The Pope as basic leader of all of Christianity

[Hunter_Steel]

Okay, I have spoken to many many many people on this topic.

80% of people on this matter agree with eachother that the Pope basically leads all of Christianity. Where in the fact he only leads the Roman Catholic and the Catholic and Christian Catholic church. Reformists broke away from the Catholic Church because of its money mongering, war mongering and intolerance of people that were not Catholic at the time. And still chooses to keep out of the Catholic church for basically the very same reason today.

I have met some good Catholics in my time, but I have to say. The Pope doesn't lead me, I couldn't give a rats ass about what the Pope says and I know that being a Reformist Christian is more peaceful path in Christianity. While I do not say that the Reformed church is innocent, I can say its not as bloody as the Protestant and Catholic church is.

Now I ask:

How many people here think that the pope represents Christianity as a whole or agree that he only represents the Catholic church?

~Hunter

[Troy35216]

even the pope says he only leads the catholic church. who says he leads all of christianity? i never heard that.

[xmojox]

Okay, I have spoken to many many many people on this topic.

80% of people on this matter agree with eachother that the Pope basically leads all of Christianity. Where in the fact he only leads the Roman Catholic and the Catholic and Christian Catholic church. Reformists broke away from the Catholic Church because of its money mongering, war mongering and intolerance of people that were not Catholic at the time. And still chooses to keep out of the Catholic church for basically the very same reason today.

I have met some good Catholics in my time, but I have to say. The Pope doesn't lead me, I couldn't give a rats ass about what the Pope says and I know that being a Reformist Christian is more peaceful path in Christianity. While I do not say that the Reformed church is innocent, I can say its not as bloody as the Protestant and Catholic church is.

Now I ask:

How many people here think that the pope represents Christianity as a whole or agree that he only represents the Catholic church?

~Hunter

80% of the people you've spoken with don't understand the difference between Catholic and Protestant, then, and, from the bolded statement in your post, I'm not sure that you do, either. If you are Christian, but not Catholic, you are Protestant. And, no, if you are Protestant, the Pope does not lead you.

[Hunter_Steel]

No, I am not Protestant, but I am not Catholic either. I am a Reformist. We are completely different and don't hold most of the same ideals of either churches.

We have Protestant Churches here, Catholic Churches here and Reformist Churches here. These are 3 of the largest sects of Christianity.

~Hunter

[Sir Suomi]

He only represents the Roman Catholic branch of Christianity. But I do care what he says, in the political sense, due to the fact that he does have many followers.

[crepesuzette]

let ' s not forget the orthodox . why do we always leave them out ? no , he does not lead all of christianity .

[Elysium]

He only represents the Catholic Church. There are too many denominations and variations of Christianity - orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Reformist, etc. - that practice different traditions and beliefs. I have never heard any claim that the Pope leads all of Christianity.

[naglfari]

I've never heard anyone say he represents all christianity before. He's the most prominent christian leader though.

[Cicero]

There is a difference between Roman Catholicism and General Christianity, people like saying they are the same. But they're not.

Here's an excellent post I found

Catholics believe in original sin. (that mankind is depraved from birth) That is why they are careful to baptize infants because they think they will go to hell if they die and arent baptized/saved. Christians believe more that typically we all grow up to BECOME evil, not that we're BORN evil.

Catholics believe that church tradition is equal in authority to Scripture and continues to make revelations. Christians believe that the fullness of the Gospel as revealed in Scripture is sufficient for all matters of faith, church, and salvation.

Catholics believe Mary was the literal mother of God, that she mothered and imparted his deity and partially attributes salvation to. Christians believe that she was just a vessel, that God is the only author of salvation and spiritual parent.

Catholics believe in the office of pope, that he is the representative of Jesus while hes not here in the body that he allegedly established starting with Peter. Christians believe that all are priests of God, that the apostles had such authority necessary to build the foundation for the NT church, but died with them, and Jesus is the only high priest.

Those are the biggies. Some view the Catholic Church as the "whore of Babylon" written of in revelation. It could be. The thing is they affirm the major doctrines that Scripture teaches but at the same time, they have many other beliefs that are extra-ciricular and contrary to Scripture.

The Catholic Church represents, probably, 45% of Christianity. But it's the most powerful religion in the world, and even more powerful than most big corporations.

[Hunter_Steel]

While that may be true, worshipping or praying to a mere human being is not correct, all prayer and worship should be directed at God and god only.

