Featured Question

Here's the full question that came in to the website:

"What's wrong with catholics? they believe in Jesus rite? I'm not a catholic, but my church follows may of their traditions. Also, some of my friends are catholic and she appears to be very on fire and close 2 jesus. same goes for my friend who is mormon, but thats another topic. Please help me uderstand why everyone doesnt consider catholics to be christian."

This whole Catholic vs. Protestant thing can be very confusing and people have died and killed over this very issue. Here's the short answer. Some Catholics definitely are Christians just like some Baptists are Christian, and some Lutherans are Christians, and some Evangelicals are Christians, and on and on and on (The Mormon church is a different issue all together and we won't get into that here but by their own definition they are not Christian). It's not the church you go to or even going to church that makes you a Christian, it's what you actually believe. Truly being a Christian means you believe, repent, and follow. Believe that you're a sinner who needs to be saved and Jesus is the only one who can save you. Repent (or confess that you're a sinner and turn from the life you've lived without Him) and then follow Him wherever He takes you. When Jesus was here he called people to simply follow Him, and in order to follow Him you have to know Him and trust Him with your life. Being a part of a church should help you see Jesus more clearly so you can follow Him better, but church itself doesn't save anyone. The point was never to say a certain prayer, go to a certain church, or be baptized by a certain group of people. Those are all works that have no power to save, but seeing Jesus for who He really is, turning from a life lived without Him, and following Him is the real test of salvation.

Mother Teresa was a great example of someone who was part of the Catholic church and proved with her life that she was a Christian. She adored Jesus and followed Him beautifully. He said to take care of widows and orphans and she did. He said to feed the hungry, and visit the sick, and love your neighbor, and she did. And from her writings it sounds like she did it all because she was crazy about Jesus and saw His face in every leper and orphan and unwanted person she came across, not because she belonged to a certain church or was trying to win the approval or applause of men.

Not everyone who goes to church and calls themselves a Christian really is one, and every church out there is getting something wrong to one degree or another. I think it must break God's heart to see His kids use our different denominations to fight with and pick on each other instead of working together for God's purposes and His glory. Jesus came to show us what it looks like to belong to Him and live like a Christian (which really means "little Christ"), and He said in John 13:34-35 that people will know we are His by how we love each other. According to that verse, the test for who is and who isn't really a Christian isn't the church they belong to or how many bible studies they attend, it's how much they love and look like Jesus. He also said in 1 John 4:20 that if we say we love God but turn around and hate the people around us, we're liars and not what we claim to be. I've heard it said that you act out what you really believe instead of what you say you believe. Hopefully, for all God's kids, our lives show the world that we are exactly who we claim to be and not just a bunch of hypocrites with a nice label.