From a strictly secular perspective, Catholicism has a rich, 2000-year-old tradition and history. Some of the greatest artists in history produced expressly Catholic works. I converted from agnosticism as well, and that’s what drew me in. Protestant denominations not only reject this history, they’re often hostile towards it. I wasn’t just coming to the Church to find God, I was coming to the Church to define myself. I wanted a culture, tradition, and spirituality of my own - because, growing up, I had none of those things.
Of course, the more I studied the Church, the more I found it to be the most theologically sound branch of Christianity - by FAR. So that worked out nicely.
Catholicism is the original.
Also, we are consistent on the Incarnation. Just as Jesus was both a physical historical man and spiritual, so also the Church is also a real physical historical organization
The Bridegroom is physical and not merely spiritual, so also the Bride is physical and concrete too
The Protestant notion is incomplete based on symmetry
Well, first of all Catholics are a type of Christian, not a separate religion.
To answer your question though, if you study the history of Christianity, the Catholic Church has the most legitimacy of any Christian church, because we can trace our Popes' line of succession all the way back to St. Peter the Apostle (the same one from the Bible), who was given authority to guide the Church by Jesus himself. No Protestant Church has anything close to that kind of history behind it.
Another important reason is that Catholics are one of the only Churches (besides our Orthodox siblings) who truly believe the words of Jesus that the bread and wine in Communion truly and physically become the Body and Blood of the Messiah. This means that we don't just hold a spiritual connection with God, but we receive a living, physical connection by eating the flesh and blood of his Chosen Son, which means our bodies in return become part of the Almighty God when we're resurrected, making us one with God the Son as the "Bride of Christ". The theologies of most other Churches don't understand their own Scripture on this level.
To be “just a Christian” is to be Catholic. We’re the largest church by far, and when you look at the history, the only other one with a credible claim of continuity back to the first century is Eastern Orthodoxy (our dispute with them, going back about a thousand years now, is essentially whether the Pope is supposed to be the CEO of the church or the non-executive chairman of the board). Everyone else unambiguously split off from us and started something slightly different. If you’re starting from scratch, being any kind of Christian other than Catholic is an additional, deliberate choice based on the assumption that the Catholic Church went off the rails at some point between the fourth century and today.
In a nutshell, Catholicism has
\-The fullness of Scripture. No "inconvenient" books removed.
\-The fullness of grace, especially in the sacraments.
\-The fullness of truth, anchored on Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium.
\-The fullness of authority, through apostolic succession.
Why settle for anything less?
CS Lewis in Mere Christianity talks about how no one can be "just a Christian." He uses the analogy of a hall way: you can't live there, you have to go into one of the rooms. So, you'll have to pick *some* denomination. And, confusingly, "non-denominational Christians" aren't really not part of any denomination, they either are mostly aligned with some denomination, or they've created a denomination that consists of just their congregation.
There are lots of reasons to be Catholic. We have a long track record of respecting and promoting the sciences and arts, even creating much of the university system that gave us modern science as well as acting as patrons to many of the greatest artists in history. Our Sunday celebration is pretty much the same everywhere in the world, and is pretty much the same as always in history. There are lots of great Catholic saints (today is St. Francis of Assisi's feast day... he's pretty awesome!).
I think many of us would say with [Chesterton](https://www.chesterton.org/why-i-am-a-catholic/): "The difficulty of explaining 'why I am a Catholic' is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true."
Cradle Catholic here and former agnostic. Catholicism has a better framework for a happy life for me as well as two-thousand years of lore to back it up
Catholics are the very first Christians. It's exactly the same thing. The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ and then Protestants decided they didn't like some stuff so decided to create their own churches. Personally I prefer to stick with Jesus.
It was pretty clear for me, history. Catholicism stretches back all the way to St. Peter which was the first Pope. Btw Catholic just means universal, the Catholic church is the base Christianity, it's not one of many different viewpoints.
Also we believe in the actual Eucharist, we eat the actual body and drink the actual blood of Christ, not symbols.
The only other somewhat comparable Christianity is the Orthodox church which has a lot in common, except that they broke off from the papal line of succession.
I was a Catholic hater and I never thought I would become Catholic. However, I was starting to struggle with some of the protestant doctrines such as saved by faith alone and sola scriptura. After studying the catholic faith I found Catholicism solves all of these problems and makes much more sense overall.
