"Note -- Catholics ARE Christians. The Apostolic Churches (from East to west) are:"
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I use to think so, but the more I've studied SCRIPTURE and seen the deviations from SCRIPTURE and promotion of its own institution in the Roman Catholic Church I'm not so sure that's true. BTW if you ask a Roman Catholic what they are more often than not they will say "Catholic" not Christian.
It's all in how you frame the question. Asking someone what type of church they attend will always result in hearing Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran or, in the case of the non-denominational megachurches along the north side of my town, "Christian Bible."
My point is that saying that Catholics self-identify as Catholics is a strawman - you could say the same thing about nearly all of the non-Catholic Christians as well.
The deviation exists only in your personal interpretation. Men quite easily read two or more different meanings from the same Scripture verse. For example, how do you read:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:53-54
Seems pretty clear on interpreting what He meant. But you will no doubt say we deviate from Scripture here, as well. The point is that Scripture is subject to interpretation - and even clear-cut verses are taken to mean something totally different by people who claim to be led by the Spirit...
Regards