Since they are identical, I don't see the problem.
Wow. You consider the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy Christians?
What about some hit man for the Mafia? What about those priests who molest children?
Show me where, in the Bible, believers are called *Catholics*. Followers of Christ are called Christian by Scripture
Acts 11:26
...and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
You can claim all you want that Catholics are by default Christians, but considering what some Catholics live like, I'd hardly call them *followers of Christ* or *little Christs*.
See, that's the problem with Catholicism. It calls people Christians based on baptism, not based on genuine rebirth demonstrated by lifestyle.
By conflating the two, you end up being put in a position where people who engage in all kinds of evil are labeled *Christian* by the Catholic church based on nothing more than ceremony. And this from the church which demands that people add works to their faith to be saved?
People who don't walk the talk are NOT Christians, no matter how observant a Catholic they are.
Granted there are likely to be a few real Christians in the Catholic church, but based on my experience with Catholics on the every day lay person level, they're few and far between.
And I've never had the privilege, thank God, of dealing with the Catholics on the clergy level, which is even worse.
Go ahead. Call pro-aborts and child molesters *Christian*. It lends so much to your credibility.
The fact that you equate the the term *Catholic* and the term *Christian* and don't see a problem with that, by your own admission, demonstrates a degree of spiritual blindness that is staggering.
What about some hit man for the Mafia? What about those priests who molest children?
If they were baptized Christian, they were Christian at one point.
Show me where, in the Bible, believers are called *Catholics*. Followers of Christ are called Christian by Scripture
And so we are. The term Catholic was used in the late first century; St. Ignatius' epistle is the earliest written record we have of it ca. 115 AD.
You can claim all you want that Catholics are by default Christians, but considering what some Catholics live like, I'd hardly call them *followers of Christ* or *little Christs*.
I didn't say that. I stated that the two names were identical. Not every man who cries Lord, Lord is a follower of Christ. There are many supposed Christians that are unrecognizeable in their imitation of Christ.
The fact that you equate the the term *Catholic* and the term *Christian* and don't see a problem with that, by your own admission, demonstrates a degree of spiritual blindness that is staggering.
I'm not the one who prates completely unScriptural and novel concoctions of recent men. The Church is One, Holy and Apostolic. If you are by your own volition not a member, not believing in the Creed, for instance, what kind of Christian would you be? Similar to Mormon or Jehovah's witness.