Here are reformist beliefs also shared by some other Christian faiths but not all the beliefs are shared:

Salvation is by grace alone through faith, and not by our own good works.
The Bible alone is the authoritative Word of God for our lives—not church tradition or what church leaders say.
All believers are priests of God, anointed in Christ to serve him always, everywhere, in all they do.
God gave us two sacraments, baptism and communion, which are signs and seals of God’s promises.
A clergy’s blessing of the communion bread and wine do not really turn them into the actual body and blood of Christ.
The original sinful condition in which we are born as well as our actual sins are all fully washed away by Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross.
Prayer should be directed to God alone, not to saints or to Mary. In fact, all believers are both sinners needing God’s constant forgiveness and saints whom the Holy Spirit is already remaking to be like Jesus.

This is the sole belief behind the Christian Reformed Church. The Dutch Reformed Church being the larger sect of the Reformed Church.

We don't accept the teachings of the pope and are completely withdrawn from the Catholic church. Which is why I can't see how some people are so closed minded when they think the Catholic Church represents Christianity. It may be the largest part of it, but it most certainly doesn't represent the largest part of the Church. Its the same as how people think Westboro represents us.

~Hunter

[Stronk Serb]

I am Orthodox. The Pope has no influence on the Serbian Orthodox church.

[Celtic.]

The Pope as basic leader of all of Christianity
Nope. not in the Jehovah Witness religion. They dont even talk about him. The witnesses claim they are the TRUE Christians and all other forms of worship besides theirs are lies created by Satan.................Yes they go that fucking far.

[beccab]

As a Presbyterian, the pope really means nothing to me. But, what he represents does mean a great deal to christianity.

[britishboy]

very few Christians see the pope as there leader they see god first then the queen and government then themselves

[Korashk]

No, I am not Protestant, but I am not Catholic either. I am a Reformist. We are completely different and don't hold most of the same ideals of either churches.

We have Protestant Churches here, Catholic Churches here and Reformist Churches here. These are 3 of the largest sects of Christianity.

~Hunter
Protestant means any Christian that isn't Catholic. It's not a sect of Christianity. There are literally thousands of different Protestant denominations. If you aren't a Catholic then you're a Protestant.

But to get to the real point, for practical purposes the Pope does represent Christianity as a whole, because well more than most Christians are Catholic.

[randomnessqueen]

the pope only represents catholisism. and though they have a bad past, its not still like that. im especially fond of the current pope, because he is trying to be truly christian. so many catholics are mad at him for not living as luxurious as they think he should, but he is even breaking some 'rules' so that he can do good, more alike jesus' acts.
while im not dogmatically christian, i side more with catholisism. i cant agree with protestantism because they abolished monasticism, which is about the most antireligion step a religion can take.

[Hunter_Steel]

I believe the fact is that we believe a male has a right to have a family and children. Monks essentially give that up. The same with nuns.

~Hunter

[Guillermo]

Protestant means any Christian that isn't Catholic.

No, that's just your wrong definition of what it means to be Protestant. If that were true then all of the so called "Eastern Orthodox" adherents would be Protestant when in reality they are more related to Catholics (but still different).

It's not a sect of Christianity.

It actually is... There are 3 main sects (or divisions) of Christianity - Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy (also just called Orthodox).

There are literally thousands of different Protestant denominations.

True. But there are also non-denominations which are sort of a denomination within themselves. And some still argue whether or not some denominations are their own sect or apart of Protestantism because there are so many denominations within Christianity. But what Hunter was saying about the Reformed denomination would definitely - like you said - fall under Protestant.

If you aren't a Catholic then you're a Protestant.

I've already proved that to be wrong.

[The LOLer]

Catholicism and Christianity are very different. I, as a Christian, would never call the pope leader of all Christianity.

[IAMWILL]

Philosophically speaking, the Pope isn't the leader of the Catholic Church, God is. CGPGrey made a great video about the Vatican and the Pope, I'll post a link.
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The Pope is not the leader of Christianity by any means - many Protestant sects actually very much dislike the Pope. But he does lead over 1 billion Catholics, out of the 2 billion or so Christians in the world. In regards to the current Pope, Pope Francis, he is of the Franciscan order of priests. Different orders (Franciscan, Dominican etc) take different vows. Usually the vows of Chastity and Obedience and included, but the vow of Poverty is only in some orders. Franciscans take all three.

The differences between the Catholic Church and other Protestant Churches varies greatly, because many Protestant Churches believe different things. Some things that differentiate the Catholic Church: 1) Teaching is based primarily on Natural Law, which is everything that can be known through logic and reason alone, and not the Bible. 2) I'm just going to link you to this (http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/catholic_protestant.htm) site which offers a nice comparison chart.

Also, the Catholic Church today is definitely not intolerant to other's religions. It holds the view that the other major religions have core beliefs that coincide with the Catholic Church's.

[HahaWaitWhat]

I believe he only represents the Catholic Church.