I am a non-denominational Christian, hybrid of Catholic + Protestant...
Christianity has many denominations. To me, Catholicism is also a denomination of Christianity as a whole, but Roman Catholics themselves wish to be recognised as a separate body. However, I will avoid using the word "Protestants" since most people in Singapore does not know the meaning of it. They simply refer to Roman Catholics as "Catholics", and Protestant Christians as "Christians".
First, I would like to say that there is only ONE bible, as in the contents remain unchanged. However, individuals interpretated the same word of God differently, hence leading to religious movements that result to today's Christianity: Sects and denominations.
Second, face the fact, if you are a believer of Christ, and you claim that your denomination is correct, then let me tell you, WAKE UP! NO, I mean NO one particular denomination is exactly "correct" according to Christ's teachings...
Realise that religious leaders are humans too, so they tend to interpretate the bible differently, mainly affected by the beliefs of their denomination, teachings they received from their seniors, and also their personal views. They in turn, pass these "modified" teachings to the next generation of leaders, and the process repeats, changing the teachings slightly but surely. For eg, how many Roman Catholic rituals have been added, removed, or modified by different popes?
Main differences includes:
1) Protestants banned prayers to Saints and do not give them recognition for their deeds.
2) Protestants believe faith alone is enough for salvation while Catholics advocate deeds together with faith.
3) Catholic priests must maintain celibracy, which Protestant pastors can get married.
4) Most Protestant denominations don't use crucifix. Most, but NOT all...
5) Catholics confess to a priest while Protestants believe that because Christ died for man, man may now speak directly to God.
6) Protestants removed the book of Tobit from the bible.
7) Many Protestant chuches uses modern ways to attract people but most Catholic churches are rather traditional.
8) Many Protestant denominations believe that pictures, statues and images are forbidden by God.
9) Communion is a simple memorial rather than a true sharing of Jesus' body and blood to Protestants
10) Prayers for the dead are wrongful to Protestants.
11) One Protestant pastor told me that human free will is an illusion.
My Catholic belief:
1) I do agree with the Catholic's idea of seeking saints to interceed for our prayers. Take note that interceeding isn't worship! So asking a saint to interceed your prayers to Christ is actually worshipping Christ, and not the saint. So to ignorant idiots who claims that Catholic worship Mary, I'd show you my middle finger. The saints have done more than you can ever imagine so don't ever remove them from the rich history of the religion.
2) The crucifix is NOT an idol! Idol worshipping is a sin, and an "idol", need not necessary be a in humanoid form. If you were to pray to a toilet bowl believing that it's some deity, the toilet bowl naturally becomes an "idol" too. So to me, as long as you know that a cross/crucifix is a symbol of remebering the Lord, and not that the material is the Lord himself, you aren't idol-worshipping... And I prefer crucifix since it brings out a more visual remeberance of how Christ sacrificed himself than just a plain cross.
3) Objects can become holy or sacred after blessing or coming into contact with holy powers, such as holy water, saint relics, etc..
4) Salvation isn't just about faith. First and foremost, you have to believe, which means having faith. But along with just believeing, should come deeds. The two must go hand-in-hand and cannot be separated. So what's the big deal is you go "Christ is Loard!" and for the rest of the times you aren't shouting that aloud, you're having sodomy with your dog?
My Protestant Christian belief:
1) I don't believe in catholic confession... I need not go through a priest to tell the Lord of the sins I committed...
2) The pope isn't the ambassedor of Christ on earth. Neither are the Vatican any special.. It's true they've done some good deeds but they too have a bloddy history of killing anyone who doesn't share their beliefs. The pope is human and prone to make mistakes like you and I. It's not as if some gigantic finger appeared off the sky and pointed at him with a thunder-like voice saying "You shall be the pope!"... Wake up, he's selected by humans... And need not say further, time and again we have witness the stupidity of humans...
3) Exorcism is not the sole duty of catholic priest. Laymen can create miracles too. St. Catherine was a layperson, so was St. Joan of Arc thought they didn't exactly exorcise anything...
4) Holy communion is a simple memorial rather than a true sharing of Jesus' body and blood.
My own opinions:
1) I do not attend mass or church services. I go to church, preferably cathoic coz protestant christian churches are mostly filled with young people shouting and acting like idiots (you should know where i'm referring to) at wee hours like 1 am and do my own prayers alone. Refer to the Gospel of Matthew, somewhere in it Christ mentioned something like "When you pray, be not like the hypocrites who do so in front of the public. Pray behind closed doors, away from the eyes of others, and the Father in heaven will reward you openly."
2) Baptism shouldn't be a step by step ritual but it's a lifelong process of learning through Christ.
3) Trying your best to remember every line and verse of the bible then quoting it without understanding is purely stupid!. God didn't say he want you to go memorize a book, he wants you to learn what's the content about! I believe he'd rather see you understandhing and following his teachings, rather than memorising everything he said but do nothing.
4) Pastors and Priests? Oh pls... 90% of the time they're talking about what you can read from the bible, adding their personal opinions or stating things that's just common sense... To me, I respect them for their dedication to faith, but as for their preaching, save it for those who can be influenced... I am the unmovable object.
