Americans I have an important question?

Question

This is a follow up to my last question.

I am in Italy, we mostly have catholic churches, and we don't care much about religion.

I have an American exchange visitor at home, she is very religious and wanted to worship , she said to me that in America you have many different types of Churches and Christian denominations to choose from, then she said Catholics are not Christians, and she would never worship in a catholic church . I am confused, why do they teach that over there?

She was trying to explain to me about being born again, I am having hard time understanding what she means, what is all this?

Why Christianity is so different there?

Why Catholics are not considered Christians in your country?

How many types of Christian religions do you have in the states?

Thanks

Answer 1

Being born again comes from John 3 where Jesus is talking to Nicodemius, who was a Pharisee--something between a law professor and a priest.  Basically Jesus told Nicodemius that he had to be "born" (start life) in the flesh (by coming from his mother's womb) and in the spirit.  Being born again means allowing God's spirit to come into your life and change it.  So that you are no longer living for yourself, but living for God.

How many churches?  In America, there is no official state church.  The churches are more or less part of the free market system.  We believe that religion is a personal matter between God and the individual.  If you want to be secular, and your neighbor wants to be Catholic, and your exchange student wants to be Protestant, it is all the same in the eyes of the government.  The church doesn't get any tax money (or didn't until Bush).  If the church wants to survive it has to get people in the doors putting money in the plate.  So religious Americans have thought about their religion and chosen it.  They aren't just baptised in it because they were born in America,  The churches stay active in the community and try to attract people.

About Catholics:  Most Americans are Protestants.  The protestant movement started in the 12th century.  The Catholic church had become corrupted (even Catholic historians admit that the big offices like Pope and Cardinal were openly for sale at this time.  Also most monks, priests, and popes had openly acknowledged children and long term mistresses.  In fact, a place in the church was the way for a bright young man with ambition but no status to get a ticket to the good life.

The Protestants looked at the church and said 'this isn't right.  The Bible says X and the church is doing Y.  We will follow the Bible.'  Other people said 'I think this is God's church, and even though not everything in it is pure, I think that God is still part of it so I won't abandon it'.  Most people were like you.  They didn't care.  So they just followed their leaders.  If the king was Protestant they were too.  If the king was Catholic, they were too.  The only place this was really bad for was England because one king was Protestant, the next was Catholic for literally centuries

Answer 2

There is difference of opinion here as to whether Catholics are Christians.  Catholics do tend to emphasize more 'corporate salvation' rather than a personal conversion.  They use to conquer countries and declare the whole country Christian but Jesus taught one must have a personal faith in Him.  I believe your exchange student was a bit harsh in the way she stated this but there are some significant differences between Catholics and protestants.  If you really want to learn more, go to the library or on the internet, research Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.

Answer 3

I am not an American !

I am a Christian, and I believe that the majority of Roman Catholics are also Christian !

You say that people don't care about religion yet one of your past leaders helped reestablish the Vatican in the midst of Rome.

To really "know" the answers one has to believe God and read your Bible to become "born again"

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Answer 4

Bella The Evangelical Christians in the U.S. believe being born again is where the holy spirit takes control of their life and the are one with the trinity. Being born again removes past sins and generally they are better people. The downside, born agains turn into pains by preaching how you need to rededicate your life to Jesus.

Have you ever been around a smoker who quits smoking?  Born agains are very similar.

Answer 5

It is ignorant and lacking of knowledge to make a statement that Catholics are not Christian because the Catholic Church was there BEFORE the protestant ones so if she is right that Catholics are not Christian then as a protestant neither is she.

I have to work so hard at times to educate people who should know better. Geez

Answer 6

All sects of religions war all the time.

Answer 7

1. They don't teach that stuff over here, she's just weird

2. She means reincarnation

3. I have NO clue why christianity on two continents is so different, i don't think it is...

4. They just aren't, I mean, they DO have 2 different names so that must mean they have differences.

5. No clue, to many and it's crazy.  

Answer 8

catholics are only considered non-christian by the most ignorant of us.  please don't think that all of us are so dumb.

Answer 9

I know the feeling, I'm dutch living in America, and I was amazed at the superstition in this country. America is full of strange protestant cults, each one more bigoted and hateful than the other. That born again business is just another strange form of superstition. Educated people just ignore the christian crazies. So ignore her or toss her out on the street if she keeps bugging you with her superstitions and hang ups.

Answer 10

Only fools aresaying they arent Christians! Some are born again...

we have quite a few Protestant denominations...Born again means having the spirit of God in your heart=true conversion..

Answer 11

Some Americans tend to be very ignorant of religion as a whole. I have experienced that many times.

