Rusting Car Bumper

A more general and more important question is "What is a religion"? Any answer you give to your question should be consistent to an answer to this question.

I don't think its an easy question. Certainly it can't just be whats in a Holy Book? Can it be how people of that religion behave?

DC

Amos

Should I have stated that at best Catholic are Christians-in-becoming? My point here is that Christians who have been set free form the law cannot sin (1Jn.3:9) and since Catholics are sinners and do not wish to become tangled up in the tormenting saved sinner complex, Catholics are not Christians until they have been set free from the law and cannot sin. Yes, this can be a reality and is stressed all over in the bible.

So I do not deny that we are not part of the Christian world because we claim to have saints in heaven etc. It is just that for as long as we are sinners are we not Christian, which now also means that for as long as we are Catholic are we not Christians because Catholics sin and Christians cannot sin because they have been set free from the slavery of sin (Gal.5:4). This, then, also means that Christians are not Catholic because Catholics are sinners which in turn is why Jesus was a Jew until he became a (the first) Christian.

Tercel

Philechat,
I didn't mean you'd spelt them wrong. Just that I'd never heard of the group however you spell it.

bltl6

It seems that it is difficult to trully define any belief, especialy one that is a couple thousand yrs. old and global. I'm sure that if I asked the same question to athiests about what they believe, they would not always see eye to eye.

Basically, Christians are deists and therefore have some belief in a god, and athiests don't.

If you want to know what a "true" Christian is, pick up a Bible and read it for yourself. That's not to be taken negativly, but to say that if you honestly can't pin point what a Christian believes, then do some research by simply reading the Bible for yourself. For those that have, maybe try reading it again.

Psycho Economist

Not to be utterly useless in this thread... but my mama always said Christian is as Christian does...

Christianity is such a broad and nebulous thing that I'd say anyone who honestly considers themselves Christian is one... which of course, says nothing in and of itself. If two of them want to have flamewars over whether a "true Christian" puts sugar on their porridge, that's their business, not mine.

We all have our own archetypes and stereotypes of what the word Christian means when a person puts it upon themselves or it's put upon them, but we should all know better from experiences, too.

Shake

Thanks again, everyone. And Amos, I think I'm finally understanding the subtleties to the whole Catholic/Christian thing. Thanks for being patient with me here.