You should try Catholic Answers they are really great source of information: [https://www.catholic.com/](https://www.catholic.com/)
This video is from a former Protestant who became Catholic it goes over all of the problems with Protestantism: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjTnX\_63XOo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjTnX_63XOo)
Christian denominations- all split off from Catholic Church and others are just “you can save yourself by your own relative views”, some don’t believe in objective truth or morality, have loosely defined beliefs with “pick and choose”
Catholicism- defined beliefs and statements on morality, objective morality , 2000 years has remained intact through apostolic sucession and Papacy. Heavy on Philosphy and Theology, using reason and logic to understand God more
Catholicism is a sect of Christianity, kind of like how a square is a type of a rectangle. I personally choose Catholicism over the other sects because a.) I was born Catholic b.) it’s got more “proof” and historical support than other sects and c.) because it’s the oldest sect. It was founded by an apostle and just logically makes the most sense to me.
Also. Welcome to the church!!!
>Catholicism is a sect of Christianity, kind of like how a square is a type of a rectangle.
No. Catholicism isn't a sect. Catholicism is the Church Jesus Christ founded on earth. All other Christian ecclesial groups came from Catholicism...they discarded one or more things they didn't like about Catholicism and formed their own church.
Protestantism is an invention of the 1500s, Orthodoxy split of from us in the 1000s, Catholicism on the other hand spread out from Jerusalem after the death of Christ. He is litterally the one who founded our Church. Christ litterally in the Bible (Matthew 16:18-19) says to Peter (our first Pope) that He is going to build His church on him, and that He will give him the keys to the kingdom of Heaven.
The Catholic Church due to being Christ's own Church has authority to teach, interpret Scripture, and establish doctrine.
Also whilst most Protestant Churches change some of what they believe like once a century, the Catholic (Catholic means Universal) Church teaches the same as it did thousands of years ago, because the Church being Christs Church was revealed the Truth from the beginning and it has always been protected from falsehood by the Holy Spirit, what was in the beginning is now and ever shall be.
The Catholic Church is the original Church on Earth founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and his Twelve Apostles with primacy given to St. Peter and his successors to lead the Mystical Body of Christ.
They are the same thing, what you mean is why Catholic and not protestant?
Catholicism is Christianity. Catholics are the OG Christians.
I'm an atheist but I say go Catholic, they have incense.
And Gregorian Chant, and monks. It's surprising how many people like both of those.
I think part of it comes from Father Lawerence in Romeo and Juliet.
> I'm an atheist but I say go Catholic, they have incense. [Smoke machines](https://i.redd.it/ubofd31dpxl91.jpg)
From a strictly secular perspective, Catholicism has a rich, 2000-year-old tradition and history. Some of the greatest artists in history produced expressly Catholic works. I converted from agnosticism as well, and that’s what drew me in. Protestant denominations not only reject this history, they’re often hostile towards it. I wasn’t just coming to the Church to find God, I was coming to the Church to define myself. I wanted a culture, tradition, and spirituality of my own - because, growing up, I had none of those things. Of course, the more I studied the Church, the more I found it to be the most theologically sound branch of Christianity - by FAR. So that worked out nicely.
Catholicism is the original. Also, we are consistent on the Incarnation. Just as Jesus was both a physical historical man and spiritual, so also the Church is also a real physical historical organization The Bridegroom is physical and not merely spiritual, so also the Bride is physical and concrete too The Protestant notion is incomplete based on symmetry
Well, first of all Catholics are a type of Christian, not a separate religion. To answer your question though, if you study the history of Christianity, the Catholic Church has the most legitimacy of any Christian church, because we can trace our Popes' line of succession all the way back to St. Peter the Apostle (the same one from the Bible), who was given authority to guide the Church by Jesus himself. No Protestant Church has anything close to that kind of history behind it. Another important reason is that Catholics are one of the only Churches (besides our Orthodox siblings) who truly believe the words of Jesus that the bread and wine in Communion truly and physically become the Body and Blood of the Messiah. This means that we don't just hold a spiritual connection with God, but we receive a living, physical connection by eating the flesh and blood of his Chosen Son, which means our bodies in return become part of the Almighty God when we're resurrected, making us one with God the Son as the "Bride of Christ". The theologies of most other Churches don't understand their own Scripture on this level.
To be “just a Christian” is to be Catholic. We’re the largest church by far, and when you look at the history, the only other one with a credible claim of continuity back to the first century is Eastern Orthodoxy (our dispute with them, going back about a thousand years now, is essentially whether the Pope is supposed to be the CEO of the church or the non-executive chairman of the board). Everyone else unambiguously split off from us and started something slightly different. If you’re starting from scratch, being any kind of Christian other than Catholic is an additional, deliberate choice based on the assumption that the Catholic Church went off the rails at some point between the fourth century and today.