They have so many denominations and everyone think the other is a fraud.

Tell her it is time to open her mind and use this European experience to see that her own little small world is not the only one out there!

Answer 12

don't listen to her.

not all of us (americans) are ultra-religious, fat, lazy, and jobless.

Answer 13

Catholic is very different from Christian I am not sure how many forms of christian there is but there are numerous ones.

Answer 14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianit...

The above site link will help you understand all of the break downs of Christianity in the US.  

Born again means that you once belonged to a religion then dropped it like a hot potato for a while and then decided to go back into it or another sort of Christianity or the same one you left.    

Answer 15

Your exchange student probably belongs to a radical branch of the protestant church known as either evangelicals or pentecostals. They are conversion-heavy denominational subgroups, and yes they do tend to teach that any non-strictly-protestant religions are not christian. I spent a good deal of my childhood involved in these groups. They talk about god's love and then rule their congregations through fear. They are usually anti-choice, anti-homosexuality, many times anti-birth control, and almost always anti-evolution.

Like Laptop, I would avoid discussion of religion as much as possible, unless you don't mind her trying to convert you at every possible interval. She likely believes that catholics are idol worshipers because they pray to saints and mary, and that means they go against the commandment to "have no other gods before me..."  

Answer 16

catholic IS christian....but it is different. it just is not protestant.

we have penecostal, baptist, methodist, lutheran......lots more.

hope this helped

Answer 17

there are many,you have Mormons,Christin's ,muslim ,catholic,etc

i would never join catholic they are the ones who are always molesting young boys.but being born again means you wash away your sins and start your life over

Answer 18

Hello!  I had an Italian exchange student last summer.  He was wonderful.  He also was very confused by American Christianity.

"Born again" is a term used by Christian fundamentalists.  They think that a person needs to have an experience to be a "real christian."  This experience is to realize that you are a sinner, and to "ask Jesus into your heart as your personal savior."  These born-again people think that if you do not have this experience, you are not a real Christian.  They think that most people who call themselves "Christain" are not "real Christians," and this includes most Catholics.

Sorry.  I am not a born-again person.  I am an Atheist.  I used to be a born-again person and I used to think these things.  

I would advise you to not talk about religion much with this person, if you can.  Also, bring her to mass.  Since she is in your country, she should see how you worship!

(Edit) Ahh, then don't bring her to church!  (Heh, I don't go to church either).  But ... she thinks that you are going to h**l, so she is going to want to talk this born-again thing to death.  She's not trying to be mean, but she really thinks that you're headed for an awful fate.  You might want to limit how much you talk about Jesus, because she won't ever want to shut up about him.

Please know, all Americans aren't this irritating!  When my Italian exchange boy was here, we had a lot of fun, never spoke about Jesus but just talked about how much of a jerk George Bush was :)

Best of luck with your exchange student!

Answer 19

"How many types of Christian religions do you have in the states?"

Too many to count. In fact, it's getting ridiculous.

Answer 20

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he will show you all things if you ask him.

Answer 21

America is predominantly a non-catholic country so it is very easy to make the rules for the rest... "Catholics are no Christians!" period...!  

It is like the old president Bush said... Atheists are not patriotic!

Answer 22

She's a zombie; grab your shot gun.

Every church that I've ever attended have always said blah blah "we are all gods children" and then they turn around and say but this group is full of c**p and this group is full of prostitutes.

I don't get it.  Religion is a great was to control the masses; and I've never been good with following like a lemming over a cliff.

Answer 23

Since the protestant reformation in the 16th. century, which did not have much effect in your country, the protestants have divided into about 30,000 different denominations. They all claim to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and they all teach different things. America was colonised by the British after Henry VIII seperated from the church. His country began to have schism with Henries new church. The dissenters, mostly puritans and methodists with a lot of anglicans were the soon to be American people. These people and their descendants have further fractured in their religious teachings down thru the years. They have developed a theology that tells them they are "born again" if they say a simple prayer and accept Jesus into their hearts. They don't believe baptism is important in their "rebirth" and they feel that everything Catholic is pagan. Many of them have devolved so far from the church that they came from that they nearly worship the bible. But they don't believe that there is any authority other than themselves to explain scripture. Christ told Nicodemus in the new testament that you must be born again of water and the Holy Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God. The Apostles told us clearly that baptism is salvific and that it is for us and our children. You are born again at your baptism in Catholic teaching. The protestants are all over the board on this matter and do not agree with each other on it. This topic is far too complicated to explain well in a forum like this. I hope I have given you a bit of insight.

