into our hearts and lives and accept Him as Savior and Lord of our lives. The reason I say to believe ON and not IN is because to believe in Him is just to acknowledge that He existed. Satan believes in Him. We need to believe ON Him which is to say that we believe Him and we believe what He has told us and that we believe that His death paid the price in full for our sins.
Catholics also believe that they need to go through a priest in order to communicate with God the Father or Jesus the Son. Protestants believe that we can go directly to Our Father in Heaven.
Catholics pray to saints and believe that they have the ability to answer prayers. Protestants don't. Protestants don't deny the existance of saints but don't believe we should pray to anyone but God the Father, Jesus the Son or the Holy Spirit of God.
Catholics are very ritualistic in the way they do things. Most of which were designed to worship the church and it's leaders such as the pope. Protestants main objective is to worship God. They feel that the Pope is a good man who has devoted his life to God but that he is infact, a man. God is no respecter of persons and we are all the same in His eyes. God doesn't love the Pope anymore than He does anyone else. The Pope is chosen by men and he can be removed by men. Protestants simply see him as the highest ranking member of the Catholic Church. He holds the highest office.
The Catholic church also has it's own set of rules by which its members are to obey. Most of these rules were manmade and do not adhere to Bible teachings. Protestants take all their rules on how to live directly from the Bible. If God says so, then it is so.
Both Catholics and Protestants believe that Mary was the mother or Jesus and that Jesus was the son of God. Both believe that she was a virgin and was made pregnant in a miraculous way by God. Both believe that He was crucified, died and was buried and that He rose 3 days later and now sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. It is all the other stuff that makes Protestants and Catholics different.
Added:
I have spoken to many Catholics and alot of them do believe that Mary has the ability to forgive sin and they worship her. The Bible says that we should worship only God/Christ. The first Commandment says that. May times I have been in a Catholic church and many times I have seen people bow down at a statue of Mary. At the same time, they never even go near the statue of Jesus that is on the other side of the church. This is how and why I can say these things. I have witnessed it with my own eyes. The point is plainly this... Mary is not to be worshipped. Jesus has to save her too. God the Father and Jesus the Son are the only ones to be worshipped. Even the Holy Spirit says we shouldn't worship Him even though He is part of the Trinity. He says to give all praise to Jesus and the Father. There is not one passage in the Bible that says that we are to worship Mary and Catholics worship her always. That is wrong plain and simple.
Edited on 4/21/06 First of all, I have been to many Catholic Church services and I have heard what the priest says. I have heard what the parishioners say. They skim over Jesus and dwell on Mary. I would like to know where in the Bible it tells us to give Mary so much praise or any praise for that fact. I want to know where in the Bible it says we are supposes to pray to Mary and ask her to do anything for us. Infact, in the Bible it tells us not to even try to talk to the dead. And that includes apostles, disciples, Mary, Joseph, Jesus' brothers, Aunt Tillie, Uncle Jack or anyone who has died. It does tell us to pray for eachother ( that is, those of us that are still alive ).It says to give ALL OUR PRAISE AND WORSHIP TO JESUS AND GOD THE FATHER. Actually, shortly after Jesus' death, Mary isn't even mentioned again. This is the basis for the protestants not dwelling on Mary the way the Catholics do. Just wanted to clarify this point.
Comments
Good answer, but I still maintain that "Protestantism" is so broad as to defy a single definition today.
by Eric Henry on November 16th, 2004
Catholics DONT believe Mary forgives sins. They believe Mary and the Saints can go to God for you, but God does the forgiving
by BoscoCloud on November 20th, 2004
Full of errors on Catholic belief. Ignorance shows at end -- statue on other side is Joseph!
by S Beaton on December 21st, 2004
This is completely inaccurate and shows a terrible lack of real knowlege of what Catholics really believe.
by Ignatius on March 27th, 2005
When did Christ tell us to ask others to intercede with God for us? Or did He simply tell us to pray to "Our Father?"
by doctor_jkel on April 12th, 2005
Thanks for your explanation of the differences. Only part I disagree with is the trinity, different debate though.Good answer
by Anonymous on August 1st, 2005
Good answer, useful and correct, but I would like to have a debate about the trinity.
by Anonymous on August 1st, 2005
Totally incorrect. There is nothing worse than someone else trying to tell you what you believe. You obviously have no idea
by Noll Goff on October 13th, 2005
somehow the queen of heaven? read Revelation 12 my friend.
by bunker12 on November 30th, 2005
Lets see, Protestants believe in ONLY the Bible (sola scriptura). That in itself is unbiblical. Please show us where in the Bible that supports this. You won't find it 'cause it is a man made tradition started some 500 years ago. It's no wonder that there are some 30,000 different groups/denoninations with just as many bible translations. You critcize Catholics with many bible versus, yet if it were not for the early Catholic Church you would not have the bible that you now have, as acknowledge by Martin Luther. Please don't make statements about Catholics if you don't know what you're talking about.
by Magnum on March 6th, 2007