Differences in Christianity

Question:

We hear on differences in Christianity. To many Muslims, including myself, the main religion is Christianity and then branches off to Catholics, Protestants, Church of England, etc. I could of course, be completely wrong here. Please clarify this point. Thanks in advance.

Jeff Answers:
There are many ways to answer this question. Some of the ways are simple and so I will try those.

The three biggest branches of Christianity are: Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Catholicism and Orthodoxy are organized into gigantic Churches that have a government and a single set of teachings. Protestants are broken into many small churches with different structures and different teachings from each other.

The Church of England includes people who think they are Protestant, people who think they are Catholic, and people who think other things.

If you go to Russia or to Greece, for example, most of the Christians you will find are Orthodox, in case you haven't heard of them. If you want beautiful music and beautiful ceremony and art, you will certainly find them among the Orthodox!

Catholics and Orthodox are very close. We believe most of the same things. Catholics, though, believe that the Pope has ultimate authority over the Church, in teaching and in ruling. Orthodox reject the Pope.

The word "Catholic" means "Universal", so the "Catholic Church" means, "The Church of Every Place and Time." "Orthodox" means, "Believing the Right and True Way."

Protestants began in the 1500s with Martin Luther. They came out of Roman Catholicism. That is why they are called "Protestant," because they "protested" against the Catholic Church. Luther's main idea is that all Christian truth is in the Bible. He thought the way to get it was for each believer to read the Bible for himself.

In Protestantism, the accent is on the Individual. Everybody has a unique encounter with God, God illuminates everyone's mind directly, especially by reading the Bible. If you could express Protestant Christianity in one word, it is "Bible". All that "Church" means for Protestants is, all the believers in the world, even if they worship in different churches. Protestants say the true Church is "INVISIBLE.

In Catholicism and Orthodoxy, the accent is on the Society. We believe that the Church is a real Society, almost like a Country, but a spiritual one. It is governed by real live people, like any Society.
For Catholics and Orthodox, the Church is VISIBLE. If you could express Catholic and Orthodox Christianity in one word it is: "Church".

We believe in the Bible, too, of course. But we don't read it as individuals. We read it as a whole society. And we also believe in Tradition. That is, there are true things that are not written but that all believers accept. So, when we read the Bible, we read it in the light of what our Fathers said and wrote for two thousand years.

There are many other differences, but this is a good place to start your understanding.

Are these different branches of Christianity? Sure, you could say that. The traditional or strict answer of all three groups is: We are the only true Christians. The others have fallen into error.

Most of us still believe this in some way, but we are searching for ways to come closer together on the basis of what we share, even though the differences are important. And we have a common challenge that helps us: Secularism and Disbelief in God. This common challenge also helps us to look to other Believers in God--Muslims for example--as allies and friends.

Oftentimes, we can seem very different and the differences are real. But if a believing Christian and believing Muslim sit and talk with an atheist or someone who has thinks the whole idea of God is silly and just lives the way they want, we soon find out how close we are!