If any religion are true Christians, it's the Catholics. They were the first Christians; they invented it practically. I refer back to 1000AD to 1500AD for the best examples. The current "Christians" are the ones who broke off and formed new religions. End of report.

Catholics have always called themselves Christians, believing themselves custodians of the original faith and church. In the early times after the reformation, as they colonized and proselytized, they never told the invaded cultures that there was another type of faith because they believed Protestantism was heresy. They were known as Christians, not Catholics. People who call themselves Christians aren't anymore Christian than anyone else, just more sanctimonious. Fundamentalists of any stripe sicken me.

It really comes down to the books which people believe, but there's the Bible and the Bible lol, but then you have translations of it. Now I have always read the NIV or King James, being that my family is mainly isn't Catholic, but that other kind of Christian lol other then my brother who is Catholic. So what is the difference with the Catholic Bible? Is it add more stuff or cut stuff out of the Bible that I know? Now what happends if someone is born into a indian village far away, and there's no way to hear of Christ or to be offered salvation? They go to hell because of ignorance? That doesn't seem fair really. I almost like the idea of good works gets you to heaven better, although you can still go to hell over ignorance because you were never taught the difference between good and evil. It seems like if you are living as a Catholic, you are better to continue your christian walk (not always). However, if you are a Christian, you tend to get lazy because you say "oh well I am saved, I can do whatever I want." But it doesn't just stop between Roman Catholic, Mormon, Baptist, Orthodox, Jewish, Jehovah witness and such that claim they are Christian faiths. It seems like "Christianity" is so popular because it's so mixed up, and yet everyone claims the same title of "Christian."

Catholics have always been christian. In fact, they were the first christians. To be a christian means to believe in Christ. Therefore, Catholics are christian.

If your going to do a vs thing it would be Catholic vs Protestant. Catholics are Christians. Catholicism is a form of Christianity. Catholics believe in Christ. Not so sure about the rest of your statement but what I always say is I am a Christian, first and foremost I believe in Christ, but I also believe in the Catholic teachings and I am a Catholic but I'm a Christian first.

Most of the churches that broke off from the Catholic church, did so because they felt that the church had gone to far from the original doctrines of Christianity. This was largely due to the availability of translations, other than Latin, being available to the masses (a practice condemned by the Catholic Church as heresy). When people started reading the Bible for themselves, they felt that the Catholic Church had largely misrepresented the teachings therein. This caused many to leave the church, and start there own (i . e. Protestants). To this day, these fundemental doctrinal differences cause the two to have issues. Some of the main differences being the infallability of the Pope (and indeed the validity of having such a leader), having to have a priest pray for you in exchange for penance, not being able to find forgiveness outside the involvement of clergy, and the prayer to saints, as it is largely concidered to be a form of idolatry, among many other differences

This is in response to Patrick. I would first like to point out that when we believe something it is either true or false. In Mathematics, finding the right answer exposes all others as wrong. If we're searching after truth, not a mere daydream, then we must recognise that if we don't have the truth, we are wrong. I'm not saying that we must be entirely wrong, because religion is a very broad and complex subject. We may be wrong in some areas and right in others. Just like we may get some math problems right and others wrong. We can get them right through understanding the mathematical principles or by a lucky guess. God is truth as well as love. He wants us to know the truth. Also, you seem to have been misinformed about the history or Christianity. There has been a Pope since the beginning. Peter the Apostle was the first. Here is a list of all the Popes up to to the present day: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm The Sacraments (which I'm assuming is what you mean by "rituals and the like"), have also been around since the beginning. Here are some links: Baptism: http://www.catholic.com/library/Necessity_of_Baptism.asp Confession: http://www.catholic.com/library/Confession.asp The Mass: http://www.catholic.com/library/Sacrifice_of_the_Mass.asp Confirmation: http://www.catholic.com/library/Confirmation.asp Lastly Catholics do not consider Latin, "the holy language" as if anything that is said is better in Latin. It is the official language of the Church because at one time it was the most widely used language in the world. It is also a very precise language. But you don't have to know it, or prefer it to other languages. It is not a question of faith. You can be a good, holy Catholic without knowing it, it adds nothing to your holiness to know it. But it sure makes it easier to have an official language. We're a world-wide church. People in the world speak all kinds of languages. It's easier to communicate the truth if you communicate it in one language first, then translate it to others. The Church has chosen Latin as its official language. It is a custom, not a doctrine. I agree that the heart of Christianity is The Kingdom of Heaven, is love. But I don't think love is opposed to ritual. Think of a young man who has fallen in love. How does he express it? He asks her out on dates. He talks to her regularly. He buys her birthday and Christmas gifts. He tells her often that he loves her. This is not mindless ritualism, but rather the expression of love. The problem is that a man who is not in love can imitate these rituals. But his heart isn't in it. Perhaps he only wants her body, perhaps he wants the status of having a girlfriend. Perhaps he has other reasons. But for him it is merely a mindless ritual, a charade. The difficulty does not lie in the actions, but rather in the heart.

