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I would like to hear some replies from Christians friends here... what are some of the differences between different types of Christianity? Example, erm, Catholic and Christian? Evangelicalism and Anglicanism? I don't know if i'm putting this question in the right way but... i hope you all know what i mean...

In broad terms -

Protestants - claim salvation lies in accepting Jesus' death and sacrifice.

Catholics - claim salvation lies in accepting Jesus' death and sacrifice. And going to a Catholic Church. And keeping Holy Communion. And going to confession. And following the decrees of the Church. And believing in the sanctity of the Mother Mary. And a few more things besides.

Charismatics - Focus on the gifts of the Holy Spirit (speaking in Tongues, prophecy). Focus on feelings and emotions and how God makes you feel.

Messianic Jews - hold that the Jewish race still hold a special role in history, and still follow the Laws of the Old Testament, but also believe that Jesus was Messiah.

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There are more, these are just big categories to separate them. Within Protestantism, you have all different denominations from Anglican, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists. There are minor differences in liturgies or rituals within these denominations, but primarily their major teachings are all very similar.

I also didn't include fringe groups of Chrisitans such as Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses or Seventh-Day Adventists.

Hope these immediate differences help you though

I think the only real differences are very minor...not really sure though. I'd also like to know. What about Seventh Day Eventists? I take a train past one of their churches...always wondered...

Mormons beleive the priesthood (authority to act in God's name) was lost during the few hundred years after Jesus' death and what took the place of Christianity was mixed with pagan rituals etc. A full restoration was required, in which people like John the Baptist came and gave the priesthood back to man-kind. It was given to the first modern-time prophet, Joseph Smith. He in turn gave it to others by "the laying on of hands." In effect, the true church of Jesus Christ was once again restored to the earth. Mormons beleive that as long as the authority is on earth, God will continue to talk with his chosen prophets. That is why Mormons have books other than the Bible. As God talks, prophets write. The "church" is very alive in the eyes of Mormons, as opposed to the many "long dead" religions people still cling to.

Thats what they beleive.

really, most organized religions trace their origins back to the Catholic church... mostly.

There are literally thousands of Christian denominations and sects--most lay under the umbrella of protestant or catholic (yes, there are splinter sects of Catholicsm--some recognized by the vatican, some not), most of them started by splintering off from their original groups due to arguments and disagreements over theology.

I find all the different beliefs and practices among the denominations of Christianity fascinating. The theology and rituals are wildly different at each ends of the spectrum. Not even Christs role is well defined across the board. PA's description is pretty good.

i heared somewhere moroms believe jesus lived and taught in central america! is this true

I think middle-america (Missouri I believe) but I'm not qualified to answer that. TheDeveloper, a former Mormon, might be able to. I have heard this theory before, but I don't know if that's exactly true or not.

I find the entire Mormon theology to be bizarre, but I'm the first to admit, I do like some of their social practices.

The rumors you heard are almost correct. Mormons believe that after Jesus was resurrected and before he ascended for the final time into heaven, he also visited Central/South America and preached to the people there. He did not really "live" there, it was just a 3 or so day visit. Also, the only time (publicly recorded) that Jesus visited in the area of Missouri was very brief (like 10-30 minute) visits to Joseph Smith and a few others, where he instructed them about the restoration of the church in modern times.

Any other questions?

that's interesting, i might actually read the book of mormon the to learn about this stuff.

I once heard someone put it this way, after a medical crisis caused both Protestant and Catholic friends of the victim to gather, and to speak freely to one another about ultimate things.

Both groups felt they were going to heaven. The Protestants felt that this was because of what Jesus did. The Catholics felt it was because of their own merit, after Jesus had cleared the slate, so to speak, in order that their personal merit would count for something.

I have also listened to the testimony of several converts to Catholicism from Protestantism. What comes up repeatedly (my impression) is the contrasting roles of the Bible in faith.

Protestants seem to subscribe to sola scriptura, a person reads the Bible, and draws his or her own lessons from it. The Catholic feels that tradition is important, believing that certain interpretations of the many "difficult" passages have been preserved and transmitted by the Church. (I think that the so-called Orthodox religions would tend to agree with the Roman Catholics about this.)

Paranoid Android is correct, I think, that Catholics place emphasis on ritual elements mediated through the Church. That cannot be so surprising in an institution, anymore than that these elements are almost wholly absent from churches that pride themselves on minimal institution-ness, like the Society of Friends.

People who have read my other posts know that I have no dog in this fight, for whatever difference that makes.

Seventh day adventists belive in keeping the sabbath,which is not sunday but is saturday,in other words they go to church on saturdays.

THERE IS ONE FORM OF CHRISTIANITY: THE WORDS OF CHRIST

Yes, but what do his words mean exactly? Even his closest followers who knew him and were 100% familiar with the culture and spoke the same langauge as him were often confused.

Seventh day adventists are distinguished by several differences from most other Christian churches. One is certainly a refusal to accept the Catholic church's authority to change the day of worship from the seventh day( the sabbath ) to the first day (Sunday) Other than that, they strongly believe in fundamental biblical truths like; keeping the commandments and the message of love within the bible.

They are further distinguished by a health mesage , based on the idea of keeping ones body as a temple of the lord, and so are encouraged not to smoke, drink alcohol, or eat unclean foods. Additionally, they are encouraged to be vegetarian, and live an active and healthy lifestyle for both their own benefit, and so they are best able to do god's will. They do not believe in the rapture, or speaking in tongues, but do believe in the gift of prophecy, even among modern people.

They have a detailed prophetic interpretation of all the bible, but particularly daniel and revelation.They do not believe in heaven and hell , but follow the biblical teachings that when we die our soul sleeps until the judgement days, while our body goes to the grave. Naturally there are wide differences in how observant S D adventists are. Some do not watch television,or movies or go to dances.
Most are encouraged to dress modestly and not wear make up. However there appears to be little "enforcement " of such ideas or any "punishment" of those who are less observant than others, because the underlying idea is that individuals make these choices based on their love of god and a desire to do his will, rather than from a doctrinal point of view.

This will give some idea of the transparent differences, but there are also ,as with any church, a lot of deeper separations from other religions. They do maintain one of the worlds biggest publishing industries, along with extensive educational and medical facilities in many countries.

Yeah, 3 days worth, to the people of Nepthi.



Yeah, only because of the mulitiple wives thing lol. They only did that for 10years after the American Civil War for repopulation purposes....But by 1890, they had stopped it.

And tha Anglican church was created so that Henry VIII could get a divorce, and not feel guilty about killing his wives afterwards.