Christian Catholics Or Catholics Versus Christians? Are Catholics Christians?

I hope this blog piece is more enjoyable for you to read than for me to write. Why? Well...  Ok, it's not that tough.... I am going to confront the issue,"Are Catholics Christians?" We Protestants seem to dismiss Catholics and just about every other group that doesn't think and believe just like us as being "lost" or "Non- Believers," that are Hell-bound on the fast rail.

First of all, I am a Protestant (a 5-point Calvinist one at that) that believes the whole Bible exactly as it is/was written in its original tongues. I love the King James and English Standard Versions, as far as translations go (but like to keep a good commentary around to know what the original Hebrew and Greek and other languages really said/say).

I am nobody's dummy with respect to Scripture and Bible Doctrine and Christian Precepts. Like it or not, no one particular sect or denomination has it all more than 90-95% right. That is where this is coming from.

Over time human beings have transformed Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit and Their Words into something we can be comfortable with, as opposed to what They once were. FACT. Today we read the English translations and are often too lazy to find the context then, and what the words meant to the readers at the time.

As Jesus might say, we try and put new wine in old Bibles and vice-versa. Most Protestants and Catholics alike (and other denominations for that matter) are clueless about Church History and especially the New Testament Church's origins (from the Old Testament and by The New Testament).

Most "Sunday Christians" fail to realize that the Bibles and church buildings that we see everywhere, and other things that we take for granted, did not exist in this way for the first 1500 years after Christ, or so - except for small synogogues/temples and the few dozen past massive structures. 

The Scripture was on scrolls, and copies were not all that abundant - people relied on church leaders to read them and share them. Later-on, the Bible was the first book ever printed on a printing press, and it became fairly common.

Understand? Many times Christians originally lived in fear for their lives, met secretly in homes and small buildings, and did not have much in the way of Scripture (and what was there was generally the prophets' writings from the Old Testament). The New Testament was not even gathered together for a century or more following Christ's Ascension/ Return to Heaven. It took centuries later to agree on what was "inspired by God," and what was not.

Whether Protestants like it or not, amid all of this (even before Jesus came down from Heaven to Earth as a baby in the first place, Believers looked forward to the Messiah, Jesus) the original Church  or group of Believers favored by God (though not organized as such) was "The Universal Church," (Jewish initially) later known as "The Catholic Church." That is undeniable. When the term "Christian" started being widely used in Antioch or wherever, the Christians were Catholics.

What is also undeniable by the Catholics and everyone else is why did It err and go wrong and get away from Its original teachings over the centuries? 

Remember, everyone from Paul to Peter to Augustine to Aquinnas to Luther were Catholics, and most believed as what we today term as "Calvinism" - before the term/word was invented or the man himself lived. (Calvin just simplified the basic Bible Doctrine held by many with respect to Grace, Faith, and God's sovereignty - by answering & disproving  the Arminians' 5 points with his own rebuttal.)

At any rate, the original Catholic Church got away from Its founding beliefs a good bit over the centuries, and along came the Protestant Reformation - and with it Luther, etc  (another story for another time).

The Protestors/Protestants simply wanted the Church to get back to Its original ways and beliefs and doctrine at the time of the apostles, and to make it clear that Moses, Jesus, and Paul were correct in teaching that God is sovereign and saves by grace and through faith - His faith that He gives to those given to Jesus by Himself. (Jesus said that He could only have those called and given to Him by the Father.) Too much emphasis was placed on the Church's human leaders and works and traditions of men.

Thus, from the Reformation onward we have Catholics and Protestants. Somewhere in this mix of events it became "a given" to Protestants that Catholics were not even Christians at all.

Here is the answer to the Catholic versus Christian dilemma. Yes, any Catholic that Believes in his or her heart that Jesus Christ died for mankind's sins and rose again from the dead IS a Christian. Any Protestant that does NOT believe the very same thing is NOT a Christian at all. ANYONE that believes upon Jesus Christ in this manner and truly believes (thus led to repent of sins also) IS A CHRISTIAN. Many other disagreements are like fussing over window dressing.

It irks me to see questionnaires where under "Religion" there are blocks for Catholic or Christian. That is insanity. Belief in Jesus Christ is the determining factor as to whether or not someone is a Christian, not the denomination that they are associated with. 

Granted, if someone is truly a Christian, they likely will not long associate with deplorable folks not obeying Scripture - but, how is that defined? What exactly are the parameters? Are not the worst of many of my Catholic friends much better than the best of many of my Protestant pals???????