Catholism believes that a the CHURCH has the authority of God on the Earth...to them, the Pope's word is scripture. They pray to dead saints for intercession, and believe that we can pray and the dead can be saved. They believe communion is the literal blood and body of Christ through a doctrine I believe is called "translation of the sacraments"--but I'm not entirely sure. In short, Catholism is a hybred between true Christianity and paganism--worshipping a multitude of saints and a three-person God--although there are Catholics that have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and are TRUE Christians, the Church on the whole is very confusing, decieving, and sometimes just down-right wrong organization. The truth is there are millions of interpretations of the truth of scripture. Our job as children of God is to ignore the voices of the World and these "do this or die" doctrines and simply fall in love with Christ. The truth is you must allow Jesus Christ to save you and guide you with his Holy Spirit. THIS is true Christianity... And like I said, you can go to a Catholic church and be a Christian. All it takes is a relationship with God the Father.

I think the main differences between Roman Catholicism and say, Evangelical Christianity can be summed up using the four slogans of the Prodestant Reformation: Evangelical Christians believe: 1) Salvation is by God's grace alone (Grace being God's undeserved merit) 2) manifested in Christ alone (in particular his atoning death and resurrection) 3) revealed in Scripture alone (Scripture being the Bible which Evangelical Prodestants believe to be God's Word thus the final and sole authority in what Christians believe and how they are to live) 4) God's grace in Christ revealed in Scripture is received through faith alone (faith being trust, relying on, dependance) Catholics (at least pre-Vatican II) believe 1) Salvation is by God's grace alone (grace being God's power) *2) God's grace is manifested in Christ and the good works of others (Christ's death was the major manifestation) 3) revealed in Scripture and Church tradition (my understanding is that the Catholics have two sources of authority: THe Bible and Church tradition) 4) God's power/grace is received through the sacraments (hence the way Catholics have mass and penance etc) *Not sure about this point

Peter was not the first pope. Look up your facts, peter was never the leader of apostles, they all were all leaders sent out to tell the world about the life, death, and ressurection of the Lord Jesus. Peter was never in Rome, if he would have been, Paul who wrote to the christians in rome would have said hello to him in his letters, don't you think. Also, Christianity had been around about 2,000 years ealier, read the Old Testament and you will learn of man's need for a reedemer, and in the old testament you will learn of Salvation by faith alone. After about 100 A.D. there were a number of Roman popes, they were called Ceasar. There were also thousands of christians that were killed by the Roman State. It was not until Constatine came on the scene and legalized chritianity in the Roman Empire that it became a State religion. It was with Constanine that the Ceasar became a new term called a pope. It was then that all the rituals were added in order to keep the masses in check. That is why the salvation of people could only come thru the church (unbiblical). Also, if you will do some research you will learn that the popes have been the greatest enemy to Christ on this earth. Also, if Peter was so infallable why did paul rebuke him. I could go on. I think it would be better for all of us Catholic and Protestant to remember the words of Christ to enter his kingdom a person needs to repent (ask god to enter his heart) and then be baptised. There is no need for Church traditions or grace added thru sacraments. Christ stated on the cross it is finished, there is no other for salvation or otherwise, than the risen Christ. A good book to read that will tell the truth of the catholic church is (A Woman Rides the Beast by Dave Hunt). It also states why the reformation was needed.

salvation comes as a free gift for both catholics and christians. catholics and christians both do things that work in conjunction with faith: Catholics pray the rosary, and Christians, do volunteer activities at church. the bible says that by their works they shall be known. Both Catholics and Christians take this to mean that you have to pray on a regular basis, and go to church on a regular basis. The only difference is that the Catholics pray the rosary as a sign of faith, and the prostestants teach against praying a scripted prayer. The fact is that there isn't a verse in the bible against a scripted prayer. That ideology came from the prostestants misquoting a bible verse. They misquote the bible verse which states, "do not pray as the hypocrites do". this bible verse is in reference to people who pray on a "show & tell basis", and who brag of how long they pray, and who make a public show of prayer to make themselves look good, and holier than others. Protestants teach that you are once saved, always saved but that you have to continually work towards your salvation. which in itself is contradictory statement. in fact, both catholics and christians, believe in works and grace, but protestants use gibberish to deny that they themselves do.