Answer 24

From someone who "doesn't care much about religion" you seem to be at least mildly interested, or so it would seem. We do appreciate your telling us of the attitude of most Italian Catholics towards religion. Little wonder Catholicism is floundering. This must cause the pope many a sleepless night.

I think a basic understanding of Christianity might be helpful to you. In America it is not accepted that one can be "born" into the church. Being from a Catholic nation where everyone from the womb is Catholic this must be something very strange to you. Scripturally, in order for one to become a member of Christ's church he or she must confess Christ as their Lord and Saviour. The teachings of Scripture are upheld in America and elsewhere in the world where the truth of the Word of God is taught.

Being born again enters the picture here. We are all spiritually dead to the things of God. Romans is clear on this. Anyway, we need to become spiritually alive in order to know Christ. This becoming spiritually alive is the part of being "born again". The first birth is the natural one, from the womb. The second birth is the spiritual one, that is God's enlightenment given to the sinner so he or she can move in the direction of salvation through faith by trusting in Christ. Without God's Spirit at work NO one can ever know Jesus. When God's Spirit indicates to you that Jesus is in fact the Christ chances are that the second birth, or being born again, is not too far away.

Why is Christianity so different in America? Believers in God in America take God seriously and His Word even more so. There is honour given to God in the US and that reveals itself clearly in the attitude of the Christians living there.

There is only one Christian church in America and in the rest of the world too. It is the "true" church where believers are all one in Christ, having been born of the Spirit and having received the indwelling of God's Spirit.

Answer 25

When   Martin  Luther   pinned  hie  95th    thesis    to  the  door  in  Whittenburg Germany.He  turned  to  face  the  people  and  said  the  just  shall  live  by  faith  and  not  by  the  dictates  of  any  particular  church.There  are  so  many  denominations  and  organizations   in   the  CHRISTIAN  church   due  in  much  part  to  errant  and  false  teachings  of  the  WORD  OF  GOD.YOU  WORSHIP   GOD  IN  SPIRIT  AND  IN  TRUTH.YOU  HAVE  FAITH  IN  JESUS  AND  HIS  WORK.HE  ALONE  SAVES.YOU    CAN  DO  THIS  NO  MATTER  WHERE  YOU  ARE.How  is  it  there  are  so  many  different    ways  on  teaching  one  thing.BIND   THEM  IN  BUNDLES.NOTICE  BUNDLES  IS  PLURAL.    THANK  YOU  D'S   JESUS   IS  ALL  ANY  OF  US  NEED.

Answer 26

its all a conspiracy. create 500 different sects of christianity so that no one knows whats right anymore everything is wrong the bible is false and abortion is ok. . killing and stealing is ok, women as s*x objects is very widely accepted , especially by the women.. the list goes on. its the downfall of the society and religion

Answer 27

Catholics pray to dead people (or saints) which many Christian deem as idol worship.  Catholics also have a strict structure that looks like a not so mini kingdom, ending with the pope (who is suppose to be right next to God in power) very different from Christians who are on more direct terms with Jesus Christ and God Almighty.  Catholics go to priests when they have a prayer need, Christians often just go straight to God (through Christ).  If you want to find a spiritual climate that may fit her find a group of women who study the Bible in a home, she would probably like that.

Answer 28

Bella.. They don't teach it over here it's an accurate observation from anyone who knows the bible... Their not Christians..Personally I would never worship in a Catholic Church either.... Hope this helped..God bless you !

Answer 29

Well no human has the right to tell another they are not a Christian. With that said some believe Catholics are not because they have a Pope, baptize babies who can not make the choice of their own free will. There are many other reasons why some people claim they are not Christian's, but it will always be God's decision. Next Italy did not really experience the split of the Catholic church like the rest of the world. There are too many different religions to name them all.

Answer 30

I'm confused. If you don't care about religion why do you care to find out what she's talking about?

But to answer your question. Catholics are Christians. There are groups of Christians over here who believe that Catholics aren't. They are wrong and misguided in their understanding of Christianity and of the Bible, and certainly of what Christ taught.

Answer 31

Certain conservative Protestant denominations teach that Catholics are not Christian.  They're full of it, but that's what they teach.   Yes, there are many different denominations of Christianity here.  Each thinks that it alone has the truth and that all the others aren't really Christian, or aren't following the Bible, or whatever.

Why did she go to Italy if her particular branch of religion is that important to her?   Is she hoping to convert everyone she meets?

"Born again" refers to the Bible verse in which Jesus says, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  The phrase is understood in different ways in different churches but what they have in common is a belief that once you've been born again you're a True Christian.