Understanding Differences Between Catholics and Protestants

Protestants and Catholics share essential faith but differ significantly in beliefs and practices.

### Understanding the Differences and Commonalities Between Catholics and Protestants
* 📖 As a former Bible teacher, I often encountered the question, "**What's the difference between Catholics and Christians?**" and I aim to address this with **care and respect for both groups**.
* 💔 I disagree with the notion that all Roman Catholics are heretics, as I have witnessed the **genuine faith** of my Catholic friends, including my best friend who has **encouraged my own faith journey**.
* 📜 Historically, the Catholic Church was the **sole Christian church** until the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, initiated by Martin Luther, who protested against **various Catholic doctrines**.
* 🤝 Despite theological differences, I believe that Protestants and Catholics share unity in essential Christian beliefs, as exemplified by John 3:16, which emphasizes **faith in Jesus for eternal life**.
* 🗣 Additionally, I find that Catholics practice confession in a way that many Protestants could learn from, as it fosters **accountability and healing** within the community.
* ⚖ It's crucial to understand that neither Catholics nor Protestants are automatically saved; **personal faith in Jesus Christ** is the key to salvation, as stated in **Matthew 7:21**.
* 📚 While there are significant doctrinal differences between the two groups, such as views on **authority**, the role of **Mary**, and the nature of **communion**, I encourage open conversations to foster **understanding**.
* ❤ Ultimately, I believe our focus should be on uplifting one another in our faith journeys, recognizing that regardless of denominational differences, "**Jesus loves you**."

As a former Bible teacher for a private Christian school, I would normally get asked the question, "What's the difference between Catholics and Christians?" And I would say there's quite a few differences that I'll cover in this video.

However, I do want to be careful when it comes to this topic. I know of a pastor that has told me that all Roman Catholics are heretics, and that all of them, regardless if they have faith in Jesus, will go to hell.

And I heavily debated this pastor because of my huge disagreements with him. And one of the biggest reasons why is because my best friend growing up is a practicing Catholic. And I see how much he loves God, has his own relationship with him, and how much he's

encouraged my own faith. And I know a lot of our audience here on Impact are Catholics. And after reading a lot of their comments, I feel like a lot of them also have a strong heart for God. So before we talk about the differences

between Protestants and Catholics, you should know what both of these are. From the time of the early church back in the book of Acts, all the way to the early 16th century, there was one Catholic church. And the word Catholic

means universal, so it was the universal church. And during the 16th century, there was a Catholic priest named Martin Luther, and he had many disagreements with the Catholic church. And he had differences of opinion on the authority of

Scripture, justification, salvation, the role of the Pope, and the sacraments. So he and other people protested against the Roman Catholic church, and their protest was called the Protestant Reformation. So people who align with Martin

Luther's viewpoints are known as Protestants. And I do want to mention that Martin Luther did not want to destroy or divide the church, but to bring it back to its roots in Scripture. So their goal was to correct the church in

the direction it was headed, but as they tried correcting the church, they could not come to an agreement. So the people who stayed with the Roman Catholic church are Roman Catholics. And for those of you who don't know, I, Miles, would

technically be labeled a Protestant. And at the same time, I love my best friend, who is a Catholic. So that said, I naturally have a heart for Roman Catholics. So in this video, I not only want to

cover the differences between these two groups of people, I also want to share my heart when it comes to this topic. So, thought number one, Protestants and Catholics have a lot of unity in the essentials of the Christian faith. John 3:16, "For God so

loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." In this passage, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus at night, and Jesus tells him that God loved the world so much that He gave

His Son, and that whoever believes in His Son will avoid destruction and will have eternal life. So growing up, I had a best friend named Jess who was a Roman Catholic, and he and I had our fair share of arguments, especially about religion. I

mean, yeah, me and him get along now, but it took a lot of effort for us to get here. And I remember one day when we were both emotional and moody teenagers, and we were upset with each other

because of our religious differences. And soon, I realized that Jess and I have all the main things in common. And walking in front of the comic book store, I asked Jess, "Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy

