Debating video: "Are Catholics Christians?"

[Richmondbread]

What a redundant question...

Catholicism is the earliest and purest form of Christianity. Orthodox and Protestants came later.

Catholics have some questionable teachings are not Biblical. That is why some people wonder about their salvation.

[Ruggery]

Catholics have some questionable teachings are not Biblical. That is why some people wonder about their salvation.

So, some Catholics if they are saved?

[Richmondbread]

So, some Catholics if they are saved?

Yes, but that pretty much is true in any denomination.

[Wanderer]

Catholics have some questionable teachings are not Biblical. That is why some people wonder about their salvation.

Catholicism has many elements that have no basis in the Bible. Most crucially, in the Catholic religion, one can never be sure of his salvation. Dying with an unconfessed "moral sin" is sufficient to send a soul to hell. "Mortal sin" may be quite liberally defined, and almost always includes such things as skipping mass on holy days of obligation. The number of potential "mortal sins" is so numerous that I marvel at how Catholics can be so complacent with respect to what their religion actually teaches about their eternal destinies!

I would note that there is no Biblical distinction between so-called mortal and venial sins. ALL sins merit death and damnation. But Jesus, through His death and resurrection, paid the FULL price for all of our sins - if we are saved. That includes all sins we have ever committed or will ever commit.

I thank Jesus that He found me. He did so when I was NOT looking for Him! I thank God that He has decided to bestow upon me His amazing grace, which Catholicism--the religion I was born into--denies. If you really think about it, you will realize that it is impossible to be separated from God's grace and electing love. Jesus plainly states that no one can separate us from Him; no one can pluck us out of His hands (John 10-28-30). If you believe that it's possible to lose salvation, you'll never be secure as a believer. You will always fear punishment; you have not been set free by love (1 John 4:18).

The notion of "falling from grace" as a loss of grace due to sin is preposterous. Such a notion denies the very nature of grace, which is unmerited favor. If you must do something to maintain grace, then it is no longer grace! Is there anything in the parable of the lost sheep to suggest that lost sheep itself did anything to be found? No! Quite the contrary!

The fact that Catholics try to follow the law, and not the Spirit, is even addressed in the Bible, in Galatians 5.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

(Galatians 5:1-6)

I don't know how Paul's words here can be any clearer: if you try to justify yourself through the law, you must keep the whole law. But NO ONE can keep the whole law! You cannot be justified through the law. It is the law that convicts.

So, in fact, "falling away from grace" is what has happened to the Catholic Church.

[Slavic Italian]

There was a time I was very critical of the Catholic Church but they are no worst than the other denominations. None of them are perfect.

[Wanderer]

There was a time I was very critical of the Catholic Church but they are no worst than the other denominations. None of them are perfect.

The problems with Catholicism go much deeper than praying to Mary and other saints. Catholic soteriology is so flawed that I do not think the religion as a whole can be regarded as Christian. If a Catholic has salvific faith, that person does so in spite of what the Catholic Church teaches, not because of it. There are probably also unsaved people in Protestant churches that teach the Biblical principle of salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), but the problem in such cases would be with the individual and not the doctrine.

[Wanderer]

[Aldaris]

Catholics have some questionable teachings are not Biblical. That is why some people wonder about their salvation.

While you are technically correct, none of the beliefs, which are not supported by the bible and held by catholics are somehow crucial to attain salvation. The core beliefs of catholics and you are exactly the same, you just disagree on irrelevant fringes, essentially.

[AlfonsoVIII]

Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity are both true Christianity. It is true that we maintain many features of Indo-European paganism, but that is because the ancient Europeans also received the message of God preparing them for the coming of Christ. Protestants say that we Catholics and Orthodox are Pagans, and I affirm that Protestants are Jews; and it is better to be Pagan than Jewish.

[The Lawspeaker]

Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity are both true Christianity. It is true that we maintain many features of Indo-European paganism, but that is because the ancient Europeans also received the message of God preparing them for the coming of Christ. Protestants say that we Catholics and Orthodox are Pagans, and I affirm that Protestants are Jews; and it is better to be Pagan than Jewish.

To be Jewish ? I'd sooner cut off the whole dick.