Tallowood Talking

Recently Pastor Duane Brooks began working his way through a growing list of great questions children are asking about God.  It’s part of the “Great Defenders” program, in which young people are learning ways to discuss their faith with friends.  Naturally, they will have questions.

The question Dr. Brooks addresses today is “Is there any difference between Christianity and the catholic religion?”  He responds:

Christianity, as the name suggests, has to do with followers of Christ.  Often we have pointed out that religions are ways to get to God, but that Christianity tells how God came to us.  After Jesus ascended into heaven, his followers continued to meet together as the church.  They spread the good news about Jesus all over the world.  Eventually, this church divided up in different places according to different beliefs.

            The name catholic really just means universal.  The Roman Catholic Church is a branch of Christianity centered in Rome.  At some time or another, almost all Christian groups have come down from a split off of the Roman Catholic church.  So the Eastern Orthodox Churches centered in ancient Byzantium or Constantinople represent an early division off of the church.  More recently, but still hundreds of years ago, the Protestant Reformation came when a group of Christians believed differently from the Roman Catholic church.  Baptists came from a group of Separatists who split off the Church of England after the Church of England split off of the Roman Catholic Church.

            Now to the question:  there are faithful followers of Jesus in many different branches of Christianity including Catholicism and the Baptist Church.  No one group has all of the Christians.  On many important issues the Roman Catholic Church and Baptists are partners, especially in issues of morality and caring for people in need. 

            Baptists today believe that the Apostle Paul taught that we are saved or become Christians by grace through faith.  God saves us by his grace, his favor or kindness even though we do not deserve it.  We enter into relationship with Christ by faith, or by trusting Jesus Christ to save us.  Baptists have stood strongly against any attempt on our part to earn our salvation or to work our way into relationship.  We can not become Christians by trying to do good things, even church things like taking the Lord’s Supper or being baptized. 

            Roman Catholicism teaches that there are sacraments or means of grace which God gives to us in order to make us Christians.  Catholics would include baptism and holy Communion as things we must do in order to become Christians.  If a person thought these things were ways to earn God’s love or to make God like us, they would be wrong.  Simple trust in Jesus brings us into relationship with God and his people, the Church.

            On the other hand, Baptists believe that the Lord’s Supper and being baptized are important steps of obedience to Christ, after we become followers of Christ, even though these actions don’t save us.  Also, Baptists believe that every Christian is a priest to God so that we can all pray to God for ourselves.  We do not pray to Mary or to the Saints, because we believe that every Christian is a saint because God has made us holy.  We believe that the Holy Spirit helps us to pray and that Jesus is our Great High Priest, so that no one person should receive the confession of our sins.  Baptists also focus on preaching the Bible as the central act of worship, instead of the Lord’s Supper.