Spirit?" And he said, "Yes." And then I asked, "Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins?" He also said, "Yes." And then I asked, "Do you believe that by faith in Him we can go to heaven?" And he

also said, "Yes." And I finished that conversation, and I told him, "Instead of focusing on everything that makes us different, let's just focus on what we have in common." And since then, Jess and I have been huge supporters of each other, and we haven't

had a huge religious disagreement since. Actually, there was a time in our friendship when he and I would read a chapter in the Bible just for fun before we played our video games. And we'd share something that we thought was cool from what we

read. So all that
to say, something that I truly believe is the
fact that Protestants and Roman Catholics can
fellowship and uplift each other in their walks with
God. And I say this because it was the case with me. Thought number two,

Protestants and Catholics
can learn and fellowship from one another. James
chapter 5 verse 16, "Confess your trespasses to one
another and pray for one another that you may be
healed. The effective fervent

prayer of a
righteous man avails much." In this passage, James is telling Christians to confess their sins to
each other and to pray for each other. And the
reason why I bring this up is because as a
Protestant, I think that the Roman

Catholic Church does
confession better than the Protestant Church. My
friend who is currently in seminary had the
opportunity to speak to a lot of Roman
Catholics and he was telling me how Catholics regularly go to a priest to

verbally confess their
sins. And from my perspective, when it comes to
Protestants, confession isn't really a thing. And
I know many Christians who would probably get
defensive and say, "Well, it's not the priest
that forgives sins, it's God."

And I get that. But
this passage here in James chapter 5 verse 16
is a command that I believe Catholics fulfill
better than most Christians. And while believers
can argue that they confess their sins to God, this passage tells

Christians to confess their sins to fellow Christians. Back when I went to Bible college, I struggled with watching pornography. And because of my constant failures, I felt like I didn't deserve to be there. So feeling convicted to confess my sin,

I asked to sit down with the principal of our school who became a good friend of mine. And while I confessed, I broke down crying. And it was the first time I ever told anyone about my struggle. And I told him that I'd

understand if I were to be dropped from the program. And as I cried, he consoled me, reassured me that I wouldn't be let go. And he then encouraged me to find an accountability partner who I could

regularly confess my sins to. And I did. And from that point on, I've always had an accountability partner that I confess my sins to. And it's one of the reasons why I have victory from pornography today. So with that said, in my experience,

there's something relieving and refreshing about confessing your sins to someone that you trust. You feel seen, you feel accepted, you feel heard. And honestly, you feel healed, just like this passage says. And it's a kind of healing that I

know not many Christians have because they don't confess their sins. But you know who does confess their sins a lot? Roman Catholics. And it's one of the things that I've come to appreciate about confessions. On the other side, growing up in either

middle school or high
school, my same friend Jess told me how he
appreciates my prayers. He normally would repeat his
prayers, but he mentioned how he likes how I change
things up and how I talk to God

more
conversationally. So to this day, before every meal, Jess and
I will take the time to pray before our meals.
And for about three to five minutes, we'd pray
for both of our families, the state of our
country, and for the different

things that we need
in the season of life we're in. In fact, Jesse is
someone who has prayed for the success of Impact
before we were even a thing. And he was one of my
biggest supporters before I moved to Japan. So all
that to say, from Catholics,

I learned that
confession should be focused more. And from
Protestants, Jess learned a new way to pray. So that said,
when it comes to God, I think that Protestants and
Catholics can learn a lot from

each other. Thought
number three, Protestants and Catholics aren't
automatically saved unless they have personal faith
in Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter seven, verse 21,
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall
enter the kingdom of heaven,

but he who does the
will of my Father in heaven." In this passage,
Jesus teaches a multitude of people and tells them
that not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord," will
enter into the kingdom of heaven." And this is a
sobering verse because Jesus makes

It's clear that some
people who look like Christians won't be saved
because they never did the will of God the Father. So
one question I also get from people is, are
Catholics saved? And I tell them, if they have faith
that Jesus died on the cross for

their sins, then they
can be. And my justification for this would be
John 3:16. However, to add to that, I would also
mention that being a Christian doesn't save
anybody. And if that sounds weird

to you, let me
repeat myself. Having the title Christian does not
save you. Going to church, praying prayers, or
being Protestant or Catholic also does not save
you. Having faith that Jesus died for you is what
saves. And faith is more than

just belief because
according to James chapter 2 verse 17, it says that
if faith does not have works, it's dead. So a word
of caution, whether you're a Protestant or
Catholic, do not put someone in a

box and think
they're immediately going to heaven just because
they're in a group of people. For example, I might have taught at a private Christian school,
but I did not assume that all the students that
were there were Christian. So

naturally, I would
preach the gospel and I taught my students
regularly through God's word that we're all sinners in
need of a Savior. And on top of that, my friend Jess is a pretty devout Catholic. And I quickly
learned growing up that not all