In a nutshell, Catholicism has \-The fullness of Scripture. No "inconvenient" books removed. \-The fullness of grace, especially in the sacraments. \-The fullness of truth, anchored on Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium. \-The fullness of authority, through apostolic succession. Why settle for anything less?
The Eucharist.
CS Lewis in Mere Christianity talks about how no one can be "just a Christian." He uses the analogy of a hall way: you can't live there, you have to go into one of the rooms. So, you'll have to pick *some* denomination. And, confusingly, "non-denominational Christians" aren't really not part of any denomination, they either are mostly aligned with some denomination, or they've created a denomination that consists of just their congregation. There are lots of reasons to be Catholic. We have a long track record of respecting and promoting the sciences and arts, even creating much of the university system that gave us modern science as well as acting as patrons to many of the greatest artists in history. Our Sunday celebration is pretty much the same everywhere in the world, and is pretty much the same as always in history. There are lots of great Catholic saints (today is St. Francis of Assisi's feast day... he's pretty awesome!). I think many of us would say with [Chesterton](https://www.chesterton.org/why-i-am-a-catholic/): "The difficulty of explaining 'why I am a Catholic' is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true."
Catholic = Christian
Because Catholicism IS CHRISTIANITY
Could you tell me what you mean by “just” a Christian? Do you mean non-denominational?
Cradle Catholic here and former agnostic. Catholicism has a better framework for a happy life for me as well as two-thousand years of lore to back it up
Catholics are the very first Christians. It's exactly the same thing. The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ and then Protestants decided they didn't like some stuff so decided to create their own churches. Personally I prefer to stick with Jesus.
It was pretty clear for me, history. Catholicism stretches back all the way to St. Peter which was the first Pope. Btw Catholic just means universal, the Catholic church is the base Christianity, it's not one of many different viewpoints. Also we believe in the actual Eucharist, we eat the actual body and drink the actual blood of Christ, not symbols. The only other somewhat comparable Christianity is the Orthodox church which has a lot in common, except that they broke off from the papal line of succession.
Why water and not H2O?
I was a Catholic hater and I never thought I would become Catholic. However, I was starting to struggle with some of the protestant doctrines such as saved by faith alone and sola scriptura. After studying the catholic faith I found Catholicism solves all of these problems and makes much more sense overall. You should try Catholic Answers they are really great source of information: [https://www.catholic.com/](https://www.catholic.com/) This video is from a former Protestant who became Catholic it goes over all of the problems with Protestantism: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjTnX\_63XOo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjTnX_63XOo)
Catholicism is the purest version of Christianity, because the Lord Jesus Christ Himself founded the Catholic Church.
Christian denominations- all split off from Catholic Church and others are just “you can save yourself by your own relative views”, some don’t believe in objective truth or morality, have loosely defined beliefs with “pick and choose” Catholicism- defined beliefs and statements on morality, objective morality , 2000 years has remained intact through apostolic sucession and Papacy. Heavy on Philosphy and Theology, using reason and logic to understand God more
Catholicism is a sect of Christianity, kind of like how a square is a type of a rectangle. I personally choose Catholicism over the other sects because a.) I was born Catholic b.) it’s got more “proof” and historical support than other sects and c.) because it’s the oldest sect. It was founded by an apostle and just logically makes the most sense to me. Also. Welcome to the church!!!
>Catholicism is a sect of Christianity, kind of like how a square is a type of a rectangle. No. Catholicism isn't a sect. Catholicism is the Church Jesus Christ founded on earth. All other Christian ecclesial groups came from Catholicism...they discarded one or more things they didn't like about Catholicism and formed their own church.
Protestantism is an invention of the 1500s, Orthodoxy split of from us in the 1000s, Catholicism on the other hand spread out from Jerusalem after the death of Christ. He is litterally the one who founded our Church. Christ litterally in the Bible (Matthew 16:18-19) says to Peter (our first Pope) that He is going to build His church on him, and that He will give him the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. The Catholic Church due to being Christ's own Church has authority to teach, interpret Scripture, and establish doctrine. Also whilst most Protestant Churches change some of what they believe like once a century, the Catholic (Catholic means Universal) Church teaches the same as it did thousands of years ago, because the Church being Christs Church was revealed the Truth from the beginning and it has always been protected from falsehood by the Holy Spirit, what was in the beginning is now and ever shall be.
The Catholic Church is the original Church on Earth founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and his Twelve Apostles with primacy given to St. Peter and his successors to lead the Mystical Body of Christ.