Christianity has since divided into three predominant groups. These are the Roman Catholics, Protestants, and the Orthodox. A discussion of each is given below.
Catholics are concerned with the importance of the organized church and the sacraments. They were influenced by revivalism in that they sent priests parish to parish preaching missions with the purpose of strengthening Catholic identity.
Upon arriving in America Catholicism faced a great deal of opposition from the Colonists. This included social and legal restrictions as well as lack of religious freedom. The American public was warned that Catholics were controlled by the Pope from Rome and were unwilling to support American freedoms and interests. They met this with withdrawal into separate neighborhoods, social units, and a private school system. Also, they showed intense patriotism.
Catholics believe original sin rests with Adam and Eve’s defiance of God by eating the apple. This is inherited, not personally done, and represents total alienation from God. But man goes on, seeking God’s help in the form of grace, so that he may reach the state of sharing the divine life and complete fulfillment in God. The life in Christ is expressed in the seven sacraments listed above.
God is seen as the Creator of the universe, the Intelligent Planner, and contains three people in one, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Incarnation is important as well and literally means God become man. This makes Jesus of Nazareth God, possessing all human qualities and traits except sin. They believe the visible body of Christ is the church and to share in His life is to be in church. They also recognize two groups in the church: bishops associated by priests and the laity who make up the body of Christ under on Head.
The hierarchy of the church places the bishops at the top who perpetuate themselves by conferring sacramental orders on selected Christians. This college of bishops is composed of men on equal grounds with each other and making up a single spiritual power. Papal supremacy gained its support from the first bishop of Rome, Saint Peter. Thus the Pope is the prime bishop.
Catholics believe the deceased who acquired full unity with Christ still remains in contact with people on earth. The alive pray to these saints not as gods, but to ask them to pray to God on their behalf., like one may do with an alive person. This demonstrates the solidarity between living and the passed away.
Mary is believed to have been chosen by God to be the intermediary between man and Jesus. She was free of original sin, being the mother of Christ, and was taken to Heaven after death.
Finally, they assert that original sin caused an imbalance in God’s order and those who die in God’s union have to restore the balance and prepare for full union with God. In order to do this they are placed in a state of Purgatory, also called a vestibule of Heaven.
The second of three major branches of Christianity which began in the 16th century with the Reformation, all Protestants, no matter of what movement, agree that the primacy of the Pope should be rejected, individual authority was essential, and the Bible should be accepted as the prime authority.
Protestantism can itself be subdivided into two categories which include:
They support the doctrine of justification by grace through faith which states salvation is bestowed by God’s free grace and is accepted in faith by the worshiper. They also hold that good works are done freely and joyfully, not in hope of receiving a reward or to avoid punishment. They do not secure salvation since the motivation of the actor is what is pivotal. One is able to do truly good works only when God’s love embraces us and we respond with a love of God. Hence, these acts are done out of love and gratitude, not self-seeking, and are not religious acts, but those done to help our fellow man. This originated with Martin Luther.
Protestants also say that individuals can perform certain actions by their own free will but are unable to change the underlying motivation. Hence, the will is in bondage. But if we take this idea with the understanding that faith is a gift, then we begin to see that God decides who will and will not receive salvation. This concept is called predestination and is no longer of central concern.
They believe that the Bible is the prime authority and sent countless copies into their lands for the people to read and evaluate for themselves. They further claim that the Bible had “verbal inspiration” from God, inspiring the words and punctuation. This was an attempt at declaring its inerrancy.
Protestants assembled no special clergy since it was believed that any lay person could act as a priest and declare the good news of salvation. Many, although, maintain a professional clergy to run the churches and preach.
The seven sacraments of Roman Catholicism are reduced to two in Protestantism, namely Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. There are several different approaches to these among the subdivisions though:
Finally, Protestants give their laity a more active role in the worship services by translating it into the vernacular and emphasize the sermon. Differences occur in the forms of worship. For example, Lutherans and Anglicans give both bread and wine at communion, translated the Latin text into the vernacular, have kept a formal liturgy, and all congregations within a nation typically have the same prayer book. In contrast, Radical Reformers discarded most of the Catholic practices, have an informal liturgy, gives the clergy a relatively insignificant role, and replaces the organ with other instruments to gain the people’s enthusiasm.
The Orthodox Church sees God as one substance but a Trinity in persons, all united, and see creation to be the work of this Trinity. The world is the product of the wisdom, power, and will of one God in the Trinity. They see this Trinity as composed of God the Father and the cause of creation, the Son as the perfector of the creation, and the Holy Spirit as giving the creation life. They see Jesus Christ as son of God but also a man in every respect except for sin. To deny his humanity is to deny his divine nature and our salvation.
Orthodox confession differs from Roman Catholic confession because it is more personal. The confessional is held in the open between the individual and a confessor-priest who knows him personally. But the individual reserves the right to hold the confessional in more private surroundings.
They see the Virgin Mary as the highest of all the saints and so honor her most, without any implication of a deistic role. They especially worship her because of her calling by God and her supreme grace. Orthodoxy does not claim she was born free of original sin, but was cleansed at the Annunciation.
If you would like to comment on this site forward correspondence to the e-mail address below. All messages will be responded to unless otherwise noted. If you desire direct e-mail debate, please forward an e-mail address to which correspondence can be sent to. Average response time is one week.