Catholics are as serious about their faith as Jess is. And not every Catholic believes in the exact same thing. So all that to say, I believe that my friend Jess is saved because as I observe his faith, I see a genuine belief in God that

influences the way he loves and lives. So in the same way that I don't think that every person who calls themselves a Christian is saved, I don't think every Roman Catholic is saved. And the reason why is because the only way to be saved from

eternal damnation is not by being in a people group, but by having faith in Jesus. By believing in your heart that he died on the cross for your sins and that he rose again from the dead. And we

read that in Romans 10:9-10, 16, and 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3 to 4. And thought number 4, Protestants and Roman Catholics have important differences that distinguish them from one another.

John chapter 17 verse 17, 'Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth.' In this passage, Jesus is praying to God the Father and Jesus asks him to separate his people by his truth. And Jesus then says that God's word is truth. So going back

to Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, one of the main things that Luther believed was that the Bible is the ultimate authority over Christians. Or in other words, whatever the Bible says is what's true and should be obeyed.

Roman Catholics, however, believe in both scripture and tradition.
To give you more detail on this, Roman Catholics and Protestants have a different perspective
when it comes to church structure. If you look back
during the early church, God used the apostles to
lead the church. And these

apostles had unique
authority given to them by God. So Roman
Catholics believe that this authority is passed down to other people. And
these people kept passing their authority down, and it remains with
the church today in the form

of tradition. So the
Pope and the bishops are the ones who have
authority alongside scripture. For Protestants, they
believe that the authority in the early church that
was held by Paul and Peter ended with them. So
today Protestants believe that

Jesus rules his church currently by his word and his spirit
through faithful ministers. So here's where my beliefs differ from Catholics, and I'll use
scripture to back up my beliefs. Also note that
there's a lot of differences

between Protestants and
Catholics, so I'm only going to go over some of the
major ones. And for sake of time, I'm going to be
brief with the differences. Difference number
one, who Christians should pray to. 1 Timothy
chapter 2 verse 5, "For there is

one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus." According to this passage, it says that Jesus
is the only mediator between God and man. So
because of this passage, I believe that only Jesus
should be prayed to. Because it

says here that the
only mediator between God and men is Jesus.
Whereas Catholics believe that they can
communicate with Mary and other saints to talk to God on
our behalf. Difference number two, the virginity
of Mary. Matthew chapter 13

verses 55 to 56,
"Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother
called Mary? And his brothers James, Joseph, Simon,
and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with
us? Where then did this man

get all these
things?" In this passage, it lists Jesus' brothers by
name, and then it mentions that Jesus has sisters. And I say this because Catholics believe
that Mary stayed a virgin after the birth of
Jesus, and I believe that Mary

had kids afterwards.
Additionally, Roman Catholics believe that Mary is different and distinguished from other
women, and is worthy of greater reverence. And
Protestants tend to believe that Mary was a holy
woman of God who was used to be

Jesus' earthly
mother. Difference number three, marriage of church
leaders. First Timothy chapter three verse two, "A
bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one
wife." In this passage, Jesus says that bishops,
overseers, or church leaders

should be the
husband of one wife. So I believe that church
leaders, like pastors, can get married, and many
Catholics believe that priests cannot have a
wife. Difference number four, heaven, hell, Hades, and
purgatory. Revelation chapter 20

verse 14, "Then
death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire, this
is the second death." If you read this passage,
it says that people who were not found in the book
of life were cast into the

lake of fire. And
then after this passage, it talks about heaven. So I
believe that once people die, they either go to
Hades, which will eventually lead to the lake of
fire, or they'll go to heaven.

Catholics also believe in a place called purgatory, and it's a place
for souls to be purified so that they can one day
go to heaven. But I don't believe it because
Jesus' sacrifice was all that was

necessary to make me
completely pure. So should someone come to
faith, I don't think it would be necessary for them
to go through purgatory in order to be
purified. Difference number five, books of the Bible. So Protestants and

Catholics do have
different Bibles, kind of. Protestants have 66 books in the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament, and 27 in the
New. And Catholics are in agreement and also have those 66 books. In addition

to those 66,
Catholics believe in more books. And these extra books are known as
the Deuterocanonical books, or the Apocrypha. Difference number six,
communion. Luke chapter 22 verse 19.

