I'm going to have to side with my Mother on this one.calbear93 said:Look, if there are Catholics who put their faith in Jesus Christ and not in men or the created things, then they are Christians. All semantics. But if they worship men and have multiple "gods", then no, they are not Christians. There are Jews who are Christians. In fact, all of the apostles were Jewish. There can be Catholics who maybe go to mass due to upbringing, but if they only put their faith in Christ for salvation (hence CHRIST - IAN), they are Christian. There are many so called Republican "protestants" who put their faith in money, Trump, or power. They, unfortunately, will find out that they are not Christians, and, as Jesus said, they may be told by Jesus, "I never knew you (meaning, never had a relationship), depart from Me."dajo9 said:calbear93 said:No it is not. Christian literally means follower of Jesus Christ in faith. If one believes that the only way to salvation is faith in Jesus Christ, he/she is a Christian. That's all that it means.dimitrig said:dajo9 said:
My Mother never received much bigotry growing up Catholic in the Midwest in the mid 20th century but the bigotry (her view, not mine) she did experience was generally that Catholics weren't Christians.
That's interesting, since the Catholic Church is sort of the definition of Christian.
I think superficial knowledge confuses more than elucidates. For example, people who have a vague idea of the freedom of speech thinking it applies to all things and even actions by purely non-government entities. Roman catholic church was started long after Peter himself was executed and crucified, so to say Peter was the first Roman Catholic church makes no sense. The Jewish faith was the basis of the Christian faith, and the actions in Israel, including the pentecost, that was the start of the modern Christian church. The whole basis for the fallacy that Peter, who died before the first Catholic church, was the first pope is that Jesus called Peter the rock on which the church will be built. That is true. And it happened at the day of pentecost when the Holy Spirit was first descended on the believers and Peter preached to people of many different languages and they all were converted. That was the beginning of the Christian church, with the Holy Spirit being with us for the first time being the start of the Church. Not the Catholic Church but the first sermon with the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem in Israel, with many of those converts on the day of the pentecost upon receiving the Holy Spirit being the first Christians, with all of them initially in Israel. If anything, Rome persecuted the Christians, with Nero blaming Christians for the city fires.
It doesn't make any difference to me. But my Mother knows the Bible and the history extensively. She felt it was bigoted to say Catholics are not Christians.
By the way, do you think bigotry against "Christians", including your mother, was wrong or does the power structure make it so that it was acceptable if not encouraged?
Also, going back to my Mother's childhood is pre-JFK, when I think we both agree things changed very much for Catholics in this country. Also, not all bigotry is mocking and not all mocking is bigotry. There is an art to it. I wish life were more straightforward but it is not. Denying a Catholic is a Christian is not mockery.