"And he took bread, gave thanks,
and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body
which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
In this passage, Jesus took bread and told his
disciples to eat it in memory

of him. So another
thing that Catholics believe is something called
transubstantiation, where the bread and wine
that's partaken in communion physically becomes the body of Christ. Whereas Protestants
typically believe that there's a

spiritual presence
when taking communion and that it's done in
remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice. And difference number seven, overall authority. Second
Timothy chapter three verse 16. "All scripture is
given by inspiration of God and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof,

for correction, for
instruction in righteousness." In this passage, Paul
is telling Timothy that all scripture is given
by God and is beneficial for us because it can
tell us what's right and wrong and can train us. So
again, Christians believe

in something called
sola scriptura, which means by scripture alone. And
Catholics believe in sacra scriptura and
traditions, which essentially means that both God's word
and the traditions passed down to us are
equally important. So for me, my

source of truth is
found in God's word. So if the Bible says something,
I believe it. Now there's a lot more depth when it
comes to Catholicism, but I did my best to cover
some of the basic differences.

And I should add
that I welcome conversations with people who are
Catholic. Honestly, I think a healthy habit all of us should have, regardless of our beliefs,
is to listen thoughtfully to what people believe,
understand why they believe

it, and then respect
them for believing it. Okay, so Protestants
versus Catholics. When it comes to this topic, I have
four thoughts that I believe everyone should
bear in mind. Protestants and Catholics have a lot
of unity in the essentials

of the Christian faith. Protestants and Catholics can learn and
fellowship from one another. Protestants and
Catholics aren't automatically saved unless they
have a personal faith in Jesus Christ. And
Protestants and Roman Catholics have

important differences
that distinguish them from one another. To close,
I think that our world does a great job at
dividing and discriminating. And by doing so, a lot of
people have made enemies of each other. And I
see a similar divide between

Protestants and
Catholics. And honestly, our goals as Christians
should not be to align and agree with each other
on every single thing, but to encourage each
other in our faith and our walks with God. So with
that said, I hope this video

encourages you. And
whether you identify with being Catholic or Protestant, I
hope you know today that Jesus loves you. Thanks so much for watching. If you'd like to
support us in our ministry, you can donate to
our PayPal using the link

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So thank you so much again,
and we'll see you guys next time.

Catholics Vs Protestants: Who is Right?

Impact Video Ministries

Introduction and Personal Perspective on Catholics and Christians

The speaker, a former Bible teacher, addresses the common question about differences between Catholics and Christians.

The speaker cautions against extreme views, mentioning a pastor's harsh judgment of Catholics.

The speaker shares a personal anecdote about a Catholic best friend, emphasizing their shared faith.

The speaker acknowledges a Catholic audience and their strong faith.

The speaker explains the historical context of the Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformation.

The speaker highlights the essential unity in Christian faith, using John 3:16 as an example.

The speaker recounts a personal experience with their Catholic friend, emphasizing their common beliefs.

The speaker describes how they and their friend shared their faith and read the Bible together.

The speaker discusses the importance of confession and prayer, comparing Protestant and Catholic practices.

The speaker addresses the question of whether Catholics are saved, emphasizing personal faith in Jesus as the key.

The speaker clarifies that being a Christian, attending church, or belonging to a specific group doesn't guarantee salvation.

The speaker warns against assuming someone's salvation based on their group affiliation.

The speaker shares their belief that their friend is saved due to their genuine faith.

Key Differences Between Protestants and Catholics

The speaker discusses the differing views on the ultimate authority: scripture alone (Protestants) versus scripture and tradition (Catholics).

The speaker explains the difference in views on who Christians should pray to.

The speaker explains the different views on Mary's virginity.

The speaker explains the different views on the marriage of church leaders.

The speaker explains the different views on heaven, hell, and purgatory.

The speaker explains the different views on the books of the Bible.

The speaker explains the different views on communion.

The speaker explains the different views on overall authority.

The speaker summarizes the four main points discussed in the video.

The speaker encourages understanding and respect between Protestants and Catholics.

The speaker ends with a call to support their ministry.